This is a guest post by Noah Mark Rodolfo from BestOnlineBusinessGuide.net
Social networking is one of today’s biggest arena when it comes to online marketing. It’s been an effective gauge for Internet businesses, not only for e-commerce sites but also for bloggers. Facebook, Twitter and even Google+ are making a big impact on the Internet and many practical users are taking the bait. So the question is – “does SEO still have relevance for your online business?”.
SEO against social networking is an interesting topic especially if you are looking for the best way to market your website business. If you want to promote your brand using social medias, then you certainly have to build your social network profile to develop both yourself and your site. Otherwise, you’ll have to stick with search engine optimization which is more complicated compared to social network marketing.
If you have a brand new site, the first thing that comes to your mind is to optimize every page of your site to increase its search engine rankings. Ironically, social media networks can highly aid your SEO needs when it comes to off-page optimization. It is good to note that search engines especially Google, gives a lot of attention on these social networking sites. So instead of focusing in SEO, you have to first try the waters of social networking because it also benefits your off-page optimization efforts.
So is SEO really the thing of the past? No, not yet! While it is easier to carry out a large social network marketing campaign to increase your site or blog’s traffic, it still has its limitation. Plus, not all people in your network are “targeted” people for your business. Social networking needs to be maintained through expanding continuously without delay. If you are unable to cope up with every changes in the social networking landscape, your business will also be affected. This is the reason it is called “networking” in the first place.
But SEO can be a daunting task as well especially if you are a newbie. There is two types of SEO namely – on-page and off-page. Google is not highly particular with on-page factors these days so off-page method should be your number one priority. Off-page means link building and that is the hardest part. If you know various tricks on how to get backlinks from various authoritative sites, then your site will become popular in just a few months. I mean “months” because you will have to wait for your turn to get higher rankings in the search engines. This is another drawback when it comes to SEO.
So What Is The Catch?
With search engine optimization, you can be a big player if you obtain good rankings in a certain keyword which gets millions of searches per month. But profitable keywords also have stiff competition from thousands of websites. So if you want to be a dominant site in the search engines, you have to take a lot of effort to build thousands of backlinks for your website or blog.
With social networking, you also start small and you have to build your network in a slowly but surely manner. What I meant was to get people on your network which has similar “interests” as with your business. Your site’s traffic has potential to receive tons of daily traffic if you have a big “network” on each of your social media profile. If you were able to achieve a big network in a short span of time, you can build good reputation about your site and your business as a whole to all those people within your network.
In summary, SEO and social networking methods are both essential to your online business success. If you can do both, then you will have better marketing program for your blog or e-commerce business. Remember that a business takes time to nourish and should not be rushed. Whether it’s SEO or social networking, the important thing is that you have to strive harder and put a lot of effort to reach your goal.
Do you imagine what your business can achieve if you were able to reach your goal in both SEO and social networking? Yes, Internet business can overwhelmingly reward you financially. So which is better, SEO or social networking? You decide!
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Article Written By Noah Mark Rodolfo
Noah Mark Rodolfo is a Filipino blogger who loves to share information online. Learn free tips and strategies when it comes to blogging, SEO and other make money online topics on his website at Home Based Business.
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Good point, Noah. Social network is the tool that helps us improve SEO ranking and that’s why we couldn’t do SEO better without using social network.
Trung Nguyen recently posted..Why and How to Build a Blog Plan
It’s true that Now-a-days Social networking is biggest arena when it comes to online marketing,but SEO and Social networking both are mandatory for your business.
I think you made valid points for both SEO and social networking. Both are important to gain targeted traffic and you cannot rely on just one to be successful. I don’t think that SEO will ever go away completely, as google will always rely on relevance to provide information to their users.
Beth recently posted..Lose Weight Fast With Natural Diet Pills
I love SEO optimizing most of my pages. I love social networking, but to me it seems like most people on those networks are not highly targeted. Well that’s my opinion. I get more traffic on several of my sites from Google and very little from social networks, social bookmarking, etc. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Great article Noah.
