Search Engine Placement

How to "Socialize" Your Way to
Improved Search Engine Placemen

Looking for new ways to get improved search engine placement for your web site? Then maybe you should spend a little more time socializing online!

I'm talking about getting more active on social media web sites like MySpace, Flickr, and Digg.

Sure, these sites might be the online hangouts where people like to goof off during their "down time" at wor

But they're also extremely popular web sites gh Google PageRank numbers -- and if you can get links on these sites to point to your site, it might get driven to the top of the search engine results page for your keywords!

In a recent newsletter, I talked about how creating a keyword-rich article and distributing it on the Web can improve your ranking in the free search engines.

It's an easy way to get relevant sites linking back to you, and it doesn't cost you a dime!

Well, posting content on the social media sites is another great way to achieve these same goals. It's just that the type of sites -- and the type of content you post on them -- are different.

And the best part about this strategy is that it involves hanging out at fun sites you'd probably enjoy spending time at, anyway!

But before I show you how to "socialize" your way to improved search engine placement, let's take a closer look at exactly what social media web sites are.

Discover how these popular online hangouts
can lead to improved search engine placement!

These days, social media sites are HUGE! In fact, they make up five of the top 10 fastest-growing Web brands on the Internet, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

And this explosive growth isn't likely to end anytime soon.

So if people are hanging out on these sites in ever-expanding numbers, don't you want to be there too? Just like in the offline world, "location, location, location" is the key to success!

Now, there's been a pretty big buzz around the phrase "social media" lately. But what exactly does it mean?

Social media sites are simply online gathering places where people share interesting, entertaining, informative, or just plain goofy content with each other.

This content can take many different forms. It can be...

  • Personal information in the form of blogs

  • Useful articles about anything and everything

    • Photos or video clips that people might get a kick out of watching

  • Collections of bookmarks to favorite online articles or web sites that people can check out for themselves

Members of these communities can comment on each other's contributions, engage in discussions, and find other people who are interested in the same things they are.

Hanging out and participating at these sites can be a great way to make new online friends or business contacts.

It's also an effective strategy you can use to drive more traffic to your usiness site -- not only from the social media sites themselves, but also from the iearch engine placement you'll get from having more high-PageRank links pointing to your web site!

Social media sites can be organized intain categories:

  • Social networking sites: These sites are basically online communities that connect people through networks of friends.

    MySpace is the Internet’s most-visited social networking community. On their profile pages, MySpace users can describe their interests, upload pictures, post blog-style entries, and list the other MySpace users who have become their friends.

    They can even post audio and video clips to share with other people!

    Independent musicians and bands were the first group to take advantage of the interactive nature of MySpace to get their product out there. They found they could attract devoted followings by posting audio clips of their latest songs and updating fans on their concert schedules.

    This has been a big hit with teenagers and twentysomethings, who come to the site to learn more about the bands who are poised to be the next "big thing."

    But MySpace isn't just for the teen scene anymore! Even professionals like financial planners and lawyers have started networking and community-building on MySpace.

    The fact is, people in pretty much any field can gain more exposure by creating a MySpace page. And the great thing is, it's free!

    So set up an account for yourself, start networking and adding other people in your industry to your "friends" list, and make your name and web site visible on these wildly popular sites.

    And don't forget to link to your business site in your profile!

    If you're interested in exploring other popular social networking sites, some of the top ones include: Friendster, Facebook, and Linked In.

  • Social bookmarking sites: At social bookmarking sites, people save links to their favorite web sites or articles -- just like you do with the "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" function in your own personal web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox).

    When you save your favorite links at a bookmarking site like del.icio.us, they become public and can be viewed by other members of the site.

    You can     also "tag" your links with descriptive keywords, so people have a better idea of what kind of content your links are pointing to.

    Tagging your bookmarks is useful in another important way: When people use the site's internal search engine to look for bookmarks on a particular topic, any ones that are tagged with keywords related to that topic will appear in the search results.

    The more an article or a web site gets bookmarked by members of these sites, the higher it ranks in the search results.

    So if you include an appropriately tagged link to your own site (or to an article you've written) in your bookmarks list, and a lot of other members add it to their bookmarks as well, your link will be seen by a lot more people searching for your keywords.

    And if your link becomes really popular, it might even end up on the bookmark site's h- which will generate a TON of traffic and incoming links to your web site!

    Okay, so that's the "Holy Grail" of using bookmarking sites as a traffic-generating strategy... and the chances of it happening are actually quite slim...

    But even just ONE link from a top bookmarking site like Digg, del.icio.us, Netscape, Reddit, or Furl will boost your site's value in the eyes of the search engines.

    So why not spend the few minutes it takes to create an account on these sites and give it a shot?

