SEO versus good messaging

I have been watching the SEO crowd for some time now. At first I was fascinated at the interplay. A group of clever web professionals would study the major search engines, deduce their methods for ranking sites and then sell that knowledge to clients. Then the search engines would recalibrate their spiders and the process would repeat. Good business for SEO guys. Similar in some respects to the race for better police radar gun detectors, but with a difference.

There is no good alternative to a good radar detector, save compliance. Either you obey the speed limit or you invest in technology. That's not really true with SEO.

I've said for some time that a well written site will lead people to you as long as you have a niche and you have plenty of content. In a recent post on his Strategic Public Relations blog, Kevin Dugan writes:

"SEO’s effectiveness is proven and it’s an important tool. But a well-tailored message should make elements of SEO automatic."

Well said. I would only add that to be effective, this messaging must be updated frequently (blog, perhaps) and should be archived on the site.