I’ve been reading a lot about SEO and my clients have been very focused on it.  I get why– it really quantifies marketing efforts and allows you to be more nimble in your messaging.  So I’m not going to wax on about the power of SEO.

Instead, I’m going to stick up for good, old fashioned branding, strategy and market segmentation.  While it is very powerful to figure the best keywords to build traffic to your website and generate leads, what do you do if your audience doesn’t care about them???  Better yet, what if the end result won’t help you grow your business?!

Here’s an example– say you are real estate broker who focuses on high end real estate in Boston.  You do your SEO and figure out your keywords– chances are luxury real estate is such a crowded category you drill down.  Back Bay real estate is a long tail keyword so you go after that.  And guess what?  You have tremendous success! Your phone is ringing off the hook and you are scrambling to keep up with the leads.  But? Everyone of your leads is a college student looking for affordable housing to rent!  So I ask you, now that you have spent considerable time screening these inquiries was the effort worth it?  Or did you just drink the SEO Kool Aid?

So before you rush into changing your website to populate it with promising keywords, take a look at the copy.  Is it on strategy for the message you want to send your target audience?  Does it reinforce your brand? Do you clearly communicate your strengths and focus?  If not, you might want to reconsider your strategy and put down the cup!

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