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Mapping keywords based on existing content may not seem like a big deal. After all, if your topic covers a broad range of keywords, then your users are bound to find them all in your page right?  Short or long tail, it doesn’t really matter right?

When you’re targeting keywords to rank, this strategy can never be more wrong.

So how do we approach Keyword targeting more effectively? Here are our tips for making keywords work harder at boosting your page rank.

Determine Your Full Range of Keywords

Instead of approaching keywords with a one by one focus, start with a full list of keywords.

If needed, refine your keyword list with this process, all over again and making sure that the new keywords that you need to be targeting work into the process in this way. We’ve got our full list of keywords to target.

You need to figure out how valuable and important they are so we you need to determine this with a spreadsheet. You might say, “Well, these are the top converting keywords. These are the ones that send the most traffic, and these are the ones with the lowest difficulty.”

That is how you want to target your keywords, based on those three factors. Then you need to map the keywords to existing content based on their relevance. You will need to ask “does the page’s content actually serve the needs of a keyword phrase that they are targeting?”

So, if you have a heat-retardant oven mitts page, does that actually contain heat-retardant oven mitts? Is that a full category page? Is it a subcategory page? Is it a single item that happens to be the most heat- retardant oven mitts? Is it a brand page? What is it? We make sure that it is relevant.

Establish User Intent

This means not just thinking about whether the page is relevant for the keyword, but thinking about, “What does the user want when he gets to this page?” If I am searching for heat-retardant oven mitts, I probably want a bunch of information about why it’s heat retardant, what it’s made from, explaining to me what kind of temperatures it can handle.

I want to know information about where I can buy these magical oven mitts, what the sources are, what the different brands are. I’d like to be able to filter on that data. Maybe I even want tutorials and demos on like, oh, well, this is the kinds of things that you could cook with them. Cool.

Align Keywords with Your Conversion Goals

So you make them happy and they’ll make you happy. The conversion goal can be we want them to sign up for an email, we want them to click on a button, we want them to add this to their cart, we want them to convert out of the store. Great. Whatever that is, fine, super.

Choose Between a Singular or Multiple Keyword Page Focus

The reason we’ve got it is because a lot of the times when you’re mapping keywords to content, it is not a 1:1 ratio.

This again can make for Frakenpages unless you’re careful. So, you want to be selecting is this a multiple or a singular keyword page focus. Meaning for the oven mitts, for just that broad keyword phrase, I might suggest, in fact, I’d probably be very strongly suggesting to a business owner who has a website about oven mitts, that that should be one page in and of itself.

We should not try to make this a multiple keyword targeting page because we don’t know what the user intent is. Someone who has that broad of a phrase is going to need to do a lot of research and discover whether they want heat retardant ones or they want ones for grills or pit fires, or they’re looking for a certain material, they want it to withstand certain temperatures, they’re looking for kid-friendly gloves, they want gloves for certain sizes, they want gloves with fingers on them or gloves that are just the classic mitt form.

Whatever that is, we need to be providing them with a ton of different sorts of data. So, this page is going to have all sorts of selections and things. That has to map to A, B, and C here, or we’re going to lose out and that’s why I wouldn’t try to get a bunch of different phrases ranking for this.

Build Content Based on Your Targeted Segments

Once you have done this process, you can then take the map of keywords that you created to content and actually go build that content to make searchers happy. This works so much better than the Frakenpage approach.

I can’t even describe to you how well this will work. It doesn’t have to be right from the start. You can take an existing site right now, run through this process, and have just a huge win both in terms of your ability to target searches and rank for those keywords as well as your ability to better convert those visitors because of how you’ve targeted the relevance and the user intent.

Photo Credit by Inmagine.com

We’ve previously discussed on-page SEO elements such as the title tag which greatly contributes to your searchability online.

On this post, I’d like to revisit a key concept to Search Engine Optimization which is the off-page element otherwise known as link building, and especially how social media can help you scale up for success in as little time as possible.

