angelsolutions
06-09-2008, 03:56 AM
SiteProNews: June 9, 2008 Feature Article
Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html
Using Social Media To Drive Traffic
By Matt Jackson (c) 2008
SMO, or Social Media Optimization, helps build website traffic
by using social media based websites. The dawning of web 2.0 has
seen many different social media websites crop up in an equally
large number of different guises. Content sharing, social
bookmarking, and collaborative websites form the basis of this
initiative and it is these types of websites that you need to use
in order to leverage the power of the social web.
SMO as Guerrilla Marketing
The nature of Social Media Optimization is such that it could be
considered a form of guerrilla marketing. Website owners and blog
owners have the choice of either investing money or their own
skills and time in order to generate traffic from social sites.
As long as your efforts are directed appropriately, the more
work you put in the more reward you will reap.
SMO as a Link Building Technique
Social optimization also has a happy side effect - it helps to
build your link profile so you will usually gain search engine
traffic in the long term. Becoming a part of an online community
is essential to your social optimization and this, in turn, will
naturally provide links to your website. The links will usually
be from relevant pages based on a similar topic to that of your
own page. The more popular social sites are also given a lot of
weight by certain search engines.
Optimize Your Existing Site
Create genuinely interesting, intriguing, or informative pages.
Include images, links, video, and collaborative tools so that
visitors really get involved when they do visit your site. SMO
is basically digital word-of-mouth and, if your website doesn't
offer some kind of appealing experience to your visitors, then
it simply won't attract the positive word-of-mouth that you
want.
Add new pages, if necessary, so that you can include more
information. However, don't just add pages for the sake of it -
ensure that each page really does have something unique to
offer. A website still needs to be well structured.
Get a Blog
Add a blog. Every website has potential blog posts in it so find
yours and start blogging regularly. Blog posts tend to attract
links from other blog posts and those in turn will spread the
word of your website. The more popular your blog becomes, the
more value it is perceived to offer and the more visitors you
will continue to get.
Be active in those blogs that are within your industry and use
your link where permitted and relevant. Don't spam because that
will lose you more friends than it will make but, if you offer
relevant information and a forum or blog allows you to link to
it, then offer an insightful comment and provide a link.
Be Active
Being active is a vital part to your whole SMO campaign. Simply
registering with social bookmarking sites and content sharing
sites is not enough. You need to be involved, post regularly,
and generally become a part of the community. If you don't have
the time or the inclination to do this, then find somebody else
to do it instead.
Some Social Sites To Join
You really do reap what you sow in terms of SMO. Determine the
sites that are most suitable to your website, join them, and
become an active member. Choose some broad topic sites as well
as some that are specific to those interested in the industry in
which you operate or topic that you cover. Look at social news
submission sites, content sharing sites, bookmarking, and
networking sites and try to get a broad coverage of all of them.
Here are just a few of the sites you should seriously consider
using:
Social News/Media Sharing Websites
* Reddit - Reddit is a very popular social news website that
boasts a lot of subscribers and covers a wide range of topics.
* Digg - Initially, Digg was reserved to technology and related
topics but is now a broad topic news site that again has a lot
of subscribers and regular readers.
* Newsvine - Not as popular as the two above but offering a
slightly more formal tone to its content. Again, a good range of
topics are covered.
Social Networking Sites
* MySpace - It may be largely riddled with spam, but there are
still too many genuine users for you to ignore MySpace. You
don't have to be an unsigned band to take advantage either.
* Facebook - Has caused quite a stir and offers users the chance
to create and distribute their own applications as well as
content. Another very popular site.
* LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a social networking site dedicated to
professionals and businesses. It can really help to build a huge
network of partners, customers, and other useful contacts in a
business network.
Social Bookmarking Websites
* del.icio.us - Register, store bookmarks that you find useful,
and include a bookmark to your own website and use a public
profile.
* Stumble Upon - Same again. Alternatively, you can add a Stumble
icon to each of your pages, blog posts, and other media and let
your readers do the walking for you.
Buttons For Your Pages
Many social websites offer a button that your readers or
visitors can use to automatically add a page. Bookmarking and
content sharing sites, in particular, have these buttons and, if
you've ever read a website or an article site, then you will have
seen the Digg This and Stumble buttons at the bottom of each
entry. Users registered with these sites can click the button
and quickly add your page. The most popular websites are usually
displayed on the high traffic home pages delivering yet more
visitors to your site.
Offering Quality
The Social Internet has opened up a whole new avenue for
promoting your business, but it needs to be done properly and
carefully. Simply tagging, bookmarking, and sharing every page
you have regardless of its quality will not bring you the
desired results. You may find that it does you more harm than
good in the long run.
================================================== ==============
Matt Jackson is a web content writer (http://www.webwisewords.com/)
offering appealing and professional web content. Whether you are
looking to implement an SEO or SMO campaign, or you want to
improve your visitor's experience while on your website
WebWiseWords (http://www.webwisewords.com/) can create the
content you need.
