The internet's ever evolving nature means that traditional methods of reaching consumers online must evolve as well.
A Brief History
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, refers to the way in which websites are coded to appear in order of rank within a search engine. Traditional SEO involves creating clear, accessible websites with useful content, meaningful titles and accurate keywords within that content. In other words, the elements that made up great SEO practices contributed to making higher quality websites. However, other the years many companies attempted to simply acquire links knowing this could spike their rankings. This made web content less about engaging the reader and more appealing to the search engine, resulting in many low quality websites and parked web pages cluttered with links. Eventually, search engine developers found better ways to ensure that content was quality. More complex algorithms were written into search engines for the purpose of sorting good websites from the bad. While this helped search engines to deliver better results for online users, these changes also made it much more difficult to gauge the effect of page rankings on a company's business, and more difficult to determine what would boost page rankings from one week to the next.
Today's Internet Landscape
The internet today works quite differently from yesterday's internet. Learning from past mistakes, many businesses have adopted more progressive search engine optimization strategies; however, drawing customers to your business should not rely on SEO alone. SEO is great for bringing your business to the top of a customer's search results, but it is unable to foster the relationship many online consumers are looking for. A good internet marketing strategy adopts SEO as a part of an overall plan. It is a powerful tactic – not the goal itself. The main goal of a company's internet marketing must be first and foremost the growth of the business.
Growth in a Plane of Infinite Potential
You may be thinking, “Of course growth is the main goal of my internet marketing – everybody knows that!†What are you doing right now for your business to draw in new customers from the internet? Are you using social media to develop and maintain relationships with current clients and prospective customers alike? If not, you may want to reconsider your overall marketing strategy to include a more personal approach to conducting business. No longer can you just register a web domain and direct as many people as possible to look at your webpage through random Google searches. You have to connect with your online community on a more personal level.
Think of those people who spin signs outside of brick and mortar business in your neighborhood; they are responsible for showing you the business location. The sign spinners work much in the way SEO and proper citations do: they point out the business to passersby. You may venture inside of the business because you saw a sign, but it is not likely. On the other hand, if a friend recommends the business, you will be more inclined to check it out. Social networks act as that friend. Having a good SEO strategy still matters for bringing in some business, but adding social networking optimized specifically for your business matters much more.
Implementing Social Media Optimization
Not only do you benefit from social media acting as a constant stream of word of mouth, but you also benefit from being able to interact with your customers. You can listen to the social media chatter about your business and act on the results. Remember that SEO, social media optimization (SMO, for short), building citations and inbound marketing are all tools to use for the ultimate goal, which is not only sales growth, but creating an excellent customer experience as well. At Cybermark International, we firmly believe that an enriched online presence built through the skilled use of several different strategies and tools is the foundation for an ever-growing online customer base. Contact us for a free web consultation and get expert advice for growing your business community through the best SEO and SMO strategies available.
For more information on which social media platforms will be most effective for your business, be sure to check out our last blog on diagnosing social media needs.
