This year marks the continuing and determined effort to acquire, retain, and grow customers through search engine channels. And, while some areas are maturing, innovations in the search marketing arena continue at breakneck speed. But, is it worth it?

First of all, what is SEO? Search Engine Optimization is the effective utilization of search engines to draw traffic to your website. Whether you consider it a science, an art – or a combination of both – it is an ongoing, continuously evolving, high-maintenance process that includes customization of your website for better search engine ranking.

It is mostly technical in nature, combining programming with business, persuasion, sales, marketing, and a love for competitive puzzle solving in a written form. However, it is not just technical; it is not copywriting, proper links and source code, or just search engine submission, but an intricate blend of more than 100 variables into the matrix of a website.

It is difficult, indeed, because every search engine is different without a set of proven methodologies or “trade secrets.” It is a lot of trial and error, research, monitoring industry trends (especially your immediate competitors) and time. Some of the key trends that will shape search marketing this year will be the rise of universal search, the growth of international search marketing campaigns as well as innovative developments in the paid search and natural search landscapes.

Many companies still are under-investing in SEO, and there are several reasons for their reluctance. SEO often involves site-side technical changes that clients are unable to implement due to resource constraints. Additionally, SEO is not as predictable or as measurable as other forms of online marketing. Thus, the investment in SEO is taken on with some risk, and results are not always certain.

So, how does SEO return value on investment?

Think of it this way, the top two priorities that every business has for its website are: One, being found on the Web, and two, turning visitors into customers. Without high rankings, how can anyone find you without directly typing in your URL? And, once they are on your site, does your content engage the end user?

So, does SEO affect your business and your bottom line? ABSOLUTELY!

In the early days (mid-90s), SEO was primarily about getting listed in the search engines and the requirements for ranking were simple and easily abused by spammers as a result. Toward the latter part of the decade, it became more important to be found in human-edited directories and search engines put more emphasis on off-page factors to combat spammers and improve relevancy.

It used to be easy to “trick” search engines, but those days are over. Search engines have won the war against keyword spamming through innovative algorithms that can recognize meaning and relevance. Search engines now look for “authority” sites.

As search engines have become more sophisticated, SEO professionals have evolved as well and must master a number of additional skills including data mining, statistics and semantic analysis. Also important to the task of SEO are keyphrase and behavioral research, website and web traffic analytics to measure results, and watching the trends and changes in search engine technologies.

Our research at NGC shows competitive intelligence means less guesswork, significantly less trial and error and quicker results. It is a more scientific approach to SEO.

The near future will be concerned with responding to the challenges and seizing the opportunities presented by the personalization of search and by the increasing popularity of social media. More sophistication will be used in the area of web analytics as well as merchants seeking to leverage all the benefits of behavioral targeting. Further in the future, we see us putting more effort into mobile marketing as consumers both search and buy items using various mobile devices.

As more services and products via numerous forms of media come about, SEO professionals will have to keep up with these new technologies and channels to discover new ways to optimize visibility and traffic for their clients. But, before you dive into your website’s Titles, Keywords, Meta Tags, Frames, Flash, JavaScript, or anything else associated with the backend, remember the single most important factor to building traffic on your website is what everyone else sees.

Every trick in the book is no substitute for robust content. Brilliant content is what everyone wants: you, your customers, and the search engines. Feed those spiders HTML!

MCNC operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), one of the nation’s first statewide education and research networks. NCREN provides broadband communications technology services and support to K-12 school districts, higher education campuses, academic research institutions, and public health facilities across the state.

MCNC raised $11.7 million in matching funds for its successful application through private sources, including $4 million from the MCNC endowment, making the total project a $40 million investment in North Carolina’s broadband infrastructure.

“Increased broadband access for underserved areas is a critical infrastructure improvement that will help businesses of all sizes create jobs,” said Gov. Perdue.  “NCREN will also play a vital role as part of my Career and College – Ready, Set, Go! Initiative, which will help ensure those businesses have access to a well-trained workforce.”

This funding will allow North Carolina to leverage the existing NCREN to create more robust access for our schools, libraries and public health facilities, while also reaching our underserved citizens.

The MCNC award is a key part of a coordinated strategy developed by the N. C. Office of Economic Recovery & Investment to improve broadband access for businesses and residents in underserved areas and enhance feasibility of Health Information Exchange (HIE) initiatives across the state, resulting in improved access to health services.

The ARRA appropriated $7.2 billion and directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to expand broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across the U.S., increase jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure, and provide long-term economic benefits. The result is the RUS Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

“We are pleased to learn of the BTOP award to MCNC,” said Mike Murphy, chairman of the MCNC Board of Directors.  “The 480 miles of new fiber throughout the western and southeastern part of North Carolina will ensure that our K-12 schools, universities, community colleges, university hospitals, and other community anchor institutions (libraries, public health) will have access to unlimited amounts of bandwidth now and into the future.  All North Carolinians will benefit from the public/private partnership that created this application.”

