Today I bring you the first of many posts by R.T.. I’m really looking forward to your thoughts on this topic, lovelies.

Since you’re reading this, chances are good that you’re a savvy, ‘net-using, tweet-slinging business owner (or you’re well on your way). Maybe you’ve spent countless hours (and possibly dollars) on website strategy and you’ve figured something out about expressing the core of who you are and how your business operates. You’re excitedly sharing your (very personalized, gifted, and specific) blog posts on Twitter, Facebook or, heck, even Google+. (But maybe not all three at once.)

Great news! You’re ahead of the curve. Recently, Google decided that SEO (that’s search engine optimization, but you probably knew that) is sort of, well, cheat-y. Their Panda update featured some adjustments to the crawlers they’ve been using all this time, which included language to ignore sites that just include a great, big pile of words. It’s no longer enough to have a blog that features a bunch of keywords for Google to stumble upon and thus rank highly. These days, it’s all about content.

“But wait!” you’re probably saying. “What about that whole ‘content is king’ business? Hasn’t content always been what it’s about?” Quite right! Unfortunately, small business owners (among others) too often fall victim to a rather charming sales pitch about how their website traffic can be improved with a little bit of SEO therapy. That might’ve been true before, but let’s face it: nothing has ever been as awesome as making a genuine connection with your audience.

We’re singing a tune about Social Content Optimization

The folks over at Edelman (very large PR firm; probably best if you don’t recognize this name) have discovered that the new path to website success is SCO, or social content optimization. The idea is this: the content on your website needs to be high-quality stuff, which then gets talked about. In comments, on Twitter, everywhere. Google ranks websites, in part, on how the content therein is shared now. And the best way to make sure your content is shared? You have to be saying something.

Invasion of the killer buzzwords (and our plan of attack)

Now, you’re probably thinking that SCO is just a new buzzword that marketers will use to make a quick buck. Possibly true. Except. The truth is that what they’re on about is what you and I and all of our friends are on about. The things Edelman is tracking for clients are the things we love to create as artists and life artists. They present five categories: Video, Documents, Images, Conversation and Niche.

You know what’s great about those categories? You’re already pursuing them. Your Documents are your insightful, meaningful blog posts. Your Images are of your art, or the inside of your studio, or that new vegan treat you whipped up this morning. Videos are podcasts, how-tos, webinars, tours of your space. The Conversations happen on all your favorite social media platforms when you talk about your newest thing. Your Niche is your potential customer base — with whom have you connected? with whom CAN you connect?

Let’s leave the sales pitches and analysis reports to the marketers and agencies of the world. Our job is to keep doing the things we love to do. And then to make certain all our efforts land on our websites. If you need a little help with that, that’s kind of our thing. If you’re already experiencing success, do show us how you’ve done it! It’s a big internet world out there. Let’s share some stuff.

R.T is a twenty-something biz-savvy content marketing genius. He spends most of his time doing market research for fortune 500 companies. Then he spins his knowledge so it applies to us, too. Get to know him here.