Vernette Carbon recently posted..Dairy Products Cause Cancer? Why Women In China Do Not Get Breast Cancer…
Hey Vernette,
Thanks for the comment. SEO can be rewarding with regards to traffic. But whether you get traffic from the search engines or social networks, the most important thing is to acquire targeted traffic and hopefully turn them into followers or customers. Influencing your readers through your work is much more important than just getting traffic.
Regards,
Noah
Hey NOAH,
Nice post by the way according to me both have there’s own importance but I preferred Social media is best for increasing traffic.
Rizwan Sultan recently posted..Symptoms of Crohns Disease
As the writer here concluded, both are critical for a rounded internet marketing campaign.
However, these are just two of the online activities I think you should be considering. PPC as well should always be at least a consideration and online PR is another area that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Stacey Cavanagh recently posted..50 Famous Faces on Google Plus
Hello Stacey,
PPC is indeed a good option but not ideal for beginners. If you have no budget for advertising, then social networks and SEO are still your best options.
Thanks for the comment.
Yeah, we spend loads of money on PPC and although it does generate income we always looking to get better rankings organically so we can cut out PPC
Social media is a place where your success is measured in terms of Influence you have among your followers. Social media campaigns are becoming more popular for their effectiveness than traditional marketing campaigns.
George recently posted..Shoot And Win With Your Worst Cubicle, Enter The PMC Contest!
I am and I will always in favor of social networking than SEO. I have never understood SEO. It always look so complicated to me.
Tushar recently posted..5 Ways to Make Your Blog Post Bad Than Worst
I would say SEO and Social Media walks in hands. None of them could be neglected. SEO is essential to get traffic and Social Media to create expert authority
Pradosh recently posted..Social Media Is More Important Than SEO During Start-Up
i think SEO, because social networking sites will never win google. we cant find a targeted people in social networking sites. But seo make the visitors comes to our blog
First off, great post! And yes, I did read it completely lol
. This topic of marketing both ways is a long and opinion-full thing. I would have to say to balance both out. At the beginning of your blog, social media is a must, and the connection is real through that. SEO has to be the long-term investment. That’s the way I see it. Face it, with all the websites on the web, not alot of options to be way up front is readily available. Just my thoughts.
Make sure you are creating content that your customers will appreciate and make sure you are telling people about it. Both sides of this equation will take care of themselves as long as you are using good keywords in important places like your headlines and links.
Finding the topics to write about can be the biggest headache. I know of some ways to make it easier.
I would lean a bit towards SEO,as our efforts can stay longer and the only way to replace us is fair and simple.Social networking may be easy by looks but how much of potential customers can we reach is something to put thought through.
johnavery recently posted..Classic Cars
Noah,
I definitely agree with you. Social networking will give you more instant results since a good SEO job takes a long time to come to fruition, but ultimately any good business will need to tackle both of these aspects to succeed long term.
Steve recently posted..10 Ways to Use Google Analytics to Increase Web Traffic
Hey Steve,
Thanks for your comment. I read your page -> http://www.stevescottsite.com/affiliate-marketing-strategies and I want to ask what you think about my own affiliate site -> http://www.thebestweightlossproduct.net. It is a weight loss site designed for moreniche products. Do you think I have to abandoned Adsense? Many folks are telling me to take out those ads as this can confuse my readers.
The site is 3 years old now and until now, I only manage one sale for that site. This is the reason I am now focusing on my other sites. So since you are more into affiliate marketing, I would like to ask for your opinion about my weight loss site.
Many thanks Steve,
Noah
Hey NOAH, I believe that if its only organic traffic that you are looking at then its only seo that will help but social networking sites really help in publicizing your blog.
devesh recently posted..How To Go To An Interview Tips
Although, SEO may be complicated, time consuming and sometimes difficult, I have some experience doing it and I am a bit comfortable with the routine I developed. I have just gotten into social networking, I am aware about its potential but I am still learning how to utilize it. I don’t forget to update my profile but often there are times when I don’t know what my next step with it is.
