SOCIAL SEARCH SERIES – SEO Optimizing for Social Search
Social networks are pulling in an increasingly significant amount of web traffic. Social network sites are actively working to improve their internal search capabilities and provide an even richer experience for their members.
The big players in the search market including Google, Yahoo, MSN and BING Are all testing new social search tools and technologies. With the BING facebook merger social networking is making a resurgence as a primary driver of customer information satisfaction updated by the underlying search technologies already in place. Social networking is really something old made new by bringing it online. It turns out that people still rely on the opinions and experiences of friends and professional associates to make decisions-including buying decisions. Technology simply allows us to expand the boundaries of our social networks. Social search, viral marketing and social networking are not at all new concepts. Social search is really the technology equivalent of asking friends and colleagues for recommendations.
What does all of this mean to the internet marketer?
As an internet marketer your goal is to drive traffic and convert your traffic into sales. Social search does not change the foundation of internet marketing but it will change the way in which you present your information to generate leads. You will still need to engage in SEO and make your website attractive to the search engines but now you will need to make your website attractive to real people as well by presenting a lot of highly targeted, highly relevant, in-depth information that your visitors are searching for.
To take advantage of social search, the first step is to develop a plan and identify your ideal customer. You may think the world is your customer but the reality is your customer has specific traits and needs that your company can address. You want traffic that is pre-qualified and has both a need as well as the ability to purchase your products or services.
Marketing, whether online or off, is all based on three key factors:
• Relevancy
• Visibility
• Credibility
As an internet marketer your goal is to dominate your niche market by establishing yourself as:
• The expert in your field
• The brand able to deliver highly relevant content (information, products and services) crafted to meet the specific needs and preferences of your potential customers
• The brand with the greatest online visibility
How to succeed with Social Search
Create a social persona for your brand
Create a recognizable social persona you can use across social networking sites. You want to use the same name, same logo etc. to ensure image and brand consistency. Create and engage in community conversations. Steer conversations towards your products and services by addressing industry trends, problems, innovations etc. make the most of every opportunity to keep your company in front of social communities.
Become an expert Information source
Submit articles to various directories and look for opportunities to do article marketing exchanges with other well known experts and professional sites within your niche. Don’t be afraid to use the bookmarks and article submission features of sites such as Digg to establish yourself as a credible and recognizable source of information.
Share Content
Be creative. Find different ways of sharing articles and information. Consider creating a Squidoo lens, write and publish articles to online article banks, contribute to wikipedia. Use press releases as often as possible to highlight company achievements, special events, community activity etc. Providing content will make your brand visible and enable you to develop a reputation as an expert with your audience. You will then drive pre-qualified users to your site, users who are already interested in what you have to sell.
Make consistent posts of relevant and informative content on high profile blogs in your market niche. Contributing to a blog on relevant subject matter will increase your visibility and credibility with your target market.
Create your own network
Link sharing with complementary products, services and professional organizations is still a great way to expand your social network, and your visibility. It is also a good way to establish links of high quality as well as opportunities for cooperative advertising.
Build on your existing SEO foundation
The technical aspects of search will not disappear with the transition to social search optimization. Social search will augment technical search by adding yet another layer to search criteria. This makes it very important to continue utilizing the tools and resources that drive technical search including optimization techniques and paid advertising (PPC).
Social search adds another layer of complexity to traditional (technical) driven search. Smaller businesses and local businesses are better positioned to make the most gains from social search and search personalization. As the opinions of friends and acquaintances takes on increasing importance many shopping decisions will reflect local merchants. Social search has the potential to significantly increase the conversion rates of small businesses who take advantage and embrace the changing face of SEO/social search optimization.
Author Details : Writer, Jeff Beale, SEO Consultation provide you social Search optimization Services. They have vast experience in executing internet marketing consultation and search engine optimization Project.
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