<![CDATA[Website promotion is a competitive, lucrative industry where everyone from Manhattan Public Relations(PR) Firms to small-time Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies are vying for a piece of the pie. Ironically, on the information super highway, it is because of the lack of knowledge that most SEOs and PRs have for one another that neither side is able to offer a truly effective and affordable solution, which yields Return on Investment (ROI), on a large scale for their clientele.

Let me explain.

THE TROUBLE WITH PUBLIC RELATIONS
PR is an industry that creates visibility across several different media for its clients without spending (much) money. It is an industry of communicators with the ability to disseminate information to select outlets armed only with a rolodex and press release. Yet, with all of their strengths, one of the greatest critiques of PR is their lack of reporting in regards to ROI produced for their clients.

Large companies see the overall benefit of a well executed PR campaign, but medium-sized companies don’t see the immediate value in a bunch of blog links or they can’t afford to have Custom Myspace Tools developed for a product launch. As a result, many medium sized companies are leaving PR out of the marketing mix.

THE TROUBLE WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
On the other side of the spectrum are search engine optimizers (SEOs). Technically savvy problem solvers, SEOs can tweak a website to maximize its exposure in the search engines (the tools that over 90% of internet users turn to when finding new resources or information online). SEOs rely on their technical expertise as well as their ability to build “backlinks” (links coming from other websites) to achieve success in the search engines for their clients.

In the past few months, however, (06-07) search engines have gotten “smarter” and have made traditional methods of building backlinks less effective. Many SEOs have turned to what they call “link bait”, tapping into social media (blog forums and others) to build backlinks. Of course, “link baiting” is really just a nerdy term for online publicity. It’s something that only the best of SEOs have mastered, and many PR Practitioners are now diving into.

WHY PR AND SEO SHOULD BE BEST BUDS
Where “link baiting” (and really online promotion in general) is concerned, Public Relations firms have a distinct advantage. With their preexisting experience, contacts online and off, and other resources already dedicated to building online visibility, PR firms are much better equipped to get mentions and links on authority websites than their SEOs counterparts.

Of course just because a PR firm can get mentioned in a dozen blogs posts, or make the first page of Digg.com, doesn’t necessitate an increase in their client’s bottom line. With the help of an SEO consultant, or SEO company, however, PR firms could present actual numbers to prove the value of their service by converting online publicity into search engine dominance.

If PR could tap into the technical expertise of a search engine optimizer they could solve the problem of tangible ROI and expand their services to more medium sized companies, ecommerce sites, and others. What if you as a PR Practitioner could hand your client a piece of paper saying “Look, we’ve gotten your name out to your niche here, here, here and here