An Overview On Internet Marketing Trends

If we really look into the World Wide Web we can definitely see Internet is continually evolving in a very fast and pace manner; from a communication platform to information source and then to the largest marketing platform of all business and services. During these transformation times various techniques have been evolved to get the attention of the users or to grab maximum reach to the Internet users to their own Websites. Here we could see some of the finest techniques in use and which really transformed the way the Business Marketing was taking place in World Wide Web.

Ø  SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

When the websites and the information sources in the internet became very large it became a tough job to grab the attention of the users; this lead to the evolution of search engine sites. So search engines started as the platform to combine the internet information sources according to the user/customer preferences. But due to the vast data availability in the web world it became challenging to various providers/business houses to be on the top of the lists that the search engines populate. Search engine optimization (SEO) emerged as a technique to cater this requirement.

Yes, as the name suggests Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines. SEO helps in achieving top rankings in the search engines using website’s most relevant search terms and other certain measures. The basic idea of SEO is to improve the volume and quality of the traffic to a website. Aiming this as the objective there are few basic methods followed in SEO. They are

v  Keyword Research

SEO helps in achieving top rankings in the search engines using website’s most relevant search terms. The most relevant search terms are the phrases/words that the people are most likely to type/use into a search engine when looking for what the website has to offer. To find the search keys we can list down the possible key words relating to our Business/Services and can opt various Keyword Tools like Google Ad-Words, Google Insights, Quintura and wordtracker

v  Content Developing

Here the idea is basically creating the website content in such a way that the users who visit your site with the researched keywords get the information they were looking for. If we can combine the information which the users/visitors expect to have we could drive-in good traffic and increase the site ranking. Also there are certain content developing tips during Web Development that we could use the keywords in URL, Title, Meta Tags and Meta Description, Heading and content, Images etc…

v  Link Building / Social Media

This works on the link sharing concept. (Artificial link building: is the method of creating links to your website from other directories or sites by submitting your website links to those directories. Organic link building: By creating good content in your website other people add a link to your site because they think the information in your web site or page is useful for the readers of their site.)

v  Analysis Reports

Google analytics is a free service by Google which will help users to study the performance of your website and content. Basically you can see how each content, page, image etc are performing with page view and by returning customers to your site.

Ø  SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION (SMO)

If Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about shaping your website to suit it to the search engines, Social Media Optimization (SMO) is about refining a website (optimizing it) in a manner that the awareness and the content are easily spread through social mediums and online communities by users/visitors of the website. And yes, with the large effect of social sites, community forums and discussion groups SMO has taken over SEO; but it alone cannot give the needed result and thus both SEO & SMO together acts as integral parts of Internet Marketing now a days.

Nowadays Social Media are the online tools and platforms that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video.

Popular Social Mediums/SMO Tools include:

v  Blogs & Message Boards

v  Podcasts, Wikis and VLogs

v  Social Websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slideshare etc…

v  Social Bookmark Creator

v  RSS Button Maker

How SMO Works:

The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to shape a website so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.

I would say SMO as a Link Generating Tool, if we maintain the SMO activities in the right way, presented at the right time; to the right audience it can bring an unimaginable amount of traffic to the website. For a Company just starting out, getting on to the SMO can offer instant visibility and credibility. For an Established Company, it can strengthen the brand, and can establish a Brand Identity/Brand Image.

The key to social media is studying and understanding your consumer behavior and thereby knowing how to leverage it, the ability to attract, engage and convert new visitors. At most all we need to have a mechanism/system to capture the first-time visitors and should be able to convert them into loyal site community members/leads.

SMO Benefits:

v  Increase the Link Ability of the Website with Blogs, White papers, Case Studies etc…

v  Make Tagging and Bookmarking more easy using Add to or sharing Tools

v  Reward us with Inbound Links

v  Help our Content Travel through PDF’s, Slides, Video Files, Audio Files

v  Encourage the Mash-up (Example: Embedded Codes of YouTube, RSS Feeds etc…)

v  Enable Community Discussions & Participation (Forums, Disc/Fan Groups, Facebook, Twitter etc…)

v  Enables us to Be Real - The community does not reward fakers

Ø  SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING (SMM)

SMM meant to refer the activities that take place outside of your website (on other websites). And of course, SMO can be one of the finest ways to encourage SMM activities by users and visitors of your website. In recent times SMM plays a vital role in relating your website to the social media by referring to the creation and distribution of content and other messages through the social web by some form of Viral Marketing.

Now Social Media Sites become a platform were people used to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives and most of the consumers are available in online world SMM got its importance much easily. The great advantage of SMM over the traditional marketing is that it is relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns.

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that paved the way for the SMM trend. Web 2.0 Development model facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. This enables users to create an virtual community in contrast to the website page for open discussion or report views/suggestions.

The Key Social Networking Sites that revolutionized the concept of SMM by providing business promotional measures include:

v  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, SlideShare etc…

And currently with the help of Social Sites the Digital Marketing also taking a turn from the other marketing Medias to Internet through

v  Banner Ads, Video Brochures, Gadgets, Blog, RSS Feed, Web Video, Webinars etc…

Now the current Trend is websites specific to various devices like Apple, Android, Tab etc… and that too distinct to work with the above Social Site Techniques specific to each type of device. Yes, The Internet Marketing Trends are changing an unimaginable way at fast pace providing more and more promotional opportunities to the Business World.