In this age of dominant social media, does it matter whether or not your websites are properly optimized for search? Believe it or not, yes. If your main site functions as your prime source for e-commerce and a point of contact for your business, it is important that customers can find it via search if they do not patronize your social channels. While it is good to have a strong marketing strategy with Twitter and Facebook, you should not neglect your main site, or rely upon them to drive your traffic. Organic SEO still holds value in this changing world of online commerce and marketing.

Why maintain good organic SEO practices for your website? It seems easier to tweet out new content and upload videos to YouTube, doesn’t it? While the Internet gives us the advantage of obtaining information practically at the speed of light, the transfer of news and viral curiosities happens at such an abbreviated pace. Our attention spans appear truncated as we dish out and receive news in 140 character bites. Eventually, though, if you sell a product or service potential customers will want thorough details. Therefore, it is important that your main website is prepared to accommodate visitors.

You must continue good SEO practices – proper tagging of photos, meta data, and links – to give your company the edge over your competitors:

• Outbound linking to relevant information can boost your authority. Naturally you will have links to your social profiles prominent, but don’t forget inbound link that takes visitors deep into your site. Robots continue to crawl the Web as well, so keep your code clean for them.
• Tag photos accordingly for added search mojo, and make sure your content is sufficiently peppered with your keywords.
• Structure pages so that content is easily to find, and that your site is easily navigable. Remember what was said about short attention spans: if you don’t have the offer up front people are not likely to search creation for it.

One thing to bear in mind when optimizing your site for good search results is that the more attention you give it, the more likely the major engines will pay attention to your activities, in a good way. If you have a blog attached to your site that is updated regularly, all the better. The influx of fresh content helps keep your site relevant and gives people a reason to return.

Organic SEO remains a factor in your online success. Take the time to evaluate improvements to your main site.

ShareThis

Typically, companies shy away from restricting an employee’s actions off the job. But businesses are concerned about employees who use social networking and reveal private details or post inappropriate pictures that could embarrass the company.

Read the entire story at CNet.

ShareThis

Eventually, though, should one decide to take a vacation there comes the question about what to do about your social profiles, especially if you use them to promote your business. Will people stop following your Twitter if you don’t post for a few days? Will the ranking results of your blog be affected if you don’t update as regularly while you’re gone? Perhaps worse yet, will anybody notice you’ve been gone at all?

When taking a break from work, should weaning off Twitter and Facebook and other profiles apply as well? A long weekend, for example, shouldn’t merit too much concern – you may miss a few gems from favorite “Tweeters”, but depending on the regularity of their posts it may not take too long to catch up on their news. Facebook allows you to parse friends into different lists, so if there are people you wish to follow more closely you can set that up easily and check the site sporadically if the urge to log in to the Net usurps the call of your destination’s amenities.

If you plan a lengthy break from work, which may include time in places where the Internet is not accessible, you may consider preparing advance promotion tactics to keep visitors and readers informed of your business. Blogs provide the ability to queue posts to release on scheduled dates, allowing you the flexibility to map out future material. Twitter widgets such as TweetLater works on a similar model, assuming you have not imported an RSS feed into your account.

If you work alone, you may also wish to consider hiring a temporary “ghost Twitterer” to handle keeping your online persona alive while you enjoy your vacation. It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have people tweet in their stead, and a quick glance through an online freelance database will reveal hundred of freelance writers and SEO agents ready to bid on your work.

Depending on the length of your absence from the office, smart advanced planning can keep you socially active on the Internet even if you aren’t logged in. Take advantage of the tools available to you to keep your social status thriving.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on social media optimization and Virginia web design.

ShareThis

When one considers the incredible growth of the network – Nielsen has reported around fourteen million users in 2008 – and how quickly Twitter has been integrated into mainstream media, one may argue we should ask, “Why are you not Tweeting?”

These days breaking news may be discovered in a brief line of text and an accompanying link before any of the major news channels are able to broadcast. Twitter puts a personal spin on world events (California users texted a recent earthquake as it happened), unites people to a common cause (awareness of Iran’s elections made for a popular trending topic), and serves as a forum for multiple discussions. Literary agents field questions on the craft and submissions, businesses post sales information and online cart codes, and news outlets use Twitter as a wire, teasing stories and updates in hopes of increasing click-throughs. As the network matures and is made more accessible through Internet and phone widgets, Twitter just may move from the latest fad to an important media and commerce tool.

So how can a small business use Twitter effectively? Once you set up an account, there’s no guarantee thousands of followers will immediately flock to read your posts, and one must consider the legitimacy of so-called programs that “guarantee” masses of subscribers through viral promotion of their software. One social media expert I read puts it best when she stresses the social nature of Twitter – don’t worry about who you follow or who follows you. Treat Twitter as you would your Web site or blog, offer concise relevant content and eventually you will build readership.

