Tell me about Koan metrics?

Koan metrics is a Business Intelligence firm based in Bangalore, India, whose vision is to bring to the field of Business Intelligence, especially in the region, a methodology that goes beyond traditional research and yet is not limited to technology tools. Koan collates and analyses business information from disparate data sources to get at the take outs that guide decision making. Koan provides actionable business intelligence, based on analytics drawn from structured and unstructured data, month on month, and year on year.

Specifically, Koan provides:

• Indices for performance measurement and tracking
• Analytics based on multiple data sources
• Insights based on social media research

What’s your role in Koan metrics?

I am a co-founder of the firm and head of the Research Practice.

What interests you about this field?

Essentially, my love for mysteries and puzzles, I guess. Once a researcher, always a researcher! Even in normal, everyday, social situations, I will be observing and monitoring trends and having a “take”. Sociological trends are a great interest area for me, and how social media is changing the way the world communicates fascinates me.

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

In general, I dislike all ads that are irrelevant, boring and intrusive. Online, what I find most irritating are the ads that come up in the middle of the page and block me from reading the content that I am interested in. What compounds the annoyance is if such an ad does not provide a ‘close’ button, so the only recourse to get rid of it is to click it. I do wonder from a marketing perspective, what this sort of forced-click helps the advertiser achieve, other than customer alienation and irritation.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

Some bloggers just don’t say anything original. They either comment on what other people say or merely aggregate links to other sites. All this can also be helpful at times, especially if the material collated is interesting and the format friendly. But, essentially, I wish they would use blogs to “speak their own voice”.

Where do you see growth in the social media field? 

Let me answer this question from the perspective of the Indian market and what little is known of it. The social networking sites that dominate the Indian social media scene include the global brands like Orkut, Facebook, hi5, LinkedIn and MySpace but also include brands with a local flavor like Bigadda, ibibo and Fropper. Blogging and micro-blogging are also catching up in a big way. What’s yet to mature in this market, however, is a recognized and intelligent way of monitoring the “Voice of the customer” viz. products and brands.

With 80 million users in India and growing, India will be a key contributor to the social media market, both in terms of user base as well as advertising opportunity.

What also personally interests me is how social media in India has become a force to reckon with in terms of expression of political thought, which was noticeable in the last National elections earlier this year. This is a trend that I predict will only increase in the times to come and therefore needs to be carefully assessed, understood and handled by political parties and thought leaders.

Why should brands be interested in monitoring social media?

From a research point of view, social media is a goldmine. This is the space in which consumers freely seek and share opinions, experiences and advice. More importantly, this is usually spontaneous, which removes most of the usual worries of questioner and research bias. Typically, I think is not soaps and colas so much that need to monitor buzz but industries like travel and hospitality, high value durable goods like automobiles and Electronic, entertainment and of course, the usual ones like software, gaming, finance, etc.

What do you do to improve the world?

I am still working on myself. Each day – to listen more and be more compassionate! 

I am also committed to provide technology support to an Indian NGO initiative called AAGE (Action Group for Education and Employability) which is a not-for-profit action group, seeking to provide basic IT education to the underprivileged but talented students to enhance their employability quotient.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

That I write poetry!

What’s your favorite book?

I can’t say just one because I love so many of them. But some of them are:

1>   Illusions by Richard Bach – Thoroughly enjoyed reading it when it came out and still enjoy re-reading it now. Like a friend and companion.

2>   Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather because it’s a self-dialogue, original and honest that touches a chord within me. I do believe this sort of writing is a pre-cursor to the “Blogging” era of today.

3>   The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini because it portrays a hero with a character flaw very beautifully

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

You can visit www.koanmetrics.com  or write to me at ishviene@(nospam)koanmetrics.com (take out the nospam)

What is one thing people can do for you?

Partner with us, collaborate with us, or outsource analytics work to us. More importantly, if you are facing an interesting challenge in social media monitoring or analytics, I would be happy to be a sounding board.

Tell me about your Company?

I’m a digital PR and integrated marcomms freelancer, I’ve just completed some freelance work at we are social, a conversations agency. I also work with Bright One Communications, a PR agency that works with the third sector as well as running a meetup with my sister called The Yum Cha Club.

