Archive for June, 2009

We hear a lot of talk these days about social media and how it can help you with traffic to your site. The best way to get the most from your social media opportunities is with social media optimization, or SMO. Basically, SMO is like SEO for social media.

The concept is simple: apply optimization to your site that will make it more visible in social searches and more often included in related posts on blogs, forums and other forms of social media.

Now why should you care about social media optimization? This is a good question but when you see the benefits that social media can have for your site, it will make sense. More and more people are jumping on the social media bandwagon. New accounts are being created every day and people are using both social media and social networking sites more than ever before.

Many people refer to social media sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and del.icio.us for their daily news and headlines. Almost 80% of the online user base has profiles set up at online communities like Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Internet users actively read and pass on the information that is given to them through these social media sites. If your website or organization is contained in this information, you have a good chance of building a strong traffic base.

So how exactly do you do it? The rules are very similar to that of SEO in other areas. You need to be fresh and original. Give them something interesting- something they have never seen before. It’s also important to identify with your audience. You need to know who your audience is so you can properly target them.

Here are some additional tips:

• Make it easy for users to link, tag, bookmark and share your site- add quick links and buttons to social media to your site
• Have your content float through RSS feeds, newsletters and e-marketing
• Use catchy titles and headlines
• Be open to comments and reviews

With these tips, you can increase the social media optimization of your site which will bring in traffic and have more people talking about and sharing your site online.

SEOdriven.com is a Miami Search Engine Optimization company that specializes on Social Media Optimization to achieve Top 10 rankings for our clients in the major search engines.

What is social media marketing and how can you make it work for you? If you’re looking for more online marketing for your business, social media is where it’s at. Not only is this an extremely helpful form of Internet advertising, it’s also completely free.

Building a home business, small business or online presence for a new business can be tough work. If you’re limited on cash, it can be even more of a challenge. This is why it’s important to learn as many different methods of promoting your business as possible, especially the free ones.

Here are some reasons why social media optimization can help you:

• It’s free marketing
• It helps you find and connect with your target market
• Helps overcome social isolation
• Helps you find networking opportunities

Social media marketing offers a budget-friendly solution to the problem of how to get your company noticed and increase traffic to your website or online store. People are signing up to social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Squidoo each and every day as a way to find and post information and advice on certain topics.

If you can create a social media presence, you can be the one there offering good advice that people are looking for. This will bring people in to your site and also build a solid reputation for you in the industry. If you consistently provide a list of solid information that your target market is looking for, they will find your info and then follow it back to your website or other online presence.

This is often called “attraction marketing” and it can go a long way to creating a reputation online for you and your business. Social media also gives you the opportunity to meet and network with other professionals in your industry or even from other industries. You can learn what other people are doing and also build a name for yourself through “word of mouth” advertising.

The real key to social media marketing is to be a good participant. Provide useful information, never spam and be a worthwhile member of the community. When you do this, the traffic will naturally build on itself. Watch out for many scams that promise you “many followers” or “many friends” in just days. These systems rarely work and some even steal your account information or get you labels as a spammer or a scammer.