When looking at Google, one is struck by the somewhat Orwellian nature of entering a search term and being watched by Big Brother in a dispassionate, detached yet interested manner. When looking at the patterns people use in searching, it does come close to that totalitarian character from the George Orwell novel, 1984, but that is the truth of our times. Google is neither good nor evil. It just IS, and with that realization, people should adapt to the new SEO frontiers and how to not only deal with but capitalize on the wealth of information that search engines collect.
Let’s drop the Big Brother analogy, because when we started looking for things on the Internet, that became just another part of our paradigm shift towards the belief that anything we searched for on the Net was just out of our reach in the search results. Collecting data and disseminating it is a fact of life. As a business, one should rapidly get used to the idea and seek constructive, professional ways to harness this power. Because, in this case knowledge is truly power, and if you or a company that you hire can get a handle on the niche you want to control and dominate to deliver your sales message or well-placed, online advertising, then you’re ready to watch your sales double, quadruple and more.
The true value an SEO expert on staff or a firm that understands the value of search engine optimization can transform your company. The concept is really very simple: put your company, product or service in the traffic or search results of people who are looking for your product or service. That’s it. Success on the Internet.
When you look at it that way, it doesn’t appear to be so hard to conquer. What you may fail to realize is that there are millions of companies and businesses out there that have already realized this fact and have gone on to seek their fortune in that realm. You will need an edge, something that most of your competitors lack.
This is where the basic principle of personalized search comes into play. You see, whether you’re a millionaire or Joe-Nobody surfing the Net, every time you query Google or any other search engine for information, that query data is stored in a database. It is then tabulated, and cross-tabulated with other things you and others have searched for. On a personal level, the search engines build a profile of your search habits over time. Like artificial intelligence, the search engines long to understand you, your interests and habits. As you search and surf, you will begin to see an eerie thing happen – more and more relevant search results will begin to pop up as you type.
Before you run screaming back into the dark ages, this is a good thing. For example, if you’ve shown an interest in fishing while our neighbor searches for musical instruments. When you search for “bass”, the search engine will begin to return fishing results, while your neighbor who searches for the exact same term, “bass” will get back musical instruments that are relevant to him – bass fiddles, bass drums, etc. This is personalized search results.
Now that you understand the concept, let’s talk about how you can use it in your business in order increase sales in your business. These personalized search results, you need to either learn or hire an SEO firm that is familiar with this major shift in how search engine optimization is going. Google is currently testing the waters with this form of personalization, and you need to be signed up with one of their services in order to get this kind of personalization. Theses services include: Adwords, Google Toolbar, Gmail and the like. Through these various forums, Google is learning about you and your preferences.
When you search through Google, it places a cookie which is a unique identifier on your machine. It doesn’t do anything, but identify you as a user of their service. No biggie, right? It will be just as easy for them to use this technology to collect user data in order to personalize your search. Right now, they’re waiting to see if there’s screaming in the streets from users who abhor any kind of data collection. More than likely, it will go by unnoticed by most. As a business, you need to be on the cutting edge of this new technology and have either an expert or a firm working towards utilizing this major upgrade in order to take you to the next level of the Internet.
Truly good search engine optimization firms are already preparing for this major shift, using things like “clean” machines for data collection and in how they report on Google’s ranking of data to their clients. Clean machines are one’s that have had no Google programs or cookies dropped on it. This will be a baseline machine with results for the client that are delivered as a snapshot of what they user would see if their machine was Google-less.
First, the good news. Account holders with the search engine giant will probably not be deluged with certain products based on their profiles, but their entire surfing and querying history will be reviewed and results will be skewed toward the user’s industry.
Then, there’s the bad news. Search engine optimization firms will have a rough time trying to demonstrate these results because the client will more than likely be using a Google program on personal machines, so the results won’t match with the SEO firm.
