In the world of being meticulous, it’s important to make good choices about what to ignore.  Sometimes my most important list is the one reminding me of things I’m NOT working on right now.  I’ll cop to employing skepticism as a way to avoid exploring new social media tools / destinations / designations.  Hey, you try being meticulous and getting through a day without skepticism.

But folks, I gotta say it – people talking to each other about big choices, like, say, business-to-business purchases  – pretty much that’s here to stay.  And nowadays people do a lot of that talking online.  Just think of “online social marketing� as a big new trade show all your competitors and prospects have been invited to.  It’s happening every day, all day.  It’s easier to get to than any other trade show – cheaper, too.  Heck, it’s indexed so you don’t even need to carry around a map and schedule.

Now, it may be conducted in a dialect you are just learning to speak, but you know what?  It’s the dialect everyone under 30 grew up speaking.   It may not always be Facebook and Twitter and forums and expert blogs and RSS and user reviews, but the top is propped open on this one – prospects are expecting an online presence more and more every year.

Just a delightful little trip down Memory Lane, thinking about working with lots of really smart people in the belly of the beast. I wanted to be sure you hard-working folks didn’t miss the Saturday funnies:

I’m always glad to see the gleam of positive news in the reams of economic doom, gloom and despair–and especially when it’s good news about our sector. This just in from the new Technical SEO Consultants blog:

While the world is experiencing an economic financial crisis, the SEO industry is experiencing a surprising increase in demand. From intensive training and SEO consultation to actual website changes and link building, the demand for expert SEO help is growing at an astonishing rate….But currently most established SEO professionals seem to have just the opposite need, they have too much business. Many established SEO professionals are declining to take on new clients because they just cannot accept any additional work load right now.

Google is releasing SEO guides, Microsoft and Yahoo! both have in-house SEO departments and the “SEO is BSâ€Â� crowd have lost a little of their swagger and a lot of their arguments. No surprise – solid evidence trumps wishful thinking, especially when times are tough….

“Prospects are demanding more specific information related to their sites issues and detailed, actionable solutions are expected. Generic audits that look automated in any way are no longer welcome. Ex: Don’t just tell me I got a problem with my titles, but tell me exactly how are we going to fix them! That is the attitude of an average educated site owner looking for help. This will ultimately separate the amateurs from the experts.�
-Jose Nunez

We’ve seen a year-end push from new clients, and of course the normal inquiries related to setting 2009 budgets. December looks to be very busy, for which we are thankful. The good news is that clients are getting a lot smarter about both the value of SEO and how it works. In tough times, the SEO charlatans who promise a lot for a little are going to be hard-pressed to show results, and the clients who continue to improve their sites are going to gain market share. Those SEO agencies which do good work are going to ride out the storm as valuable team members of those successful companies.

It’s a happy day when you are bouncing from blog to blog and discover something both recent and extremely helpful. On the Google Webmaster Central blog, there’s a link to a new 22-page PDF with the authoritative title of “Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.” Instead of warning the innocent website owner of the SEO wolves lurking outside the door, Google has documented their (and our) best practices, and even added some good counsel on marketing your website. We’ll definitely have to add this to our list of free SEO tools.