SEO Vs. Targetted Traffic: The Debate Rages

By Franscisca Kruissink Copyright © 2009

For years the debate over the best form of internet marketing has raged throughout the i-marketing world. It is comprised of two camps: SEO marketers and, for want of a better term, "targetted" marketers.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing is made up primarily of keyword placement, general site optimization, updated, relevant site content, in-bound link systems and tools such as Adwords. Meanwhile targetted marketing relies on sources outside of the search engines such as the use of traffic exchanges, email marketing, and social marketing.

On the one hand, SEO marketers contend that, as long as the site has the necessary keywords, plus updated, relevant content on topical subjects, lots of in-bound links and, if necessary, the additional help of Google's adwords (or adwords-like tools in other search engines), one can count on good results from those efforts alone.

And while targetted marketers agree on some of those points, their argument is that search engines are not as vital to i-marketing as SEO marketers presume. They question how much people actually use search engines when looking for information and point out that, while someone may even begin with a search engine, they are more likely to move through a series of links found within the sites (in forums, in articles, in traffic exchanges) rather than return to the search engine for the same search. Google's creation of Adsense -- and its resultant popularity -- confirms that there is some validity to this argument.

But the SEO camp usually counters at this point that the amount of traffic driven to a site by these efforts is infinitesimal and not to be considered. Or, that it would take Herculean efforts for those strategies to have any effect. They are, of course, ignoring the "targetted" aspect of this and/or still relying on the presumption that search engines are the ultimate goal for all. Or, that they should be.

And, of course, this is usually when the term "niche marketing" begins to be bandied about. In the SEO marketer's mind -- still presuming the search engines and keywords are everything -- this is the only logical conclusion. The targetted marketer, meanwhile, argues that it doesn't take thousands of exposures to make a sale. He knows that if his site is seen by just a few hundred people who are already looking for his product (and presuming, of course, it is a good product), he can count on at least 10% sales. Search engine placement? He's on page 2,083, with a PR rank of 0. But he makes sales on a daily basis and laughs at SEO.

Plus, the infamous 2006 Google Juggernaut (in which Google changed their algorythims and, literally overnight, placements and rankings were radically altered) taught many marketers that search engines can be dangerous dance partners, changing partners in the midst of a song. Yet the SEO marketers tend to downplay the incident, stoically insisting it was just a new wrinkle and it simply meant a closer, more relevant strategy was necessary.

This is where things usually end in a stalemate, with the two camps parting comany, each firm in their beliefs that their strategy is the best. In truth, both strategies should be employed, as well as niche marketing. Unless of course, they really have more money than they know what to do with. And, if so, they can send that money to me (kidding).

But, seriously. The truly wise marketer should never rely solely on any one form of marketing. Rather, it is better to employ a combination of the two strategies.

Of course, optimizing a site is a prime requisite for anyone since half the keys to optimization (uniformity, ease of use, etc.) include the basics for any professional site. Plus, good, relevant keywords are always important, both in the meta tag and within the site.

But keeping your page in front of an interested audience on a daily basis is just as important. This could be thought of as an 'active' form of marketing, rather than the more 'passive' SEO marketing. It is achieved in many ways, using a selection of tools such as traffic exchanges, safelists, article marketing, forum marketing, social marketing, etc. It is not necessary to do all of these. But at least one or two is essential to success.


About The Author
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FRANSCISCA KRUISSINK is a veteran i-marketer and the owner of Hit2Hit (http://hit2hit.com), a well-established manual traffic exchange.
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