SEO Is Not An Argument

[peter_d]

Or something.

I love Godin's stuff, but he can talk some gibberish, at times.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_b...-argument.html

One of my concerns about the misuse of SEO by marketers is that it’s largely about tactics. It’s easy to get hooked on constant cycling of this approach or that tactic, all to incrementalize your improvements. Big successes, on the other hand, come from arguments. Arguments about what you stand for. Arguments about big strategic shifts

I think he means strategy is more useful than tactics. A person almost certainly needs a strategy, but that strategy also needs to be made up of well executed tactics. Most SEOs I know see strategy as being essential.

As for “having an argument”, I’m none the wiser.

There are plenty of big game-changing, controversial ideas that end up as road-kill, and plenty of incremental refinements made to old models that result in game changes. I’d argue Google was an incremental refinement of previous models.

GoTo was the real game changer.

[Red Dog]

Well Peter, thank you for the translation. Yet I am still lost. What exactly does he mean? Did he mean that SEO is not strategy? J! That's confusing. What happened to plain English?

[John Scott]

SEO is not a branding strategy. Companies need to make a statement. Brand marketing folks will tell you that you need to own a word. I don't really agree with the "own a word" thing, but I do agree that companies need to have a brand with easily identifiable attributes. Simply doing SEO does not define a brand, nor does it constitute a positioning strategy.

[Jexley]

Godin's great, and I agree with what I think is him saying that you have to have something important to say (an argument? not really), but I highly disagree that the use of tactics is poo.

Tactics is what I use to get my kids off to school on time every damn day. Do you think me making an argument is going to get them fed and dressed faster? To that I say "HA!"

The argument is what drives me towards my goal, getting them to school on time. The tactics are what I use to accomplish this goal as efficiently as possible.

Ask my wife, passion and drive are fantastic, but without the use of tactics in their execution, at the end of the day all you are is tired.

[biopod]

Originally Posted by Jexley

Godin's great, and I agree with what I think is him saying that you have to have something important to say (an argument? not really), but I highly disagree that the use of tactics is poo.

Tactics is what I use to get my kids off to school on time every damn day. Do you think me making an argument is going to get them fed and dressed faster? To that I say "HA!"

The argument is what drives me towards my goal, getting them to school on time. The tactics are what I use to accomplish this goal as efficiently as possible.

Ask my wife, passion and drive are fantastic, but without the use of tactics in their execution, at the end of the day all you are is tired.

I think that without your clear example I wouldn't understand the first post.
thanks