Linkedin has a discussion going called What don’t you trust about SEO (search engine optimization) … and why?. It’s a nightmarish tromp through the minds of those who equate SEO with human sacrifice rituals.

To be fair, some of the poor reputation is well deserved. Anyone worth their greed DNA knows that it takes a devil SEO to make potato salad out of cashews. If you’re dreaming of getting rich tomorrow, promising orgasmic results by reading the ebook you wrote while drunk at your buddy’s house last Saturday is absolutely going to require some down and dirty tactics to trick Google algorithms and brain-dead humans.

One guy in the Linkedin thread impressed everyone with his knowledge of AltaVista. The last press release from that search engine was in 2003. He also mentioned Lycos as a place SEO’s submit to. I just went there and learned about a girl who swallowed magnets and this week’s Mover and Shaker is Jamie Spears, the unmarried teenager who just had a baby. Yep. I want my web site there.

Some respondents in the “Bad SEO” thread had nothing to offer accept links to their web sites. Most wanted proof that SEO works. This is like saying we want proof that string theory is real or Moses really saw a burning bush. With each web site, results and techniques are unique. There are successes and failures. No two situations are the same. There’s so many variables involved. Believe in the promise of number one rank at your own risk. It’s like being baptized and promised you’ll go to heaven if you do. Nobody really knows for sure how it will all turn out.

The conversation in Linkedin is limited to the experiences of those who chose to participate. I don’t visit there myself for Q &A and had it not been for Sphinn, I wouldn’t have known about that discussion. Nearly every commenter had nothing positive to say about SEO. Quite depressing. I thought of going in there with my “Rah Rah SEO and Usability” position but this definition held me back:

Optimization is essential to an effective paid placement (SEM) campaign because of the importance of relevance. If your SEM matrix is not properly relevant (you are bidding on the phrase “Toyota” when you are selling “Ford”) you will pay more for a click. This CAN be optimized, but not easily. A proper optimization WILL reduce the CPC and the major search engines encourage this practice and will even help you do it.

I can tell when the mere mention of web site usability or user experience are going to be met with “huh?”

For the record, there are individual SEO’s and search engine marketing companies who include some sort of usability audit on their clients’ sites as part of the overall holistic approach to online marketing. I know this to be fact because I’m subcontracted or hired to perform their usability reports.

The goal of adding usability site reviews is converting inbound traffic to meet your business goals. This could be product sales, ordering services, booking reservations, newsletter signups, blog RSS feed subscriptions, sales leads, etc. A ranking promise for being “Number 1 in Google” is hollow. I can’t imagine paying money to be number one for a keyword and not having a powerful, working, persuasive web site behind those clicks.

Usability services can be applied at any time and may include (to name a few things):

1. Mock up reviews
2. Business requirements review
3. Functional requirements review
4. Assistance in preparing web site guidelines
5. Assistance in web site planning
6. Checking to make sure legal requirements are met
7. Functional testing of applications
8. Accessibility testing
9. Shopping cart and forms testing
10. Review of overall information architecture

Would you buy a house without first having it inspected by an outside, objective person trained to look out for your welfare?

An SEO company that doesn’t care about your investment is a red flag.

Does Your SEO Offer This Service to Support Your Objectives?

The main objective of usability reviews and functional testing is to help a business succeed. Often, a company simply doesn’t know how to be successful online because their staff isn’t experienced with all the skills necessary to be and remain competitive.

Usability is a business decision if revenue is expected to come from a web site. It’s used to determine what is wanted and needed by a business. Usability input is focused on delivering results and supporting all the ways and opportunities available to successfully meet those results. It’s tied to reputation management, customer service, word of mouth advertising and the return of investment for all marketing.

In addition to support for the business goals, usability testing acts as an advocate for customers and end users by educating companies on data collected on known user behavior, usage habits and issues such as those of disabled persons and the sight impaired. In some countries, such as the USA and the UK, web sites must meet certain legal requirements to do business online. Usability and human factors research are ongoing and closely tied to marketing goals and incentives.

Making a bad choice is your right of course.

There’s plenty of information available to help companies make wise decisions. I’m surprised that with all the search engine marketing conferences and live blogging of sessions, that barely a dent is made in the overall reputation of the SEO/M industry. For every class-act business or search marketer, there appears to be 20 rip offs and countless thousands of people and companies who buy into their schemes.

I hate to say it this way but the truth is, if you’re hiring any service that’s intended to help you succeed, put your “bullshit detector” on. There’s no magic formula. When you do locate and hire a credible company or person,  listen to them and follow their advice.

Sometimes the fault lies not with the SEO, but with the fact that nobody followed their guidance.

A commercial in the USA may be aimed at the woman inside the woman. A woman with magic, spark and a no regrets sense of who she is and where she’s going. For starters, in the TV spot, she’s in the driver’s seat.

