Many of us remember the intro from one of the world's first reality TV shows, The Real World: "The true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, work together and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real.
" I'm afraid many people online have already stopped being polite, but I'm certain that it is definitely time to start getting REAL online.
On July 15, 2014, Mashable posted an article from Andrew Edwards of ClickZ which poses the question: "Are We Coming to the End of SEO?"
We'd say YES, and NO.
At Nextiny Marketing, we used to be an SEO company. It's true, we used to help clients "BS" Google with keyword after keyword after keyword. Over time, we started to offer social media management services, then blogging strategy workshops and helped clients write the best blogs for their business. All of a sudden, we've become a content marketing company. And, yes, we are still tracking keywords and links, producing measurable results.
Google's goal is to deliver the most accurate search results to its users. (We might even say that one of their recent goals has been to kill the original idea of SEO - at least the old tricks of the trade.)
The bottom line? You can still make Google work for you - with a real content strategy. There is no other way.
Personally, I'd love to lose a few pounds, but I'm afraid I struggle to stay committed to the complete mix with proven results - something along the lines of proper nutrition + healthy portions + staying active. There's no easy cure-all that delivers overnight weight loss success. In fact, if there was a miracle treatment out there, would it be safe? Or could it pose lethal? Similarly, there is no longer a fancy box of tricks which can deliver overnight results in the world of SEO. In fact, if you try to "trick" Google, Google might "kill" your website. On the other hand, if you continually post and update REAL content, Google will showcase your quality content on its first page.
The recent Mashable article references the possible "Death of SEO," but we suggest that SEO has been simply reincarnated in the form of content marketing. (Click here to learn 10 Things Your Content Marketing Strategy Needs in Order to Survive in the world today.)
That's why, over the past four years, we've been increasingly concentrating on helping clients produce and promote the right content, which is the first step of attracting the right visitors to your website.This is the basis of the Inbound Marketing Methodology, the future of online marketing overall.
So, world of online marketers, it's time to do the right thing. And in today's world, Inbound Marketing is the right process - to produce the right content - which will attract strangers to your site, convert them into leads, close them as customers and delight them as they become promoters of your brand.
To learn more about what Inbound Marketing is, click here.