Because social media is now a determining factor in search engine results, it needs to be prominently displayed on all of your web content. Make it easy for people to become a fan with a quick link to Facebook. Let them subscribe to your feed with a Twitter link and join your network via LinkedIn. Don’t forget to offer them a button for your YouTube channel as well. The easier you make participation, the more likely people are to click a button and improve your rankings. Do not only place these buttons on your web page. Also include them on any web content you post. If you have a blog include the links, if you write and post articles, embed the links. Get those links posted as far and wide as possible to create the results you are looking for.

Keep in mind that unlike other advertising and marketing efforts, social networking is not passive. You can not simply post something and expect a desired result. You must interact with fans and other interested people to generate additional page views. The basic fact of social media is that it is social. That means that you must engage in conversations and post regularly. If you don’t keep your interaction levels high, fans will quickly stop visiting your site and sharing your posts. By keeping the tone more casual and informative in this setting, you create the needed atmosphere for growth. Users on sites like Facebook are often looking for a break from daily activities. Include a certain level of humor to encourage them to relax and communicate on an individual level.

Incorporating social media in your marketing campaign is a necessary part of growing your business online. By maintaining several social media outlets, you maximize your potential market place. Users that prefer Twitter don’t always login to Facebook and vice versa. YouTube content is very different from the expected posts on text based systems. You must seamlessly integrate all of these communication methods to open your business to the widest possible audience. Placing artificial limits on your profit potential is not a healthy way to run a business.

With SERP placement also dependent on social media, it is no longer something that you can afford to ignore. Build a fan page today and start sending tweets with current promotions and sales. The dual result of a higher page ranking and direct social media marketing can help your business expand exponentially.

However, to generate traffic and get better search engine placements, you have to do more than just submit articles to popular article directories. The days of simply submitting your articles to content farms in order to get backlinks are pretty much over (owing it to the fact that major online search engines have started to “disqualify” backlinks coming from article directories). What does this mean for you and your site? It means, you have to explore new ways of distributing your SEO content on the web to get backlinks and higher search rankings.

When you finish writing an article, your first goal is to post it online and be credited by the search engines as the original creator of it. This is important because no matter how many copies of your article gets reposted on various webpages later, search engines will always give you the credit for it, and you will receive priority rankings for that piece of content. How do you do this? Well, the easiest way is to simply post the article as a separate page on your site. This way, your article can have its own tags for page title, page description, and meta keywords. Instead of being at the mercy of article submission sites, you can have total control over the SEO of your own piece of content, because you posted it in your own site and did the on-page SEO yourself.

The next thing you need to do is to get instantly noticed or “indexed” by the search engines. You do this by socially bookmarking your article in sites such as Stumbleupon or Digg. You don’t have to repost your article. Just submit your link on these sites, and because search engines visit these social bookmarking sites often, they will easily “find” your link there and include it in search engine results as soon as possible.

After you get indexed on search engines, you need to generate backlinks (a backlink is generated when the link for your website is posted on another site, more preferably a high authority site in your niche). To get backlinks for your main website, your goal is to get your article published on other blogs similar to yourself (which includes your website link at the bottom of the article). It is highly recommended that you find these blogs and find a way to contact the blog owner and offer to make a guest post. Some will be more than willing to repost your article and website link on their website if your content is good. And the more guest posts you make, the more backlinks you can generate.

But before we talk about “on-page SEO” mumbo jumbo, let us first discuss what “optimizing” truly means. To me, optimizing does not mean the mere structuring your landing page to attract as much organic traffic as possible. Instead, the true meaning of optimizing is to arrange your landing page for better search engine traffic, and to get higher conversion rates at the same time! Simply put, your landing page should be an intermarriage of high-quality traffic and conversion.

How is this done? Well, a smart marketer will combine elements of basic on-page SEO and good copywriting to get traffic and conversion going on within the landing page. Your main goal is to attract 1) the search engines, and 2) attract people. That’s how money is made in online marketing. Consider the following tips to optimize your landing page for long term business results:

1. Put Your Main Keyword In Your Domain Name. This is a fundamental SEO principle that you probably already know. However, this is becoming harder and harder to apply nowadays. Because of tight competition in the online marketplace, keyword rich domain names are usually already taken. If the .com is no longer available, usually the .net and .biz domain extensions are already taken too. The challenge is to research and choose a keyword with long term traffic potential, and become creative enough to come up with a unique and keyword-based domain name that other marketers in your niche has never thought of before.

