SEM: Seth Godin Has It (Partly) Wrong

If you type in "Trade Show Marketing" in either Google or Yahoo!, you'll find that TSMR has the #1 listing (at least today, anyway). I don't use paid inclusion. I've never bought keywords. And I definitely don't buy ads on search engines.

Not that I wouldn't do that for clients. But TSMR, being a blog, has a lot of advantages in terms of SE placement simply due to a continuous stream of relevant content. Until such time as the major SE's stop indexing blogs, I expect to continue to have a high ranking.

I haven't bought Google AdWords or done a Yahoo! paid inclusion for a client yet. I haven't had to as I've had pretty good luck optimizing client sites and my clients' shows are in fields where it's not all that difficult to stand out in a crowd. But I'm open to paid inclusion and AdWords. I imagine the time will come when I will recommend them.

Seems that will be sooner than later, according to Seth Godin.

Godin refers to search engine marketing as a "black art".

Lucking into (and it is luck) the top slot of a great word on Google is not a business plan. It's superstition. It's blind faith.

He recommends buying keywords and holds up The South Beach Diet (TM) Online as an example of paid search success.

I'm not buying it. First off, Godin selected a poor example. The South Beach Diet book was launched by Rodale Press via traditional advertising, advertorials and direct mail. The book kept selling and drew even more attention on the back of Atkins mania. Which then spawned huge press coverage, including all the major morning talk shows and many news features. All of which cleared the way for The South Beach Diet Online to have great success.

Godin admits that the folks at The South Beach Diet Online did spend signficant sums on optimizing their site. I find it hard to imagine that they wouldn't have had a top 5 listing on Yahoo! or Google with optimizaton alone. Cconsidering they don't have buys for "Atkins" or "diet", but did apparently buy "South Beach" - which is all but redundant - it seems like a waste of money.

But, they do have a site with $10 million in subscriber revenue and I don't.

Godin is right on a couple of points. First, in that you should take the path that allows you measurable consistency. However, I also think it's possible The South Beach Diet Online folks could've spent a couple hundred thousand instead of a million on their ad buys. It's just not tracking with me. Fails my test of reasonableness.

Second in offering his 'road map' analogy to SEM.

Imagine your retail store was on a road that no one ever drove down unless they found it on a map. And then imagine that they redid the maps every week and the mapmakers refused to tell you exactly how they went about deciding which roads to draw and in which hierarchy to place them.

But that's why you pay SEM professionals or hire your own. To stay on top of changes in search methodology. Sites like Search Engine Watch monitor the major SE's continuously. Yes, you can get taken for a ride by a poor search engine marketing firm. But you can also get taken for a ride with most ad agencies. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to use them.

Godin may be right when it comes to selling online subscriptions or vacations or hard goods. But for now I'll stick to my guns and say that for 95% of trade show organizers, optimization is all you need.

As for Godin's claim that success in SEM is pure luck, I think even he'd agree that in life you make your own luck.