What was your first experience of social media?

Just after my graduation in 2001, I moved to Germany to work for a telecommunications agency and I started a website in the form of a blog. I’ve always been fascinated by other cultures and cultural integration.  The site was a place for me to talk about a New Zealander’s perspective and experience in a foreign country. The focus of the site was on the cultural differences in both personal and work life and to also inspire others who were looking for a similar experience.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie in social media?

I would direct them to the following places:

• Video by Cision – explains the basic concept of social media and how to approach it, it’s also a bit of a laugh.
• Presentation by John Willshire – the first part of this presentation explains the basic concept of social media with a nice analogy.
• http://howtomakemyblog.com – for new bloggers.

If you blog, the biggest challenge is getting started, it’s important to do your reading and planning but at same time just to get started. The second biggest challenge is to discipline yourself to blog on a regular basis, having some sort of editorial calendar helps. Selecting a niche topic that you are interested in will help the above two points flow, it also helps with search.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

 The first thing that came to mind was that I wish they would make themselves contactable from their blogs by providing their name and email address. Sometimes you come across a really interesting blog and there is no way to contact the author.

Recently there was a discussion in the PR Week that bloggers should not operate on a ‘pay per play’ basis. The responsibility lies with the PR industry not to carry out such practices but also with the blogger not to accept. There are no rules as such in the world of blogging so if a blogger chooses to publish paid content, they should make this clear on their blog so their loyal readers can distinguish opinion from paid content, otherwise their readers may find out the wrong way.

Where do you see growth in the social media field? 

I see the growth of social media in ‘greater integration’ into our everyday lives on many different levels.

On a social level technology advances make it easy for us to share across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Digg etc., collaboratively and also integrate into our everyday lives and products e.g. you can now tweet with your Xbox etc. Social media is becoming increasingly more mobile and fusing our personal and professional lives. It’s normal to tweet from your phone and now tools like Plancast are a bit like Foursquare for the future and go the step further to integrate not only the question ‘what we are doing now’ but also what we will be doing in the future.

Companies are starting to integrate their communications efforts as they realise social media has made it possible for them get closer to their relevant audience. With all the information and success stories out there brands are increasing their understanding of how social media should be integrated into their strategy, rolled out and measured. We’ll see roles and responsibilities being defined so more time can be spent engaging with customers and training relevant persons in the company on the social media tools. This will expand beyond the PR and Digital Departments to whomever needs to be close to the conversation.

Agencies too will continue to adapt internally by working together to bring their clients more integrated solutions and strategies. Specialist social media agencies will form stronger partnerships with traditional agencies.

We’ll also see more integration, as other languages and cultures join the conversation too.  With all this we get greater transparency and sharing which effects the way people, brands and their audiences connect, communicate and stay connected.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?

Advertisers realise that consumers have increasingly more choice in terms of the media they consume, how and where they consume it.

Advertisers seem to be moving away from traditional web advertising like banners and using content integration such as virtual experiences and interactive experiences to sell, often on a peer to peer level. We also see more sponsoring, endorsements, clever viral campaigns and brand campaigns showing that they have been using social media to engage with their customers to make product improvements. 

What do you do to improve the world?

I’ve always enjoyed volunteering my time for projects and causes that have either a focus on self development of others or that are development projects. Past examples include being a Dale Carnegie Teamleader (a business, communications  and human relations course) , completing volunteer work in an indigenous community in Ecuador at a school or helping out The Kindness Offensive.

Right now I am completing charity work for Bright One Communications. We’re working with Sreepur Cards, a development project that provides local women the opportunity to make a fair wage by making cards using natural and local materials. These cards have Fairtrade status and are sold from the UK over the Internet. What makes this unique is that it is the only project in Bangladesh that offers shelter and training to women and their families on a constant and ongoing basis. Of the proceeds 100% go back to the community, supporting 100 destitute women and 500 abandoned children and also the surrounding villages.

What do you do that is green?

Being a scuba diver, I participate in dive clean ups when I can, this happens less now that I’m living in London. I also recycle and buy organic when I can and take opportunities to learn and read about green issues and initiatives.  I loved Yann Arthus Betrand’s movie Home, it’s a telling story about our impact on the earth with some stunning cinematography, you can watch it straight from YouTube.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

 I’m a first degree black belt martial artist, trained to instructor level.

