See our latest creative collaborative project:
The Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce's 2009 Annual Report

Is SEO Bunk, or not?

I've been following, with no small measure of amusement, the rantings of a particular web designer who claims that Search Engine optimization is the pet rock of the new millenium. Actually, he calls it way worse than that, but this is a blog for grown ups. I've never heard of the guy before, so if he has done one thing smart, it's that he has created a buzz about himself.

Today I read a pretty well reasoned, but defensive reply about it. Somewhere, between the F-bomber and the SEO firm, is the answer.

SEO is important. SEO will set you apart from your competitors - but what should it cost and is there a magic SEO bullet? How much money should it take and is it really so technical that joe the plumber can't do it?

The writer of the original post (click the link at your own risk, he really is kind of a tool) claims that good design should do it. Well, there's a little truth to that - good design with all the right tools embedded in it, good copywriting that is done with SEO in mind, and your keywords and meta tags in place. Oh, and the keywords, by the way, might not be what you think they should be.

The problem with relying on a design is that the we b is a big place. Your competitors might hire a good designer too. A beautifully designed website is simply not going to cut it.

Good SEO mixes the technical with the organic. And the organic isn't just about the beautifully crafted images. The organic means ensuring cross links between your company and others, relevant news and other opportunities to cross promote. Organic means regular updating, integrating blogs and social media and utilizing many of the free or low cost applications out there to place yourself where your audience looks for information.

It also means thinking about marketing from the consumers eyes. A good web developer will know to do this with you. They will discuss effective copywriting for SEO and help you incorporate it into the flow.

The more technical aspects involve embedding code and and analytics in your site and submitting to multiple directories/engines, some of which you have never heard of, but they're integral. That's simplifying it quite a bit, but SEO is not actually brain surgery.

SEO is something that takes time - and time is money of course - and persistance. It is something that requires regular updating of your site and you, your developer or your SEO company will need to monitor your website traffic.

I think any good developer worth their salt, should build it into their quote. If they don't know how to do it, I think that shows that they aren't keeping up with the rest of the world, and it makes me wonder what else they might not know. Expect it to initially cost somewhere around $500 to do it inclusively with your site development.

The level at which you need your SEO to perform will also determine what you need to pay - and what you inlcude in your strategy - whether you are local or global will make a big difference. Whether you are in a highly competitive industry or not, also matters. A good developer will also be able to guide you through the pros and cons of pay-per-click advertising and other opportunities that exist to target your market effectively.

There's a fine line between authentic SEO and a one-size-fits-all-and-costs-a-bundle strategy. Look into the promises the developer makes and ask how they plan to achieve it. If it doesn't involve a dialogue with you - it probably is a scam - or at least an overpriced package that won't fit your needs. (That's another blog yet to come: everything doesn't need to cost 10,000+)

The other thing to be aware of is "the instant SEO" fallacy. SEO spikes quick with an immediate boost from previous rankings, but then turns into a slow burn. It takes maintenance and time, and throwing more money at it won't help.

Either way, you need to consider SEO part of your strategy and you need to work with someone who can show you results and metrics - and include you in the process. And if your web developer hasn't brought it up to you and isn't doing it already - he/she's got some 'splaining to do.

Using a different take on Cedar Rapids Flood Story

Cedar Rapids appeared in the New York Times today - portraying the problems we've faced since the waters recede. Money gets allocated and it never gets here.

It's like roach motel: Dollars go in(to government agencies.) But they don't come out.

But the cool thing about the story is that it got play four months after the Cedar Rapids Flood Story kits in the Quaker Oatmeal tubes went out the door, spearheaded by a group of creative public and media reations professionals in the corridor. NYT was smart to wait a bit and tie it into recent news - the 4th anniversary of Katrina. Good for them.

What will Cedar Rapids Flood Story do for Cedar Rapids? It's provided some exposure and it helps raise the awareness of the situation we're facing. The most important result is yet to be seen though. Will it apply the pressure needed to loosen the pursestrings that hold money that Cedar Rapids.

How can we continue to apply the pressure? Since we're living in the digital age, it's time to start forwarding selected stories to the decision makers and follow up to ensure they've been read. We also need to post in our digital sharing world and leverage the networks we have to continue to keep the problem in the spotlight.

To be sure, the cover of the NYT is going to catch some eyes in Washington and other areas of the country. But we can't rest on our laurels. We all need to rebroadcast the message. The New ork Times is simply one vehicle to get the word out.

Get tweeting.

Three Instantly Effective Social Media Strategies - Conversation Starter - HarvardBusiness.org

Found this article on the Harvard Business blog. Both interesting and relevant. People often want "instant results" when it comes to Social Media and while Jen & I will preach until we're blue in the face that Social Media Marketing is a slow burn, here's a little "instant gratification."

Three Instantly Effective Social Media Strategies - Conversation Starter - HarvardBusiness.org

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de Novo is Landlocked!

de Novo is excited to announce that we will be doing promotions for the screening of the new movie "16 to Life" at the Landlocked Film Festival in Iowa City on August 29th.

Billed as an Indie Teen Comedy - the film is already garnering international reviews. 16 to Life was filmed on the banks ofthe Mississippi by Emmy Award Winning director Becky Smith, creator of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. This is Smith's first feature.

Remember Rachel Green on ER - ill-fated, long suffering Dr. Green's angsty teenage daughter? Well she's still angsty but now it's all about sex - and the Cultural Revolution in China. Oh, and among other stars, it also features Carson Kressley (sporting a heckuva northern accent doncha know) as "the Jesus-y clog dancer."

We don't believe in spoilers, but we are looking forward to seeing people from both end of the corridor at the Iowa City screening. Keep your eyes open for more local promotions for this film.