    After you set up an account, list a few of your favorite sites as bookmarks, making sure to also include links to YOUR web site or articles. And don't forget to make them public, so others can view your favorite.

  • Media-sharing sites: Have you ever checked out the latest videos at YouTube, or the most popular pictures at Flickr?

    These web sites have been taking the Internet by storm, with everyone rushing to upload their favorite cat videos, or photos from their vacation, or latest business conference pictures.

    But you can also find things like real estate "virtual tour" videos being uploaded and viewed.

    So if you’re a real estate agent, a great way to increase your market visibility would be to get an account, upload a video tour of a listing, and then tag it with appropriate keywords.

    Anyone who's searching for video info on real estate in your area will probably come across your video tour -- and learn about you in the process!

    Online video and photo-sharing sites have been growing by leaps and bounds, and they also show no signs of slowing up.

    The top video sites include YouTube and Google Video, while the most popular photo-sharing web sites are Flickr and Fotolog.

  • Wiki sites: A wiki is a type of web site that lets ALL its users update the site’s content.

    Every visitor to a wiki web site can add to, delete, or edit the site's content, creating a sort of living web page full of fresh perspectives and up-to-the-minute information from multiple users.

    Take Wikipedia.org (the Web's biggest and best-known wiki): It's an online encyclopedia that allows users to update its database of entries on everything from historical figures, to technical terms, to world events.

    So by creating an account at Wikipedia, you can start making changes to existing articles, or add completely new articles related to your industry or area of expertise and grow your reputation as an expert in your field!

    Plus, you can look for suitable opportunities to include links to your own web site or articles in the entries you edit.

    For example, at the end of every Wikipedia article is a section called "External links." If you write an entry on a term related to your product or industry, and your web site can help people learn more about this topic, you can include a link back to your site!

    One thing, though: Since other users can also edit your entry -- as well as the links you've included -- the link to your web site must be relevant, or else it will likely be removed by another member of the community.

How to attract the most eyeballs by posting
attention-grabbing content on social media sites

Take a moment to think about what people do when they're sitting in front of their computer at work and want to take a quick mental break...

If they're one of the millions of people who like hanging out at bookmarking sites, maybe they'll pop over to Digg to see what the daily top bookmarks are.

Now... which headline do you think they'll be more likely to click on?

  • "Chirac Urges World Powers Not to Refer Iran to Security Council"

    -- or --

  • "How to Roast Coffee at Home With a Popcorn Popper"

My bet is on the latter, because it sounds like a fun way to waste a couple of minutes and learn an unusual skill -- and besides, what office worker doesn't love coffee?

Now imagine if you ran a small coffee-roasting business -- just think about the kind of exposure an article like this could get you, if it were featured on Digg's homepage.

The trick to creating fun social media content that spreads through the Internet like wildfire (going "viral," as it's called) is to write entertaining articles, that are short, compelling, and eye-catching.

First, write a headline that grabs readers' attention and tells them exactly how your article is going to help or entertain them. Then keep your piece short, easy to scan, and fun to read.

That's why lists are so great! They're easy to format and quick to read, and don't waste any time getting to the punchline.

Media-sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube obviously need different content because they're dealing with video and images. But the same principle of creating short, snappy, and entertaining content still applies.

Many of the most popular videos on YouTube, for example, are short compilations of funny video clips -- like you see on the TV show America's Funniest Home Videos.

But content that's entertaining AND solves people's problems can also be effective. "How-to" videos that teach people a specific skill are extremely popular in certain markets.

Now I'm sure many of you are thinking, "How am I supposed to create an entertaining article or video when I sell a boring product like widgets?"

The truth is, there are thousands of ways to create entertaining content for these sites -- if you use your imagination.

Here are some examples and ideas to get you started:

  • Compile an entertaininrmative list related to your industry: One of the most popular September stories on the tech-oriented Digg is titled "112 Windows Run Commands."

    The article is simply a list of shortcuts that will help Microsoft Windows users save a lot of time -- and people obviously liked the article, because it's already received 2,363 "diggs," or votes, from Digg users!

    And just think about how many of these people emailed the article to their friends!

    If you ran a web site that sold computer software, can you imagine what kind of traffic your site would have received if you had created and submitted this article yourself?

  • Take existing content in your newsletter log and repackage it for social media sites: You probably already have valuable content on hand that you've written for your site's newsletter or blog.

    Simply tweak this existing content to make it short and scannable, and re-use it on the social media sites!

    Spend some time thinking up a snappy headline, because that's the biggest factor in getting people to click on your article. And don't forget to tag it with popular and appropriate keywords.

  • Create a funny compilation video: Let's say you sell a relatively specialized product, like baby shoes. One thing you could do would be to run a contest on your web site where the person who submits the funniest baby video wins a free pair of shoes.