I can’t remember the make or model of the automobile. I don’t care who the woman is behind the wheel. What I remember and giggle to myself about is that she asks if your car turns you on.

Well, hell yes.

Thanks for noticing!

I have a friend whose car was in my driveway recently. He left at night and my kids and I cooed at how the interior dashboard lit up in blue light. I wanted to make out by that dashboard light. So there.

Marketing to women is usually off the mark. For sassy women like me, however, when you get past how I’m supposed to be according to what tradition and society says I should be, you’ve probably just sold me your product.

Why are men the only creatures who need to be turned on? Who made that rule?

Light and Sound

There’s another user experience rule I’ve discovered I love to debunk. It has to do with sound.

Still experimenting with my new MySpace account, (where I have one friend, who at this point likely thinks I’m completely nuts), I uploaded another new Moby song. I changed my profile picture to remove the bare breasted woman who wasn’t me, because…well. Just because.

(For a moment I thought of putting a photo of chicken breasts there. I still may do that.)

Anyway. I’ve been writing in the blog there. To nobody really, although one man whom I don’t know thinks I’m really far out and “interesting”. I love how I can use images and sound to express myself in MySpace.

I can’t do that here. Usability Law states, “No piped in music.” Guess what? There is, indeed, a place for it. It doesn’t belong on a corporate web site but it can certainly be used in situations with friends where you’re networking and hanging out.

When I want to express light and sound here, I need to find words to turn you on with.

Incentive and Play

When you design your web site, have you put in light and sound? Have you created a mood? Is there something you can say that communicates in an instant why your service is the best? Did you remember to create a need?

Can you change? Yes. When Emoms At Home changed its brand to Sparkplugging, I’m sure there was great agony in choosing the right time, right design and right words to reflect the reasons for the change and not lose anyone in the process.

The new name turns me on. It’s vibrant. It describes exactly what goes into my bloodstream when I’m working on the web or helping clients with their web sites. The new design is surprisingly easy to navigate and more importantly, understand. I LOVE the extra content between the global navigation link labels that describe what’s inside each hub, without the need to click or negotiate a clumsy drop down menu.

Kudos to these folks for providing incentive for me to return, bookmark and write about you. All you did was turn me on by making me feel good and welcome once I arrived.

We need to feel wanted. We need to feel welcomed. We need to feel we’re getting the best bargain. We need to know companies care about our web site experience. We need to be turned on, inspired, catered to, informed, responded to in a timely manner, guided and nurtured.

Is thinking outside the box risky? Yes. Do you like to be entertained while shopping? Well, let’s see. I showed Hema to my daughter and her boyfriend. A minute into watching the homepage explode into something I’ve never seen done before, she asks, “What’s the point?”

Would you sit through while the center content FLASH loads and then watch how the products bang into each other and perform clever tricks? If after I was entertained, I was offered great prices, fast delivery and excellent customer service, I might. I think most people will be annoyed.

Social Disconnect. Yes, I Keep Harping on This.

Many of us seek one another because our butts are glued to our computers.

I’m bored with Twitter. Reading disjointed conversations by other people who don’t know or don’t care that I’m there isn’t doing it for me. I don’t like that feeling of being on the sidelines. Web sites often leave out visitors too. One of the very first words I look for on an e-commerce page is “Customer service”. You may be surprised to know it’s hardly ever there or buried far, far down in the footer as an afterthought.

Customers are not afterthoughts. They don’t want to be treated like one. The HEMA site, while breaking rules for sound and visual, makes me feel like they love what they do, are having fun doing it and want to include me (someone they may never meet) in their fun.

I liked that feeling.

So. I wonder. How come I feel so lonely, that after being in Twitter and Facebook and even owning Cre8asiteforums, that I’ve resorted to writing to nobody in MySpace?

Is it because I want to be un-edited, raw, bold, without barriers and don’t want anyone judging me?

Is it because car’s turn me on?

Or is it that the Internet was an experiment in intimacy with people that failed?

Could it be, that in the end, we need to hold hands and make eye contact with one another?

There’s a scene in the movie version of “Oliver” where merchants walk along the street outside his bedroom window peddling their wares. They sing out “Who will buy?” this or that, holding up samples for passersby to see. Oliver has never witnessed such a thing before.

He sings,

Who will buy this wonderful morning?
Such a sky you never did see!
Who will tie it up with a ribbon,
And put it in a box for me?

I visited a web site today that sells dessert products. Its homepage had no content, so there was no one to “sing” to me about the products.

In the movie, the rose seller stresses her “sweet red roses”. Anyone walking by her on the street would be able to hold a rose up close to press a satiny red petal to their cheek. On the web, we have no such luxury.

We depend on page content to paint a picture of what a product looks and feels like. If a web site offers images that express feelings of joy, satisfaction, thrill, fun or hope, we’re given something to emotionally connect with. We can hope our experience will be the same as the people in the pictures.

