Respect - Find Out What It Means To Me

From ComputerWorld.com, I just read an interesting article that discusses a study done on the top 100 largest US companies. The study was attempting to figure out how these various companies treated their online customers. The reports were dismal:

" Only six of the largest 100 companies in the U.S. achieved "excellent" ratings for online customer service, according to the 2005 Online Customer Respect Study from The Customer Respect Group.

While responsiveness to customers improved overall, it remained the lowest-scoring area for many companies, yielding an overall score of just 5.3 out of 10. Some 28 of the top 100 U.S. companies were rated "very poor" in their handling of online inquiries, according to the survey. Overall, 15% of online inquiries sent were ignored, the survey showed.

"Customer respect, or lack of, is a significant factor that influences online behavior," Golesworthy said in a statement. "It's no surprise that companies that do more business via the Internet are doing better. Simply put, they get it. No organization, however, can ignore the online customer, regardless of what percentage of its sales are derived from the Internet."

Frankly, I'm surprised the numbers were this high. I can count on one hand the companies that I've dealt with online that are quick to respond, shoot, respond at all, let alone deal with a problem I might have. I've noticed that there are major exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, I tend to accept that if I attempt to deal with a large corporation of some sort online, I will just be another face in the masses.

So how do you deal with this, from the standpoint of search engine optimization? SEO, if you look at it from this point of view, is good customer service. You're listening to your customers. You're noticing what they're searching for and you're making it more accessible for them. You're trying to help them become better informed consumers/voters/citizens/whatever by enabling them. The bigger you are, the more you will have to realize that every single person that views your site is just as important as the 150K that viewed it yesterday. Because on the Web, with the power of social networking, blogging, just plain word of mouth, no business or corporation can afford to ignore even one Joe Searcher.

Related: Make your site friendly to both search engine spiders and search engine users. Target your audience and work hard at creating relevant and appropriate content. Learn from others in the SEO industry and don't be afraid to ask questions from those who've walked in your shoes.