2. Install Wordpress On Your Site. Several hosting brands, like Hostgator (mention of brand name is not intended for promotional purposes), allow you to install a Wordpress blog on your site. This will allow you to create a unique relationship based platform on the internet to promote yourself and your business. But another side to this is that a blog hosted on your site is actually great for SEO purposes. Without adding any new pages or subdomains on your site, you can put fresh keyword-rich content on your site whenever you want – all by using a simple blog! If you could get organic traffic going in through your blog posts, your traffic amounts can increase exponentially.

3. Optimize Each Blog Post. Treat each blog post like a separate webpage that needs to be optimized for the search engines. Before writing anything, always start with research of two or three short keywords, and five to ten long tail keywords. Then put those keywords strategically on your blog post for that day. You may not be able to use all those keywords in one sitting, but at least you will have a chance to fill up your site with keyword rich content whenever you want to. If you commit yourself to posting SEO content on your blog on a regular basis, you will experience long term increases and your business will thrive online.

This may also be happening to your visitors. In today’s internet age people expect instant gratification and that applies to their internet exploring as well. How many times did you click on a link and after five to even 10 seconds close it down with the inner voice comment that you don’t have time for this.”

If you were patient enough to wait you could be rewarded with a glimpse of one of the best looking sites ever built. When flash programming first hit the internet the bandwagon couldn’t hold everyone jumping on it and it didn’t take long for programmers to realize that the search engines just weren’t interested in sites built with flash.

By appearance alone, flash delivers some of the best graphic representations available. In reality, pretty doesn’t always translate into sales. In the case of search engine optimization it may not even translate in to being indexed by search engines let alone showing up in the search engine results pages. However, as good as it may be to produce a simplified website to be engaging to your visitors as well as to search engines, no matter what business you are in you will need to make a professional statement.

Your 10-year-old child may be good on computers, but do you want your visitors to see someone’s first-ever effort as representing your company? If you are going to have a website you will need to design it to make a case for customers to enter. Think of it is the front door to your business. Ask yourself, if it was a traditional brick-and-mortar business how likely would it be for customers to feel comfortable walking when they pass by?

The old adage of keep it simple is part of the equation for a well-designed website, but it also has to be functional. A good looking website, to be attractive to search engines should also be without frames. They tend to limit the spiders in their thirst for knowledge and leave your site as low as possible, if indexed at all. To investigate customer ease, go through your site like a customer and insure everything works as expected. Dead links are the bane of the internet and frankly, there is just no good excuse for them.

In other words, you may wish to hire a professional search engine optimization company. Really, it would not be of much help to your online marketing plans if you continue to muddle through the steps required to succeed with search engine optimization plans. Once again, the goal here is not to try to do everything on your own. The goal is to ensure the search engine optimization of your website is done properly and effectively. That means you may need to bring in some additional help through hiring the services of a qualified professional.

But, isn’t search engine optimization just about placing links? Can’t you purchase hundreds of links for very little money? And isn’t all the hullabaloo about article marketing overstated? Don’t those article directories publish low quality material simply because they need the pages for their pay pr click advertisements?

Folks, don’t try to justify employing a poor search engine optimization strategy. Doing so will never work out for your benefit.

Low quality links lead to low quality results. The same can be said of poor quality articles. They might get published but they certainly won’t be linked to in a viral manner. You would simply be wasting your time if you attempted to take shortcuts with your search engine optimization plans. Hiring a professional search engine optimization service might prove to be the very boost move you make since it will ensure effective results in a much shorter and less costly timeframe.

Less costly you say? How can it be less costly if you have to hire the services of a professional SEO company?

Basically, the work performed by the SEO company is intended to increase the ranking of your website in the search engines. That means the commercial viability of the site and its overall revenue projections will be much higher. Considering the fact that your website and your business have operating costs, you assuredly will want to experience an increase in revenues. A search engine optimization company might have the potential to deliver in this regard. Without employing their services, you might prove very limited in terms of the outcome you attain. That means your internet marketing venture will probably not yield very much in terms of success.

And why get involved with internet marketing if success is out of reach?

It might not even be worthwhile to think of things in such a manner. Since the availability and access to search engine marketing professionals are both within reach, why not take advantage of what they have to offer and explore the offers they have available?

Contrary to what some might assume, there are inexpensive options for those interested in hiring a search engine optimization service. Yes, it is assuredly true that some services come with high fees. That is to be expected with any service provider. Of course, it is also to be expected that there will be providers known for delivering cutting edge, excellent deals that present much in terms of savings. They also deliver on expectations of quality. That is, you will experience a significant impact in search engine rankings due to their service.

What are hub pages and why should I look toward using them as part of my internet marketing campaign?