What’s your favorite book?

That’s a tough one, I’m going to have to resort to catorgorisation.

Business focus: First Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

General: The Monk that sold his Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma

Both these books have the following in common, insight, relevance and the read in one sitting factor.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, Facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

Email: Selenachans@gmail.com

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/selenachan

Twitter: @SelenaChanLive

Blog: http://selenachan.wordpress.com

Delicious: http://delicious.com/selenachanlive

What events do you go to?

An important part of social media also involves getting off line to meet the online community, this meant in terms of building contacts, establishing rapport and trust with your network. Some of the events I attend include London Bloggers Meetup, @Measurementcamp, Cozytweetup, Digital Marketing and The Tuttle Club. I’ve just joined The Sway, The Social Media UK and The Inbound Marketing Meetup.

My sister, Kelly and I run the Yum Cha Club Meetup. Kelly started this in 2008, it’s for anyone who loves yum cha or is interested in trying different types of food, especially those wanting a more authentic food and cultural experience. Each month we try out different yum cha restaurants around London.

How do you prefer to communicate?

I prefer to communicate in person though email, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are also fine.

Who would you recommend, and why? Go for 10 people plus

Ben Matthews for his passion and commitment in founding and organising Bright One Communications. The Future 100 Awards recently announced Ben as one of the Future 100 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.

Ged Carroll is well connected and takes the time to get out there and really meet and talk to other people in the industry and form valuable relationships. I’ve had a good few chats with Ged, he really understands the PR and comms industry and the digital space and blogging, he’s been a great help building my contacts in London.  

Gemma Went was recently awarded Entrepreneur of the Year, one of the many reasons she was awarded this was due to her swift approach in understanding social media in the broader context and integrating it into her business to offer value to her clients.

Gerry Grewal another great person whom I’ve connected with and who really contributes to the PR industry. Gerry really understands the importance of integrating social media efforts without taking things too seriously; she’s also really well connected.  

Hayley Buery and I worked together at Canon from 2004, she is a great example to the PR industry of someone who successfully made the transition from in house to agency and has demonstrated how in house experience can really add value to agency. She’s been a great friend, helping me to build my contacts and connecting me to people in London.

Kath Pooley has taken the time to recommend me to some valuable contacts. She has previously picked up the awards for CIPR Young Communicator and PRW Young Professional of the Year, combining over 13 years experience in PR and comms, I think she would make a great mentor to females in the industry.

Kelly Chan my sister who has always been a great support and for believing and encouraging the decisions and calculated risks I’ve taken in order to build the international career I’ve always wanted. She’s a good example of someone who always goes for what she wants in her career which has been inspiring. We’re now starting to build our own digital playground with the Yum Cha Club.

Kim Hong is full of enthusiasm for digital. I really enjoyed working with Kim in the past in her role at Quinn & Co PR agency where she took the lead on digital at the agency.

Marko Saric is full of enthusiasm for blogging and introducing people to the world of blogging, his blog gives evidence to this and is a great resource for the new or experienced blogger.

Matthew Tommasi has been a great source of help in my digital learning, through emails, his newsletters and highly informative blog on social media.

Nadine van Dongen was one of the first people I met when I moved to Europe in 2002, we’ve kept in contact and with her positive and inspiring approach to life she is a great person to be around. Now living in London she is the extremely successful business owner of Van Dongen Research which has introduced the concept of ‘Patient Intelligence’ into the pharmaceutical environment.

Stuart Wragg and I work together at Bright One, because of his enthusiasm for the project and understanding of PR, I really enjoy working with him and he’s great to bounce ideas with.

Sandeep Kalsi is extremely down to earth, relaxed and generous with his time and advice. At the same time he is doing an excellent job establishing a European headquarters for Atomic PR, watch out for this one!

Sharon Clews impressed me with her presentation on handling clients in the digital space at measurement camp, since then it has been great to have her in my network / as a friend to share ideas and get advice on the freelance market.

 Mauricio Samayoa has an impressive array of international work experience and understanding of social media, he’s a great person to be connected with through the social media platforms and various events.

