The Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing

Content is king. This is a statement SEO marketers have been using for years, and it is still true. How well the content of a website is written helps you stay ahead of the competition by giving you good visibility on search engines. With all the latest technology and innovations, search has evolved so much. Just having content is not enough to make a website perform. Universal optimization is required to stay ahead of the game.

Content should be developed by following a strategic approach. This will help us build a very strong and competitive content.

1. Keyword Research: Start with keyword research. One should do the homework before writing the content. Know who your audience is and build the content around the keywords targeted to the right audience.
   • Use keyword research tools: Use some of the best keyword research tools like Google adwords, ubbersggest.
   • Focus on the long tail keywords: This will help us target the right audience with less competition.
2. Market Research: Do some market research before creating the content.
   • Trending Topics: What are the trending topics that we can optimize our content for.
   • Answer websites: Yahoo answers, Digg, Stumbleupon etc.
   • Google Discussion: What are people talking about?
   • Competitive Analysis: What works for the competition? Look at their content and links.
3. Calendar: Depending on the season, time, festival, events, find out whois your right audience.
4. Review Websites: See which people are talking about you. Pull out those unique references and specialties which people already like about you and somehow integrate that into your content.

Based on all the research above, create the content which will be keyword rich, eventually helping with better placement and visibility on search engines. Once the content is created, market the content on all media channels. Share the content with search engines, feeds, news, blogs, social networking websites etc and reach your target audience.

Website conversion stats based on Social Interaction and Search:

Just Social: 1%
Just Search: 51%
Search + Social: 48%

As you can see for a website to convert, it requires not just search or social, it need to be a combined effort of both. All this is possible if you create the content and which is shareable.  Following a robust plan to create unique, keyword rich, targeted and sharable content can help generate more conversions and ROI.

SES San Francisco 2011 Session: “The Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing” speakers
Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit
Arnie Kuenn, President, Vertical Measures
Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board & CEO, TopRank Online Marketing

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Contributed by: Justin Varghese, ROI Manager, Milestone Internet Marketing