I think social networking is overrated for businesses. Whens the last time you bought something or patroonized a business because of a fb friend? SEO all the way!
Jane recently posted..Sagittarius rising
I would have to disagree. If you want to increase the sphere of your business, real people through social networks can spread like fire and can boost your rankings a lot. SEO has its place and the competition is getting harder and harder. As you gain more visitors through social media, SEO catches that and automatically boost the page rank of your business’s page. Just my opinion
.
Samuel recently posted..Top 10 Problems That Plague New Bloggers.
I have been putting off getting into the social media sites for my company but I know I need to. I just am having a hard time starting. So I appreciate the push and you showing me the importance and what it can do for my company.
You should definitely do both, find the right balance between the two. Social Networking a la Linkedin is great to turn connections into sales, not so sure about Facebook. It seems that Facebook is used more to socialize, than to sell and buy. Twitter has also been good to me, because you can create a targeted audience.
I believe that both are essential strategies in fighting for that lucrative top ten spot. From what I have deducted from research is that having great content makes for a great asset.
Google constantly changes its algorithms and if your site is unappealing and does not provide anything useful Google will use that bounce rate against your site. Therefore having that great content is necessary.
Great post, but I find it so hard to get people interactive with Social Networking so I find SEO much easier. Any tips for enticing engagement from people on a Social Network?
The most important aspect of social media is that you need to benchmark, test and verify the results.People don’t know how good social media can be for their business, and many don’t realize how effective social media is.
Very good writeup on the various positives and negatives of SEO vs. Social Networking. My emphasis so far has been on SEO but I am beginning to venture into Facebook and Twitter.
Ellie
For me personally SEO wins this battle as the aim is to not have to pay for premium advertising to help secure a 1st page result for your competitive keyword on the biggest search engine in the world. Social networking can help drive in more sales but nothing competed to how many people would visit your site because you are the first link on google – SEO does this better
SEO is ever green way to generate targetted FREE traffic…. Efforts in SEO will pay u for a longer period of time den SOcial networking
Social networking and seo are closely inter-related. Although both have different ways to processing but if joined and worked together can get great results.
John Cooper recently posted..snow socks
In my opinion, I think a mix of both is best. Social media will bring you an increase in traffic almost immediately but it may not be as targeted as the traffic you would gain through SEO. There’s also Google AdWords which kind of acts like the best of both, instant traffic but also targeted traffic.
Hey Ava,
Thanks for your comment. Adwords is a good method but you need to have sufficient funds in starting this type of marketing campaign. So if you are a novice blogger, stick to viral marketing instead.
Thanks
Noah, I agree that it is best to develop both a strong SEO and social media marketing position. The irony is, when you do one, you often do the other. Your SEO information was solid.
I would quibble with one minor point. You correctly pointed out that Google puts more attention to off-line marketing than to the site itself, and advised the newbie to focus attention on their off sight SEO = social media campaign. I would argue that developing your blog is the first priority. SEO is something everyone is doing. Any and all weaknesses will get you discounted from your desired position. Since only ~12 get p 1….with any errors….forget it. Develop your blog first–for SEO and to have a fine product for your guests to read.
I especially like these lines taken from the conclusion; “Remember that a business takes time to nourish and should not be rushed. Whether it’s SEO or social networking, the important thing is that you have to strive harder and put a lot of effort to reach your goal.”
David Sneen recently posted..How to Earn $57,600 a Year!
The answer is both. They both have their own significance in their filed. SEO is useful to sustain good traffic and for building brand reputation for the site.
SMO has become a demand for promoting your site. Facebook and Twitter are the best examples for it.
I believe all of them are important, on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and social networking. You can’t always be sure with google, so better if you cover all the bases. Building backlinks are complemented well with social networks as these are very authoritive sites that google trust, because they are consumer driven networks.
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