Tomorrow at DevCom Brussels, I will be doing some basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) analysis live, in the framework of the 7 minute one to one demos. For this, I have prepared a checklist with some basic points to take home by the clients / visitors. I’m sure I will not have enough time to cover all of them, but they will at least have a clue of where to start looking and about some of the things SEO professionals can help get right.

Some marketing and communication professionals wrongly despise SEO, considering it just a bunch of technical tricks used to divert Internet users towards sites not worthy of their attention. The truth is that they should look at it from the perspective of their clients: good SEO helps users find the content they are looking for.

SEO is not some arkane cult or ritual. Most marketing and communication professionals know some of its basics thanks to their education in journalism, and most of the rest are very easy to imply using a little reasoning and common sense or even better: reading.

The key of SEO and of any communication effort is relevance. As search engines are getting better to analyze and categorize the millions of pages we are publishing, user signals are gaining importance, and guess what: it is the users themselves that give them. So concentrate on your users and see the world through their eyes. If what you are offering is not clearly relevant to what they are looking for, you will either never get them to visit your page, either never convert their actions into something fruitful for your organization.

Danny Sullivan has recently published a great article about why Bill Gates needs better SEO in his blog. This post is a great and educative example of why and how to get the basics right. You can see that It is not complicated to get the basics right.

EBO4 – Blogs, social networks, instant messaging, video-, geo-localisation, M-business…
A revolution is walking! How to integrate those new e-marketing levers and boost efficiency of your multi-channel contact centre ? in French and English

The Panel
	Jo CAUDRON Fondateur DEAR MEDIA		Jean Michel FLAMANT Président IDEES 3COM SAS Après 10 ans comme directeur de projets dans le domaine du multimedia puis dans la grande distribution, Jean-Michel Flamant crée Idées-3com SAS en 2006. Idées-3com est est reconnue comme spécialiste dans la création d’outils d’aide à la vente sur les sites de E Commerce et dans les Serious Games.
	Dominique Gany Journalist Press		Pierre LELONG Manager de projets innovants, Consultant e-commerce Technofutur TIC Expert Web Initiateur de programmes publics TIC Créateur et coordinateur du PR&D Organisateur de Solutions Business, des Rewics, de la Semaine Numérique Auditeur e-business près la Région wallonne Conférencier et chargé de cours universitaire
	Ramon SUAREZ VASQUEZ New Media Business & Marketing Consultant CLEVERWOOD Ramón Suárez is a new media business and marketing consultant passionate about internet and mobile communications. With more than 10 years of experience, he helps clients find and implement the best solution to reach their strategic business goals.

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Charles CROUCH Lecturer in e-Business BOSTON UNIVERSITY Charles presents lively, interactive courses, seminars and workshops to help people better understand and use the Internet in business and in their daily lives. Whether teaching in the classroom, presenting at a congress, or working directly with companies on a project, he focuses on giving practical information which people can use to improve their own online performance.

Here’s the programme for tomorrow’s social media conference at DevCom Brussels. You can still sign up.

In this ocassion, I will be part of the team of freelance consultants hosted by and collaborating with Cleverwood, a Belgian consultancy with a focus on new ways of using media. You are always welcome to drop by!