The site I visited today had no pictures of people. Its products were beautifully gift wrapped so that I couldn’t see closeups. Other pictures showed food items that were lacking in detail. When the product description says 1 dozen cookies, are they big or little cookies? Are the raisins plump? How thick is the shortbread? Are we talking one cookie per person or does it take 3 cookies to equal one serving?

Oliver sings,

They’ll never be a day so sunny,
It could not happen twice.
Where is the man with all the money?
It’s cheap at half the price!

For this site, sale items were a click away from the homepage. To get to that page meant first finding it. The link label simply read “Sale”. Wow. That will drive in the hordes of budget crazed thrill seeking bargain hunters!

What do we get for our time on this site? What if we click, there’s only 3 choices and none of them are interesting? Does the page lead us anywhere else or just leave us dangling from the swinging chandelier?

Oliver has no money. He’s an orphan. He’s had a rough life. For him, anyone with something to sell him is incredible. The point is, someone WANTS him to buy something. If he can hear them hawking ripe strawberries, they must know he’s there somewhere inside a building, wanting to buy them.

Someone wants him to buy. He is special to the seller. They helped him feel that way. He sings,

Who will buy this wonderful feeling?
I’m so high I swear I could fly.
Me, oh my! I don’t want to lose it
So what am I to do
To keep a sky so blue?
There must be someone who will buy…

When was the last time you got this excited about buying online? When did you last feel madly driven to toss items into an online shopping cart? Which site makes you feel special when you’re there? How many web sites acknowledge your presence at all? Do online shops know you want to feel special?

Try adding little details to your online store. Help your customers feel wonderful, wanted and welcome.

There will be someone who will buy.

In the news:

Omaha based Netshops has hired an ex-Googler, Ash ElDifrawi, as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer. He’ll be responsible for managing the company’s overall marketing strategy, including online marketing, brand marketing, SEO and strategic planning and corporate communications. At Google, ElDifrawi lead Brand Advertising for Google and YouTube, and was also the architect of the Google Brand Accelerator.

Look at Netshops. You’ll understand what Oliver was singing about.

This morning I saw a female cardinal. It’s easy to spot the males because they’re a brilliant red but today, the lady bird sat watching the finches and me not far from my kitchen window. I decided her presence was a power sign. She stood out, even without her man in his beautiful coat nearby. She was doing perfectly fine on her own.

I came across Wendy Piersall’s, TLC Launches New TV Show :: The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom blog post today. She brought to my attention a new TLC (The Learning Channel) TV show about stay at home mom’s. Debuting March 3, the show is “a new reality series following stay-at-home moms who are given the chance to see what life would be like if their full-time career wasn’t motherhood”.

Each episode will conclude with the mom either deciding to “pursue her new dual life” or return to her family, secure in the fact that motherhood is the only occupation for her.

Where to begin with this? A career driven woman and mother is running for the position of the United States of America and yet somewhere else in America is a culture insisting that women must choose career OR motherhood?

I cringed when I read this from TLC’s new ‘The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom’ series to debut March 3:

“Almost every woman experiences the pull between becoming a full-time mom or juggling both family and work. This show will give us the chance to learn what sacrifices and rewards there are in making this challenging and unique decision,” said TLC programming executive Brant Pinvidic. “Each episode ends up being a remarkable voyage as we see them accomplish goals they never thought possible and then make the decision about which path they should pursue.”

Which path? They have to go behind their spouse’s back to experience some sort of self worth vision quest for themselves?

Then he says,

“This show is very inspirational and gives these women many who thought they’d never have return to their careers a chance to see what they are capable of.”

Capable of?? Since when did taking care of children turn women into blobs of nothing? When did staying home become the crime of the century?

The first story on the show highlights “Adrian” who gets a chance to spend a week experiencing her “dream job” that she left behind to raise her 3 children. At the end of the week, she must decide whether or not she wants to remain a full time mom.

I worked while single, while pregnant, after my first child was born and up to the birth of my second child. Then, I stopped because the cost of daycare stripped my salary. I was essentially working for free, so I stayed home and my husband worked 3 jobs to keep us going. I grew as much of our food as possible and breastfed the babies, the second one past his 2 year birthday. I continued to volunteer and be involved with the schools and community as much as my time allowed.

The kids and I rarely saw their Dad. He and I drifted apart. We split up. I refused his support money. We shared joint custody. I went back to work by teaching myself a new career, working all day and doing freelance work at night. I felt terribly alone and unsupported by my friends. On the days the kids were with their Dad, I worked even longer hours. I didn’t date. For four years. I started a business. Founded a few web sites. Paid for daycare. Saved up money to buy my own house. Remarried. I work at home because it’s easier to raise the kids and be there for them when I’m here. I’m saving for their college, paying for their cell phones, car insurance, sports equipment and shampoo. I take them to the doctor. Attend every football, baseball, wrestling and track event and the Jazz band concerts. I run a global forums. I make dinner. I’m the maid, nurse, taxi, project manager, and gardener. Off the top of my head.

