SEO should get in bed with PR
As a SEO consultant, I am often asked whether we can help companies increasing the exposure of their sites on blogs, online social networks or online news websites. I usually answer that increasing the exposure of a website is online PR, not SEO, and that it is not something I specialise in.
I came to realise this morning that the difference between online PR and SEO is very blur at the moment, and people feel that they need to depend on a SEO company to manage their online exposure.
This should not be the case.
SEO requires technical skills, in order to optimise the HTML of a site, format the content in order to make it semantically relevant for chosen keywords, and submit the site to online resources.
Online PR requires a good understanding of the business and a good network of relevant journalists/bloggers/media owners who will take on a press release and push it forward a large volume of viewers.
SEO and online PR don't share the same objectives
SEO's objective is to drive long term traffic, whereas online PR's objective is to drive short term traffic.
Now, if you are interested in increasing your traffic overall, the solution is simple: Get the 2 of them in bed together!
The picture below illustrates the concept. Instead of running SEO and online PR as two separate marketing strategies, SEO and PR should be combined in order to maximise return on investment.
The situation is a bit similar to the situation a few years ago when website owners depended on web design agencies to update the content of their website. Then came in content management systems, which now reconciles web design and web content management.
Companies should not rely on SEO agencies to run their online PR campaigns.
It is now time to consolidate SEO and online PR agencies, and release tools allowing PR agencies to combine their activities effectively with search engines optimisation. There is no such tools on the market at the moment.
I believe that someone coming up with such a tool would revolutionise the online marketing industry, the same way CMS revolutionised the web design market a few years ago.
posted by Emmanuel Idé @ 6:42 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
something feels familiar about what you're saying. i can't quite work out where it might be from.
;o)
As a professional web marketer, I feel like it's in my best interest, as well as my employer's best interest to be well-rounded. SEO is something you set up once, and let it work it's magic. PR is a constant effort. However, no SEO package is complete without link building, and PR is one of the best ways to build links quickly. Of course, it's up to the website owner to keep the link building up after this initial effort. Good Web Marketers combine both strategies for a blockbuster SEO Campaign.
Yes Matt, our conversation last morning inspired me - please use this material as you wish, free of charge :-)
Brilliant post indeed! I agree to Alan Bayer comments. The experience speaks!
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