MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Generally, out of the work environment, I associate the word organic with the latest food trend, which supports the local farmers not using pesticides and being free-range. When it comes to the Internet, organic marketing is similar to the food, in a sense.

Just as organic food is better for you in the long run, so is organic marketing. Solid links placed in the right spots with the perfect keyword are more beneficial for you then short-term links. Search engines are still going to be the number one resource for finding sites, regardless of what might be happening in the Social Media industry.

Even with websites such as StumbleUpon or Digg, the traffic generation doesn’t last long. According to a post, at the end of TechMeme, the Digg users will spend about 30 seconds on a site; versus Google users who will spend a minute and a half.

Although Social Media is an up-and-coming trend that should be looked at and be part of your marketing plan, the bulk of traffic will still be coming from actual search engines. With social media such as Digg and Reddit, for example, for that brief moment that your site is live and at the top, it probably will boost the hit rate for that period of time. Eventually, though, it will get lost under all the other sites that have been nominated.

Your popularity is only as effective as your keywords. Users will nominate you because they found you and they found you through a search engine, therefore, having an accurate selection of keywords is important. If you have managed to research your audience correctly and understand what types of terms they will be using, then this shouldn’t be a problem.

For example, if you are an SEO company in the UK, one key word would be “optimisation”, as opposed to the same company in the US who would use “optimization”. This is what the user is going to be using for their terms. The other catch twenty two with Social Media is that although they might be getting hits to your site for that limited time, the traffic they are sending isn’t necessary the right kind. In Search Engines, users are directly trying to find you and use the information that you have, whereas in Social media, users are just clicking for the sake of “checking you out”.

It’s great that your site got picked for these websites, as it means you are on a good thing. However just remember, junk food gives you instant gratification, but it doesn’t fill you up in the long run. That organic SEO is what’s going to keep you going.