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Imagine a boy handing his father a box filled with specialized Lego parts. Each looks similar in many ways, but they also have distinct features and colors that make it necessary to have a plan for 'project development'. The father sorts through the box or bag looking for that 'just right' piece. Without a match between part and plan the Lego creation looks, well, different somehow ' and that's not always a bad thing.

I've seen boys take those Lego sets and make some pretty amazing things, but ultimately it did not look anything like the picture on the box. These grade school problem solvers took the pieces and made something altogether new. Sometimes they even borrow from other Lego sets to create something even more fantastic and previously unknown and perhaps unduplicated. The bucket, box or bag of random parts became the catalyst for the imagination needed to make a true original project.

Now I want you to think of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies as something a bit like a Lego kit ' lots of parts that can be combined to create something special when multiple parts are used.

Many online businesses pick and choose the marketing components they feel most comfortable with. They will even use those skills to great effect, but like the Lego kits the parts can be assembled in a variety of ways that make for an impressive final outcome.

SEO Starts with web design and then building blocks of SEO are attached to that primary block through the use of a variety of online marketing techniques.

Perhaps you might like to try list building as a block in your 'yet unknown and unidentified' masterpiece, but you might also consider traffic building in order build your email list.

Maybe you could develop an ezine and a 'member's only' ebook download. These blocks can contribute to both traffic building and list building objectives.

Video streaming and podcasting are popular components to marketing and SEO and they go hand in hand with social media, blogging and forums so be sure to add those blocks.

Don't forget autoresponders and customer service. There's no use selling a product or service and forgetting the customer. After all, the customer is why you're in business.

When you want to let others know about your business you might consider email marketing (that's where list building comes in) and Real Simple Syndication (RSS) to get the word out.

Like Lego's, each of these marketing strategies snap together to represent your business through SEO techniques. However, no matter how you build it you will need keyword rich content that is compelling to site visitors and easily slurped by spiders or perused by bots. When you do not have keyword rich content both site visitor and search engines do not find your site compelling enough to get excited about.

You want people to get excited about your site. The role of quality content should never be minimized.

If SEO is a lot like Lego building blocks, what does your site look like?