Nowadays you can see the website URLs being replaced with Facebook URLs for companies in TV and print adverts. I think thats a bit dangerous. I had earlier written about how ‘Facebook owns Facebook’ and no one else and current events have proven me right. However there is no need to panic as well. As always the best path is of balance and steadiness.

Some quick recommendations for fine tuning your Social Media strategy.

Facebook ‘Likes’ or Google ‘+1′ is not equivalent to sales. Use common sense to evaluate your social media strategy.

The part about being able to purchase ‘likes’ is really scary. Google is all the time dealing with people trying to ‘game’ the system and Facebook faces the same challenge. Why do so many people like to go for ‘shortcuts’ when the proper path can be rewarding and sustainable. Each company should figure out their own goals from their social media engagement and they can be wildly different from another company in the same industry. Like they say, ‘Each to his own’. Copycatting is not a good strategy on Social Media.

Always engage with a Story. A story is more powerful than some random posts designed to elicit response.

Your social media effort should tell a story. A story can be as simple as ‘How we are green friendly’ or ‘The way we do things around here’. Bring out the individuality of your business through an engaging story. Leverage the story with regular posts, stretch it out with a continous narrative. And for god’s sake make sure its got a bit of ‘Fun’ in it.

Showcase creativity on your social media platforms. Facebook allows a lot of opportunities to showcase creativity.

Although Social media is often associated with more ‘verbal’ communications it can also be used to showcase your creativity. It won’t do to have a spanking website and a dull Facebook page. Utilize Facebook’s functionality of custom tabs to create unique creative avenues for the visitors. These can be hosted on your site but piped to Facebook through Iframes and custom tabs.

Start thinking beyond Facebook & Twitter. Scan the horizons for what’s next.

Facebook and Twitter are settling into an equlibrium position. They have created their slots in marketing lore alongside Google & YouTube  and from here onwards they will most probably only remain the same or even decline. Like nature, marketing (especially online) abhors a avacuum and something new is bound to come along. The circus will begin again and the whole cycle will be repeated till even that finds its niche and settles down. Its a never ending cycle.

As part of the online marketing world we watch with bated breath fresh developments, especially ‘Google +1′ (although I suspect it will be more of the same)

Cheers,
Ron

Turns out no strategy is planned. These outfits only take on routine mundane link buildng work from overseas clients. Marketing strategy, planning etc are not required from these firms. Just good old fashioned donkey work BPO style.

It is obvious that if India were a good destination for other BPO services it would also be good for SEO services as well. But the challenges technology companies are facing due to India’s image as a low cost low end services provider will affect the SEO industry as well.

Try convincing an overseas client that you can create strategy, planning, budget allocations and overall execution when he has LC-LE (Low cost – low end) SEO on his mind. Its a tough sell.

Its always tough to move up the value chain when the majority of your industry is selling itself as a low cost no brains required out sourcing service.

So should these firms stop, of course not, its thier business and justified too. But somewhere along the way it must be communicated that India can take on high value high end SEO work too and deliver it superbly.

As a side note I have noticed that a lot of these low end SEO outfits are shutting shop since outsourced work from the west is drying up (hence the resumes).

Cheers,
Ron

Between these three any business can project a very healthy social footprint combined ofcourse with the main website. So how would a business ideally use these three in combination? Best answer would be to support each other in putting out the message.

When to use Facebook?

Facebook would be ideally used to post a message which needs dialogue with customers. The post has to be provocative enough to evince a response from your visitors. It would be posted on the Wall and someone from your business should ensure that responses are going out to people who are commenting on your post.

When to use Twitter?

Twitter would ideally be used as a fetch-em kind of post where you summarize and link to (small link) either the website or the blog. Multiple twitter posts can be used to highlight multiple areas of a single facebook post, blog post or website article.

When to use the Blog?

A blog entry would be ideal when its too long for a Facebook entry and too short for a website article. Ideally it could enunciate the idea put forth on Facebook and give meat to the argument. Ultimately a blog post will fade away just like the Facebook debate and the Twitter post.