What all this means is that the company needs to establish a level of trust in the professional skills of the firm they choose. In return, the SEO firm needs to take the time to explain in detail how the new search engine results work showing how these results can appear totally different from machine to machine and why this happens. As well, the firm needs to have the technical skill to be able to delve into the client’s machine, look at the current cookies onboard and explain how this is affecting what results they’re getting.
When setting up a campaign, companies will have to take more into account when starting out. Having a good SEO firm onboard will simplify this latest level of complexity quite a bit. Being able to utilize personal search results and consumer profiles is just a step away, and it takes a high-level of skill to deal with it effectively.
Showing posts with label search engine marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label search engine marketing. Show all posts
October 13, 2012
October 12, 2012
Social Media Optimization
Social media optimization (SMO) is an online technique for getting
yourself and your online business a high profile and lots of traffic by
maximizing your use of social networking online.
Social media optimization includes using social bookmarking websites for your articles and content, using RSS feeds, blogging, and sharing "tagged" photographs on Flickr or videos on places such as Video Jug or YouTube.
Social media optimization is an offshoot of SEO marketing techniques, except this is more about placement than content (though you still need to start with content) and generating website traffic straight from sources other than search engine results pages. Social media optimization is also a form of viral marketing; that is, a marketing technique where just one marketing piece gets shared and re-sent (and thus viewed and/or heard) in an ever-increasing, parabolic way throughout the Internet at very little cost to you.
This is also a 21st century online version of what successful businessmen and marketers have always done: networking in social settings to build trust and a reputation for being someone who can be related to. Networking is the most efficient means of target marketing, and the reach and speed of the Internet just amplifies or magnifies its power.
(SMO) was coined by Rohit Bhargava, who publishes the Influential Marketing Blog and is very influential indeed. He says that SMO is to be used to: increase your linkability; make tagging and bookmarking easy; reward inbound links; help your content travel; encourage the "mashup" (Mixture of content or elements. For instance, an application that was built from routines from multiple sources or a Web site that combines content and/or scripts from multiple sources is said to be a mashup.~ Computer Desktop Encyclopedia); and get communities connected.
Linkability is the key to all Internet success. It's simply the quality of being a desirable place for other people to link to from their websites or to tell other people about online (such as at the social bookmarking websites like Digg, Yahoo My Web, Propeller, etc.).
Tagging and bookmarking are made easier by SMO because you can tag a ton of your content the same and similar ways to maximize the targeting of a given audience.
Inbound links are rewarded by being seen as "strong" by the webcrawlers. This rewards your site and sites that choose to link to your site by increasing your profiles on search engines.
Needless to say, helping your content travel and the "mashup" have been discussed above in so many words. In essence, with SMO you're weaving your tangled Internet web and creating something like a neural network over which are transmitted ever stronger and faster signals, all giving you increased traffic and increased business.
Social media optimization should be used by anyone who is serious about Internet marketing success.
Social media optimization includes using social bookmarking websites for your articles and content, using RSS feeds, blogging, and sharing "tagged" photographs on Flickr or videos on places such as Video Jug or YouTube.
Social media optimization is an offshoot of SEO marketing techniques, except this is more about placement than content (though you still need to start with content) and generating website traffic straight from sources other than search engine results pages. Social media optimization is also a form of viral marketing; that is, a marketing technique where just one marketing piece gets shared and re-sent (and thus viewed and/or heard) in an ever-increasing, parabolic way throughout the Internet at very little cost to you.
This is also a 21st century online version of what successful businessmen and marketers have always done: networking in social settings to build trust and a reputation for being someone who can be related to. Networking is the most efficient means of target marketing, and the reach and speed of the Internet just amplifies or magnifies its power.
(SMO) was coined by Rohit Bhargava, who publishes the Influential Marketing Blog and is very influential indeed. He says that SMO is to be used to: increase your linkability; make tagging and bookmarking easy; reward inbound links; help your content travel; encourage the "mashup" (Mixture of content or elements. For instance, an application that was built from routines from multiple sources or a Web site that combines content and/or scripts from multiple sources is said to be a mashup.~ Computer Desktop Encyclopedia); and get communities connected.
