Would you be surprised to learn that I’ve been writing Google Search+ recommendations and how-to guides for Portent clients this week? I plan to share my findings here on the blog, but before I dive into the new stuff I feel that it is important to cover some old ground first.

Have you laid a good foundation of site architecture, web design, keyword mapping, content creation and link building for your website? I am writing of the basics, laying a solid foundation for visitors and SEO on your website. Before you go diving into social media 2.x you must have a

• Visually appealing website
• Content people want
  • Brochure or sales pages that convert
  • A steady stream of content that makes people want to visit or re-visit
• A keyword strategy
• Identified and optimized SEO hub pages or targets
• An internal linking strategy for SEO in addition to the optimized site architecture
•  A link building strategy in place or a steady stream of new links to numerous pages

By now, if you have worked on SEO, you have seen many versions of the above list, short and long. My point is that if your website lacks a strong foundation of SEO and conversion optimization all the social media marketing in the world will probably be for naught.

There’s always something. In 2010 it was Twitter results in Google. Last year it was clicks and abandons. Search optimization is ever changing. So before you jump into the latest and greatest SEO opportunities get the basics down first. Then you’ll have something to optimize Google+ and other social media sites for.

And don’t think that you will get around to optimizing your website or adding that blog later. Something will always come-up, get in the way or take precedence. Write a plan. Create milestones and tasks with due dates. Get to SEO 101 optimizing.