One of the truisms about
SEO that's widely recognized and accepted is that Content is King -- and this moves you into the marketing side of the equation.
SEO, without question, will enhance a website and enable the search engines to recognize its existence and lead to its appearance. It's no simple task and involves a host of factors and their inter-relationship and importance. A website that's just thrown together isn't likely to go very far, save only when someone who knows the URL types it into the search box. Otherwise, you need to know and understand the need for a relevant description, well chosen page titles, as many backlinks as you can obtain, and a reasonably extensive experience in using html and other aspects that will move the site up in the SERPs. (And, of course, you need to know what words such as URL, html, and SERP mean, not to mention other similar concerns that an
SEO specialist deals with.)
But the content needs to connect with site visitors. It has to explain in unmistakable terms what's called the site owner's Unique Selling Proposition. It needs to reflect an awareness of the WIIFM (what's in it for me) that will convince the visitor that this is the company/product/service/information/whatever that he/she is looking for. It should anticipate -- and provide answers to -- all the questions the visitor has. It should say what needs to be said and, more than anything else, say it either in a way that no-on else says so well or, in fact, in terms and appeal that no one else uses. It has to help the site owner stand out in a crowd (that's often hundreds and thousands of competing sites). And this, also without question, calls for marketing knowledge and experience.
As my colleage Peter says, the key lies in a merging of
SEO and marketing know-how and isn't as commonly available as many people (including a fair number of self professed
SEO wizards) may think -- and never mind the ability to create an appropriate design (which should also have some uniqueness to it).
All told, you're looking at a combination of skill sets that all involve a reasonably lengthy learning curve.
The possibilities are decidedly great, but the problems along the way are no less numerous.
Duncan