All three are temporary to provoke discussion and awareness about a idea, concept or service.

Ultimately these are short horizon tools which can be used in small bursts to promote an idea, topic or service offering. Each post on Facebook, Twitter or Blog has a shelf life within which maximum advantage needs to be taken. Therefore it makes sense to aim them towards a single goal.

 All three are not mutually exclusive and have to be used in tandem to generate the right level of engagements.

I am normally asked how many blog posts should I do or how many twitters should I send in a day. The answer – as many as it takes. Use common sense. You have to promote and support your idea, concept or service. These services are like Carnival hucksters who used to shout out the attractions and get the crowd gathered around.

Form an overall theme and then feed information to each of these services.

Start with the idea or concept. Outline it and then fill in the information. Then decide what should be fed to what. Twitter will require small pieces, Facebook slightly larger updates and the blog can have a full blown analysis of the concept.

Lets take a small example to illustrate usage of these tools.

Idea: Want to promote a ‘Water Bowls’ project where water bowls are placed on street corners so that thirsty dogs, cats and birds can enjoy a refreshing drink during the summer heat.

Twitter: Start with small idea openers like..

- Ever notice how these poor animals on roads suffer in the summer heat?
- A friend gave us an execellent idea about helping animals..stand byfor more info.
- A concrete water bowl cemented to the street filled with water..what an idea sirji.
and so on…

Facebook: Posts would go something like this..

- How many stray dogs do you have in your neighbourhood? Have you noticed if any of them look thirsty in the summer heat?
- We were discussing this and someone came up with a great idea, a concrete water bowl cemented to the street filled with water. What do you think?
- Our first water bowls rolled out today in the suburbs of Mumbai..looks like its going to work.

Blog: Here the discussion can be more academic…but not necessarily boring.

- The summer heat takes a toll on all of us but spare a thought for those poor animals on the street. What can we do for them?
- The water bowl project takes off. Here’s a look at how it works and how you can join and contribute.

Combining all three and responding actively to interest generated you can create a lot of support for any idea, concept or service.

Cheers,
Ron

As a follower of Al Ries I believe in Divergence and the evolutionary nature of things.

Marketing guru Al Ries believes in the theory of divergence i.e. splitting of categories into many sub categories and further splitting into sub categories and so on. In digital marketing there is ample evidence of the same as you can see from the chart above. Online marketing has evolved into many many branches and sub specialities. Starting from simple web design all the way to today’s social media and mobile websites.

As the services split it will be difficult for a single firm to provide the whole lot of them. Here lies the opportunity for niche players.

Already many start-ups are exploiting the niche areas of marketing instead of going full service. Some are concentrating only on social media and some are even more super-special i.e. only Facebook. With every advance in technology comes opportunities and problems and even opportunities to solve problems. Take ‘reputation management services’ for example. A niche service emerging from the need of companies to keep their nose clean online. Who would have forseen it as a money making opportunity.

Not only are the services splitting but they are also diverging wildly, taxing digital marketing companies resources

The resources required for SEO are completely different from those required for social marketing or email marketing. Not only does it require different skill sets but it also requires a different cross functional teams. For a digital marketing firm trying to provide the whole range of services it will mean increasing staff and overheads substantially. But ofcourse the opportunity to make a lot of money exists. Companies will have to weigh the cost/benefits to determine whether it makes sense to have that service in their portfolio.

Due to varied nature of the digital marketing services there will have to be a lot of cooperation and tieups between companies and specialists.

Gone are the days when one digital marketing co can provide everything under one roof. Even if they do try to project the services as their own, behind the scenes they will have to tie up with other companies and specialists to get the job done. This gives small companies a fighting chance where a number of startups can come together to present a united front and bag some lucrative contracts.

One thing remains common even after splitting – concept and content are important

No matter how wildly diverging the services are, one thing will always remain common -  good concepts and good content. Factors such as design, delivery, speed, size etc will vary from service to service but they will always require an engaging concept backed by good content. Ultimately the goal is engage the prospective customer no matter the medium or channel.

Watch out for the next split because there is where the opportunity lies. The original leader will rarely emerge as the winner in the new area.