Here are a few key tactics to get you on your way:

Zero-In on Targets with Social Listening Tools

Identifying your audience is job # 1.  Finding who your audiences really are and where they hang out. To get a benchmark, use industry demographic data from sites like comScore, QuantCast and Compete. You can also use Social Mention and Amplicate.

Basically you will have to provide the keywords into these tools and they will supply you with information on who are talking about your keyword. With the information that you got you can already figure out who they are and which social media platform to setup in order to engage them.

Create an Audience Profile

Next up is you need to create a general description of who your audiences are based on their shared interests or “personas”.  That is, a representative view shared among them.

An example would be about grouping your target according to their lifestyle or life-stage.  Depending on the nature of your company or product, you might need to segment them as parents, kids and teachers and role models, etc.

Figure Out Their Language

Having figured out who they are, you will now need to speak their language if you are to fully engage them.  To find out what out what words go with which segment, if you’re using Twitter, you can use Follower Wonk to spot the keywords and identify them.

Know Their Online Profiles

Ok this might seem a bit like stalking but rest assured it’s just due diligence.  Use Knowem.com, an online tool that searches for people’s names and see where they are on the different places throughout social media. It’s important to get as complete a picture of who your audience so you can make a more convincing image when it comes time to engage them.

Converse with Context

Using your online profile group based on your audiences’ persona, proceed with reaching out to them in the form of email, message posts or however you can get their attention.  The main thing is to communicate using their interests as the pretext for engagement.

Offer Incentives in Exchange for Participation

Perhaps the best way to get your prospects to link to your site is to ask them to participate in a mutual value-enhancing exercise, say a blog post about a specific topic that will highlight a shared advocacy, product or experience by way of a contest.  Or you can simply ask them to guest post at your site.

In turn, you may give them a free product as prize, or mention them in a promotional tweet or two to your own community.  Or if they operate an online presence like a website that’s relevant to your business, you may even place a reciprocal link in exchange for their participation.

Reciprocate and Sustain Rapport

Once you have established contact and obtained their buy-in with a valuable information or content (which I presume you already have) remember to maintain rapport with relevant content (note: not spammy-sounding sales pitches).

Yes, you still have to do the hard work of actually engaging your prospects individually.  But with these smart tactics in place, it shouldn’t be difficult to sift through the chaff and build a great community in time that will also be passing on valuable page rank juice back to you.

Photo by Inmagine.com

We have pretty much established the benefits of local SEO when it comes to taking advantage of the Holiday buying season.  Now let us go on with our checklist for getting rewarding results with proven local SEO strategies:

Research Your industry’s Top Competitors.  It doesn’t mean you have to copy exactly what others in your niche are saying or doing, but it does mean knowing how they come to dominate the top of the local search results page.

Here’s a quick and dirty tip: find out where the top dogs are getting listed by typing in the business name and address of that key competitor into the search bar.  Take note of the listings, portals and review sites where they appear because that’s where you want to be listed also.

Take Stock of Your Reviews.  Now, the way search engines find and rank you locally is through the number of mentions (a.k.a. citations) that your company name, address or other contact details appear in local portals, review sites, discussion boards or directory listings like popular review sites such as Yelp, Insider Pages or Trip Advisor.

These are also great indicators of how your customers actually like (or dislike) your service. So you need to pay close attention to what they’re saying and respond accordingly to any negative remark by making sure the issues are earnestly addressed.

Here you need to be proactive as well as creative in taking action against potentially damaging opinion.  Say if you hear about customers grumbling about your poor service, launch an immediate investigation and announce it in your website or company Facebook wall.

You can even post a few Holiday discount coupons for a few aggrieved customers if the case proves to be true, and counter any negative publicity with a timely positive press release or blog post

Accessibility and Content.  Remember how you had to check your website on-page elements like title tags, meta descriptions, alt text,  images, video and other content for ease of indexing by search engine robots prior to launching your site?