Initial promotion of your account is key in lighting the fire. A link from your main site, blog, and other social profiles allows visitors to know of the addition exposure you provide. Approaching Twitter with a relaxed yet professional attitude, coupled with the occasional use of hashtags relevant to your content, can be helpful in increasing awareness of your business. Regardless of your products or services, if somebody is interested in what you have to offer, they will follow. The constant hard-sell, where every Tweet is an ad, could turn off followers and risk the labeling of your account as spam.

Interest followers not only by posting your own expertise via Twitter, but using the network to research your topic through other sources. Link to articles or blogs, “retweet” posts from like-minded accounts you follow, and engage followers in conversation. The more you use Twitter, as one would with any other network, the more you’ll find an audience for your business.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on professional SEO writing and local PPC management.

ShareThis

That said, one might think relaying news and information in 140 character increments is simple and guaranteed to drive traffic to your Web site, but Twitter is a bit more sophisticated than that. Twitter users, too, tend to be choosy about whom they follow and what they relay to the world. Like other social platforms, Twitter is not immune to spam tactics, and as people grow wise to dubious practices, it’s important to know what to do to keep users interested in reading what you have to “tweet.”

How to Lose Followers

In reviewing comments by Twitters users, there are a few ways to easily cause followers to drop off the radar. They include:

Sending an automated message upon following: Not everybody wants to be hit with the hard sell immediately. Many people now regard the automated message as the first sign of a spam user, and may not stick around to read further messages.

Constant sales pitches: Take a look at a typical day of tweets. Do you tend to push more products than actually socialize? Especially for an account designed to look more personal than professional, this can be a turn-off for followers, especially those who aren’t tracking many Twitter users. Somebody reading the same message every two hours is going to give you a message by unfollowing you.

SEO spam posts: “I just landed five thousand Twitters followers, you can, too!” We’re starting to see these crop up – viral optimization posts that lead to links for various programs and books. In truth, you might visit the originator of the message to find he/she doesn’t have the alleged five thousand at all. As Twitter grows in popularity, so will attempts to monetize it, and if somebody receives enough of these messages they may say enough.

In short, use Twitter to communicate with followers, not to pressure them, and you may find you can grow readership and loyalty with this popular media platform.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on local PPC advertising and professional SEO writing services.

ShareThis

Depending on your skill level and knowledge of the site’s purpose, writing the content may be the simplest or most challenging task in achieving your promotion goals. Once you have the information written and made live on your site, exposing it through social media is perhaps the easiest thing to do, and it doesn’t take long to generate a buzz. Here are four ways you can help light the fire.

Add links to social media sites on your Web pages – If you make use of a blog program through Blogger or WordPress to supplement your site content, you’ll know there are widgets available to help you advertise content for social media. Icons and links implore readers to add the content to Facebook or Twitter, all you have to do is click a link to make it happen. If you know a bit of HTML code, though, you can set up links on static Web pages for people to use to add your content to social networks. Decide which social sites you want to focus on the most, then get the code to create the links.

Import your RSS feed into Facebook – Whether you have a personal Facebook account or a fan page related to your Web site, you can use your profile to promote your work. Facebook’s Notes application allows users to import the RSS or XML feed of a blog or site, and will upload the content of the feed into your profile. Then, every time you add to the feed, it’s updated on Facebook and your friends are alerted. If you don’t use a blog for your site, you can create one just for use of the RSS capability for social media, then track referrals from Facebook and Twitter to see how effective it is.

Bookmark your content – Every time you write an article for your blog or site, add it to your social bookmark collection. Whether you prefer Delicious or Digg or any of the myriad of competitors, generating that buzz can help bring more attention to the rest of your site. Get friends and employees to set up similar accounts and help promote the links.

Write more content – For an author, the best way to promote a book is to write the next one. This tip applies to just about anyone using article or blog marketing to optimize Web sites…keep on writing! The more content you offer, the better the opportunity for showing up in search. A visitor may catch one article and come back to read more, and buy more.

Maximize your content through social media – writing, linking, and bookmarking. It’s a great way to maximize your business and your profits.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on SEO writing services and local PPC advertising.

ShareThis

For larger companies, branding is important – it’s no secret that some brands have become practically synonymous with the products they promote. We don’t always ask for a “soda,” but may refer to every carbonated beverage as a “Coke.” If you’re feeling a sneeze coming on, you might request, “pass me a Kleenex,” rather than the generic “tissue.” In a previous post, we touched briefly on choosing a domain name for your company for SEO purposes. The same rules should apply when considering the suffixed name of your social network profiles as well. As more people utilize Twitter for news and search, so people may be more inclined to follow your posts if you not only provide relevant information, but are presented in a manner that brands your expertise. As individual Twitter profiles gain momentum in traditional search, having a vanity URL closely describing yourself or your business could be helpful in catching the attention of visitors.