No one would have guessed that the next step for ecommerce would be ‘group buying’. Even those in the heart of the parent service cannot guess where the next split might take place. Otherwise Ebay instead of Groupon would have been the leading group purchase website. Facebook and not Google is leading social media. There are many such examples where the existing leader never emerges the leader in the new category.

New digital marketing trends are a function of technology – follow the technology, follow the trend.

Tweeting got a boost from the emergence of smart mobile devices otherwise it would not have made sense for anyone to log into a site using a computer just to tweet. Similiarly Cloud computing got its boost from mobile computing – people did not want to lug around those heavy laptops instead prefering to keep their data on the cloud and carry lighter devices. My Netbook does not have outlook, I just access Google Apps from it.

Create your own category and reap the early mover benefits

The other day I heard of someone starting a ‘Social Media Recruting Agency’ i.e. a company that exclusively uses social networks to recruit people for thier clients. The entire process takes place on social sites even with a virtual interview taking place on the site. Now thats a good example of creating your own niche with some imagination and a good value proposition (people are more susceptible to job switches on social sites).

In Conclusion – A very dynamic and fast moving digital marketing scenario that is growing, mutating and self correcting.

Cheers,
Ron

View our own range of Digital Marketing services at - www.seogoblin.com

Image by smemon87 via Flickr

When I came into the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) industry I was crazy about Search Engine Optimization & I studied as much as I could about it. I was immensely lucky that I got the most open-minded boss possible, who always encouraged me and gave me the freedom to experiment. I learnt a lot by experimenting and exploring.

However in the last few months, a question has been nagging me, IS SOCIAL MEDIA A THREAT TO SEO??

Many of you would be inclined to label me as crazy for entertaining such thoughts. SEO after-all has been the backbone of the SEM industry,  whereas SMO is a relatively new feature;  so how can it threaten SEO?

According to me, Social Media has come of age, and today it has the potential to outdo SEO in effecting website rankings.  Look at Google itself; it has incorporated real-time feeds from various social media platform into its Universal Search results. It’s an example of how the wind is changing, and Social Media is gaining more a more acceptance and popularity.

Website rankings are no longer about putting meta-tags and link building. The ranking factors have expanded their horizons to include the Social Media too in its kitty. Today the number of ‘Likes’ a page receives, or the number of ‘Tweets’ it draws, significantly affect its ranking. The entire internet is gearing towards greater people participation, while in past being Search Engine friendly was enough; today the norm is to be ‘Social Media Friendly’ too. The adage ‘Customer is King’ has finally come of age in the Internet today. Search Engines give better rankings to pages that receive customer acceptance via ‘ likes’/ ‘tweets’ / ‘social bookmarking’ etc.

So is this the end of SEO? Are all SEO’er going to perish like ‘Dinosaurs’? Hey No!! I’m an SEO’er myself, and I’m just beginning to grow, I for one am in no mood to perish. So what’s the alternative? ADAPTATION. ‘Change is the only constant, and to survive in the changing scenario we SEO’ers too have got to change and adapt. SEO itself has evolved tremendously; from merely putting Meta keyword in website to complex three way link building.

Now it’s time for a revolutionary change, time for SEO New version which is a combination of SEO+SMO.

As SEO experts, if you want to see your website on the top in Google rankings start involving Social media in your SEO activities, it’s no more only a game of link building & Meta tags.

Frankly I was not  a fan of Social Media myself, but the changing scenario has prompted me to start digging deep into it.  As I have already mentioned above that Facebook sharing, likes and twitter tweets are affecting rankings significantly. Google has foreseen the future and apart from moving to ‘Universal Search’ it has also launched its new tool the ‘+1′ concept of like, designed on the footsteps of Facebook ‘like’, this tool too is gaining popularity.

Its not just me, even the Veterans of SEO have started speaking more about SMO than SEO. Here are a few links to add weight-age to my argument:

 SEOMOZ- Facebook & Twitter influence Google Search Ranking

SEOMOZ – The next Generation of Ranking Signals

SEOMOZ – Great New Stuff

SEOMOZ – Google, Bing Confirm, Twitter Facebook influence SEO

And with that I rest my argument. Now here’s a question for you: Do you still think SMO Is not a threat to SEO????

