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How to Explain SEO to the Illiterate – the Library Analogy
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Having spent the past few days with family and friends for the Holiday, I repeatedly found myself in the situation of trying to explain search engine optimization and how websites are not simply ‘found’ through Google. Peppered with questions about how SEO is Marketing or why Google doesn’t just do a better job, I can now claim (though likely still untrue) that I have more practice explaining search engines, websites, and why SEO matters, to the uninitiated than anyone on earth!
It occurred to me that while my previous diatribe, SEOs are more important than CFOs, was good fodder for those with a clue, many of us still have to merely explain SEO to peers and coworkers who have no idea what’s going on. To those noble SEOs braving an uphill battle each and every day, I offer a trip to your public library.
The answer lies not in a book at the library but the library itself. Think of websites as books and GoogahooMSNAsk as a librarian. Bear with me a second, this is a well practiced metaphor that will hit you in a second. Librarians serve to point you in the right direction at the library. You ask for a book and they query their index: what was a card catalogue (think, Yahoo Directory) is now a magic box called a computer that sits on their desk and into which you have no visibility (Sound like Google?). That librarian and their index have a few limitations or requirements:
- The book must be a book held by in the library
- That book must be in the library
- The book must be its proper place in the shelves
- The book must be cataloged properly
Those requirements enable the librarian (Google) to point you to your book (website). Not a book in the library? Google hasn’t found it yet. Your book isn’t in the library? Your servers are down. Not in its proper place in the shelves? Did you move your website and change its address? Not cataloged properly? Do you use 301 redirects or dynamic URLs? An SEO’s job is to ensure the book is in the library, that it is available, and in the proper place.
But what of optimization? We’ve used the library analogy to put in recognizable terms how a website has to be indexed by a search engine, just as a book is indexed by a library, but we do so much more. And so too does a library serve to help explain SEO:
- The title of your book determines where it sits on the shelves
- The content of your book weighs on its popularity
- Where do you fall on the spectrum of authors? Are you of the worst offense? Or Danielle Steel, Dan Brown or Nietzsche?
- Is your book in good shape or missing its cover or pages?
- Is there a book club or featured book section into which you can get your book moved?
The job of an SEO is to deliver as many readers as possible to a book as well as simply indexing it in the library.
What have you titled your book? Is it a copy of another book or something staid and unattractive? Listen to these best sellers, “This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession” “The World is Flat” “I Am America (And So Can You!)” Now, I’m not making the claim that the title of a book makes it fly off the shelves but it helps!
What is the book about? Have you added value to society? “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz, “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman and even “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” will be in high demand at the library because they are enjoyable to read.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra which famously declares that “God is dead” is often said to be the most original literary work. Ask yourself if your online work is original. The degree of originality plays an important role the the consideration of the library in featuring and promoting your book. Perhaps you aren’t Nietzsche but Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling who’s written words are innovative, original takes on mythology and legend that have been retold for centuries. The popularity of this lesser degree of originality does just as well online as off. Even the budding ‘Danielle Steel’ of web design can achieve prominence simply rehashing the same concept over and over again. But each has its place and its life cycle in the library. The original classics will remain a part of the index forever while “Toxic Bachelors,” no matter how popular, may struggle to simply make the cut.
So what of the quality of your book? Consider that without its cover the library will be hard pressed to return it to its shelfs. Sure, they may one day get around to sticking a piece of card board in place of the cover and putting it back on the shelf but failing to maintain the quality of your book can’t be good for business.
And finally consider popularity and placement. It should come as no surprise to the enraptured audience to whom you are explaining SEO, that featured books do well and best sellers exponentially benefit from their prominent placement and availability. How you market, position, and achieve placement for your book in the library determine the size of the audience of the book just as the marketing, PR, and availability of your business and website must be aligned with search marketing efforts in both paid search and natural if you are to truly benefit from the librarians.
So what does that have to do with Illiteracy? Well… nothing. The play on words between libraries,
books, literacy, people who don’t get SEO, etc… well… you get the idea. Your website is a book. The SEO is the author, publisher, marketer, and celebrity on the book tour. Make sure everyone understands how to use the card catalog.
Just for fun
Working for a Startup is All Fun and Games
If this doesn’t at least want to make you want to consider working for a startup…
Jump to 4:10 to catch Outright.com’s mystery founders getting their groove on and thanks to First Round Capital for a great idea last holiday season
What App to Rule them All?
Its not that often that I go completely off topic but with the flurry of excitement over Microsoft, Google, and Apple, of late, I’ve had my mind on that miracle PDA which is destined to transform mobile computing. I am a Mac convert, courtesy of the iPhone. As one who has long panned the promise of mobile, soiled by my experience with an early Palm PDA (which was, in its defense, a fine device but ahead of its time), the iPhone delivers the long held promised-land; the convergence of communications and computing. The iPHONE couldn’t be more inaccurately named, in fact, the quality of its phone is one of its greatest criticisms; it is the simplicity, the breadth of features, the quality, and the beauty that allows us characterize the iPhone as the future ideal.
