Is SEO really even close to as important as marketing? How do you actually market a site to begin with?

[EyceMan]

I have a few sites that I started up but nobody visits them because nobody knows about them. But is this because I did not optimize my SE marketing or because I just did not push enough oomph into marketing in the first place? It seems that SEO is a buzzword but all it really is is optimization of your search engine marketing campaign. But no matter how hard I look I don't really see that many nice and innovative and useful articles on the net about pure marketing on the internet.

Can anyone list some cheap ways to market websites such as health and weightloss blogs?
Ok I guess my question was, besides fighting for positions in the search engines, what other ways are good to market a brand new website. Adwords? I mean you have to get the word out. I don't want to just OPTIMIZE my SE campaigns...I want to know how to use them to drive traffic to my websites without worrying about how google or yahoo "ranks" my site. There must be feasable ways to market a website with total disregard for what a search engine thinks of your efforts, right?

[Truffle lover]

There's no way for anyone to find your sites without SEO. Now you can do it by hiring a company or you can do it yourself. A company I found useful is http://www.proboost.com . Did you submit your site to all the search engines? Do your meta tag key words appear on the main body? I know it's a pain but, with millions of web sites, you need to work on them to make sure your site appears when people do a search- otherwise they may as well not be there. I hope this helps!
Claudia
http://www.bankcard-processing.com

[Michael]

SEO is very VERY important. I'm guessing that you may be having trouble getting high rankings on Google because you refer to it as "fighting for positions"

Marketing online has never been easier, with places like Youtube (look at it as free commercials) where you can link back to your site, Also,blogs & forums (Do Not simply spam them with "Look at me" type content)

Twitter is another good way to reach lots of people on any subject.

One thing that is so overlooked is your site. Traffic IS important but does your site keep people coming back, do they stay there at all ? You could have a gazillion people go to any website but if the site sucks (and a lot of them do ) what's the point ?

Then, does your site convert ? If everyone with a computer looked at your website and no one purchased do you think they would tell anyone ? of course not.

Another idea is, do you have a blog of your own to offer useful info that will spread through the Internet, thus bringing you eyeballs to your site ? You should.

The point is do not overlook the basics that are out there to attract viewers and having them tell their friends and family. I will tell you you're headed in the right direction because you're asking questions, you're looking for answers that most people give up on.

Never give up.
Michael

[Ed Atun]

The Wall Street Journal and PC Magazine always talk about great websites. I visit all the ones they mention. Write them about your site. That could work.
Marketing and SEO are both equally important.

[We Seo]

Hi how you doing, SEO is just a single form of marketing.
If you are struggling with ranking in the SERPS than you certainly do need to address SEO, but you need an overall online marketing plan you should be looking for ways to promote your site both on line and off line, and tying the marketing together to enable a common goal of both marketing mediums.
You need to address linking strategies, content optimisation and how you are going to spread the word online about how good your content is. Get involved in forums and social mediums that pertain to your market, build a profile about yourself and gain credibility to attain your goals.
It is not about addressing one marketing factor but having a goal and putting systems in place that work towards that single goal.