================================================== ==============
Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html
Using Social Media To Drive Traffic
By Matt Jackson (c) 2008
SMO, or Social Media Optimization, helps build website traffic
by using social media based websites. The dawning of web 2.0 has
seen many different social media websites crop up in an equally
large number of different guises. Content sharing, social
bookmarking, and collaborative websites form the basis of this
initiative and it is these types of websites that you need to use
in order to leverage the power of the social web.
SMO as Guerrilla Marketing
The nature of Social Media Optimization is such that it could be
considered a form of guerrilla marketing. Website owners and blog
owners have the choice of either investing money or their own
skills and time in order to generate traffic from social sites.
As long as your efforts are directed appropriately, the more
work you put in the more reward you will reap.
SMO as a Link Building Technique
Social optimization also has a happy side effect - it helps to
build your link profile so you will usually gain search engine
traffic in the long term. Becoming a part of an online community
is essential to your social optimization and this, in turn, will
naturally provide links to your website. The links will usually
be from relevant pages based on a similar topic to that of your
own page. The more popular social sites are also given a lot of
weight by certain search engines.
Optimize Your Existing Site
Create genuinely interesting, intriguing, or informative pages.
Include images, links, video, and collaborative tools so that
visitors really get involved when they do visit your site. SMO
is basically digital word-of-mouth and, if your website doesn't
offer some kind of appealing experience to your visitors, then
it simply won't attract the positive word-of-mouth that you
want.
Add new pages, if necessary, so that you can include more
information. However, don't just add pages for the sake of it -
ensure that each page really does have something unique to
offer. A website still needs to be well structured.
Get a Blog
Add a blog. Every website has potential blog posts in it so find
yours and start blogging regularly. Blog posts tend to attract
links from other blog posts and those in turn will spread the
word of your website. The more popular your blog becomes, the
more value it is perceived to offer and the more visitors you
will continue to get.
Be active in those blogs that are within your industry and use
your link where permitted and relevant. Don't spam because that
will lose you more friends than it will make but, if you offer
relevant information and a forum or blog allows you to link to
it, then offer an insightful comment and provide a link.
Be Active
Being active is a vital part to your whole SMO campaign. Simply
registering with social bookmarking sites and content sharing
sites is not enough. You need to be involved, post regularly,
and generally become a part of the community. If you don't have
the time or the inclination to do this, then find somebody else
to do it instead.
Some Social Sites To Join
You really do reap what you sow in terms of SMO. Determine the
sites that are most suitable to your website, join them, and
become an active member. Choose some broad topic sites as well
as some that are specific to those interested in the industry in
which you operate or topic that you cover. Look at social news
submission sites, content sharing sites, bookmarking, and
networking sites and try to get a broad coverage of all of them.
Here are just a few of the sites you should seriously consider
using:
Social News/Media Sharing Websites
* Reddit - Reddit is a very popular social news website that
boasts a lot of subscribers and covers a wide range of topics.
* Digg - Initially, Digg was reserved to technology and related
topics but is now a broad topic news site that again has a lot
of subscribers and regular readers.
* Newsvine - Not as popular as the two above but offering a
slightly more formal tone to its content. Again, a good range of
topics are covered.
Social Networking Sites
* MySpace - It may be largely riddled with spam, but there are
still too many genuine users for you to ignore MySpace. You
don't have to be an unsigned band to take advantage either.
* Facebook - Has caused quite a stir and offers users the chance
to create and distribute their own applications as well as
content. Another very popular site.
* LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a social networking site dedicated to
professionals and businesses. It can really help to build a huge
network of partners, customers, and other useful contacts in a
business network.
Social Bookmarking Websites
* del.icio.us - Register, store bookmarks that you find useful,
and include a bookmark to your own website and use a public
profile.
* Stumble Upon - Same again. Alternatively, you can add a Stumble
icon to each of your pages, blog posts, and other media and let
your readers do the walking for you.
Buttons For Your Pages
Many social websites offer a button that your readers or
visitors can use to automatically add a page. Bookmarking and
content sharing sites, in particular, have these buttons and, if
you've ever read a website or an article site, then you will have
seen the Digg This and Stumble buttons at the bottom of each
entry. Users registered with these sites can click the button
and quickly add your page. The most popular websites are usually
displayed on the high traffic home pages delivering yet more
visitors to your site.
Offering Quality
The Social Internet has opened up a whole new avenue for
promoting your business, but it needs to be done properly and
carefully. Simply tagging, bookmarking, and sharing every page
you have regardless of its quality will not bring you the
desired results. You may find that it does you more harm than
good in the long run.
================================================== ==============
Matt Jackson is a web content writer (http://www.webwisewords.com/)
offering appealing and professional web content. Whether you are
looking to implement an SEO or SMO campaign, or you want to
improve your visitor's experience while on your website
WebWiseWords (http://www.webwisewords.com/) can create the
content you need.
================================================== ==============