Tim Hoang great guy to be connected with, he makes conversations on topics like SEO and search really interesting! Tim is well connected and generous with his time and sharing his knowledge and contacts.

What is one thing people can do for you?

Please say hello on Twitter or email if you found this useful.

Wordpress product feed plugin for csv files to compare shopping deals.

I have been doing some digging around for some wordpress plugins to enable me to take product feeds and pop them into my blog easily. I thought I would share some I found.

Here are a some handy wordpress plugins.

http://www.importcsv.com/
“Uses an open source CMS system, to add huge amount of content to website. This can be an affiliate based website or you can create your own content and use the plugin to add it to your site. Using Wordpress also allows you to configure publishing dates – Put a whole years content live in one go.” Sounds good – yes and it is.

Features
The Import CSV Pro Plugin will…
◦Import any CSV file in the correct format – Written Posts, Datafeed posts, quotes, tips
◦Allow you to add feeds together or add them seperately
◦Import and CSV Datafeed up to 10,000 records in one go! – Save a huge amount of time
◦Advance timestamp posts so they go live in the future – Set and forget! It can be set to upload every minute! Easily!
◦Add custom fields to create unique blog posts.
◦Post into categories that don’t exist yet, the plugin will create the categories for you!
◦Post into multiple categories
◦Can automatically build in HTML code – The plugin writes the HTML as HTML! Add in Back links, images, video, you name it, it you add it to the CSV file, the Import CSV file build it.

www.affilistore.com

AffiliStore 2 allows affiliates to quickly and easily build and maintain multi-page affiliate marketing price comparison websites directly from multiple merchant product datafeeds. AffiliStore 2 has been created using PHP and MySQL and has a simple installation interface.

•Build product datafeed driven affiliate marketing price comparison websites
•Easy to create your own design template
•Quick and simple installation
•Supports CSV product feeds (comma, pipe, semicolon and tab)
•Ability to refresh and change product feeds as required
•Choose custom currency £, $, €, USD, GBP etc.
•Create custom pages and news items within your AffiliStore website.
•Click here for a full feature list

An example of a shopping feed site is shopping deals, compare shopping prices site urbanstone.co.uk and their freezers section.

Maryann Piek TiackTacDough Product Review Writer An Interview

Maryann writes product reviews on her blog, uses videos and shares information about parenting.

Tell me about your Blog -

I am the writer for TicTacDough Blog — a savvy blog about motherhood, crafting, parenting, some great recipes that are family friendly, and some really amazing reviews and giveaways by some truly fabulous shops! I love to start my day by seeing who has visited TicTacDough! I love visitors and comments are even better!

What was your first blog?

I actually have two blogs– My first is called The Lost and Found Vintage Blog.  I have a small vintage boutique on Etsy.com called The Lost and Found. I had started the vintage blog to gain more exposure to my vintage shop. It ended up being a great head start in to the blogging world– and it helped bring new customers to my shop at the same time!

What is the biggest tip you would give to product reviewers?

My biggest tip would be to be honest and give your readers some original feedback about the product that most may have not thought of. Is there multiple uses or perhaps a wide spread audience that could use this product? I also like to incorporate video or You Tube whenever possible. Some people are more prone to purchase or take the time to check out something if it’s shown in different perspectives! Some people are readers– some are not– those people could be more visually stimulated.

Are you contacted by advertisers or do you contact them or both?

For the most part, I have contacted most of my sponsors either through email, telephone or mail. A few have contacted me directly through email. I have a set form letter that I email companies giving an overview of my blog and the idea I have for them to work in a partnership with me promoting their product.

What is your favorite product that you have reviewed?

I would have to say the Tassimo Beverage machine is fabulous! I love coffee and this machine completely takes out the step of running to the local coffee shop to get that daily fix!

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t/do that you like?

I love to be able to “follow” a certain blog that I love. Sometimes a blogger will place the follow me widget down somewhere near the bottom of their page– I don’t like to search for things. I love when I come across a blog with great blog design and it tells me who designed the blog! That way I can check them out too!

What advertiser would you like to work with given a chance?

I would love to be able to work with UGG or perhaps Dyson. With mothers being my sole base of readers, I feel it could definitely further their amazing exposure on the web.

What is on your iPod?

