Marketing executives think SEO is something you do in the toilet!

People in marketing do not want to know the specific details of how search engine optimisation works, they just expect you to do it. Advertising on this planet consists of beautiful picture images that you can aspire to as part of brand building.

They appear on posters, leaflets on television and outdoor hoardings with a single message or brand caption. Both advertising agencies and marketing executives approach the web in the same way. This is changing over time, however SEO is very much on the list of 'something that is necessary but don't bother me with the details'.

This lack of interest within the marketing community causes big dilemmas when the web design guy wants to build a website full of information. Information on the web is like food to the search engines, if you starve them of information, they will not rank your website very well and you are bound to get relegated to the back pages of their search index where no potential visitors will ever find you.

The "corporate thinking on marketing" is to stick a beautiful picture of a guy and gal in their magnificent home with a white-fenced garden, portraying their success in life because they were wise enough to choose XYZ brand! This is what they want on their home page, a big picture.

P=The problem is, search engines cannot read this as information. An image is not read by them. You will never get any ranking and, come the time to view your web data and analytics of how it is doing, marketers get disappointed as the SEO has not worked, but they insist they told 'the web design people' to do it for them.

See the dilemma? It needs a completely new way of thinking by brand managers and marketing people, your website needs to have information in the form of words as well as pictures. If you can describe your product and its benefits, you go a long way to improving your ranking on the search engines.

You should treat a website like you were talking to a blind person, that is: take your visitors hand with a guided tour of your company, your products and brands with words.