Wednesday 16 May 2012

Combining SEO & SMO to optimise your website


In the web-dominated world that we live in, creating and maintaining a website for your business/company is an essential requirement for your business to grow. With the increasing usage and need for the internet, people spend a lot more time ‘ONLINE’ reading about business’s, companies, news, fashion, music, etc, rather than reading in the traditional style- newspapers, book, magazines, etc.

Having a website for your company/business is the most effective way of reaching out to your consumers.

Traditional forms of finding information online involves searching for information using various different search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing,  a practice called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It includes making sure that your website gets better rankings  while being searched in the different search engines, and appears above others.

Social Media Optimization (SMO), the new method of gaining online publicity includes using various social media networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, You Tube, Digg, Linkedin, Bebo, Google + , etc. to engage users to interact with one another or with companies/brands.

These social sites are online hubs where  people/communities or companies can interact with one another and get immediate feedback and interact on an ongoing basis. It thereby bridges the gap between people and makes communication much easier and cheaper. More importantly, if you have established your presence on social media networking sites, this will automatically appear on the various search engines when someone searches for your company/business. For eg. If you enter keywords like ‘travel’ you should be directed to web sites relevant to travel like Lonely Planet, Cleartrip, Makemytrip, etc.

SEO and SMO are thus the two most important  factors to help promote your business  in the digital media/website promotion.

Attaining prime visibility for your website is very essential to attract customers.  Marketing your product well through the various social media sites as well as getting good SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) will help you make a strong impact on any consumer’s mind.

SERP’s are basically a list of results on your search engine in relation to a query  that has been entered using one or more keywords.

Maintaining good online publicity through search engines sites as well as social media networking sites are key factors to increase the profitability of your business. The more people who come to know about your business the higher the chances are that they will start using/investing in your business.

Contextual links and back linking form an important part of SEO. They are the internal links on your web page.

Contextual links are basically the text that you enter in your search engine that you want to be associated with your website.This text should link you to a page pertaining to the keyword phrase that have you entered. For example: Corolla Altis should be able to link you to a page about Corolla cars of the Altis model.

Contextual backlinks refer to the incoming links to your website. They are very important for website optimization, especially for SEO.

Using both SEO techniques as well as social media sites to promote and enhance your website are very important for every business. It is essential for every business/company/person to find their place and promote their business/companies/services through Facebook and Twitter, etc.

Websites not only provide contextual links, backlinks, but also social media shortcuts directing you to the companies profile on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  The internet has become an indispensable part of everyones life where smartphones are the easiest way to stay connected. Almost every cell phone has social media networking sites and internet browsing options.

Combining SEO and SMO are thus essential tools for optimising your website.

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