Book Review: Optimize

The book Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrated SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing teaches practical strategies and tactics for optimizing website and social content for search engine display. Though it is dry in parts, the content is extremely useful. This is essentially a step-by-step manual for SEO and well worth reading for anyone looking to better understand the magic behind search engine optimization.Throughout the book, the author explains how to optimize sites and content for each stage of the purchase funnel and acknowledges that content optimization will not garner immediate results but will help build credibility and relationships throughout that purchase funnel until the customer is ready to buy. The author argues that all digital content should be written with two things in mind: (1) the target audience and (2) the search engines.

"Savvy online marketers don’t see content as a shortsighted substitute for social strategy or simply as an SEO tactic but as a proxy to creating better customer experiences. Content is the mechanism for storytelling, and if social and search optimization are also involved in a qualitative way to aid in discovery and sharing of those stories, then all the better."

This book is full of practical advice, points the reader to free tools and provides recommended approaches for creating, curating and distributing content. And as a bonus, it also covers measurement tactics for ongoing tracking and optimization. Brand managers, website managers and social media managers need to read this book when planning strategies for generating traffic to their sites and engagement with their digital content.