You might want to go through that list again to make sure you have your content optimized for local SEO.  You may not need to be as thoroughly integrated with social media to dominate the local search results page for a non-competitive niche, but you need to be aware of your website’s functionality and ease of use for both savvy and non-savvy users alike.

You want to make sure your customers know what they can do at your virtual storefront. For instance, if yours business is a restaurant, you want to make sure they are made aware that they can arrange a reservation or order online, or they readily see where they can go to check out interesting local trivia.

Last but not least, you want to make your content as locally relevant as possible.  For instance, you would want to make sure you mention where you business’ geographic location is as often as you can without sounding altogether weird.

You also might like to provide special Holiday discounts and offers for people within the locality who would refer your business.  Information like prices and a breakdown of services offered will also help convert a local visitor into a paying customer when they happen to encounter your business online through effective local SEO.

Photo Credits: Inmagine.com

Local SEO may not strike you as particularly relevant to this annual holiday.

But with the merry gift-giving season just around the corner, you can bet your mistletoes your customers are already making their lists and doing a lot of window shopping online.

And when it comes to buying, you’ll do well to remember how you tend to buy yourself.  If you’re like the average consumer you’d probably buy from someone you trust or from someone referred by a friend.  And if at all possible, someone local to save on transport or shipping costs at the very least.

And this is why priming your website for local search engine optimization matters.  Below, we’ve compiled a few tips to ensure the Yuletide windfall doesn’t skip your virtual doorsteps.

Get Listed on Key Local Online Directories 

So if you want to appear in your local search engine results page you need to get listed on international or major local portals listings like your local equivalent of the Yellow Pages.

Yes, some directories like the Yellow Pages  may cost a bit. But it will be money well spent in helping you get valid local citations to boost your local SEO presence.

Get Listed on Your Local Government Business Directory 

Say if your business is located somewhere in New South Wales, then you can claim your place in the listings for your local government’s business portals.  Just keep adding your business to local online directories if you’re not listed yet.  Local government business directories do not only boost your online presence, they also add a layer of credibility to your business.

Get listed on Regional Portals and Media Institutions 

Perhaps many if not all of these local regional portal sites have listings for local businesses, and you’d want to try and get included in those.

Another excellent source of free classified listings come from media portals.  These media stations love to cover new local businesses whether it is in the newspaper, the weekly, on their website, or with a TV camera crew.

So, if you are a new local business, reach out to them. It’s definitely a great way to generate some press.

Consistency is Key

It is totally important to have consistency in terms of detail and format in the contact information you provide.

By consistency, we mean having exactly the same name, same address, same phone number and other contact details in specifically the same formats in every single listing you submit to, every single time (hope I’ve emphasized that enough).

The reason for this is because all of those things are critical to the consistency of citations that engines look at to determine whether or not it is this the same exact business that is being referred to at all the other sites.

The slightest difference may mean you won’t get all of the link juice or citation juice engines are using to rank things.

In our next post, we will be dishing out more practical tips to add to your local SEO checklist.  So stay tuned for more!

Photo Credits: Inmagine.com

Picking up where we left off on our checklist for launching your new website for optimum SEO friendliness, you should take advantage of the Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn and many others social media sharing platforms.

Check if Your Website is Set-Up for Social Media

Why?  Because they do not only generate great traffic, they also serve as indicators of highly-relevant content through  sharing buttons such as Facebook’s “Like” and Google’s “+1”.  These social media signals are increasingly being factored into most search engines’ ranking algorithm.

An upside to integrating social media sharing through your online social profile is the ability to exponentially share your content to over 750 million Facebook users and over 200 million Twitter users worldwide.  You can proceed with finding and building connections that can further help you get ranked in far less time than just doing traditional link-building alone.

One key thing to remember is to ensure that you have a consistent look throughout all these channels.  Use the same images and brand personality with your website (i.e. logo, descriptions, messaging) to make the experience consistent so your prospects will instantly recognize that it’s your brand talking regardless of what social media channel they encounter you at.

