Read Derek Gehl’s latest ‘Marketing Tips’ newsletter article titled “How to ‘Socialize’ Your Way to Improved Search Engine Placement”.


Derek Gehl’s latest article is reprinted here.


How to ‘Socialize’ Your Way to Improved Search Engine Placement

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
Friendster,
Facebook, and
Digg.

Sure, these sites might be the online hangouts where people like to goof off
during their “down time” at work…

But they’re also extremely popular web sites with high 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
del.icio.us, 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 business site — not only from the
social media sites themselves, but also from the improved search
engine placement you’ll get from having more high-PageRank
links pointing to your web site!

Social media sites can be organized into a few main categories:

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

    Friendster 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
    Linkedin.

  • 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
    Furl, 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.

    (To learn what we mean by tagging,
    click
    here to check out the blog post I wrote on it a few months ago.)

    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 homepage — 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,
    Furl,
    Google Video,
    Flickr, or
    Fotolog 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 favorites as
    well.

  • Media-sharing sites:Have you ever
    checked out the latest videos at
    Wikipedia.org, or the most
    popular pictures at
    Facebook?

    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
    Flickr and
    Google Video, while
    the most popular photo-sharing web sites are
    Facebook 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.

In fact, lists are often some of the most popular articles
on social bookmarking sites. People who visit these sites are usually looking
to waste a few minutes online, and they don’t want to read a bunch of heavy
text.

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
Facebook and
Flickr 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 entertaining or informative 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 or blog 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
    Flickr 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 an interactive product demonstration:
    Facebook 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’ve attended:
     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 search 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 inappropriate 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 Furl, 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!

Derek Gehl

Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he’s used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Derek Gehl for granting permission to reprint the latest article.