Linkability is the key to all Internet success. It's simply the quality of being a desirable place for other people to link to from their websites or to tell other people about online (such as at the social bookmarking websites like Digg, Yahoo My Web, Propeller, etc.).
Tagging and bookmarking are made easier by SMO because you can tag a ton of your content the same and similar ways to maximize the targeting of a given audience.
Inbound links are rewarded by being seen as "strong" by the webcrawlers. This rewards your site and sites that choose to link to your site by increasing your profiles on search engines.
Needless to say, helping your content travel and the "mashup" have been discussed above in so many words. In essence, with SMO you're weaving your tangled Internet web and creating something like a neural network over which are transmitted ever stronger and faster signals, all giving you increased traffic and increased business.
Social media optimization should be used by anyone who is serious about Internet marketing success.
April 1, 2008
Is Search Engine Optimization – SEO - Dead? By: Randy Zlobec
Try Search Engine Marketing – SEM - Instead
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization as a standalone methodology, is dead as a doornail. Trying to accomplish high search engine ranking using SEO alone is a losing proposition at best and web site suicide in most instances. You need to incorporate an entire SEM (Search Engine Marketing) campaign which includes:
In the beginning, you could throw up any kind of page and get people to visit. Quality web pages were few and far between, and it was just astounding that you could get type on a page that others could view. Then came the keyword, the meta tag, the phrase, the optimization, software considered downright primitive in today’s world that would tell you your page was a cut above the pack. These days are long gone.
In order to get around the dead horse of SEO standalone, you need to be ready to add links, backlinks, and quality backlinks. You need to be able to do more than string three words together. Today’s readers are savvy. They want real information; don’t deliver junky, slapped together, non-researched splats of content and expect to maintain traffic and credibility. Today it is all about quality content, unique and different — that delivers a message that is both interesting and informative.
For basic optimization, you need to add things like blogging, dynamic updating, and social networking. Use the checklist below to smarten up your pages and make them more than SEO optimized. Knowing what makes them hum, what spiders love, will make your pages more than just web-ready. They will become traffic magnets.
Let’s Talk Keywords
If you remember nothing else, remember to put your keyword or keyword phrase in thePUT YOUR KEYWORD HERE . Many folks overlook this and just like that the spider glides on by—uninformed. If you are adding things like social bookmarking and blogging to your site and you forget this, you might as well be holding up a sign in a sandstorm.
Keywords in the URL do help. Remember if you are just redirecting a keyword URL to your web site to use a 301 Redirect which is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. See the sidebar on this page regarding redirect codes.
Keywords in your anchor text from another site. Called an inbound link, this is like getting a vote from another site. Be sure and have your keyword or keyword phrase as part of that vote.
Keywords in your tags. Yes, it is your headline. It’s important. It’s rated by search engines, and if your keyword is part of it, it’s rated higher. But be sure that it’s also part of your body text or you will probably upset the spiders. Never upset the spiders or you’ll be on page 11 million for your keyword. Keywords in the tags. Alt tags are what your page displays when the pictures can’t be found or someone browses your page with pictures turned off. Spiders also read the tags, so if you have your keyword in there then viola, more credit for your page.
Article Writing and Distribution
There are a number of article directories where you can distribute your articles with your resource box promoting your web site. You will want to write relevant, short quality articles that build curiosity for your web site. You do not want to write articles longer than 500–600 words for article directories.
Articles as Bait
On your web site, you will want to have longer, informative articles on a specific subject related to your web site’s topic. Called linkbait, these articles are designed to inform and educate your readership on relative topics. This is not what articles for article directories are all about. They are curiosity builders. You write 300–400 words on a topic to demonstrate your knowledge on that topic. You include a resource or author’s box back to your web site where you can present a long, in-depth version of your material.
