Last Things First

Recently, the world lost Steven Covey, a remarkable writer who is famous for authoring "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I remember picking it up on audiotape and listening to it during my commute time. I marveled at the simplicity and common sense messages he packaged so neatly. He really had a way of getting to the nuggets of truth inside human behavior and teasing out simple strategies for making us more effective people.

Among those habits was "Start with the End in Mind." I like this one the best because, as a marketing strategist, it is a mantra I have always promoted with my employers and, today, my clients. Whenever someone comes to me and says "I need a brochure" or "I need a marketing plan," my first question is always "what is your goal?"

By starting with the end in mind, we can save ourselves a lot of time chasing down rabbit trails that will take us nowhere. If I know that I want to increase my sales of widget A by 10% in the next 90 days, then I have a nice, specific target to go after. It refines my thinking. It keeps me on task.

Whether you are creating a new website or a business card, try starting with the end in mind. You will get a better result just by thinking through what you hope to accomplish. Because another favorite saying of mine is "if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

Common Sense SEO

There has been a fair amount of confusion across the internet about what works in the wake of Google Penguin's changes to search engine optimization and search engine results. I have seen any number of suggested steps to take that promise to reverse the effects of Penguin. For websites that took a serious kick from the update, I am sure that any kind of quick fix looks attractive, but it is probably a bad idea. Because I believe those kind of quick fixes it what prompted the changes in the first place.

I have a lot of respect for the Google model. I think they have the best interest of the searchers in mind, mostly, with a healthy dose of looking out for their own interests mixed in. They are pretty up front about that, so I don't get heartburn when the Google Plus posts show up higher than other items. Like me, Google is in business to make money.

But trying to constantly find ways around the Google algorithm changes will probably land your website in a circular path of constantly having to react to more changes. With somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 changes a year, Google doesn't exactly sit around twiddling thumbs. If you are trying to out-maneuver all of those changes, you are wasting a lot of time.

How much easier to just get in there and provide good content for your customers. Make sure the basics are in place and then just do the same thing over and over. You know, slow and steady wins the race. Basic blocking and tackling. Choose your favorite allegory and run with it, but if you are talking to your customers in a way that makes sense to them, well you should be attracting the right kind of attention.

Need some help with that? Contact me, I will be happy to write, edit or help you develop ideas for your website.