Does Your Business Have SEOitis? Content Marketing is the Cure

Review Written By , Online Marketing Director at PrintFirm.com.

Are you suffering from SEOitis? This serious, yet treatable condition impacts thousands of small business owners every year. Companies suffering from SEOitis experience most or all of the following symptoms:

  • Panic attacks after algorithm updates
  • Inability to communicate with outsourced copywriters overseas
  • Social media fatigue and reader apathy
  • Acute obsession with keyword stuffing/density
  • Impatience and/or irritability when confronted with a lack of results

If you believe you're being impacted by SEOitis, don't lose hope. Many former victims of SEOitis are now running successful search marketing campaigns with the help of skilled professionals, such as online marketing expert Randy Milanovic, Principle at Kayak Online Marketing. His new book Findability: Why Search Engine Optimization is Dying will show you how to play by the new rules of the web in 2013 and position your brand for a prosperous future.

The New Rules of Content Marketing Infographic

21 New Rules for Content Marketing Infographic

(Note: The Kayak Marketing team created their own infographic and slideshow you can view on Slideshare. While I was reading the book, I got inspired to put a PrintFirm twist on the design. I did obtain the author's permission before reproducing the rules from the book.)

How I Got my Copy of Findability

A few months ago I was scanning our Twitter stream for interesting shares. I often turn to our social communities to see what everyone else is talking about and discover articles relevant to our fans. Someone happened to tweet a link to the Kayak company website, and I read one of Randy's articles on contemporary SEO. I found his perspective refreshing, but his writing style stood out to me more than his words. SEOs are not known for their outstanding writing skills in general, and often have a hard time explaining difficult concepts in ways non-marketers can understand. Randy broke down a big subject into easily digestable chunks written in plain English, so I wanted to get to know him better as a person. I reached out on Twitter and then LinkedIn. He accepted my connection, and I've been following his work ever since.

When he posted a status on LinkedIn about giving away 5 free printed copies of his new book, I jumped on the opportunity. Personally I'd much rather read an old fashioned book made with ink and paper than stare at an ebook for any length of time. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of length, but I offered to write a review because I had a feeling his book would be useful to our clients in the small biz sector along with fellow printing companies. Trusting my instincts paid off because Randy's book is packed with great tips to help you transition from the outdated SEO techniques into the content marketing era.

What is Content Marketing?

Before we move forward with the review, I want to clarify the terms we're using to make sure everyone is on the same page. The premise of the book involves drawing a sharp distinction between SEO (search engine optimization) and content marketing. These terms are related, but I believe the author treats them as separate because content marketing focuses on users, and SEO concentrates on algorithms. That said, content marketing is defined as follows:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience- with the objective of driving profitable customer action. – Content Marketing Institute

How is Content Marketing Different from Traditional SEO?

First off, there are two different types of SEO, onsite and offsite. On-site SEO refers to optimization that takes place on your website, such as keyword implementation, meta descriptions, alt attributes for images, etc. Offsite SEO encompasses activities elsewhere on the web that affect your site i.e. link building, social media, reviews, and the like. SEO campaigns have a singular purpose: to increase your website's ranking in search engine results for related queries, thereby driving more traffic to your site.

Content marketing goes a little deeper than conventional SEO. It's about publishing original content that your current and prospective customers will find either useful, educational, or entertaining. This content may appear on your company blog, Facebook page, Youtube account,an email blast, another website, or all of these places. The point is that you use content as a tool for lead generation, or what I like to call soft sales. SEO is akin to hard selling because you're only after traffic that converts. Content marketing, on the other hand, builds relationships along with credibility, and sales slowly trickle in as a result of your efforts.

Findability Review Overview

Cover Design- Grade: B

SEO agencies rarely make the grade with it comes to design. In fact, there's a big stereotype in online marketing about SEOs vs. designers because the two fields have somewhat conflicting priorities. That said, the Findability book cover design gets points for its simplicity. The elements appear in proportion and the (Neo Sans?) font is easy on the eyes. The white text over an orange background creates enough contrast, although I feel the main graphic doesn't properly convey the book's message. The carrot might have worked as a visual metaphor if that theme carried over into the content.  It doesn't, so there's room for improvement for the second edition.

Theme- Grade: A

Findability effectively grabs the reader with a provocative tagline proclaiming the death of SEO. The book's theme is the idea that content marketing essentially replaces most of your link building efforts. The author isn't the first person to state this premise, but Milanovic acknowledges that certain outbound tactics should still be part of your marketing plan. Milanovic also emphasizes the production involved in content marketing, which often gets understated by agencies in his position. His even handed examination lets the reader know that content marketing takes a lot of hard work without pushing the sales angle too hard. At the very least, Findability gives the small biz community a realistic view of the creative demands involved in publishing on a consistent basis.