    After you've chosen a winner, simply string all of the best entries into a single video.

    Then upload your video to YouTube or Google Video with the tags "funny" and "baby" -- and don't forget to include information about your web site.

    In fact, I just did a search at YouTube for the term "funny babies" and the first video in the search results page has been viewed 67,143 times in the last nine months -- and the clip is only 10 seconds long!

    If 67,000 people had viewed your baby video in the last nine months -- with the URL to your business site clearly displayed at the end -- I can guarantee you'd be seeing a LOT more traffic.

    Remember: These don't have to be lengthy professional videos -- something filmed with a digital camera or even a cell phone works great!

  • Post anive product demonstration: Flickr could be a great place for you to put up an interactive demonstration of your latest product.

    Just upload some images that show exactly how your product works or what it can be used for -- along with some descriptive text -- and let visitors post comments and questions about your demo.

    That way, you can use Flickr to promote your product AND receive honest feedback from potential or current users.

  • Promote offline events you'vd: You could also use Flickr to promote offline events you've attended.

    Simply putting up pictures of the people you met at the latest industry conference you attended can be a great way to develop a community of like-minded professionals.

    If you tag these pictures with the name of the event, it will be easy for other attendees to find your shots.

    You can even tell participants during the event where to go online to see the pictures, once it's all over -- that way, you're sure to get some hits as soon as the pictures are posted!

    And don't forget to include a link back to your web site or product page at the bottom of every photo you upload, as each of these will count as another incoming link that will help with improved search engine placement.

The "dos" and "don'ts" of
participating at social media sites

WARNING: There's ONE IMPORTANT THING you have to remember when using social media sites to get improved ch engine placement for your site!

And that's the fact that these are SOCIAL sites -- people don't visit them expecting to be hit with a bunch of marketing messages. So if you want to get links at these sites to point to your own site, you have to do it SUBTLY.

Think about it... If you were at a party and somebody started handing out business cards and immediately launched into a sales pitch for his product, you'd try to get away, right?

Well it's the same thing on a social web site. That kind of behaviour is considered highly unethical and inap by members of these communities.

On Digg, for example, links will often get voted down as spam if they're submitted by the person who owns the site they point to.

And on del.icio.us, if all of your favorite links point ONLY to your web site, you'll lose all your credibility, and no other users will add your links to their own list of bookmarks.

So make sure that you're participating honestly and being low-key about your business. Be sure you share other relevant and entertaining links with the community, in addition to your own products and articles.

Otherwise all your hard work creating content for these sites will have been a waste of time.

Here are the main things you should be doing on social media sites:

  • Do create a profile with a link back to your web site

  • Do tag your articles with relevant keywords

  • Do participate in the discussions to build your credibility

  • Do contribute to the growth and value of these sites by creating and submitting content that is entertaining and solves problems

  • Do get a good grasp of what's receiving attention on that specific site before submitting content

  • Do invite your friends to go online and vote for your links -- within reason, of course!

  • Do give your articles intriguing headlines that will get people to read further

  • Do be yourself -- these communities don't reward fakers

Here are a few things you shouldn't be doing on social media sites:

  • Don't spam sites with links only to your own articles, or bookmarks pointing only to your site

  • Don't go overboard when encouraging friends to vote for your links -- organized "gangs" of voters often get discovered and "booed off" these sites

  • Don't submit boring or irrelevant content -- this will only hurt your reputation

  • Don't be there just to promote yourself -- nobody wants to be friends with people who are only out for themselves!

By following these rules, you'll become part of the online community, and people will begin to value your opinion and see you as a credible source of information.

This will allow you to become more powerful in the community, and your links and articles will carry more weight than the anonymous contributions of a new member.

Final thoughts

The key to getting the most out of these social web sites is to start small. Check out a few of the different sites. Then choose one or two that you enjoy hanging out at, and get a feel for the communities.

By spending time at these sites, you'll discover what type of information is popular, get tons of ideas for new articles, and find out exactly what's on the minds of regular Internet users.

Eventually, start creating some valuable and interesting content of your own, and submit it to these sites... then sit back and see what happens!

By participating honestly and sharing some interesting links, videos, or articles -- as well as providing links to your own web site -- you might find that a lot of other people will start linking to your articles and your business site.

The worst that can happen is you'll have some fun, meet some interesting people, and learn a few things.

If you do things right, play by the rules, and create some fun and interesting content, you'll be able to grow the number of relevant links pointing to your site -- and that just might lead to your ultimate goal of improved search engine placement!

So, have YOU ever posted links on social media sites as a way to increase your traffic or get improved search engine placement? And if so, was the experience a success for you? Tell us about it -- we'd love to hear about YOUR marketing stories!

 

To Your Success,
Richard Florke