Are you Findable?

That is the question I am starting to ask marketers who just don’t seem to get it.

In my Top Shelf SEO session at Webmasterworld Vegas I asked the room how many people using an iPhone have had a problem finding the information they were looking for an nearly all the hands went up.  This is fundamental – you need to be findable.

Over the past few weeks I have done a number of Search and Digital Marketing summits for large technical companies.  At each of these I ask the audience a set of specific questions:

  1. Do you use search engines?  100% of the hands
  2. If you were to make a purchase over $300 how many would go to search engines for your research?  100% of the hands
  3. How many of you are selling products or services values over $300? Nearly all the hands went up – they new the next question!
  4. How many of you are using Search Engine Marketing to make your products findable?  Only a few hands went up!

The point of these questions was to show that while people are heavy users of search in their private lives they have not made the connection that people looking for their products might do the same – why is this?