Waiting for your comments …

 Shashank

But let’s take a look at one of the big buzzwords that’s going around now: social media integration. It sounds cool and very cutting edge. Social media is in. Throw integration into the mix and it sounds awesome. Now integration as a word simply means bringing together. So social media integration would then mean bringing together the different social media networks. But what does that really mean? Most businesses view it as a way to get their message out on different platforms and then wait for the miracle to kick in.

Firstly, that’s not even integration. Secondly, the definition of integration in the social media paradigm needs to be expanded. It’s too narrow for businesses to have any meaningful impact on their desired objectives. Although I think it would be quite fair to say that most businesses don’t have any to begin with. It’s just a me too game where profiles are created and then pumped with irrelevant information. So then what would constitute as true social media integration?

That a company needs to engage social media in today’s business scenario is a given. But social media networks abound. Hence, a business first needs to realize that social media networks are nothing but tools. The impact they create will largely depend upon which tools are selected and how they’re used. So then, the entire process starts with strategy that is based on defined objectives. This is then followed by selection of appropriate social media to ensure maximum reach to the target audience. Strategy also involves ensuring a process for constant generation of relevant content.

Second, the social media platforms selected have to be utilized to the fullest through an internal integration. This simply means that there is seamless connectivity within the networks that allows for instant movement of content, allowing exploitation of the maximum reach possible in a more effective way. This actually has become quite easy due to numerous software and plug-ins available that move data into various platforms from a single point. Lastly, the content has to move forward. And this can happen though provision of sharing tools which allow for the information to be spread in a viral manner. These tools are also readily available.

As can be clearly seen, the second and third parts are largely technological and don’t offer any sustainable competitive advantage. The tools are easily accessible and replicable. What really matters is the strategy – knowing the what and why. It is only the strategy that can ensure that the right content reaches the right people, thereby delivering on your desired outcomes. And that’s precisely why integrating strategy into your social media paradigm assumes paramount importance. The tools may change, but the business fundamentals remain the same.

About the author

Prashant Pinge is a consultant at Media Panther (http://www.mediapanther.co.in/), a branding, marketing and advertising services firm in Mumbai.

Why this compulsion for my clients to start and maintain their blog? In today’s marketing environment all webites are saying pretty much the same, offering similiar services and no matter how well designed reflect the same industry requirements.

But a blog is where each company can stand out!!!

The blog is the place where each business’s unique character can be showcased. A company with a good website and a great blog will be miles ahead a company with only a great website.

In the age of social media people are looking for substance more than style.

Blogging has everything to do with substance rather than style or flash. A company can showcase their product rather elegantly on their site but if they cannot follow it up with an intelligent and useful blog then they have some thinking to do. Blogs can help popularize the people behind the company, build reputations and create fan followings (a good and dedicated following rather than those found on common social sites).

A blog can make you an industry leader in Perception even if your are not in Reality.

Today its more about perception than reality. Even companies not leading in reality can be percieved as leaders through great blogs. When there is a problem, or an issue, your market will turn to your blog. If they find an answer into you get the business. Over simplification? maybe, but perception is not about what you are but what you can project through good information.

Common problems and issues people face when confronted with having to write a blog.

No time!!

The commonest complaint I hear when I recommend starting a blog is ‘when will I get the time to write it?’. It would be a valid point if I were asking you to do something extra-curricular i.e. not a part of business, but a blog is very much a big part of your business, specifically of your marketing initiatives. You must find time for it.

We are not writers

Another complaint is that they are not writers. You don’t need to be a great writer to maintain a blog. All you need to do is write from heart, write from your knowledge and your experience and just mind the grammer a bit. There is a lot of poetic license that you can take with your blog. No one is going to put your feet to the coals just because you wrote something differently.

How long or how short?