Check your Website’s Link building Strategy Against Cheap Quick-Ranking Schemes

When embarking on your link building campaign for your new website, think high-quality, authentic and mutually beneficial links.  Not some 300-domain back links package (presumably with high page rank) cheaply offered for 20 bucks.

Opting for a bunch of low quality, easy to acquire links for your new site is particularly dangerous as Google is currently embarking on a savage campaign of weeding out suspicious, non-relevant link profiles, slapping them with heavy penalties or taking them out f the indexes completely.

So where to begin?  For starters, you might want to reach out to your existing business contacts including customers and industry peers online.  The idea is to get them to link to you, and if possible, have them refer you with a friendly testimonial or link from their own sites. Over time, these links will grow and contribute greatly to build your authority and page rank.

Check to see if Guest Posting is a Part of Your Overall Link Building Strategy

You have probably noticed from your own browsing experience how content-rich sites tend to draw you in with highly relevant, timely and editorialized (read: not robotically spun content) articles get the most clicks from human browsers.

High-quality articles tend to be written and reacted to by real people, often in communities with specific shared interests that you probably share too.  And where there is such a community, there will always be a need for real, relevant and insight-filled content  churned out on a regular basis for an online community’s consumption.

And that’s where you can come in as guest contributor.   Guest posting in your industry’s popular forums and blogs are an effective way to demonstrate your expertise on your specific niche while getting some valuable link backs that will help boost your rank.

Get Listed in Industry Relevant Sites

While you’re at it, get listed on relevant social industry and app account links like Google Chrome store and Apple store when you contribute something (like an app if you happen to be developer or a design if you’re a designer) for purchase or better yet for free.

And One More Thing…

This checklist is in no way comprehensive. If you happen to already experience using a great way of getting your website of the ground feel free to share it in the comment section below.  We’ll definitely link back to a noteworthy suggestion.

Anyhow, with the above mentioned strategies you can already be assured of a safe and SEO-friendly website launch. Cheers!

Photo Credit: Steven Depolo on Flicker

Congratulations on your spanking new website!

Maybe you’ve spent a fortune getting a web designer to come up with a great-looking website equipped with an SEO-friendly content management system. You further invested a lot of time writing and editing the content, making sure it presents your company in the best light.

Before you say your hello to the world, it wouldn’t hurt to check if all your ducks are in a neat row with this SEO Checklist:

Check if your website is built for Accessibility

Is your website architecture built for easy access by online spiders?  These are the robots that search engines like Google, Yahoo/Bing and MSN Search regularly send out to crawl the known online universe and to index your content for easy retrieval when someone types in an inquiry online.

If, during development, your website has been shifted from one publishing platform to another, (eg. Joomla to Word Press), chances are you may have altered the permalinks in the process which leads to broken links.  This makes the search engine robots’ job difficult and will adversely impact your website’s searchability online.  Simply moving content around may sometime result to broken links too.  You may also inadvertently duplicate content which may get you penalized, or miss a title tag which lead to errors.

To check for accessibility issues Google has a free Webmasters Tool to check on whether all your pages are properly working with no broken links or expired pages.

Check Keywords for Volume, Relevance and Rankability

You’ve made sure you’ve done a thorough keyword research before finalizing your content, didn’t you?

If not, you need to take note of the related search volumes and make sure your keyword matches or is relevant to your users search intent.  What you want is a term that has a significant number of searches but not too high as to render it too difficult to rank for due to keyword competition (unless you have the resources to embark on a long-term on-going SEO campaign).

If you find yourself in a tight spot, you may want to consider long tail keyword strategy. It is when you add more descriptive terms onto an existing keyword that will further focus the search to more specific attributes that your website is pointing to.

Check Your Content for Real-world Value

If you’ve done your keyword research right, you will also find what your competitors are saying about their product or topic.  Consider how your website is unique compared to the millions of similarly-themed web content throughout the worldwide web (hint: you don’t have to do a million searches, the top SERP results will do).

