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Endure this short rant and I’ll publish something awesome tomorrow. I promise. In fact, I’ll be giving something away for free!

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I feel like I’ve had SEO (Search Engine Optimization) crammed down my throat for several months now. It may have been around before then, but SEO seems to be gaining traction as the current mystical path to success on the web. I can’t escape the onslaught of tips, tricks, and how-to’s to help me increase search engine traffic.

Here’s my opinion on search engine traffic.

It’s not worth the time you put into working on it, at least not for a blog. You might want to put more thought into it for your church’s (or your business’) website, but even then, there’s only so much you can do with it and only so much help it can offer.

Why search engine traffic sucks.

They don’t stay. Visitors that come from search engines are looking for something specific (that’s why they went through Google.) and when they find it, they’re going to leave. If they don’t find it, they’re going to leave. Search engine traffic isn’t sticky. On the other hand, niche traffic from visitors who are in “peruse” mode when they hit your blog/site will be much more likely to stick around, learn a little about you, and maybe even comment or subscribe.

Here are my suggestions.

For your blog, keep great content flowing, comment on random stranger’s blogs that are also within your niche (this is a big one), and participate in social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Stumble Upon, etc.

For your church/business website, buy PPC (pay-per-click) ads through Google or Yahoo or MSN. This will drive only the kind of traffic you want (a.k.a. targeted traffic) and you wont waste countless hours on stupid SEO “tricks.”

Here’s The SEO Rapper layin’ it down for you with some guidelines for PPC marketing. (Video embedded.)