Why Settle for Best Practices?
There are differences between best practices and using SEO as a means to achieve the goals of your search marketing strategy. Do you know which method your agency is using?

There are differences between best practices and using SEO as a means to achieve the goals of your search marketing strategy. Do you know which method your agency is using?
Post-recession efficiency, behavioral targeting, Bing, and Google will all shape our industry this year.
Let's face it, 2009 was a pretty awful year. And not just the world of advertising. But there are signs of hope as we head toward 2010.
You don't have paid search goals and organic search goals; you have search goals. There are opportunities for synergies and savings once you understand how the two can work together.
The economic climate has changed consumer behavior. Embrace that change. The basic tenets of marketing still apply in a down economy.
Integration can be tricky, but stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing the larger world around you can mean the difference between winning a client and walking away empty-handed.
Some simple tips to help your agency and search teams start pursuing better integration.
Whether it's the SideWiki or other new enhancements, Google's clout allows it to play around in a way that can negatively impact your brand.
Offshoring is a simple word, but one that elicits strong responses. In a down economy, the case for offshoring is simple. But there are issues to address to know when and how to offshore part of your search marketing program.
Some clients see search as a static landscape, something to treat with a "set it and forget it" mentality. But a look at the latest search headlines shows that search is incredibly innovative, and something you need to constantly manage.
The world of search is getting more mature and continues to have tremendous importance. Despite the economic downturn, people came out to share and learn more about how to advance their businesses through search.
This recession is different that the 2000 dot-com bubble burst. It's impacting how we behave personally and professionally. We're being more responsible and looking closer at everything we do, including the world of search.
Many times, clients have been wowed by technology, but later dissatisfied with the service and strategy they received. Those are the ones who realized they should have paid more attention to the people presenting instead of the technology.
It's true that Bing has low market share and likely won't put a dent in Google at this time. But we need to get back to some fundamentals and think about what it could mean for the future of online marketing.
In the online world, we tend to make predictions and never really look back. Today, we'll buck that trend and look at some of this year's predictions, five months later.
As a marketer, you can't take SEO for granted when working with an agency. They may be following best practices to build a search-friendly site, but don't assume they're implementing a full-blown search engine optimization strategy.
There are differences between best practices and using SEO as a means to achieve the goals of your search marketing strategy. Do you know which method your agency is using?
We've all dated someone who, after a few dates, is already picking out baby names; they're in such a rush to get to the end game that they skip over asking the important questions that they really need answers for to know how to make relationships...
You don't have paid search goals and organic search goals; you have search goals. There are opportunities for synergies and savings once you understand how the two can work together.
The old proverb about giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish is often frustratingly applied to SEO. It seems as if SEO agencies are constantly asked to teach people to fish while other marketing services are safe from this request. The key...