How valuable is you content compared to these similarly-themed sites? What do you offer that is of great value to which kind of people? Can offer better information for FREE? Better price? Or maybe what you can offer is a comprehensive perspective?  Differentiation works magic.  And the difference between getting your website visited or ignored is in the level of detail and quality of content that you offer.  What you have to say and how you say it can make or break your website.

But Wait, There’s More…

Even how you structure content can help increase your chances of getting your audience coming back for more.

Depending on the level of detail you choose to provide and your audience’s interest and attention span, you may want to provide your content into easy-to-digest bits or very detailed and in-depth installments.

As a rule, you don’t want to overwhelm or underwhelm your audience for that matter.  So encourage feedback and adjust content structure accordingly to just the right size.

Stay tuned for next Monday’s Pre-Launch SEO Checklist Part 2 post for more website rank-boosting tips!

How high you rank for a search term maybe a good indicator of the success of your Search Engine Optimization strategy.  But it doesn’t necessarily mean better market share or even instant profitability.

In the post web 2.0 world, prospects do not care much about whether you are at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) so much as whether or not your content is relevant to their search intent.

As far as most searchers are concerned the keywords may just be top of mind terms that do not necessarily represent the best descriptions for what they have in mind.  Often this “lack of better of a better terminology” mindset is compensated with a healthy dose of context validated through authority.

How do you know you’re looking at the best possible source of information concerning the keyword you just keyed in? You look for signs of authority. But exactly what is authority and how do you achieve it?

Here are our top tips for establishing authority:

 1.        Show, Don’t Tell

Demonstrate your expertise by following your own advice.  You build authority by holding your prospects by the hand and leading by example. You may not instantly gain their trust but you can certainly win it over time by consistently providing relevant content they can use.

 2.       Sharing is Caring

 There’s a reason why great blogs and videos get increasing numbers of page views, likes and re-tweets and that is their content is designed (either intentionally or not) for sharing.  And they get that way by the very nature of the content and the attitude of the publisher.  If you care less about proprietary issues and more about really helping people out, you build authority in less time.

 3.       Best Quality, All the Time

 Of course, this goes without saying that your content should always be relevant, useful, unique and note-worthy whenever possible. Focus on things your prospects really need to hear from you on a regular basis. If your solution consistently solves their problem, it’s only natural to gain their trust over time.

4.       Give What You Want to Get

This is better understood from the perspective of somebody whom you have already helped with a particular solution that truly addressed their need. Compared to the usual sign-up-before-you-get-the-goodies method of list building, you stand to gain more than just your prospect’s email address when you turn the process around when you provide them what they need first and trust their better judgment to sign up for more of the helpful stuff you’ve just shared with them.

The battle for page rank is ultimately won when your prospects deem you worthy of patronage, not because of some technical aptitude for optimizing your website for keyword that your prospects are keying in, but by making your website a part of your prospects’ go-to resource for solutions you satisfactorily provide.  You build this best by proving your authority beyond the shadow of doubt.

If you’re an established offline brand just starting out on the web, know that you’ve already got a tangible asset that has value in its own right.

The fact that people already have an idea of who you are is something you can build on the worldwide web.

A strong offline brand can boost your online presence in the following ways:
• Higher offline trust-factor makes it easy for online users to refer your brand to peers online
• Higher search ranking for your targeted keywords, as knowledgeable users tend to append your brand name to your category keyword when searching online
• Makes it easier to attract natural links from other websites and social media sites

Having mentioned these, they still don’t exclude you from pursuing aggressive online brand development strategies, even if you’re already the head honcho in your product category. Onsite optimisation and link building are still the cornerstones of brand building online. And they work best when consistently infused with your brand message.

Here are key things to remember for online brand development efforts:

1.  Your Brand Name can be your most important keyword

In a perfect world nothing should define your product category better than your brand name. That is if you already have a name and reputation that’s in a league by itself offline. Now we all know that’s hardly the case for most online businesses, 99% of the time.

However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even try. (How else did the big guys do it online?) To achieve this, you should focus on building high-quality content that’s useful for your target audience and publish these on a regular basis. A branded corporate blog can be a perfect platform for this.