Enough with the soap boxing, I’m not here to promote this now commonplace device. I want to share my experience as my one great frustration (okay, there is more than one), is that the ability to sort and rank apps is atrocious, exacerbated by an all too easy method for gaming the rankings; stuffing pork into the App Store. The iPhone itself, mind you, is just a brick with a phone, email function, and web browser (yes, I’m being intentionally extreme). The magic of the iPhone, that which Google has yet to crack, is the laundry list of well-developed, established applications that make the iPhone the must have device. What the terrible oversight on the part of Apple means for you, the consumer, is that you can’t find a good app to save your life. More to my frustration, review sites and top 10 lists are no better, seemingly born of PR machines and untested impressions of the photos people see of screens.
So, without furthur adeui, my battle-worn experience from which you can pick the remains.
Let me start by positing that there are 3 types of mobile users. Mobile companies and research firms will claim there are countless dozens, with variations to make your head spin but in my mind, at the end of the day, there are three primary use cases: Chat, Phone, and Computing. Now, my friends in the mobile space are having a heart attack since I don’ refer to it as SMS, MMS, or even text; the fact is, people chat, they need a good phone, or they need a mobile computer (perhaps all 3). Yes too, you want a camera and we all love ring tones but, when it comes down to it, you only carry around that brick in your pocket because it does one or more of these things the way you like it; you can chat with friends, you make a lot of good calls, or have a laptop in the palm of your hand.
I share that opinion only to caveat these recommendations; I was disappointed with my early PDA and have never bothered spending money on a cell phone because I love that the iPhone is a Mobile Computer.
Going live this weekend was one app to rule them all. What was it that the Polaroid did so brilliantly that enabled it to dominate a market before falling victim to innovation? Instant gratification. The era of the digital camera and MMS (happy?) may have evolved our photographic sensibilities but, now missing from the experience, is that tangible photograph with which you can share a laugh or a tear.
Imagine, you are on safari in the mountains of Peru (you can Safari in Peru can’t you?) and the beautiful vistas just have to be shared with friends and family back home. You take a snapshot, upload it to facebook, it makes it rounds amongst your friends, who make snarky comments beyond your control, and it fades into digital history. Most of your family never sees it (come on, are they really on facebook?). Missing from this? (besides the fond memories shared) The tangibility, the permanence, the personal touch. You’d rather send a postcard but postcards are of far off places taken by someone else. Why not ShootIt yourself? Better… ask your Sherpa (do they use Sherpas in Peru?) to take the photo, with you in the shot; then, grab a dozen or hundred addresses from your address book, add a personal note, and in a couple days, postcards arrive on doorsteps.
I’m so excited by this app because I don’t think even the developers realize what an innovative leap they’ve made for an industry which has languished in digital memory cards, digital frames that still don’t automatically update, and massive databases of photos growing in vain attempts to organize them online. Attempts to bridge the gab between the personal and the technical have been made but who wants a printer in their kitchen? ShootIt, delivers.
Alright, that excitement out of my system, and without the ability to gush over Hulu or Google Voice, the rest should go quick. Here are some must have apps.
Urbanspoon. An early app that holds its age so well that it still seems innovative compared to some things coming out. Can’t decide where to go for dinner? Shake.
Almost eliminating the need for the iPod, Pandora and Slacker Radio do for radio what Bruckheimer does for movies. Pure enjoyment. I’m not going to comment on the quality of the content therein (ahem), my point is that these apps make it so easy to listen to good music, you know what to expect; like a Bruckheimer film. (Why both? Slacker is programmed and seems to have a little more variety within pre-defined stations. For example, it is great for Toddler music).
Twitter? TweetDeck. Period. If you really want to follow Twitter, and not just your friends, TweetDeck is the way to go. Doesn’t do everything but does more than anything else.
I say to heck with the various news apps published by brands themselves; troubled attempts to continue to control the content. Download Fluent News.
If you even only have a glass of wine on occassion, WineEnthusiast’s Wine Guide will make you sound like a pro. Keep a list of wines you like and pull handy references to impress your friends.
As far as location based social networking goes, I’m still hopeful for a powerful app but I love Loopt and its ability to track down nearby friends, and foursquare as a way to dominate your town. Problem with both is that they really only get exciting when your friends use them. Then again… someone has to start so get going!
Betty Crocker’s Cookbook! Yeah, I said it. I don’t cook. At all. Ever. Okay, I heat up pasta and make a mean bowl of cereal. Its not that I don’t enjoy eating, I love food, I don’t cook. The Cookbook is a must have.
I’ve long had a dream that MasterCard would rebrand itself out of the credit card business and become just what the name implies, the Master Card that holds all the other cards that stores and business think we want stuffing our wallets so show off our loyalty while getting discounts. Until then, we have CardStar.
Listen to iTunes at home? Get Remote, you’ll thank me.
Self explanatory apps that, though they may get criticized, you’ll love: Flashlight, Camera Zoom, AAA Discounts, WC Finder (almost relegated to my runners up; needs more… WCs), and WebMD.
Runners up (I really wish this were better than they are): iFitness, Stanza, Zillow, HearPlanet, and AroundMe
Bear in mind with this list, I’ve tried almost every app on top ten lists. If you have a recommendation, PLEASE let me know. I expect, that odds are that I’ve tried, and panned, it but, I hope you can prove me wrong.