Hub pages have been called a cross between a social network, and article directory, and a traditional website. This does raise the question why bother with a hub page when the other venues exist? Basically, you should use ALL of these venues to promote your business. When you leave areas underdeveloped, you can potentially lose business. That certainly is not the way you would want your business to turn out.

Back to the topic at hand which are hub pages. Hub pages serve as free sites where you can publish content on basically any subject that you wish. This can be done just for the fun or it or it can be done to promote your professional pursuits. Some may wonder what the benefit of hub pages are. The positives of using hub pages are fairly vast:

Unlike an article directory, you need to screen your content through an editor. Of course, there will be rules and terms of service with a hub site. However, the rules generally do not present stringent editorial control. So, you can immediately publish your content on the hub site without any delay. The lag time on article marketing sites can be upwards of a week. Requirements for re-writes or revisions can add even further delays which probably will not be all that appreciated.

Of course, hub pages are free and they do not come with the costs associated with publishing a website. This allows hub pages to serve as an excellent venue for free advertising. You need not dip into your budget to publish content on hub sites. For many internet marketers, budget is a major concern. Free publishing venues can help keep a budget under control.

Hub sites also have a large number of members and followers. As soon as you publish content on a popular hub site, it can be viewed by scores of people traversing the site. This can certainly help boost the recognition of your website in the eyes of those that come across it. The fact that hub sites and their corresponding subpages achieve a lot of traffic certainly helps business a lot.

Hub pages can also be used to drive traffic to a particular website. This is a common process most people employ when they build hub pages. Integrating links pointing to the website into the text of the hub page is common practice. And yes, it can yield a tremendous amount of direct traffic to the prime website.

Those links will also be indexed by the search engine. Such links will definitely be counted highly by the search engine robots. This will aid in increasing the ranking of the website in the search engines significantly if you are regularly adding hub pages as part of your online marketing campaign.

Hub pages definitely have much to offer those looking to expand their internet marketing potential. Consider that a major recommendation for exploring your options for publishing on these sites. They are available for your free use and can deliver an enormous amount of traffic. For those that want to inexpensively expand their internet marketing ventures, hub pages may prove to be an excellent option.

Since 2002, I have been working with just about everyone in the pet industry. That includes hundreds of service businesses like pet sitters, dog trainers, veterinarians, and groomers. It also includes hundreds of product businesses like pet beds, pet supplements, and dog diapers. I’ve even built websites for pet celebrities, and celebrities’ pets. During this time, I’ve experimented with every type on online marketing available to attract quality leads to these sites. I took careful notes on the ones that had tremendous results, and those that failed miserably based on traffic volume and sales conversions.

Google Adwords is a great way to go if you have an unlimited budget, but many of my customers have a budget and don’t want to work for Google. Since I don’t like wasting time, let’s talk specifically about the marketing tactics that really WORK for you in the pet niche without breaking the bank:

