First of all, what is Search Engine Optimization exactly?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the actions you take to help search engines match your website with people looking for solutions like yours.

"SEO is the actions you take to help search engines match your website with people looking for solutions like yours"

Hidden in the definition is a fact that many people overlook: The market must exist for the product or service you offer. That is because with SEO, people are searching for something because they have a problem they want to solve.

For SEO to work, the market for your product or service must exist

SEO will not develop a market for you. People search the Internet for a solution to a problem they have. You never get a chance to convince them they have a problem they don't know they have. That is what Advertising is for. Sure, you might, after your visitor has arrived at your site, try to "up-sell" or "cross-sell" another product or service to them, and it might be a lucrative opportunity for you, but that up-selling or cross-selling is not SEO.

A question I ask people is, Are people spending money today on a solution to the problem you solve? If they are, SEO can help you get connected with them. If not, then it is too early to use SEO. For example: Suppose you have developed a product that purifies gasoline, and you're considering using SEO to get potential buyers to consider your solution. Ask yourself this question, Are people currently spending money today to purify their gasoline?

Note the today part of the question. There might be a reason why people are not buying such solutions today, but may have done so last year or indeed, may in the future. The market for your particular product could be vulnerable to a recession, or there might be a seasonal element to it.

Are people spending money today on a solution to the problem you solve?

Your market can be new or old, high tech or low tech; it can be trendy or boring, but people must be in the market for what you have to offer for SEO to be effective. They must be willing to spend money today on what you have. It doesn't matter how interesting, revolutionary, cost-effective or miraculous your product is. The only thing that matters is that people are spending money today on solving the problem your product or service solves.

Conclusion: The single biggest factor in Search Engine Optimization has nothing to do with the Internet. It is whether or not a market for your product or service exists.

Selling the Requirement vs. Selling the Product

In this context at least, a Requirement is the recognized need for a solution to a problem. A Product is a solution. The former will drive someone to the Internet in search of a solution. The latter will not.

When you are "selling the requirement" as it is called in sales and marketing circles, you are trying to convince someone they have a problem; in other words, you are trying to — so help me God — change their mind and thus build the market. Good luck with that, my friend. Changing someone's mind is the hardest thing in the world to do. An established brand can be incredibly valuable because a brand lives in the heads of those who have already made up their minds.

"a brand lives in the heads of those who have made up their minds"

Selling the Product is a completely different challenge because your prospect already knows they have a problem. Now all you have to do is convince them that your product is the best way to solve it. When Google displays your website at the top of search results, you're off to a great start: the most respected high tech company in the world just told your prospect that your product is the best choice. That is the best PR imaginable.  All you have to do now is, (ha! "all you have to do" - isn't that funny!) close the sale, but it's a heck of a lot easier that trying to change someone's mind.