Inspired by this post on Conversation Marketing, here are ten ways SEO resembles these delicious little confections (and an accompanying post on our web design company’s blog about web design is like cookies).  1.  Almost everyone enjoys cupcakes, just like almost every business or website owner enjoys being on page #1 of the SERPs for relevant and popular keywords.

2.  There are many different flavors of cupcakes, just like there are many different approaches to online marketing.

3.  Stuffing yourself with cupcakes is just as unpleasant as visiting a site that has been stuffed with keywords.

4.  Cupcakes are closely related to muffins, just like SEO is closely related to online marketing.

5.  Pay-per-click is a slightly more distant cousin - if SEO is a cupcake, than PPC is a brownie or perhaps a scone.

6.   The existence of both involves outside forces - SEO needs the search engines and their algorithms, cupcakes need the heat of the oven.

7.  They range from the simple (basic chocolate or yellow cake are the cupcake equivalent of placing keywords in the title tag) to the elaborate (cupcakes with multiple layers and fillings topped with sprinkles are the complex linkbait schemes).

8. Prices range from dirt cheap (although these are likely inferior products made with poor substitutes for high quality ingredients) to the ultra high end.

9.  Learning the basics of SEO and baking cupcakes is a fairly straightforward process; however, becoming a master SEO consultant or pastry chef takes years of education.

10.  They are both better with sprinkles.