Say you operate a local staffing firm. You could use the name of your firm after twitter.com to showcase your actual brand, but if people are searching under more generic terms that could work for you as well.

http://www.twitter.com/virginia_jobs

http://www.twitter.com/atlanta_cars

http://www.twitter.com/jacksonville_apartments

Showing people what you do, rather than telling them who you are up front, could be beneficial in search.

ShareThis

While it may appear to be a good idea in theory, let’s look at the result: if you were to blindly select a thousand people on Twitter to follow, chances are a good-sized percentage will follow back. Sounds good, huh? In theory, you might think you can convert all these followers into customers or clients, but consider why many people are on Twitter in the first place: to market their own products. What is more likely to happen is that a thousand people will follow you with the intent of converting you to purchase their goods. A top turn-off for some who choose to follow Twitter users is receiving that initial automated greeting message – you know the one, there’s usually a URL and a pitch. You haven’t read one of the person’s “tweets” yet and already they’re on the hard sell.

In order to get the most out of social networks as a means of promotion, a few things you’ll want to bear in mind are:

It isn’t necessary to follow everybody who follows you. If you follow too many Twitter folks the chain of messages received becomes diluted. Posts from people you truly want to follow may get lost in the shuffle of numerous advertisements. True, you want people to follow you, so it’s important to set your profile up as one that contains pertinent content, yet doesn’t appear to constantly hustle readers. If, however, you are set on using Twitter to promote your business, set up a separate account for personal use.

To become attractive to Twitter users, be an expert. “Socialization” is the key to succeeding in any social media network. Not only should you use your Facebook and Twitter accounts to relay information on your favorite subjects, but you should interact with users as well. If you sell sporting goods, ask followers and friends what brand baseball bat or glove is the best, or who they think will win the Series this year. Put a personality behind the avatar and you may find people will recommend their friends to follow you.

Don’t be afraid to promote other things. If you see a news item related to your line of business, share it. Never feel as though you are helping “the competition” in any way. In fact, sharing this information could help you in a way, as it might inspire followers to “re-tweet” your findings and credit you. This in turn could lead to more followers, and perhaps more business.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design.

ShareThis

If your primary function for the Internet is promote your business, it is imperative to have a web blog connected to your site. Whether you host the blog software on your domain or use a third-party host like WordPress or Blogger, regular use of the blog to optimize keywords for your main site can be of some help in boosting your search rankings.

What should you write? Regardless of the purpose of your website or business, the blog should have a down-to-earth, friendly appeal. Though it is to be utilized for promotion, perhaps alerts on sales and new services, it shouldn’t be constantly used as a means to hard sell visitors every time they come to read, lest they be turned off altogether. Keep a good mix of blog posts active; talk about what you do and what you offer, but take the time to hold an online conversation with visitors. Post about local happenings, use pictures or embedded links to related videos, and try to stimulate feedback from visitors.

Combining these efforts with social media networking can improve traffic to your blog as well. Open accounts with Facebook and Twitter, for two, and use them to refer people to new articles on your blog. Sign up for social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg, and save the URLs of specific articles and posts you feel have a wider appeal. The more “word of mouth” enthusiasm you can generate, the better for your stats, and business. You just may find that blogging can bring you a decent income as it leads people to your main site.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design.

ShareThis

Avoiding the Hustle

So let’s say you set up a Twitter account, and slowly but surely people are following what you have to say. That’s great, that’s what you want to happen. Once you establish this captive audience, however, you want to keep them in place and perhaps get them to “re-tweet” your posts and spread the love. It’s important to do this in a way that doesn’t lead followers to think you are constantly trying to sell to them. If every tweet you post implores people to buy this or buy that or hire me, you risk losing followers. The point of social media networks like Twitter and Facebooks is the social aspect of them. To keep people tuned into you, you must engage them directly.

So what does this mean? Well, if you’re an author and readers follow your social profiles, talk to them via the medium. If you receive a note complimenting your work, return with a thank you but don’t feel pressured to deliver a hard sell of your other works. You would be amazed with how your name or brand can stick in someone’s mind just by being yourself.

Maybe you operate a business catering to local markets – talk about the weather, what is going on in the city. Reply to a follower’s remarks about favorite television shows and music…let people know there is an actual human being behind the social avatars, lest anyone suspect the profiles are there merely to regurgitate sales copy. If a follower enjoys your content enough to click through to your site, your profile has served its purpose and may just attract new followers through word of mouth.

Give it a try. You just might find you can build trust among your online following…and customers.

Kathryn Lively

ShareThis