Watch the trailer: (Warning - very funny. Don't pee your pants.) http://www.16tolifethemovie.org/Barry.mov

One Year Later - One Floor Higher

My thoughts keep going back to this time last year, as we were watching the water rise by the hour.


June 8, 2008, Doug (my husband and the Downtown District CEO) told me to think about what my office would look like with 2 1/2 feet of water in it. I thought he was crazy.



June 9, I still thought he was crazy, since we were one block out of the 500 year flood zone. But I started to think he was going to lose his office. Or at least get a little water in it. That day we sandbagged downtown with friends at Merrill Lynch and other places around the First Street E area.



Later that day, Heather and I grabbed hummus from Pitaz for lunch and sat on the bridge and watched the water visibly rise over the course of 45 minutes. I think we were both a little shaken.



Wednesday, I went out to Palo to sandbag. Heather called my cell and told me she had been instructed to evacuate and she was loading the printer and all electronics into the car. I met her downtown and we put our rugs up on the tables and moved everything in Cedar Rapids Coffee's basement 3 feet off the floor. We still didn't think it was that bad.

Thursday most of downtown was evacuated. Doug and I went downtown and watched as the city buses from the jail came through the water, transporting prisoners at the last moment from the island where they were detained.



We watched anxious business people laugh, or cry, or throw their hands up in impotent frustration as the waters rose. Some people dealt with it with humor, others with anger. Most of us were in disbelief.



Doug's office was underwater by 11 that morning. A man walked into Blue Strawberry, where we had been sandbagging and helping move pumps downstairs and said "We lost the Paramount." I thought he was being overdramatic - but he's right. We did indeed lose the Paramount.



By now, water in our office was more than a possibility, the basement was filling. Jen Visser and I (and so many others) sandbagged at the Theatre and all around the coffee shop and our offices. When the police came by and told us it was time to leave, we sandbagged elsewhere. We filled sandbags for Mercy and for others.



We were sent over to help with an area across 8th Ave, but wanted to stop and make sure Jeff Quint was out of his winery in the back of BENZ. He wasn't of course and the water was about butt-high on him as he waded out to talk to him. He had rented pumps and had sandbags and was fighting as hard as he could, but eventually even Jeff, who is one of the more stubborn guys I know, had to give up the battle. He and his employee waded out among floating spools of industrial cable from Terry Durin Co, mattresses, debris and probably sewage.



Jen V. and I worked until we couldn't anymore. I went home, cracked a beer and fell asleep with it on my nightstand. My hands were numb from hauling sandbags and my arms felt like a couple pieces of cooked pasta.



Friday was less emotional for me, even as I watched CNN broadcast across the street from my office. I shifted my focus to obsessively watching local news and staring in horror at the homes that were being lost, largely across the river.



It was weird - the sun was shining that day, but 10 square miles of Cedar Rapids were underwater.


Friday was when I fell apart, and honestly didn't pick myself back up for a couple months. I took the kids to their grandparents and stayed for a couple days. I think I sat in a stupor most of the time.



During the water restriction I took the kids to the cabin while Doug worked non stop out at Kirkwood, and from our dining room table. I still think that many do not realize what City leaders gave up to keep the city from falling into chaos, and to begin recovery before the waters even receded.



The summer of 2008 was by far the worst summer - for us and for many. de Novo struggled as many other businesses did. But we counted ourselves lucky as we didn't lose much in the way of property. Most of our losses came from difficulties in productivity due to the loss of our office and the local economy. Obviously our homes were not affected, but mentally I think our loss and bearing witness to the losses our friends and community suffered, took an emotional toll neither of us expected. Really, we felt guilty for the relatively minor losses we suffered in comparison. That guilt took on a life of its own at times and could be overwhelming.



One year later, we're located on the second floor of Guaranty Bank downtown and our business has survived both the flood, the flood economy and the national (global one might say) recession.



We're still doing what we do and we're expanding, but the flood changed us in many ways too. For me personally it makes me appreciate my local community much more. I miss the library and the Science Station as well as many of my favorite haunts. I avoid flood coverage often, because I seem to live it at home, being married to Doug and as his role expanded with EPRC last fall. I forced myself to read this week's coverage of the anniversary because I understand that avoiding it isn't dealing with it and the flood of 2008 is a reality that I can't ignore.



I take less interest in national news and have little patience for entertainment news or TV in general now. I felt like we've lived our own reality show and I don't want to watch some guy eat bugs or watch the privileged dance their way to more stardom. I just want Cedar Rapids back.



But I want it back better, brighter and more vibrant than before. I will not settle for less.


There's a lot of work to do, but we can do this. As a community, we will.

Marketing as a Team

Andrea Wagner at Management Resource Group once said : "You're not one of those marketing people that feels like they have to rip everything up and start over." That's paraphrased a little, but that was the gist of what she said.

I took that as a compliment - because most of our clients do know what's best for their company, sometimes they just need help telling other people about it - or targeting the correct market.

There are the typical situations where we come in and it's time for a new logo, or a new site or campaign, but as an agency, it's not something we can do alone. Try as we might, we aren't the experts on most business models, outside of our own industry.

Now one of the fun things about agency work is we get the opportunity to learn about our client's businesses and often learn in-depth about them, but the fact remains that we weren't the ones who built the business.

We strive to achieve a balance of expertise. You + Us = Good Marketing, and Good Marketing = Better Sales for our Clients - which is the point of employing a marketing agency. Any marketing agency that wants to come in and immediately rip up all your past work without first understanding the evolution of your company's brand has an ego problem and won't serve you well.

Kind of harsh, but it's something we pride ourselves on. We know Marketing. You know your company. Let's work together to make things happen.