Usefulness- Grade: A-/B+

There's not much in here for seasoned veterans of a 1,000 search wars, although a little refresher never hurts. Small business owners will likely find the book extremely useful for making marketing decisions. You've probably heard the mantra "Content is King" repeated everywhere on the web without knowing what that phrase means. When you hear such phrases without any kind of context, they start to sound hollow like corporate buzzwords, which decrease their credibility in your mind. Fortunately, Milanovic steps in and shows content marketing as a natural progression from the early days of simplistic signals i.e. meta keywords.  The only aspect of his analysis I find a bit lacking would be with respect to design. The way I see it, content marketing contains 2 main ingredients: a writer and a designer.  You can still do well with 1 strong person fulfilling both roles, but that kind of talent is a rare find. Anyway, Milanovic doesn't touch on design much, which I see as critical to content distribution through social media.

Writing style/readability- Grade: A+

You won't find a simpler explanation of SEO evolution than this. Findability delivers its message directly in everyday language without coming off as condescending. As I said earlier, there's not a lot here for the SEO geeks, but the rest of the world will appreciate the conversational style. Well done!

Length- Grade: A

Findability would be the nonfiction equivalent of a novella. At just over 50 pages, it's a breeze to read through. All told, I probably spent 45 minutes digging into it, and that's only because I stopped several times to jot down my thoughts. This would be the perfect book to bring on a business trip or enjoy with your coffee on a Sunday morning.

My Top Takeaways

There are tons of actionable tips in this book, and I don't want to spoil things with a detailed discussion. Some points stand out more to me based on my professional experience working in a small business environment. Here are the things I think small biz owners will find the most helpful along with the points I feel I can add to.

  • You can't move forward until you clean up your messes. I realize that you probably paid people thousands of dollars over the years to build links to your site, and you didn't bother to actually check them out. You knew that links vary in quality, but you took whatever you could get. Now your rankings are way down even though you've amassed a huge collection of inbound links. I know this sounds crazy because you're used to the quantity over quality mentality, but you seriously need to evaluate your link profile and eliminate (disavow) links from spammy blogs, Russian directories, and/or site wide blogroll type stuff. Google used to count these links even though they were from crappy sources or looked suspicious---those days are over. In 2013, these links won't help you rank, and may even hurt your organic positioning.  Get rid of them once and for all or you'll never be able to catch up.
  • Content marketing is a way of life. Every time I talk to a business owner about SEO, I always say it takes anywhere from 3 to 6 months to see real results. They claim to get this, swear they're fine with the delayed gratification, and then get mad 2 weeks later because their sales aren't improving. Don't be that frustrated business owner. Realize that marketing is like anything else: you get out what you put in. Content marketing demands a lot of labor and constant maintenance.  In other words, it's not for the faint of heart. You need to give it everything you've got or don't bother trying. If you decide to commit to this challenge, you need to stick with it for at least 6 months to a year. By the end of that period, you'll be blogging in your sleep.
  • You have to hire professionals. Randy covers this point in Rule #16, but I can't stress this enough for the small biz crowd. This may sound harsh, but it's entirely possible that you don't have the budget to pull off publishing. Do you have an in-house writer and a designer? If not, do you have the funds to work with qualified freelancers? The point here is that you can't fake great content. Yes, you can get barely acceptable material by outsourcing your copy for $3 per article. Just don't expect any return on the investment.
  • Bland brands suck. Maybe this boils down to personal taste, but I see no point in trying to engage with boring content. The web is already filled with recycled topics and lifeless copy; don't add to the noise unless you've got the guts to push the limits of your audience. Granted controversial materials may backfire on you, that's a risk you have to take to establish your distinct voice. Your content doesn't have to be outright offensive or gimmicky to get noticed. For example, users respond well to humor on social media sites, yet many brands fail to capitalize on this tendency. Others go overboard and try to bring the funny every day, which also bores users. Vary your content, reveal your personality, and show some style. That way you'll maintain user interest over time.
  • Carry a notepad with you everywhere. You never know when you'll get a good idea, and you can't afford to forget your best stuff. You may think you can rely on your phone to store the info for you, but I've lost way too much data to trust this method anymore. I always have a notepad handy at my desk, and I carry sketch pad around with me in my backpack. I write down everything from article topics to rough design sketches. And because of this I always know where to turn for inspiration when I'm stuck.

Findability: The Cure for SEOitis

This little orange book will put you on the road to recovery from SEOitis, if you let it. You may have to read it a few times before you convince yourself that there's a better way. But once you do, you'll notice an instant change in your outlook. You'll see the visitors on your site for what they are: people interested in getting to know you, your products, and your industry. And now you'll be able to welcome them in with open arms.

Click Here to Buy Findability on Amazon Today!

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