2.  Use Social Media for Brand Development NOx

Like any high performance sports automobile, your brand could get a nitrogen oxide boost from a selection of social media platforms that exist, (almost intuitively) to promote brands online.

Consider the sheer power to disseminate a noteworthy blog post over Facebook, Twitter, SutmbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and other social media sites, multiply that by the number of socially active users already using these platforms. What you have essentially is an exponentially powerful content distribution network that’s virtually free!

You can register in forums related to your industry and participate actively by leaving insightful and intelligent comments and answering questions (please refrain from generic comments or expressions of approval/praise however genuine without raising a point). And most importantly never drop your website link unless asked, as it’s a glaring indicator of link spamming.

If not for its SEO value, which is still considered miniscule compared to traditional link-building, Social Media combined with really unique and valuable content is still a sure-fire way to build your online brand really fast.

3. Get Active with Content. And Be Sharp about it.

“Content is King!” I’m sure you’ve heard it mentioned often enough, but what it really means for you brand-wise is that you shouldn’t take it for granted that consumers already know about your line of business, product or service at any given time. It’s fatal enough to disregard this cardinal marketing rule offline; it’s twice as fatal online.

You see, there are two kinds of customers you’d meet online: the ones who know you and the ones who don’t’. Unless you’re Google, it’s probably safe to assume more than half of them probably haven’t heard about you or what makes your product or service unique and worth trading their hard-earned money for.

So the burden of explaining your value proposition falls squarely on your shoulders. And what better way to communicate this than through engaging content? With the amount of really good content that’s really easy to find online, you’ve already got your work cut out for you.

You could focus on generating content that is highly relevant to your industry and your prospect’s situation and tell them how your brand’s offerings can help ease or solve their problems. “How to” articles can be good content baits assuming that what you’ve got to say is definitely worth your prospect’s attention. This where your true value proposition comes in.  And you should really have to make it look valuable.

Remember to keep an attitude of objectivity about the entire process and invite people to add their thoughts. This is the essence of engagement and yet another sure-fire way of letting prospects develop an online relationship with your brand.

The blogosphere has been abuzz about the so-called Social SEO.

About a month ago, we blogged about how social media signals are becoming a determining factor for site content relevance factoring into most search engine algorithms.

We’ve been keeping tabs on this and while the debate is far from over, we’re greeted with yet another exciting news– the launch of Google Plus and what could be a gargantuan showdown on the social media scene.

With its vast search, email and online video-sharing resources, plus the world’s most profitable advertising model, one can only agree that Google Plus could be the best-suited challenger to the 500 million member-strong Facebook social media empire.  But  just a month into its phenomenal release (to the tune of 20 Million users worldwide!), already we’re hearing of a virtual trickling down of site visits and shorter hang-around times.  That is, of course, to be expected after users have had their curiosity satisfied and the sheer inertia of learning a new social media habit begins to set in.

As to the extent of how Google Plus is going to affect search engine optimization, things looks fuzzy as of the moment.  One can argue that Google can and will leverage its advantage of controlling its dominant search algorithm to favor Google Plus.

Facebook on other hand isn’t going to stand idle for Google Plus to run it over.  Already, it’s keeping itself busy with its Skype-powered video chat integration to counter Google’s Hangout group video chat feature. It’s also making itself even easier for businesses to develop easy-to-engage online profiles and enable them for e-commerce.

However this showdown is far from even heating up.  So you can best hedge your bets by being present in both sites along with other social media platforms to ensure your brand’s visibility to diverse user groups and securing whatever additional cookie points they are going to add to your website rankings.

Here are three tips to make the most out of Social Media for SEO purposes:

Make use of Facebook’s Like Button

As social signals become increasingly important factors for ranking sites, you must not miss on every opportunity to elicit a direct response from your audience by allowing them to “vote” for your content right on the page where they find it.

