Archive for the “Social Networking” Category

Have you noticed SEO seems to change almost as much as a teenage girl? If your website doesn’t keep up with the ever changing demands of SEO, be prepared to watch from the sidelines while your competitors reap the rewards of search. SEO can be a very powerful tool, but can be overwhelming to keep up with. Even within the past year, Google released its panda ranking algorithm update which lowered the rank of “low-quality” sites, incorporated social platforms to search, and is now offering features such as site-links and ratings in search engine results. With the changing climate of search, make sure your business is taking advantage of these three SEO strategies in the new year.

Integration of Search & Social

With more social platforms than ever trying to rival Facebook, there is no doubt that 2011 was the year of social media. Within 2011, search and social media have been integrated more than ever. Search engines have realized that people are getting more and more valuable information from social media platforms, which has significantly narrowed the gap between the two. In fact, search and social are only going to become more integrated in the years to come. Twitter ‘shares’, Facebook ‘likes’, and even Google+ ‘+1s’ have become a huge channel for sharing information and significant influencers in search rankings. Within Facebook, businesses are taking advantage of promotion opportunities that generate ‘likes’ through the development of custom pages. This helps in creating an audience for your business to engage and interact with. If you do not currently have a social media presence, let Starkmedia help build and integrate it into your priorities for 2012.

Content Links

One of the most effective ways people are gaining traction in SEO today are credible, authoritative content links from other sites. This can be harder than you think. Google is smart enough to know whether a link is credible or not. In fact, Google has gone out of its way to penalize websites who link to ‘spammy’ sites or content farms. So instead of attempting to trick Google, look for avenues to write fresh and creative content that the web will want to link to. Many will rely upon blogs or guest blogging to accomplish this task. Some businesses will contact publications or associations they may be a part of for content links. Other sites will naturally attract quality links. Regardless of the website, authoritative content links are necessary in the long-term stability of your search engine rankings. Not sure where to start? Starkmedia can provide you with a clear strategy to build your web presence.

Get Local

You may have noticed that the majority of searches that you perform will have a Google Places section. There is a reason for it. A study from SEOmoz has revealed that visitors gravitate toward local listings even more than the top few positions of the page when they are displayed. What does this mean? If your business generates revenue from a physical location, make sure that you are taking advantage of all local listing channels such as Google Places, Yelp, and Yahoo! Local Listings. It is a great way to build more visibility to your site. Be sure that all the information across these channels are consistent and accurate.

The future of SEO presents new opportunities for you and your business to grow your web presence and increase interaction with your customers. Having trouble establishing an online presence? Are you unsure of your website’s next step? From design to SEO, let the team at Starkmedia guide you on a path toward online success.

Starkmedia has been in the web industry for over ten years. Throughout these years, the industry has made substantial changes and online marketing has naturally evolved with it. In our experience there are a few important changes to recognize as we tackle our marketing budget.

photo credit:scottchan

Social Marketing:
Marketing was originally focused on throwing out a message to the masses, but the adoption of social media has turned the tables. Social marketing has turned our communication into more of a two-way conversation. Expectations have shifted as consumers assume resources and information are available rather than blatant marketing messages. Start a conversation and engage your social audience by creating a customized campaign centered on a service or product.

Foot Traffic & Web Traffic:
One of the goals of marketing was to get the prospect in the door, but now there is another avenue to think about. Most prospects are checking your online presence before they even step into your store. A company must consider what impression they are making online and how they can take that opportunity to bring the prospect closer to the point of purchase. Assess how your online endeavors can support in-store opportunities.

In With the New AND Keeping the Old:
Like every other aspect of our lives, marketing has been changed by ever-advancing technology, but just because there are new channels for receiving information, we cannot ignore the traditional means. The success of a marketing campaign often lies in the merging of all marketing efforts. Find ways to promote online endeavors offline and vice versa.

Relevance Increased:
One of the differences between online and traditional marketing is that when people come to you online they are often searching specifically for your product or service. Search engine optimization takes online marketing a step further by allowing businesses to target keywords and optimize their websites to make it easier for people to find them. In online marketing there are opportunities to gain visibility both through natural and paid search. Paid search is more effective for immediate impact with little effort, while natural search results generally evolve with time and effort. Utilize the benefits of online marketing by assessing your site for more SEO opportunities.

In Conclusion:
Begin by asking yourself: “How much of our marketing budget should I allocate to online endeavors?”  Next, think about all of the online opportunities: website improvements, paid and natural search, email, social media, banner ads, etc. and ponder which areas make the most sense for your business. Staying updated on the most recent trends in online marketing is something we pride ourselves in. As you plan new marketing campaigns allow Starkmedia to guide you in the process of merging traditional marketing methods with new online marketing opportunities.

The two biggest players in search – Google and Bing – have officially confirmed that social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, are used in their ranking algorithms. The real game changer is that social media’s influence is no longer limited to just social search, but is now affecting ALL search queries. Search engines are determining social media’s influence for each specific query by evaluating the context of links shared on both Facebook and Twitter. Social media’s level of influence is determined in two forms: the amount of times a specific URL/link has been shared and the quality of authors sharing a specific URL/link.

Danny Sullivan, search marketer, outlines the specific changes in his recent interview with representatives from Google and Bing.

How does this apply to you?
. . . It really depends on the nature of your company. The search engine / online market environment for every website is different. Social media may be hot topic right now, but it’s not required that everyone should just jump right in. However, I can suggest that everyone at least consider it. If your website is involves in e-commerce and hasn’t gotten involved, I strongly believe you are missing an opportunity. To make an informed decision on your involvement listen to the conversation going on. If there is talk about your brand or services, it is time to get involved.

The Future:
The opinions of those we call friends are important to our decision making. Google and Bing want to integrate the recommendations (in the form of sharing a link) made by our friends to bolster their users’ experiences. The influence of web-users and what they view as important will only become more relevant to search engine rankings. The belated confirmation of social media’s influence is only the drizzle at the beginning of the inevitable storm. CNN predicts the severity of this oncoming storm in its new article, “Why Your Facebook ID is the Marketers’ Holy Grail”.