There are several companies that are cash strapped and as can’t afford to spend money on advertising. If the website is the prime information channel for business, its really important for them to have a improvised SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy as well as creative means to attract users. Working on SEO and SEM at the same time, steadily the focus should be on SEO more than SEM to generate traffic. The more time spent on SEO, the lesser energy and money is spent on SEM. Why someone has to opt for these steps, it’s to promote their website. Companies that have their revenue model largely concentrated on e-commerce, or those with a constrained budget, are now-a-days using the internet to promote themselves. Many companies that like to complement their main-line (or above-the-line) spends have also started using the internet as a key alternative medium.

The key reasons for this shift is growth in internet penetration which is at about 30 million in India. (about 3% of India’s population). As most people in urban areas have easy access to the internet due to falling broadband prices and new products that give better wireless access, and there is a library of information that can be “Googled”; it makes internet an effective tool to communicate. The communication can be made effective by adopting a SEO campaign that follows some set parameters such as keywords, title, page rank, content, images, relevancy, URL address, and age of url. Read the rest of this entry »

Before going into specifics of Social Media Optimization lets make something’s about social networking clear.  YouTube is the 2^nd most popular search, and Twitter and Facebook are replacing Google among core users as their primary source for search. Facebook is replacing Google as number one source of reference traffic. Having a search engine optimized website is important, but as focus shifts to social landscape, social media websites are gaining importance. As such companies and organizations are trying their best to be visible in places preferably social places where their audience are searching and communicating including photos at Flickr, videos on YouTube or Vimeo, events on PlanCast, checkins on FourSquare or Gowalla, updates on Facebook or LinkedIn, tweets, diggs, reviews on Yelp. As such adding value and context for audience to take note is important. For example a video posted on YouTube backed by keyword-rich title, a keyword-rich description, and tags will definitely attract audience to the video.

Building a social media presence can be intimidating for most businesses as they have to build and distribute widgets, make payroll, return phone calls and do everything else so that it has an impact on community. However, not just creating content but also interacting socially with audience, customers and even competitors is of critical importance these days. SMO helps in the distribution of social objects and its ability to rise to the top of any related search query, where and when it is performed means that SEO + SMO deliver advanced visibility on the internet. As such companies have developed both a search and a social media strategy to increase their online visibility, find new customers, and stay ahead of the competition.

The internet has evolved from being informative source to being a participative one not only in India but worldwide. The participative nature of the internet can be recognized from the wide range of forums, social bookmarking sites, blogs and social network websites its helping the businesses and brands to grow faster. As conversations move faster online participation tailor made Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) solutions are helping clients to reach out to maximum clientele. So its important to know the core aspects of Social Media Optimization and marketing which are:

1. Increase your linkability through fresh, informative and eye catching content

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy through implementation of Social Bookmarking buttons on your blogs and important pages

3. Reward Inbound links

4. Develop content for presentations and submission on social sharing websites.

 5. Encourage mashup

In the end from an SEO point of view, Social Media Optimization (SMO) if done in the right manner can provide a variety of benefits such as increased traffic, increased number of quality backlinks, and consistent rise in page ranks.