Hmmm… a pretty good mix of music. I love Shooter Jennings, old Pearl Jam, Sublime (40 ounces to Freedom), all Tom Petty albums, some Montgomery Gentry and a little Johnny Cash.

What are your contact details?

mbpeik@(nospam)aol.com
TicTacDough– http://www.tictacdough.blogspot.com
The Lost and Found– http://www.thelostfound.etsy.com
The Lost and Found Vintage Blog– http://www.thelostandfoundvintage.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/TicTacDough-Playing-Dough/128162393293?ref=nf
Twitter: @tictacdoughshop

How do you prefer to communicate?

I love email!

Who would you recommend, and why?

I love stopping by The Penny Pinching Mama– http://thepennypinchingmama.blogspot.com/
Raising Olives http://raisingolives.com/ is a wonderful blog about raising children, homeschooling and fun crafts and recipes!

What is one thing people can do for you?

Stop by TicTacDough– http://www.tictacdough.blogspot.com , follow me, comment and WIN a giveaway! I love telling people they have won something cool!

ConnieFoggles

In case you missed anything recently Writing this up I realize how long it has been since I last did a roundup.

Incoming Links Thanks
This is a little link love to those who have linked to me recently

Affiliate Summit Las Vegas Flights

I just bought my Affiliate Summit Flights!

Anastasia Borisyuk Eco-Babyz Green Blogger An Interview

Anastasia shares product reviews about eco-friendly children’s products and how to live more naturally as a parent on her blog.

Happy Christmas

I know you have seen this before but it makes me smile and I thought it would make a good Christmas day post.

Break Down the SEM Silos- An interview with Matt Malden, CEO of Yield Software, Inc.

Q: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is made up of three key disciplines: paid search management and optimization, search engine optimization (SEO), and landing page optimization.

Shasta Walton Faithfully Frugal and Free Blogger An Interview

Shasta shares about bargains, discounts and free items on her blog. She also writes honest product reviews especially those for children.

Incoming Links Thanks

This is a little link love to those who have linked to me recently

• Adjump: The International Lead Generation Specialists
• Joe Handicaps the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards
• Fetching Friday – Resources, Snuggies for Dogs & the Week in Review
• Bekende mensen op Web 2.0 sites
• Are You Playing Hide and Seek With Your Market?
• What do you want ??
• Tools Wanted for Power Bloggers, Social Networkers
• Thankful MEME: Who Murray Newlands Thanks
• Interview with Murray Newlands
• YouTube Film Contest

I just bought my Affiliate Summit Flights!

Affiliate Summit it such a great affiliate marketing conference. Shawn and Missy make it a fantastic event. If you are going I cannot wait to see you there we will have  a blast.  It is the perfect holiday gift to yourself

For those that do not know:

Anastasia Borisyuk Eco-Babyz Green Blogger An Interview

Anastasia shares product reviews about eco-friendly children’s products and how to live more naturally as a parent on her blog.  She only reviews products that meet her standards for being organic and healthy for children.

Tell me about your Blog -

Eco-Babyz is a place for natural parenting enthusiasts to learn and share their experiences. It is also a place for conventional parents to learn more about green living. I blog mostly about Eco-parenting and living, health, and controversial parenting subjects. Though great content is my focus, I do have reviews and giveaways every week or two.

AnV Design is my first blog, it is a blog about all things home, decorating, interior design, and architecture. Eco-Babyz came two weeks later and has become my primary blogging outlet. I don’t have the intention of starting any more!

Be honest in your reviews, otherwise you will loose credibility. The more realistic the review, the more likely it is people will read it and actually think about spending money on that product. This benefits both the company and the consumer.

Both. At first my blog was solely for editorial content. When I started writing reviews half a year ago I contacted companies for products I would want to review. Now they come to us as well. We do have a policy in place though to only review products that align with the philosophy of our blog. We only review organic food, no plastic toys (natural rubber, wood, cloth are welcome), and for baby gear we accept items on a case by case basis.