Did I mention I’m a stay at home mom, who works full time? Which part of me looks like a soccer ball? God forbid someone should have said, “Kim. You have to pick one thing to do because you’re a woman.”

Shattering Soccer Mom Myths

The producers of this new TV show might like to read the new book by Holly Buchanan and Michelle Miller, called The Soccer Mom Myth. One of the first points the book notes is that in the writer’s “Marketing to Women” seminars, over 60% of attendees are women. When Holly asks the audience how many are mom’s, she may get one or two responses. They write that of the “millions upon millions of Soccer Mom’s out there“, in their seminars, they found “only about seven.”

So, who is this TV show being marketed to?

80% of all purchasing decisions are made by women. This TV show is going to want commercials to sponsor their show. How they can target women when only a handful fall into the category of “Soccer Mom”?

Women are individuals. They want to be treated with respect and some acknowledgment that they have much to contribute. They aren’t cloned copies of each other. If one wants to work and never have children, bravo. She’s still a vital woman. If another one isn’t career oriented, fine. With any luck, she’ll be able to support herself and should be encouraged to do so without depending on someone else for her survival. If another woman who wants a family stays home to be with the kids, they need support, not attitude. Not a “What if I could do that thing I dreamed of doing” carrot dangled in their faces.

They ARE doing something. Being a parent is the most rewarding “work” I’ve ever done. However, I was quite capable of doing more.

The TV show’s tagline is “Do they have what it takes to have it ALL?”

I don’t understand this statement. Someone can be hiking in the mountains picking wild flowers on a damp, springtime morning and feel they “have it all” because they’re alive. They’re in a lovely place. They feel the rising sun warming their cheeks. Contentment comes from so many places, including inside ourselves.

The TV show glorifies women who look outside themselves for validation and worthiness. They take a week off away from their family to experience “having it all”.

They return with their discovery and then asked to make a choice. Career or child raising?

I’ll take the mountain.

I enjoyed some blog posts this week from people I’m not as familiar with. One of them wrote about the need for search engine marketing and/or Internet education in schools and universities. Another looked at the “SEO Rock Star” theme in a different way. More on them below.

It’s been an exciting week too. Cre8asiteforums loses three moderators and gains two new ones. Both are women, well known and respected in the search marketing industry. We’re celebrating the addition of Donna Fontenot (aka dazzlindonna) and Miriam Ellis (aka “SEOigloo) and look forward to their energy, passion for their work and dedication to helping people.

SEOMoz featured a guest post called Why Won’t You Let Me Study The Internet?. He writes:

While I am currently expected to do research, collaborate, and turn in my assignments online I am not given the resources to learn specifically about the medium that drives it all. The major universities (with the exception of Stanford) simply haven’t committed to the internet and as such, there is no way to major in something like internet science. I am not offered classes like SEO 290 or Social Networking 300.

My 14 year old son came home the other day from school grumping outloud, “I HATE FLASH!”. Turns out he’s learning FLASH design in his Tech Ed class and dislikes it (he’d rather be studying history). His school is a public school district Middle School equipped with all kinds of gadgets in the class rooms. They communicate via web sites with parents, teachers and students. Rooms have interactive stuff that bring lessons to life in ways I never dreamed could be done. My kids know how to research using Ask and Google because they’re taught it in school. Typing is a requirement for homework. But, in their web design classes, they don’t learn how to design pages to appear in search engines or make them accessible to special needs users. Usability? Not taught.

Should we be teaching our skills to school kids and college students?

This week many people were out at SMX West. One participant wrote a blog article on his experience that I felt offered a different perspective. He had some opinions and ideas that may be shared by others and I admired his willingness to come forth with his SMX West Day 3: “Matt & Danny and Rand! Oh My!” I “sphunn” the post, and if you follow that link from the Sphinn button on his blog post page, you’ll see that Danny Sullivan responded.

Other Inspiration

Turn Usable Content into Winning Content by Colleen Jones is a must-read. She writes,

What we don’t understand as well, however, is how to make content win users over to take the actions we want them to take or have the perceptions we want them to have. We don’t understand how to make Web content both usable and persuasive.

Diane Aull writes the brilliant Why Do The (Good) SEOs Cost So %&*# Much? One of the best articles I’ve read this year so far.

One of my favorite passions…How to Build a Green Business.

I liked Tech’s feminine side and finally, among the tons of articles out on user personas, this one stands out:

QA Session on User Persona Method with Lene Nielsen, who wrote her Ph.D. thesis “Engaging Personas and Narrative Scenarios”.