The high regard for quality content has been proved many times over. This year too has been no different, with the 2012 Marketing Sherpa Search Engine Marketing Report concluding that content creation is still the best among the SEO tactics out there. However, it is also the one that is most resource intensive. An effective SEO marketing strategy can only be powered by freshly developed content. The content development should ensure that it focuses attention upon the right keywords that can then lead to link acquisitions and should be social network friendly. It incorporates a vision that has both, long term as well as short term objectives in its cross-hairs and pays attention to every minute detail.
Given that most managers are truly hard-pressed for time, it is not uncommon for the focus to waver. But no matter, how rushed one may be, some key elements must be incorporated at all times into any effort. Failure to do this is not only doing the content developer a grave injustice, it is also likely to undermine efforts in the chase for SEO glory and success! These elements include SEO basics such as optimizing the titles and meta-tag descriptions more search engine friendly to the interlinking of related pieces of content and seamless integration of social sharing tools that encourage and facilitate its spread.
Given that each finger on the hand is sized differently, so are the SEO Marketing strategies of firms. Most firms aim to put their best foot forward but success doesn’t favor them all. Those that reap rich rewards from their SEO Marketing efforts tend to do things differently and it is often their practices that are the deciding factor between them and the competition.
For a better understanding on the SEO Marketing practices of successful firms, we are going to examine closely the best practices of a few people out there that seem to be doing things right:
Infographic have well and truly taken the digital world by storm. They are great at rapid, at-a-glance visual representations of information, data or knowledge in an easy to understand, graphical medium. A few weeks ago, Neolane, the digital marketing software experts took an infographic (http://blog.neolane.com/socialmedia/spam-true-infographic/) take on the classic conundrum that examines the impact of the ever-increasing onslaught of spam, piggybacking on quite a few online marketing initiatives. Some of the key aspects of this laudable effort were the hyper-attention paid to certain SEO elements. Like the optimization of titles, meta-tag descriptions and the main copy itself. Another thing that they were spot-on about was in positioning all the social sharing buttons prominently at both, the beginning as well as the bottom of the post. The entire page too was given the social-friendly treatment. It incorporated some of the newer and buzz-creating platforms like Pinterest & Stumble Upon. Such a move, instantly amplified the chances of visitors being drawn into the infographic, thereby adding on to its popularity. The infographic also contains search optimized links that take readers to the home page and the other properties of Neolane. This is a brilliant move, as it completes the circle of inter-connectivity, wherein a user is encouraged to explore further.
Active interaction and transmission on social-rich media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. seems to be working for Christian Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri (www.christianhospital.org). Events, workshops, special interest initiatives, Christian Hospital spreads the word on them all. They have even begun to harness the power of the social platforms to establish a dialogue over care concerns by patients. The key factor behind the social push is the sharing quotient of the information and its relevance to its audience. Their efforts seem to be paying off, with public acknowledgements emerging, thanking them for their quality information sharing.
Video Bloggers and Enterprise Experts, Wikibon are no strangers to top-drawer tech events. Producers of live coverage and telecasts of premier events such as EMCWorld, Strata Conference, Hadoop, etc, they have a highly interactive team of contributors sharing videos, blog posts and other research assets. Some of the key characteristics of their content marketing strategy include the incorporation of cross-links to the various audio-visual media in each of their blog posts. Embedding and sharing functionality is baked into each of the videos being shared. Besides this, all their diverse postings are aggregated on a single page to promote blogging outreach and sharing improvements.
It is hoped that the above examples help forge a better understanding on the interrelation between Search Engine Optimization practices and the Content Marketing initiatives of businesses. They are more to serve as guidelines rather than as the complete truth. The fact of the matter remains that the proof of the pudding is in eating it. This is why the best way to do so would be by seeking ways that help achieve those organization specific goals.
In the end, Nothing speaks better than the Results themselves!