Another common question I get is how long or short should a blog post be? I say it does not matter. Use common sense. A blog is a daily activity so obviously you cannot write a novel into a post. It should be as long or as short as it needs to be to get the point across. Again its your blog – you make the rules. You can also break a blog topic into parts  and post one each day.

I don’t know what to put in my blog.

A blog will not follow any template or set pattern. You write whatever catches your fancy. You write about day to day interactions with clients and staff. You write about your intepretations on industry events. You write about an idea you have or an improvement you like to see or an injustice you would like corrected. The only caveat is that you write within the broad boundaries of your industry or profession. That way you can build your reputation within it.

For more tips about blogging do read my articles SOP for a blog. Why business blogging is an important part of any digital marketing initiative.

Cheers,
Ron

Of course since you are already on my blog I need not tell you where it is but you can definitely check out my sites at http://www.miracleworx.com or http://www.seogoblin.com

However it still remains a disorganized industry with each company operating in its own silo with its own standards and practises. We do encounter each other in some industry related conferences or while pitching on a common client but other than that we all mind our own business.

Why does the web designer and developer community need an association?

This industry has grown and matured. It is no longer a part timers job. Many highly skilled and professionally run companies have successfully established themselves against great odds. With an association this industry can find power and safety in unity. Some of the benefits that could flow from such an association

• Web design agencies do not adhere to any one standard of design or development. The association can draft standard rules and guidelines to create a roadmap which we can follow.
• There is virtually no sharing or cooperation between agencies. Best practises are never shared or divulged and a scarcity mentality exists. The association can give us all a place to connect, cooperate and share good ideas. Cooperatively all our businesses can grow.
• Sooner or later we are going to require to lobby the government for somthing or the other. A unified front would prove immensely beneficial for such a need.
• Young professionals entering this industry do not have clear roadmap of what  career opportunities exist withing this field. The various options and specializations that they can do.
• The quality of web design training in India is abyssmal. Institutes are teaching software skills without the training and mindset need to create with them. Most freshers in our industry are practically unusable. An association can pressure such institutes to improve the quality of training as well as provide new entrants a clear roadmap. 
• Currently there is virtually no barrier for anyone to enter the industry and call himself a web designer. An association can create a system through which only the professional ones are given web designer status. Certain benchmarks must be adhered to acquire this level.

A pipe dream? The barriers to a successful association being formed and maintained.

Success in the web design industry is difficult. Very few firms survive and thrive in this industry. This is because of the very nature of it. Most web design and development companies are preoccupied with survival and growth. They are scrambling for funds and investors at the same time trying to acquire customers in a very very competitive industry.

Every time I speak to any industry colleagues about such an association I hear stories about back biting, client stealing and generally unethical behaviour by others. The trust level in the industry is very low and it will take a mighty effort to get everyone on the same page.

The industry has matured over the years and has thrown up several ‘seniors’, people who have inspite of all odds established a successful web design practise. They need to take the lead and create something.

It won’t be easy but we have to start somewhere.

The scope of such an organization. Whom to include and whom to exclude? Making it meaningful for all.

When I say ‘web design and development association’ what kinds of companies and professionals come to mind? I would include the following:

• Web designers – those who make websites from corporate to ecommerce
• Web Marketers / SEO professionals – Anyone associated with marketing a company in the online space.
• Web Hosting Companies – India based hosting companies who register domains, provide email solutions and give us servers.
• Social Media Specialists – A new category which is rapidly filling up
• Web Training Institutes – Any institute that has a web design or marketing course as part of its curriculum.
• Associated Professionals – Such as content writers, photographers, illustrators and other professionals without whom we cannot work.

This whole lot can easily give us thousands of professionals and firms across India.

Big brothers NASSCOM, IAMAI and ABCI can pitch in. There is a lot of mutual benefit for these associations.

Associated Industries have thier associations such as The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Association of Business Communicators of India (ABCI) should support in the creation and support of such an association. Its to their mutual benefit to have a strong vibrant web design and development community.

These organizations are lead by open minded and dynamic teams and we can definitely learn a thing or two from them.

What it means to me personally and what it could mean to the scores of web designers across India.

