Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing [Formato Kindle]

There are alot of books that will talk to you about how content, marketing and search are all coming together. But none of them lay this intersection out as well as this one. Lee understands and takes us through the entire process of WHY creating quality content is important - and how that relates to our search and social strategy. He lays out the process of HOW to actually do it - and then finishes with some of the best, specific advice for WHAT to actually do next. If you think optimizing your content, marketing and search marketing processes will be an overwhelming project - then I urge you to get this book. After you read it - you'll be so much better equipped to actually make *optimization* a reality!

Guy Kawasaki offers a simplistic take on search engine optimization in his book, What the Plus?, by saying the best method to improve search rankings is to "Write. Good. Stuff." And, while I agree with the idea, there is much more to search engine optimization than just that. And Lee Odden, in his book Optimize - How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing outlines exactly how much work proper optimization really is.

Odden takes the reader on a complex journey through the optimization process. From the decision regarding where optimization fits within your company to the necessary market research and buyer personas, to the culmination of your hard work with talk about the necessary measurement tools and tactics, Odden covers it all. And he covers it in incredible depth, but without any techno-speak.

Although the tools, methods, and advice throughout this book may be better suited to larger businesses, the examples provided almost always relate to the typical small business. This makes the work seem manageable, even by an SEO newbie. If you utilize Optimize as a workbook and not a "read cover to cover" book," you will realize the benefits that SEO has to offer. And to help you accomplish this, Odden offers "Action Items" at the end of each chapter, to help you continue to move your SEO strategy forward.

Although text-book in nature, time spent reading and acting on Lee Odden's advice throughout this book will be well spent.

I've read almost every book there is on content marketing...there are definitely some good ones, but Optimize by Lee Odden may be the first one that seriously looks at how an organization (of any size) can integrate the rather complex process of search, social and content creation.

The first few chapters set the stage for why: so if you don't get why this is important or need to convince your boss, those are a must read.

From that point on, Lee does what most marketing books don't...offer practical and realistic advice (using real case studies from large and small brands, as well as his own) on how to develop an online marketing strategy (leveraging search, social and content marketing) and then how to effectively execute it using in-house and/or outsourced resources (including training and integration across organizational silos).

Chapter 14 might be my favorite, where Lee busts some myths and offers real ideas on how both small and large brands can deal with the change that occurs from a holistic approach to content marketing.

As a side note...Lee could have written this book years ago, but he waited. It was worth the wait.