This is one way search engines can determine if a certain page is highly relevant to users and thus assign greater weight for ranking your page.

Facebook’s “Like” button lets a user share your content with friends on Facebook. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ News Feed with a link back to your website.

Make use of Google’s +1 Button

In the same manner, you would do well to add a  Google +1 button on your website. Not to be confused with Google Plus the social media site, +1 is Google’s new indicator of significance, akin to Facebook’s “Like” button.

This button allows users to vote ”plus-one” on search results they find useful, and to share that preference with their connections in Gchat, Gmail, Google Reader, Buzz and, soon, Twitter.

Users will see both the total number of plus-one votes, as well as the names and photos of their contacts who have stated a preference.

No less than the Google’s chief engineer for search, Matt Cutts disclosed, “When someone recommends something, that’s a pretty good indicator of quality… we are strongly looking at using this in our rankings.”

So make it a point to add a “+1” button on your web page and individual posts.

Make use of Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking is also a great addition to your search engine optimization effort, primarily because it generates   inbound links to your content.

We have already established the importance of links as an important web currency that attractions the attention of search engine spiders and consequently boosting your page rank.

Further, social bookmarking and news aggregation sites are now very popular with today’s tech and brand savvy generation. It’s not uncommon for most online users to receive news from an online site rather than by TV or the newspapers.

For more proven ways to boost your page rankings with Social SEO check out our previous month’s post. So get ready to go social with your SEO and reap the benefits of building a well-socialized online brand!

You may have heard about it. It’s been in the SEO forums and the blogosphere lately.

Rumor has it that apart from On-Page and Off-Page SEO efforts, Social Media is already a factor in ranking websites among search engines, particularly Google and Bing.

But SEOs are split between two camps on this one.  One camp believes that rankings are directly affected by it while the other believes that it is but a correlation, a mere tendency, not necessarily the cause for improving the rank of a given URL.

While the jury is still out on this, our recommendation is to get into social media just the same.  The benefits may not necessarily propel you through the SERPs, but they will certainly enhance your overall online brand presence.

Here are some proven techniques and reasons why they work and how you can incorporate them into your social media strategy:

1. Creating a Facebook Fan Page.

Why you should use it: This is one super-fast way to get the word out about your company and products, especially during the launching stage.  However this doesn’t mean automatic sales for you.  What it accomplishes is to bring your brand to your fans’ awareness, which is the precursor to any online engagement.

How You Can Make It Work: Launch a “Like” campaign through Facebook Advertising. You may opt to offer a discount coupon as an incentive for their clicks (sometimes unnecessary if your brand is already an established one or with a clearly popular cause).  Once customers are on your fan list you can send them further information on products, events and other pertinent brand information that will likely interest them.

2.  Creating a Twitter Profile.

Why you should use it: This micro-blogging platform is very popular these days.  If your market includes the tech-savvy (i.e. techies, yuppies, teenagers), chances are, they’re already using Twitter to broadcast real-time updates on their personal or professional lives.   And what better place to market than right where the conversations take place?

How You Can Make It Work: By tweeting about your new company, product or event, you can dish out the bare essentials of your offer to your target audience.  You’d be surprised to find a lot of online traffic generated by a timely, well-written tweet that captures your prospects’ attention.  With a 140-character limit just remember to keep tweets short and sweet.

3.  Posting News or Blogs posts on Social Book marking sites like StumbeUpon, Digg, Reddit and Delicious,etc.

Why you should use it: Like Facebook and Twitter, these sites can generate online traffic for you through interesting news articles about your company’s product launch, as bait.  They also provide the added benefit of getting your site’s URL indexed by Search Engine robots really fast. And even more important, they can yield quality back links from qualified prospects or peers, thereby boosting your rank.

How You Can Make It Work: Like all social media sites, the key is creating fresh, relevant and interesting content that will entice your prospects to actually go-see what you have on offer.  Anything new or amazing, cheap or really useful can act as good baits.  Commit to continually saying something new and interesting  on a regular basis to keep your audience coming.