The Internet is Still in the Wild West Mode.  Today SEO Needs to Be Redefined or Overhauled Because the Acronym Has Been Abused!  Internet Marketing is Clearly More Logical.

Internet Marketing, Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Link Building, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Organic Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Inbound Marketing, Banner Ads, Local Marketing, Directory Listings, Hash Tags, Tagging, Auction Marketing, Outbound Marketing, Off Site SEO, On Site SEO, Analytics, Keyword Research … The list of acronyms and titles/terms goes on and on….  However I feel that SEO is not the correct Acronym for all these services.  If anything I would still agree with Internet Marketing or more specifically Organic Marketing but it I’m sure there is something better.

Yes, SEO does encompass all these things; as do many of these things encompass SEO.  However, they each are unique in their own way.  If we were to try and evolve the acronym SEO into all the separate areas then we might as well include programming too.  Because there is a certain level of programming required for proper on-site SEO (that is at least when you actually build a site and don’t use various open source framework).  I think that example alone clarifies why we simply can’t try and evolve the SEO acronym into all these areas and the need for some new term if needed at all????

I Think they all need to remain separate while having one blanket term that covers them all.  I have actually been saying Internet Marketing to people for the last 16 years.  I never said SEO that much because when I started doing SEO in 1997 the term wasn’t really being used or was just emerging.  But mainly I only use the term when I am speaking with Tech people.  To this day my relatives ask me what SEO is.  I have told them for 16 years and they still don’t know what it is.  So why make it even more confusing and include 10 more skills sets plus+++

Each skill set is unique in itself.  There are masters at Social Marketing that no very little SEO.  There are masters at Analytics that don’t know SEO, Social or the others, etc.  I agree, it is good to know and understand all of these and use them all to the best of your ability, but they aren’t all SEO.

Here would be one way to look at it.  You have the subject Mathematics and there are many forms of Mathematics.  You have Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, Geometry, Etc…  They are all mathematics and they do have some common grounds and interest in one another, however they are not the same.  So Internet Marketing or whatever the new term becomes would encompass SEO, Social, Analytics, Etc…

I would say Internet Marketing makes the most sense and is the easiest to understand.  We need something that everyone can understand.  The only reason other terms are being searched more is because more influential people have been pushing them for a while now, Hence The Wild West – But that doesn’t make it right.

The problem with Internet Marketing is that both words are just too general and broad.  I think a good term for all these specialized services in one would be a term that everyone can understand and at least get a general understanding of what it is you do just from hearing it.

I think some good words to consider for this would be looking at the highest level of what is being done and try to combine that into one term.  Terms that come to mind are: Exposure, Framework, Website, Infrastructure, Foundation, Marketing, Natural, Organic, Systems, Operations, Free, Listings, and many more.  Because much like a developing a new website, you must first develop or choose good framework.  Well in that development while it is being developed you have to consider the SEO implications of what you are doing.  If you don’t build in SEO Framework, it could have some very serious consequences down the road.  Though it may sound obvious or maybe too vague I would suggest using “Website” in there some way.  After all, every one of these services is being performed on a website or for a website.  So why isn’t website in there?

So with that being said, how about a name like Website Framework Exposure (WFE) or Website Foundation Marketing (WFM) or Website Marketing Operations (WMO) or Natural Website Marketing (NWM)…  I’m not sure if any of these are the right answer, but I think we still need to keep looking.  I think these do begin to explain things better but still need refinement.  If we put our thinking caps together, I’m sure we could hit a home run.

Or maybe even Website Visibility (WV), Website Visibility Services (WVS), or Website Exposure Services (WES).  Again, I think we can come up with something that is more self-explanatory.