SteeleBlogger

I read a disturbing, but not too surprising blog this morning by Virginia Nussey over at the Bruce Clay blog. Scary Findings Show that SEO is Misunderstood, Now What? Virginia was commenting on the Practical eCommerce Survey of the Month SEO is Both Important and Misunderstood.

What Practical eCommerce found is that 94 percent of surveyed merchants understand the importance of SEO (or at least claimed they do) and that SEO is part of their existing marketing efforts. Yay! Great! People are starting to understand, like Virginia said, its a great payoff for the SEO industry that folks are listening and heeding our advice.

Unfortunately they also found that 69.5 percent of the merchants think paying for links is an effective SEO tactic and 53.9 of them will take a nice big serving of keyword stuffing…thank you very much.

Now, I didn’t find the actual survey that they sent out, and I wish I could. I would really like to see how the questions were phrased to determine if the participants were led down the wrong path by the questions or if the results are true to life.

Here’s what I mean. If a question asks: Is keyword stuffing an effective SEO tactic, and someone answers yes, then that’s scary. But if the question asks: Is using keywords in as many places as you can on the page an effective SEO tactic, and someone answers yes, they probably don’t realize they just condoned keyword stuffing. They probably just know that keywords are good, and they use them as often as they can, so SURE, stuff away.

As for the purchasing links stat, that is hopefully a result of just not knowing better, not being led down the wrong path by a bad SEO consultant.

So before I jump on the “this is bad, we must rectify” bus, I’d really like to see the actual survey.

Either way though, the results are a sign that for the white-hat SEOs out there, there is still plenty of work to be done. And for the black-hats, keep your mouths shut and go away.

I’ve been working with Visitor Track lately to see what companies are coming to a Website I manage. Its an incredibly handy little tool that shows me entire visits, what company the visit came from, and even what location. I can quickly look up the visiting company in Jigsaw or the Yellow Pages if I want to do some lead gen for the sales team. So far its been handy, but nothing earth shattering.

Every time I dig through the visit reports though, I have to wonder, is this really playing fair? I feel like I’m virtually stalking the site visitors. But then again, I can educate the sales team on who is interested in what products and services so that they are educated when they reach out to the leads. Ideally it should be a better experience for the folks we try to sell and market to.

So I’m really just looking for some input from other marketers and web admins out there. Do you think its fair to monitor this closely and generate leads this way? Or is it going a step too far in violating our visitors’ privacy?

Like I mentioned in my last post, I’m fairly picky about who I follow on Twitter, this is especially true when it comes to companies. I find that following a company on Twitter is generally more annoying than it is useful.

This is a real shame both for consumers and the businesses who abuse Twitter. So often you see a generic auto-reply sent out when you follow someone new. The auto-reply can be done right, but so often its not. (Here’s one example of how I think you can do it right http://neo1seo.com/tweeple).

So as a marketer and someone who appreciates the possibilities associated with Social Media, I love when I see a company who’s really using it the right way.

Today I noticed a tweet about the new Sprout Builder logo so I decided to throw a message out there and let the folks at Sprout know how much I like it. Less than 30 minutes later I got a direct message back:

hey, thanks for the kind words about the new logo. we are excited to have an awesome creative director/internal designer guiding our brand

Way to go guys and gals at Sprout. Its no surprise to see you’ve got it together, but still awesome to see!

This year rather than come up with 4 or 5 things I want to start doing in my life beginning on January first (and probably ending somewhere around the 15th or so),  I decided to focus instead on a set of New Year’s Evolutions. Ways to continue growing and bettering a few parts of my life.

So the first one, and all of us that blog probably have this on our list: Be a better, more consistent writer. I write for more than this blog, and I want to find ways to do it better and more consistently. Most of that comes from reading a ton and learning from the bloggers and writers I respect and love to read, but some of it is pure self discipline. I love writing, its fun, but when it becomes a job, sometimes I just don’t feel like doing it. So this year, I’m going to continue evolving as a blogger and writer, and hopefully in return I’ll get a few more followers.

The next one is an ongoing effort for me: Be Healthier. My husband and I eat pretty healthy. We don’t buy snacks, we eat tons of fruits, veggies, and whole grains, but I’m somewhat of a slacker when it comes to getting off my bootie and working out. Especially in the winter. I hate to be cold, nothing makes me feel warmer than snuggling up on the floor with my daughter and watching some good Bravo marathons. But this year, I’m going to keep working on being more active and living a healthier lifestyle. Its good for me, and its a great example for my daughter. And when you’re married to a guy in amazing physical shape, there’s really no excuse.

Be More Positive and Motivating. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed my snark level has shot through the roof. This is something I’m working on and an important area for me to evolve. I tend to get negative a little too often and I think that drags the people around me down with me. Instead I want to focus on being more positive and motivating to those around me than someone who’s great to go out for a drink and a good bitch session with. (Those are important too, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve gotta focus on the good stuff).

Act Less Like a Crazy Old Lady and More Like a 20-Something That Has It Together. Whew, that was a mouth full. So, yes, I have some crazy old lady tendencies.

• The first one is lists. I keep lists of everything.  Grocery lists, to-do lists, coupons I have in my purse lists, goals for the week, meals to cook, and I’m going to stop now before I pull out my notebook and make a list of all my lists. Yep, my notebook, because I’m not like a normal 20-something that has it together, I don’t use my Blackberry and Remember the Milk, I use paper. Now I keep these lists primarily in my notebook, but sometimes I’ll write it on a sticky note that I can stick to my phone when I run to the store. I know, its crazy. So in the spirit of evolution, I’m doing away with the paper lists and using Remember the Milk. Not a sticky note on my blackberry. That’s just ludicrous.
• The next tendency…I leave myself voice mails. Yep, I call myself and leave voice mails so I won’t forget things. Now, I’m not sure what the best thing is to do about this. What do the 20-somethings that have it together do? Buying a mini tape recorder seems just as crazy old lady like. If I had an iPhone I’m sure there would be an app that I could record my thoughts into while I drive and then it would convert it to text and add it to my lists over at Remember the Milk, but I don’t have an iPhone. So, how can I evolve? How can I evolve into a 20-something that has it together without an iPhone? I guess for now a mini tape recorder is the first step in my evolution.
• Ok just one more before I decide this is too emberrassing. I’m terrified of video blogs. Not watching them, making them. I love other people’s video blogs and so I think I need to start posting some of my own. Especially after Gary V’s post yesterday.

These are the top 4 areas I want to evolve in. I’ll keep you updated on my progress, let me know what you’re working on this year!

Its a scary time to start a business, find a job, make a change, move out of your comfort zone. I think every day how scary it is to put myself out there, risk failure, possibly make a mistake. Sometimes, I find it hard to be brave.

Then I see something like this. A Palestinian girl standing up to Israeli soldiers. Yelling at them, questioning their intentions, telling them to go away. This girl is brave. She’s brave in a way I never have, and probably never will have to be.

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/15747/

Really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? I don’t care who you are or what your world view is, just watch this video and ask yourself, am I brave?

Want to learn more about Gaza and Israel?  Send me an email or leave a comment.