Blogging strategies are like zebra stripes. Each one is unique. Some bloggers prefer using SEO to drive traffic to their sites. Others feel SEO is an arcane art that outlived it’s usefulness the day social media was born. The debate on SEO vs. social media has gone on since the two phrases were coined.
Which strategy should you spend your time with? If you answered either SEO or social media, then you are not promoting your blog correctly. You need both.
According to Darren Rowse, SEO and social media both drive great traffic to your site. However, you should be more concerned about the type of traffic you are receiving. Pure traffic volume is meaningless.
SEO is important for driving specific traffic to your site. Visitors who come to your site through Google come for a very specific purpose. If you chose your keywords correctly, you will draw traffic that is about five times more likely to convert than readers who stumbled upon your page by accident.
Social media is a great tool for bringing highly committed users. Social media users are looking to engage with your site and share a connection. If they like your content, they will be more likely to share it with their friends.
I’ve just discussed the reasons why SEO and social media are important. You may still want to focus your efforts on one or. the other. Perhaps a better perspective is to consider how they can be used together. Social media and SEO can actually go hand in hand quite nicely.
How does SEO help with social media?
There are many ways you can build a social media presence:
- Facebook pages
- Twitter updates
- Hubpages and Squidoo articles
- Article marketing
- Guest Blogging
How do people find you on social networks? Many find you through the networks themselves. Others find your social networking pages through search engines. Make sure your Facebook pages, Squidoo profiles and guest blog posts are well optimized. Even your tweets can rank surprisingly well for some long-tail keywords. Using SEO can make your social media strategies much more effective.
Initially, your Facebook or Squidoo page will probably rank much better in the search engines than your website. If you want people to connect with you on social networks, make sure you get people through the search engines.
How Social Media Helps With SEO
SEO rankings are based off of two factors: links and content. Social media is a great tool for both. You can use social media sites or guest blogging to get ideas for new content for your blog. You can also spread the word about your site and get some fans to link back to you. Any dofollow links that are indexed through social media sites will produce some great link juice.
Make sure that you use social media sites as a tool as part of your SEO strategy. Old school methods (forum signatures and article directories) are still helpful, but they will only take you so far.
The SEO vs. Social Media Debate: Let’s End it
SEO and social media are both exceptional tools for promoting your blog. Invest in them both. Use them together. You will get so much more out of your blog if you use a well-rounded promotional strategy.
Source: http://www.dragonblogger.com/seo-social-media-friends/
September 29, 2011
Social Media