TODAY'S BEST PRACTICES FOR WEBSITE MARKETING

SES New York: Shapely Facts and Figures

Feature article by Steve Caming

I could certainly take a traditional approach and use dramatic statistics and percentages to make a case for how big the search world economy is. There was surely no shortage of information being offered at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York. Virtually every company (or every virtual company) had newly minted facts and figures to dazzle the attendees with their expertise and value.

In fact, for an industry based in an online, digital environment, there's suddenly a lot of paper flowing in the searchstream. That's right, good old-fashioned, four-color, coated stock, printed materials. Business cards are too small and forgettable, disks apparently seem too easy and too soft a sell. But, with the new and innovative uses of…paper (!?), we can now have race cars, sumo wrestlers, ipods in gold pans and an endless array of happy, shiny people and geometric shapes and colors to explain superior service and technology.

But wait, there's more! That's right, so much more! We have give-a-ways! How about a nice new car! (insert applause here) Yes! It's a mini-cooper! Your odds of winning-- well your odds are not good! But it's OK, because everybody's a winner! That's right-here's your complimentary…Hot Sauce!

Everyone knows "something is happening" here. But even Search Maestro Danny Sullivan was caught by surprise when the numbers of attendees at sessions required taking down walls and having people sitting six deep on the floor. No, Danny, we're not in Kansas, anymore. However, based on the kind of business growth being experienced, I'd say yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

The lamentable cost of serving the newly huddled masses needing search services is the carnival-like atmosphere which has emerged to serve them. As the technologies evolve into areas of special expertise, there is a certain leveling of the playing field amongst those who know search marketing/optimization.

Certain firms and individuals can start as leaders in their area, but can quickly become one of the herd as others catch up. It's happening already and in the absence of true innovation, it leaves them all out standing in their field, requiring ever larger signs to get our attention. Which is where the expensively printed mountain climbers, ice fishermen and other metaphorical sales imagery comes in.

Of course, some companies have taken it into another…dimension, shall we say? I refer, of course to the advent of booth babes. The statistical value of these figures remains unknown, but judging by the crowds they drew, not unappreciated. Yes, having them at SES is a small step in the ongoing decline of western civilization, but not, as some have inferred, a sign of the impending apocalypse. In fact, if these devious marketing tools (I mean those crafty, tightly clad women) are the new secret weapon of the Search Wars, then in the words of our president I can only say "Mission Accomplished".

There was a time when you actually had to know something about search to be working in this industry. Now for some, you just need to know how to outsource and generate attention. Think of them as camp followers.

For the consumers of search services--those upturned, hopeful faces who turn out in ever increasing numbers at each SES, the mission is clear: listen closely, favor function over form, quality before quantity….and don't believe everything you read in the papers.

I love it when the circus is in town!