I recently signed up for Danny’s new Search Marketing Expo conference in Seattle schedule for June 4th and 5th (more posts to come on this later). I was thinking about some people I know will be there and searching through some resumes and it got me thinking about SEOs, arrogance, bragging rights, and the divide between a typical SEO and a great SEO.

One of my jobs as the manager of our SEO department is hiring. I have to scour Monster for resumes, search online for SEOs personal blogs and websites, conduct interviews and tests, etc. It’s common to see stats on resumes and when talking wih people. Even the most well known SEOs do it. “I increased the visitors on XYZ.com by 900% with visitors increasing from 500 to 5,000 a day.” That’s a very commendable achievement, but excuse me if I don’t pop the champagne. I’m not overly impressed. The reason I’m not floored by this increase is that you’re starting from ground zero. You can take the site from 0 to 10 visitors per day and say you had a 1000% increase on your resume without providing the details.

If you were to take an existing site of a well known brand with a significant amount of traffic and existing SE referrals and achieve the same increases then the drinks are on me. Why? It takes a great SEO to see past the existing site, content, links, and brand to see the potential value. I am sure it is a fantastic site, but where can they improve? What are the content gaps? What content could you add to crush your competitors and really drive some traffic? Are they utilizing SMM? Developing widgets to generate buzz and links? Is their complicated design or horrible code hindering their rankings?

It comes down to thinking outside of the box and its part of the test I give to all job applicants. When shown a website and told to optimize it, does the SEO in question talk about optimizing the Titles, Meta tags, and navigation? Or does the SEO talk about restructuring the site, developing content to target untapped keywords, optimizing the platform, and other non-standard items? I think this mindset is part of the divide between good (or typical) and great.

For new players in the field it can be a debate, but not for professional SEOs and those that are aware of the Sandbox. You’ve got a new feature, or venture, or product. Technically it’s strong enough to stand on its own two feet.  But, will it get any love from Big G?  The answer is a big fat NO.

If you’ve got a new product or feature and you have an existing brand or website that it can roll underneath, from an SEO standpoint the best option is to stick it on a sub-domain or sub-directory of the site.

That said, what if isn’t something that can roll into an existing site? It may be a brand new venture that needs its own domain..its own brand and identity. Then you need to tackle the Sandbox problem head on.

Is it possible to start building links for a site that doesn’t exist?  Natural links?  Natural links from credible sources?  From authoritative sources?  With traffic and product buzz?   Most don’t even think about it, but it can be done and I’ll show you a real world example (I don’t know if this was intentional on their part, but it’s an example nonetheless)

Step 1: Use the Brand.

It is phenomenally  easier to successfully launch a product when you have a well known brand, personal or corporate, behind it.  Know who Guy Kawasaki is?  He’s a founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures and one of the guys responsible for the Apple computer.  He’s a venture capitalist with a lot of credibility.   Think if he launched a new site that people would be interested?  Damn straight. 

Step 2: People Want What They Can’t Have.

It’s like Adam & Eve and the Forbidden Fruit.  It’s like that Seinfeld episode where Elaine forbids her co-worker not to date George and it makes her want him.  It’s a human instinct to want something that another person says you can’t have, or view, or taste.  Make a club super-exclusive and people will wait in line for hours to get in.   So, what did Guy Kawasaki do with his new site Truemors.com?  He put the site up but password protected it. 

Step 3: Leak It To the Press

Publicity is key to launching new products and services.  Why not start early?  You’ve got the domain up and password protected.  So “someone” leaks it to the big bloggers and other media that you, the big brand, are working on a new project called XYZ.com and it will be releasing soon.   It gets their interest but leaves them wanting more.  People start to discuss it.  They start to link to the site.  They start to check back at the site periodically to see if the password protection has been removed.  Pretty similar to this deal at Techcrunch.com. 

Step 4:  Give ‘em A Little More

Some time passes by…a week, or two, or a month, and “someone” releases more.  I wouldn’t wait too long or some may not remember the previous teaser.  A screenshot is released.  Oooh, this new site/service/feature/product looks interesting.  The links and discussion continue.  

Step 5:  Launch With a PR Blitz

A good PR team can be a huge help in generating links and traffic to a site, new or old.  You’ve done a lot of legwork getting people talking about this new site/service/feature/product from your brand and now it’s time to bombard the media with the launch.  Give a handful of elite bloggers exclusive access to the site one day in advance or an interview to be released on the day of the launch.  Send out press releases.  Get air time on TV or into the magazines and newspapers. 

I bet when you launch the new site you have hundreds, or even thousands, of links and a decent amount of traffic.  You’re off to a good start.  I know Guy’s is on the way.