Sometimes I think people focus too much on search engine optimization. Actually, some people focus way too much on it.
Search engine marketing is important. You cannot ignore such a rich source of traffic. What most don’t seem to understand is that a lot of what you can get out of search engines is a byproduct of simply taking care of your readers.
That’s something most sites could not be accused of: focusing too much on their readers. It’s also why there are very popular blogs on the web, and then everyone else. Every top blog on the web is an example of content first, then everything else. That’s why people link to and mention them so much. Which is why they rank.
While others spend inordinate amounts of time seeking out links and doing other search engine trickery, leaving little time to work on content that impresses their target audience, the blogs that put content first are cleaning up in the engines.
Some blog marketers will spend their time going out and “getting links.” The successful bloggers have their link building done for them through their readers and fans.
Wouldn’t you rather have a little army of fans building your links for you? They will if you spend more time coming up with great things to “wow” them than you do trying get your own links one at a time.