Some people take a more creative approach. The best way to build links now is creating linkbait. You have to be creative to come up with a good linkbait idea and creative in writing or designing or programming to pull it off successfully.

SEO is technically a subset of search engine marketing (sem) which is a subset of marketing in general. Someone who is good at seo knows that understanding and working on the big picture pays the most dividends. The best SEOs are practicing beyond what might be technically considered seo.

There’s no doubt it takes creative genius to market something well. Or that it’s a skill many of us are lucky enough to possess. Marketing is inherently social; even if it’s disconnected it’s about communicating directly to people.

SEO, to me at least, is a more narrow thing. When I ran my site under the “Valhalla Photos” name I didn’t know a thing about search engines, except that I’m glad I didn’t pay attention when they taught us the Dewey Decimal System. I wish I were able to measure the difference, but now that I’ve learned how to write for search engines, and more importantly how to balance between humans and bots, I’m sure there’s some improvement in my traffic. Actually it’s about triple today, but I have more photos, and there are sites like Stumble Upon and Delicious sending me traffic that didn’t exist a few years ago.

I haven’t changed my overall marketing that much, though … I’m not skilled or knowledgeable enough to.

With the burgeoning popularity of the internet, new developmental tools are created daily. With these tools come new challenges, marketing, design, cross-browser transitions, etc. All of these can be a daunting task for those web gurus who aren’t well-versed in the W3 Standards.

Michael I never did see Brazil, but I know the basics of the plot and I can understand why this debate would remind you of the renegade plumbers. Your quote about the accountant was great. I was trying to think of something exactly like that all weekend in preparation for this post, but you said it better than anything that was going through my head. Thanks too for dropping by.

Forrest that’s interesting that you bring up photography as a comparison. My thought is that all industries get their share of spam and I’d bet that the percentage is pretty similar across industries. One thing about seo though is there’s quite a lot of art involved. It depends a little on the SEO. I find the scientific part tiring at times and much of what I’ll do comes from observation instead of any rigorous testing. There’s also a lot of creativity in coming up with a strategy or developing content. Different sites require different seo.

I don’t think you’re doing anything unethical by helping people set up WordPress. All you did was help someone and you did it well enough that you were recommended to more people. As long as you’re not promising something you can’t deliver what’s the problem.

Is a $100 Spiderman action figure really useless? It isn’t to the person who’s willing to pay that much. In the end things are worth whatever someone will pay.

I think there are lines that can be crossed. but the reason comment spam exists is because there are a lot of people who let it get posted and once posted people click on the links and buy something. You get comment spam because for some it works to rbing a positive ROI. If it stopped working you’d stop seeing it. Get yourself a good spam blocker like Akismet or Spam Karma 2. Either will solve most of your spam problem.

You mentioned writing book reviews; you should read Will, by G Gordon Liddy. There’s a part in the book where the man discusses laws and ethics, and points out that there’s nothing inherently immoral about driving past a red, eight-sided road sign with the word “STOP” printed on it. But there is something very immoral with risking someone else’s life or safety for no good reason. The man having spent time prosecuting people as high-profile as Tim Leary, and then spending a few years in prison for Watergate has an unusual perspective on law and morality.

I’m mentioning this because you raise some good questions. I’m not sure if I’d necessarily blame the get-rich-quick sites for hiring the $9 a month SEO; a lot of people really have no idea. I landed half a dozen clients who need web sites, all in their 60s, who’ve been avoiding the subject because they thought they would be nickeled-and-dimed for the price of a car. I quoted one of them less than my cheapest lens cost to set them up a WordPress site, showed them how easy my blog is to use, and word of mouth spread like wildfire. When I get run over by that proverbial bus, these are the type of people who might be talked into useless SEO work, and not understand enough about the internet to figure out where they went wrong.

It’s not always a generational thing; there are 20 year olds who don’t know enough to do their due diligence before hiring the wrong company. I’d guess most people really should know better, though. I can’t be the only person who decided I should have a web site, and learned what I needed to do to make that happen…

So on a final note, I’m really not sure at what point it goes from “I’ll sell you a useless Spiderman action figure for $100″ to something truly unethical that might need regulation? I’m tempted to say it’s when an MFA or otherwise lousy site pushes mine down a notch, but there’s a bit of self interest there … you have a point that that’s just competition. I think there’s some level that can be crossed when one company’s actions have a negative enough impact on others, even on people they aren’t competing against, that it certainly becomes immoral – comment spam on blogs, for example. Exactly where that point is, though, is a difficult question.

I think the market itself will sieve through good and bad SEOs. Good SEOs will always deliver results, create happy clients and their customers. As the end people won’t use or fall to spammy sites that bad SEOs produce, bad SEOs will either have to learn how to do things right or get new jobs.

I have already seen SEO clients that have tried inefficient SEOs, know what to ask for and are looking for good SEOs. A good sign is that a client isn’t looking for a cheap $9/mo hire, but for a solid, trusted person.