One important thing to remember when writing articles for directories. Each must be different and unique from each other, and each one must be different than the one on your web site. If you duplicate articles for the various article directories and they all have inbound links to the same content on your main web site, you will kill your page rank and credibility. If you can remember that article directories get you quickly indexed and offer a curiosity booster that acts as a portal to your main web site, then you’ll write accordingly.
Through these directories, you’ll receive a ton of backlinks as other web sites use your content on their web site. However, none of it will match what’s on your own web site, so it won’t be considered duplicate content, just inbound links.
Press Releases Are An Overlooked, Great Process
If you can write news copy, you can write a decent press release which will get your web site a ton of exposure. You will want to put out a press release for the following reasons:
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
Using pay-per-click advertising is another way to get almost instant traffic to your web site. Utilizing pay-per-click giants like Google and Yahoo, you can pay for visitors to your web site. You list small, contextually-based advertising which is published across their network of web sites, and interested people click on your advertising and arrive at your site. This is one of the quickest ways to get traffic to arrive, but it can be costly to get started. Pay-Per-Click lets you advertise to the whole of the online community.
There are also text link advertising, classified advertising, and pay-per-post advertising where you can get other bloggers to blog for money about your product or service on your web site. It is a variation of PPC in that bloggers will write and review your site or service for a small fee and list you for a set period of time on their web site. It adds content to their site and gives you more than just a link back to your site.
Social Networking and Social News Sites
Web 2.0 and social networking are the next fastest ways to get traffic rolling into your site. To get the ball rolling and to give you some ideas on where to start, let’s look at the basics of social news networking. We want to separate this from social bookmarking which is for personal use. Social news networking is for when you want to advertising your business, home business, or professional site. It’s about providing news to the world about who and what you are, the benefits you offer, and why they should stop by.
Some of the better news sites where you can post your short articles include: Netscape, Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg and OnlyWire to name a few. These sites are news-hungry, just waiting for information about your web site. Whatever your site is about will be quickly and effectively disseminated by posting on these web sites.
Considered the second generation in online marketing, social networking is all about building communities of like minded individuals who are looking for certain things. You web site is taken into a group, and depending on your service or product, people arrive at your web site because of the tags and text you provide to the online community. There are as many social news and networking sites as there are interests, but the main ones to start with are listed but by no means complete. HBM
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization as a standalone methodology, is dead as a doornail. Trying to accomplish high search engine ranking using SEO alone is a losing proposition at best and web site suicide in most instances. You need to incorporate an entire SEM (Search Engine Marketing) campaign which includes:
- Link Building
- Article Writing & Distribution
- Press Release Writing & Distribution
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Social Networking
- Blogging
In the beginning, you could throw up any kind of page and get people to visit. Quality web pages were few and far between, and it was just astounding that you could get type on a page that others could view. Then came the keyword, the meta tag, the phrase, the optimization, software considered downright primitive in today’s world that would tell you your page was a cut above the pack. These days are long gone.
In order to get around the dead horse of SEO standalone, you need to be ready to add links, backlinks, and quality backlinks. You need to be able to do more than string three words together. Today’s readers are savvy. They want real information; don’t deliver junky, slapped together, non-researched splats of content and expect to maintain traffic and credibility. Today it is all about quality content, unique and different — that delivers a message that is both interesting and informative.
For basic optimization, you need to add things like blogging, dynamic updating, and social networking. Use the checklist below to smarten up your pages and make them more than SEO optimized. Knowing what makes them hum, what spiders love, will make your pages more than just web-ready. They will become traffic magnets.
Let’s Talk Keywords
If you remember nothing else, remember to put your keyword or keyword phrase in the
Keywords in the URL do help. Remember if you are just redirecting a keyword URL to your web site to use a 301 Redirect which is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. See the sidebar on this page regarding redirect codes.
