Optimization architect

More is not necessarily better.  The idea of optimization does not revolve around the idea of 'more,' per se.  The process of optimization is focused on the right amount of everything necessary to produce a specific result given the existing environmental constraints.  And, since the process of optimization itself has a cost, it is possible to pursue optimization to excess.  It is a question of balance.

In a business web environment optimization pays for itself, by definition. Otherwise, it's not optimal. Major challenges arise from accurately measuring costs and benefits for optimization efforts.  Web traffic is easy to measure, so professional optimizers may be tempted to focus upon increasing web traffic, regardless of whether any business benefit results from the increase.

A local coffee shop has a website.  The site's only business purpose is to promote walk-in business to the shop's physical retail storefront. If effort goes into increasing the number of visitors to the web site, but doing that does not increase the number of visitors to the coffee shop, then the effort is wasted.

It's as simple as that.  Search engine optimization (SEO) is a segment of internet marketing, with the emphasis on the marketing. Search engine marketing frequently is very technical to implement.  The web technicians know the tools and techniques of search optimization, but they may not be well suited to specify the purpose of optimization, design the architecture of optimization, or evaluate the results of optimization.

How, for example, would the coffee shop's web master know if the actual number of shop customers increased, or why?

Business web optimization must be designed and measured by a business intelligence.  The web technicians are for implementation.  The distinction is the same as between an architect and a construction contractor.  The architect specifies the design, and the contractor makes it happen.

Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky
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