1. VIDEOS. They can be instructional videos (for instance a veterinarian showing how to identify ticks), or they can be funny. The best performing videos are (a) funny, (b) cute, and (c) involve animals. Think of something totally unique that hasn’t been seen before, and you can get tons of leads each day. For instance, a couple of years ago I came up with the idea of showing images of dogs who look like their owners. It took off like a rocket, and now I have close to 800,000 views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=642qxehEcGg. Be sure to upload your videos to YouTube and some of the other high ranking videos sites, and put a link to your website in the description of the video and as a slide at the end of the video.
2. PRESS RELEASES. Press releases are a real easy way to get thousands of eyeballs looking at your company. If it’s carefully crafted and newsworthy, you can even get newspaper reporters calling you for a story in their paper. Some of the top press release distribution companies (like PRweb.com) will charge you for the distribution, but there are many free services available as well.
3. LINKS. How do certain companies get to the top of Google for their keyword? Simple. It’s a popularity contest. The more links you have on OTHER people’s pet related sites, the higher your site will rank in Google. So, contact everyone you know (suppliers, customers, professional organizations you belong to) and find out how you can get a link on their website. You don’t want to exchange links, as Google sees the reciprocal relationship and then discounts the link. You want one way links to your site only.
4. ARTICLES. If you don’t have time or you’re not a writer, hire someone to write for you! Articles are a great way to draw potential customers in. Typically they will type their “problem” into Google, find your article that explains what to do, and then they click on the link at the bottom of the article that takes them to your website. These articles can be distributed all over the Internet, there are hundreds of article submission sites that are looking for original content such as yours!
5. ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS. Newspapers are dead, but online classified websites have taken their place. Websites like Craigslist.org (and all of their competitors) are hotspots for pet people looking for pet products and services. Be sure to advertise your business website in the ad.
6. BLOGS. Blogs are so search engine friendly. Google loves the fresh content. You can talk about pet news stories, funny pet videos, funny pet pictures, or just about anything! Once you start publishing content on a frequent basis, you will start drawing lots of traffic to your blog and then you can advertise your business all over the blog.
7. FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. Facebook will allow you to set up a “Fan Page” for your business, which is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. Start by inviting all your friends to join your business fan page. Once they are in, start posting pet related content on the fan page. When your friends log in to Facebook, your postings will come up in their timeline of posts, and they will (hopefully) make comments about your post. Then their friends will see the comments, and check out your fan page to see what all the talk is about. A great way to get free advertising for your company!
8. TWITTER. I currently have almost 7,500 followers on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/petwebdesigner. Follow me to see what I tweet about! I generally post pet news, funny pet pictures, and funny pet videos. People love to forward this around to their friends and contacts, so many other pet lovers find out about me when my followers share my posts. It’s free and easy to build a large base of loyal followers that will go to the places you want them to go!
9. EMAIL MARKETING. You should be gathering email addresses and sending out newsletters to your customers and potential customers at every opportunity. There are many services that are available that will record the names and email addresses of people that submit their information on your site, and then make it easy for you to market to these people on a weekly basis. That way, if someone is only interested in your product/service but not ready to buy, you can close the sale at a later date when you market to them via email marketing. It’s pretty typical that you won’t close the sale on their first visit to your site.
10. BANNER ADS. Banner ads are a great way to draw visitors from other blogs, forums, or websites without spending big money. It’s actually much cheaper than you think. Find a pet related blog that has the right demographics (right age, right content, etc.) and contact them to see what their rates are for banner advertising. The same goes for popular pet forums and websites. You would be surprised to find out how reasonable the rates really are, and it is completely targeted traffic!

Take a real honest look at your business. Are you generating the kind of leads online using your prospecting methods? If not, try these marketing techniques that bring the right people to you. If you don’t have time to do these on your own, hire someone to do it for you. In the long run, you will find that it makes more sense for you to focus on your core business, and let these tools work for you. It will make your business much more efficient and effective. If you need help, contact me! 516-538-0933, or you can view my website at www.Petwebdesigner.com

The following tips will make your Yahoo! Answers marketing efforts more effective:

1. Get a Yahoo! 360 account. This is a social network like MySpace and Facebook. Your 360 account will allow you to write a blog and build a page all about you and what you do. When you use Yahoo! Answers, other members can see your 360 profile page, rather than the small and relatively boring profile you get by default on Yahoo! Answers.

2. Use your business name in your nickname. You can use your Yahoo! 360 nickname or make up a username for Yahoo! Answers. Use your business name or a descriptive nickname that tells what you do, such as EbookWriter.

2. Add a picture to your account. You can use the picture from your Yahoo! 360 account, if you have one, or you can build an avatar using Yahoo’s avatar tools. Either way, create a fun image of yourself. People are more likely to check out your profile if you have a picture or avatar and they have some sense of who you are.

3. Answer questions every day. If you’re committed to Yahoo! Answers as a marketing strategy, you should set aside fifteen to twenty minutes a day to answer questions. Understand that this is only a small portion of your marketing effort, but in order to prompt people to visit your profile, you need to be visible. Answering a few questions each day will accomplish that more readily than answering fifty questions each Saturday.

4. Choose your questions carefully and answer them with authority. It can be fun to start answering questions like, “What made the ping-pong balls fall on Captain Kangaroo?” And there’s nothing wrong with having fun. By all means, answer some fun questions. But concentrate your marketing time on answering questions related to your business, and write answers that demonstrate your knowledge of your field.

5. Don’t expect instant results. You can build your traffic by answering questions on Yahoo! Answers, and it’s a welcome change from some of the more tedious marketing tasks you have to do. But it does take time to build up a reputation and get a steady stream of people visiting your profile and checking out your business. Be patient, and work steadily at this marketing strategy, as you would any other marketing technique.

Yahoo! Answers is still a relatively young site, and very young as a marketing technique compared to, say, article marketing. This newness is an advantage for you, as a marketer, because it gives you the opportunity to build a profile and generate traffic before the masses of marketers begin to understand the importance of Yahoo! Answers.

Now is the best time to make Yahoo! Answers part of your marketing strategy. Schedule an answering session each day and take the time to answer good questions well, and this can really be an effective way to market your business.