This is the title of a talk I’m giving.
As you may know, Feng Shui is the art (and some would say science) of arranging elements of a building or location in such a way as to maximize the positive flow of Chi energy. The ancient Chinese believed that nature – the land, the world, the sky – everything has Chi energy and that channelling this energy properly was key to health, wealth, prosperity, and success.
Tongue-in-cheek I wrote a description for a talk based on the idea that an important part of what we do in search marketing is Feng Shui-like. We identify proper placement and positioning – with the goal of releasing “search energy” – or the potential of a site to rise in search.
It turns out to be a better match than I thought. One of the most positive things about it is that instead of seeing the challenge of ranking a site as a hill to climb, it frames the problem as releasing the potential that already exists in every site. And this is an interesting point. Every successful business has a good story to tell about why they are great, yet few pull this off on their websites. Rising in search requires strong content and strong communication. How many companies are missing out on search success – and the customers (and ‘wealth’) that comes from that – because of blockages in their organization that prevent them from getting their message out? How many companies would rise naturally if only they could harness the positive energy they use every day to help clients or customers, and channel that through all their online communications?
The energy notion is one I like, but there’s a lot more to the metaphor too! I’ll fill you in on that, and let you know how the talk goes in a later post.