Doctors, lawyers and accountants get automatic respect. Not because they are brilliant or excellent (which they might or might not be) but due to the respect that is accorded to their profession and industry. Web designers do not work any less or are not any less smarter than any other profession, quite the opposite in fact, we are always grappling with the latest technology and trends in the world today.

An proactive association to which I belong would mean recognition of our industry as a valid, vibrant, safe and respected. It would mean that every professional working in this industry has the same status and respect.

A little too much you think? Well, try spending 13 years in an industry without getting sentimental about it.

The day when parents will give their daughters (or sons) hand in marriage to a web design professional as if he/she was a doctor or lawyer?

Thats the Indian in me speaking. We are so used to the typcal dialogue ‘beti ki shaadi koi doctor ya engineer se karao’ (Get our daughter married to a doctor or engineer). I hope one day parents will have enough faith and security in our field to give thier daughters/sons hand to a web design professional.

I’m happily married mind you, so its too late for me. But I think it would be nice for the younger generation to have that kind of respectability.

In conclusion I would say its time. The industry elders should get together and form the association our industry sorely needs.

Cheers,

Ron

Newly designed MiracleworX website is a treat to see – http://www.miracleworx.com

Get your finger inked after clicking the Facebook like button.

The most obvious polling booth mechanism we are seeing online is the ubiquitous Facebook ‘like’ button which is now in every nook and cranny of millions of sites. Webmasters are hungrily counting the likes and hoping for a boost in popularity and traffic. Those ‘likes’ mean a lot of thing to them: people will revisit, buy their products/services, talk about them to others etc. Whether a ton of likes actually translates into sales is a debatable issue but no webmaster can afford to take a chance on that.

Your website better have a great smile and promise a lot of nice things

Gone are the days when you could put up a dullard site and count on basic SEO to do the job for you. Now you need to be different, colourful, entertaining and promise a lot to the visitor. You need to stand out among the hundreds of sites looking for a vote. You have to sell like you mean it. Visitors need to be ‘wowed’ or at the very least be ‘slightly impressed’.

Give them something they want or atleast what they think they need.

Just publishing your products or services won’t do the trick. Before the visitor will click on the famous ‘like’ button you have to answer his/her fundamental question – ‘what’s in it for me?’. You must either enlighten them, entertain them, amuse them or if thats not possible throw them a freebie. As their power increases visitors are becoming more demanding and woe be to the site that does not deliver.

Your constituency as a group of voters will decide your website’s fate

The success of group buying sites like Groupon.com is demonstrating the power of the masses. Such sites have become so popular that ordinary retailers are now having trouble selling products without group discounts. Good old ordinary discounts / sales no longer seem to work. Why should a visitor buy at a 10% discount when he gets a clear 30% discount as part of a group. What this means that a website not only has to cater to individuals but also have something for a group. Some sort of basic slab system which increases the discount as the number of buyers increase.

Its always important to have a core group of supporters

In every group there will be leaders who others will follow. They are the thought leaders, the pioneersm the risk takers. Everyone looks to them to see what they are ‘liking’ or who they are ‘buying’. It never hurts to have such people among your fans. They can tilt a whole lot of business your way just by their ‘likes’ listed on their pages. Make them feel special, give them gifts and discounts. Keep them happy and like sales pied pipers they will bring a whole herd of customers to your site. The trick is to identify them early and nurture them.

Campaigning is very important – speak to the people all the time-  the election is never over.

Web masters must use every platform and every tool available to get their voices heard in the crowd. You can no longer sit with a single website and hope for the best. Push, push and then push some more. Explore all options, all social media platforms, professional networking platforms, write blogs, contribute articles. Be out there. Get heard, get noticed!!

Funny how things turn out. The web was supposed to be the ultimate tool of free choice. It took a long time to reach this stage and now its made us all into wily politicians. What next i wonder.

1. The basic structure of the HTML page and tags hasn’t changed

The basic structure of an HTML page has not changed much. Even with the introduction of CSS – Tableless pages and XML content the basic structure of the page remains pretty much the same with the header, content and footer combo. Meta tags such as Title, Keywords and Description still remain in use although with varying importance in search engines.