MCNC will begin immediately to undertake the work of planning and building the new middle-mile fiber. Construction is expected to last up to three years.  The new fiber build will be an essential element in North Carolina’s plans to reach citizens and community anchor institutions that currently have limited broadband access.
Within the next 60 days, MCNC will issue several requests for proposal (RFP) for the design, construction and operation of the network.  These RFPs have the potential to create more than 230 engineering/construction jobs.

The new fiber build will traverse 37 counties in southeastern and western North Carolina.

Consumers and small businesses along the fiber build will be reached with enhanced broadband service through commercial telecommunications and cable providers with whom MCNC has formed partnerships.  FRC/PalmettoNet, a middle-mile operator and partner in MCNC’s application will assist last-mile service providers in reaching consumers and commercial businesses. The network has the potential to serve more than 1,500 anchor institutions, 180,000 businesses, and more than 300,000 underserved families.

“FRC is pleased to be one of MCNC’s key private partners in this project and can think of no better organization than MCNC to lead the expansion of North Carolina’s middle-mile broadband infrastructure” according to John Dudley, FRC’s Senior Director of Public Policy and External Affairs. “We are extremely pleased that the NTIA has recognized the intended benefits of this project and we look forward to building a network which will extend the depth and breadth of broadband within the state of North Carolina.”

This is North Carolina’s second broadband recovery related award.  In October, North Carolina’s broadband authority eNC received a $2.3 million broadband mapping grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition, the MCNC application has been coordinated closely with other applications for federal economic recovery funds in North Carolina, including those in the areas of health care and education.

The article, Job Report: Innovation Future of Digital Media, by John Greaves, provided some interesting insight to future workforce demands and the current employment environment.

I’ve copied the article here:
The first decade of the 21st century witnessed so many changes and it isn’t just the amount of technological advancement; it’s the swiftness with which the digital world has changed. “Jobs have flipped from farming to manufacturing to information, it’s a continuous trend and in America we’re at the forefront,” says George Ou, a Washington, D.C.-based analyst for the think tank Digital Society.org.  The hottest career fields in the tech arena appear to be those that are supportive of each shifting wave of advancement. According to Noah Garrett, founder and president of NCG Communications a consulting firm, “As job seekers and a business owner you must be prepared to support business technologies and future innovations of tomorrow.” It’s almost impossible to predict what’s going to be the next big idea or the most critical fields of the next decade (or even the next five years) but there seems to be a general consensus on the need to be intellectually and academically flexible. “’The best thing a kid heading off to college can do is get a broad set of thinking skills so they can adjust,” Ou says. “In 1999, we thought mainframe programmers would be extinct. The opposite became true because legacy programs like Cobalt are still important and pay good money, but there are fewer and fewer programmers who know how to work with them because everyone is moving to new stuff.”

While we can’t predict what will be the next big job field, we can identify trends. “As far as concrete positions, social media gurus are a resource and trend that has been and will continue to be around,” Garrett says. This means there will be a continuous demand for Web developers and other experts who can best create and implement the tools business needs to thrive. This is especially true for organizations that depend on community to survive. John David Delgado, youth pastor for The Church at Woodland in Cartersville, Ga., has seen his position change dramatically over the past few years. “If you look at church Web pages and look at their job postings, three quarters of their job openings are for Web developers,” he says. “Church youth workers all have to be Internet savvy to connect with their kids on YouTube, Facebook and MySpace.”

Businesses are moving aggressively into social network marketing necessitating an upsurge in Web literacy among even those not technically in the IT department. “Some of your major corporations over the last two years — a trend I’ve seen they’ve created — is the position of Chief Innovation Officer, a job to innovate and lead a team of innovators,” Garrett says. “There will be a huge demand for management of social networking and for people who can think of new ways to use the technology.”

As cloud storage becomes more popular, Garrett also sees an increasing need for security professionals who can ward off viruses and piracy attempts to protect sensitive information. “Health care and medical records are going to be posted online; we’ll need people who are going to be able to handle security protocols for that,” he says.  Garrett is so passionate about the changing face of the business landscape, he wrote a blog on Local Tech Wire entitled New Web, new jobs — Are you ready?

Some of the most important career fields emerging weren’t even dreamt of in 2004, Garrett says in the blog. They include:

* Social media gurus
* Community managers
* Infrastructure engineers
* Systems administrators
* Data analysts
* Network administrators
* Security administrators

Based upon the increase in e-learning both in the university environment and for business-related needs such as seminars and conferences, it’s also likely that there will be an increased need for teaching professionals with Net savvy.
With all the good news there is some bad. According to reports from sites such as The Nation global demand for IT workers is down. Local Techwire reports that “The IT Job Trends Report released by the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) shows the daily average number of posted IT job vacancies in August increased only by 0.9 percent, a signal that employers in the state are not ready yet for more staff.”

Still the Nation says for IT workers all is not lost. “Three main skill types remain in hot demand: Java, .NET and enterprise resource planning. People with these skills are still in demand in the midst of an overall reduction in IT recruitment. There is also high demand for workers skilled in quality testing, software testing and quality assurance.”
With all the advancement our world is becoming closer knit and in some ways reminiscent of ancient villages. The sense of community is growing as we find new ways to use old skills. “As technology gets better, jobs will get easier because humans will continue to do what only humans can do,” Digital Society’s Ou says.