Keywords in your anchor text from another site. Called an inbound link, this is like getting a vote from another site. Be sure and have your keyword or keyword phrase as part of that vote.
Keywords in your tags. Yes, it is your headline. It’s important. It’s rated by search engines, and if your keyword is part of it, it’s rated higher. But be sure that it’s also part of your body text or you will probably upset the spiders. Never upset the spiders or you’ll be on page 11 million for your keyword. Keywords in the
There are a number of article directories where you can distribute your articles with your resource box promoting your web site. You will want to write relevant, short quality articles that build curiosity for your web site. You do not want to write articles longer than 500–600 words for article directories.
Articles as Bait
On your web site, you will want to have longer, informative articles on a specific subject related to your web site’s topic. Called linkbait, these articles are designed to inform and educate your readership on relative topics. This is not what articles for article directories are all about. They are curiosity builders. You write 300–400 words on a topic to demonstrate your knowledge on that topic. You include a resource or author’s box back to your web site where you can present a long, in-depth version of your material.
One important thing to remember when writing articles for directories. Each must be different and unique from each other, and each one must be different than the one on your web site. If you duplicate articles for the various article directories and they all have inbound links to the same content on your main web site, you will kill your page rank and credibility. If you can remember that article directories get you quickly indexed and offer a curiosity booster that acts as a portal to your main web site, then you’ll write accordingly.
Through these directories, you’ll receive a ton of backlinks as other web sites use your content on their web site. However, none of it will match what’s on your own web site, so it won’t be considered duplicate content, just inbound links.
Press Releases Are An Overlooked, Great Process
If you can write news copy, you can write a decent press release which will get your web site a ton of exposure. You will want to put out a press release for the following reasons:
To announce your new web site and what it’s all aboutUsing press releases in this fashion will always guarantee a steady stream of visitors in that a well-written press release will usually be picked up by other sites and be rewritten and added to their new repository which increases the number of incoming links you’ll receive.
To highlight new products and services that you add to your web site
To review various themed parts of your web site
To announce expansion of your web site
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
Using pay-per-click advertising is another way to get almost instant traffic to your web site. Utilizing pay-per-click giants like Google and Yahoo, you can pay for visitors to your web site. You list small, contextually-based advertising which is published across their network of web sites, and interested people click on your advertising and arrive at your site. This is one of the quickest ways to get traffic to arrive, but it can be costly to get started. Pay-Per-Click lets you advertise to the whole of the online community.
There are also text link advertising, classified advertising, and pay-per-post advertising where you can get other bloggers to blog for money about your product or service on your web site. It is a variation of PPC in that bloggers will write and review your site or service for a small fee and list you for a set period of time on their web site. It adds content to their site and gives you more than just a link back to your site.
Social Networking and Social News Sites
Web 2.0 and social networking are the next fastest ways to get traffic rolling into your site. To get the ball rolling and to give you some ideas on where to start, let’s look at the basics of social news networking. We want to separate this from social bookmarking which is for personal use. Social news networking is for when you want to advertising your business, home business, or professional site. It’s about providing news to the world about who and what you are, the benefits you offer, and why they should stop by.
Some of the better news sites where you can post your short articles include: Netscape, Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg and OnlyWire to name a few. These sites are news-hungry, just waiting for information about your web site. Whatever your site is about will be quickly and effectively disseminated by posting on these web sites.
Considered the second generation in online marketing, social networking is all about building communities of like minded individuals who are looking for certain things. You web site is taken into a group, and depending on your service or product, people arrive at your web site because of the tags and text you provide to the online community. There are as many social news and networking sites as there are interests, but the main ones to start with are listed but by no means complete. HBM
- Previously published in the April 2008 issue of HOME BUSINESS® Magazine, an international publication for the growing and dynamic home-based market.
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Article Link: http://www.homebusinessmag.com/ecommerce/search-engine-optimization/search-engine-optimization-%E2%80%93-seo-dead
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