One thing that has improved due to new coding techniques is the ratio of markup code to content text.  Also thanks to the wonder of advanced CSS the use of images in menus and other parts of the sites has also reduced.

So although web pages have become more efficient overall the impact on SEO pretty much remains the same.

2. Gentle SEO no longer works. SEO agencies have to be much more aggressive

There used to be a time where you created a decent website, populated it with good content and submitted to a few select directories and search engines and watched as the website floated gently up the search engine rankings. No more is this possible. Today, an SEO agency has to be aggressive in every aspect of the work, from link building, link exchange to ppc marketing. Every advantage possible has to be squeezed and every trick in the book must be tried.

The competition is also forcing many SEO agencies to go in for dirty tricks to fool the search engines, what we call Black Hat SEO. Customers are demanding quicker results and there is always another agency standing by promissing even faster results.

SEO agents have pretty much changed from online nerdy type individuals to aggressive digital pirates trying every trick in the book to stay ahead.

 And as the competitive landscape gets more demanding, SEO agents will only be under more pressure.

3. Inbound Links still play a major role and remains a vital part of the SEO process.

As my SEO in-charge Shashank keeps reminding me, good content, good design all is well and good but the SEO project succeeds or fails on the link building. There is no substitute for good quality inbound links. Eight years ago we had to do link building and even now we have to do link building. Google’s search engine algorithm still weighs heavily in favour of inbound links inspite of the recent modifications they made to cull out link farms.

 Another aspect of this is that even the quality of the link might not matter as much as the anchor text of the link. There is constant debate in the SEO community on the value of so called ‘Authority’ sites. We see sites with rubbish links get good rankings.

On this front not much has changed in the last eight years.

4. Thanks to Social Media the people on the net have an increasing say in the success or failure of a website.

Another valid difference pointed out by Shashank is how much say do visitors have in the success or failure of a site. Years ago it only used to be SEO that made a difference. You created a site, you did SEO and that brought visitors which determined the success or failure of the site.

Now at many places SEO is completely being  by-passed through the viral network effect of social media.

Does this mean that SEO is obsolete? Nope, it only means that SEO is not the only path to getting your site noticed. For a site to have a long term meaningful marketing strategy SEO is a must.

5. Google was and still remains the market leader.

We have seen a lot of search engines come and go. First there was Inktomi which provided search results to such sites as Yahoo and Rediff.com and there were search engines fighting for position like ‘Ask Jeeves’. But with the coming of Google they were wiped out and to this day Google dominates. We would have expected a rival to emerge over all these years but Google remains on top. Although the Yahoo-Bing combo looks promising they still are not much of a threat to Google.

Any SEO strategy must give Google priority now as it was back then.

6. Analytics and Tools have improved considerably

Many years ago as SEO was just starting out as an important aspect of the web, the SEO process was relatively simple. The reports were simple and what we measured was simple. Now the amount of things that can be measured is enormous. Thanks to freely available and feature rich sites like Google Analytics we can measure even minute details of the sites performance.

Earlier we used to measure visits, click-throughs, impressions; now we measure goals, paths, A-B analysis, bounce rates, time on site, visitor loyalty and much much more.

7. Geo targeting and Localized SEO has evolved.

One size fits all SEO has now evolved into a process which can target a geographic area quite accurately. Factors such as in which country the domain is registered, targeting local search engines and directories, tailoring content for localized use, handling languages and more all contribute to give a very very targeted result to the SEO process. IP tracking software can now accurately measure from which city and which area the visitors coming from and accordingly change tactics and strategy for it.

Conclusion – the fundamentals have not changed.

Sites still need to be beautifully designed and full of relevant information to the visitors. The site still needs to be linked from multiple sources whether its search engines or social sites. Everything still must be measured to determine effectiveness of the campaign. Common sense and some artful thinking are still needed for success. Google still needs to be pampered. SEO is still important.

Cheers,
Ron

Visit our SEO site at http://www.seogoblin.com