That would have to be the Walkabye Terrani stroller. It really amazed me, I have never seen a smoother ride or better quality. At $599 it is also the most expensive item I have reviewed. I’ll have to say though I love all the products I review. I only request products that align with the philosophy of our blog and my readers, so its a win win! Some of my other favorites in the past are the Britax Advocate CS car seat, Boba Organic Baby Carrier, the Original Rubber Duck, the Germ Guardian UV-C Room Air Sanitizer, Livie and Luca Shoes, Mythic Paint, Emerson Creek Pottery, Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers, and Thirsties cloth diapers.

I wish advertisers that claim to be ‘green’ but are not in reality would stop the greenwashing. There are a ton of products out there that claim to be Eco-friendly but in fact are not! That is why on Eco-Babyz we stick to either hard-core green companies or make it obvious that an item we are reviewing still has to live up to ‘greeness’. I also wish advertisers would not act like they are doing me a favor by giving me complimentary product for review (especially if the product is not worth more than $30). If they only knew how much time I put into the blog they would understand that it is fair compensation. I do like advertisers that are down to earth in communication and open to new ideas.

I know you have seen this before but it makes me smile and I thought it would make a good Christmas day post. Happy Christmas to all of you, I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Q: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is made up of three key disciplines: paid search management and optimization, search engine optimization (SEO), and landing page optimization.  Why does each exist within a silo?

Matt Malden:  When search engines first began their rise to prominence in the late 1990’s, companies became very concerned with how to get into a top position in natural (or organic) search results for the keywords that mattered most to them.  From that concern arose a whole field of professionals focused on assessing company websites and how best to optimize them for search engine crawlers.

When Google came along and introduced pay-per-click (PPC) advertising along side their natural search results, a whole separate new profession was born around the management and optimization of paid search campaigns.  Closely tied to the introduction of paid search was a rising concern that the landing pages to which both natural and paid search links resolved may not be converting visits into customers.  Thus, the creation of A/B and multivariate testing around landing page performance.

Q: So while there are professionals and tools for each aspect of search engine marketing, they all work more or less independent of one another?

Matt Malden: Exactly.  To the extent that enabling technologies have been developed to make the execution of paid search, SEO efforts or landing page experiments possible or easier, they’re disaggregated and don’t play well together.

Q: Why is that a problem?

Matt Malden: Fundamental to all three aspect of SEM is the concept of keyword strategy – that is, the deep understanding of how one’s own customers search for your products or services on the Web.  By knowing how your customers use keyword search to find you, you’re able to optimize your website such that it ranks well in natural search results for those keywords; optimize and focus your paid search advertising and keyword bids; and align your landing pages such that they speak well to both the keywords or phrases your customer uses as well as the links they’ve just clicked on to arrive your site.

Q: So there’s an important interrelationship between the three silos of SEM.

Matt Malden: Right – each has an impact on the other; each can make the other a better performer.  And what’s important for marketing professionals to understand is that by optimizing all three components of SEM in parallel, you can bring down the overall cost of search marketing while improving campaign results.  It’s why my company is so hyper-focused on bringing the three aspects of SEM together within a single, powerful enabling technology.

Q:  So how can optimizing all three components of search marketing result in lower costs and better campaign outcomes?

Matt Malden: First, clicks on a natural search result is free to the website owner, so making sure your site is highly optimized for search engines is key.  When you combine traffic from free clicks with those from paid clicks, you bring down your overall cost of acquisition.  Second, when you have highly focused keyword strategies, bolstered by sensible negative keyword lists and PPC ads that reflect those keywords, you increase the likelihood of paid clicks, which improves your quality score.  When you’ve got an excellent quality score, the cost you pay for clicks on your keywords is actually less than those with lousy quality scores.  Third, when those clicks resolve to landing pages that are highly optimized and in alignment with your ads and keywords, the chance that a visitor will convert to a customer or lead or whatever is much greater.

Q: What would be the downside of focusing solely on SEO, for instance?

Matt Malden: Ideally you’d do all three in concert for the reasons mentioned above.  But if you’re only able to focus on one of the three elements of SEM, choosing SEO is a good first step because the most important thing you can do is ensure you have a well-written, well-organized site that conforms to SEO best practices.  You may be leaving traffic on the table by failing to add a PPC strategy.  Similarly, if your landing pages aren’t highly optimize to convert new visitors into customers, you’re very likely losing opportunity that’s right under your nose.  But it’s never a bad idea to invest in a really good website that’s optimized to meet your business goals.