The Facebook search bar is far more unassuming than Google’s various search options, but many users turn to it in their time of need. Facebook search has improved over the years, allowing users to track down long-lost friends, favourite pages, events and much more. These changes mean that it’s easier for Internet users to find your pages on Facebook.

Just this fact alone should make any site owner sit up and pay attention. The main difficulty with Facebook for business users has always been the structure. It’s hard to reach users who haven’t heard of you. By using the right keywords however, you can get your pages listed when users make use of Facebook’s search bar. You can talk to us at www.searchengineoptimisation.co.uk about using SEO tactics in social media marketing.

It’s unlikely Facebook will ever be able to compete with Google in terms of search. While YouTube has become the first choice for many video searches, Facebook won’t be able to operate as a search engine without big changes. However, there is a lot of value in making yourself easier to find on Facebook. Talk to your search engine optimisation company about improving your presence on Facebook and start broadening your SEO to include social sites.

The short answer is, yes, commenting is worthwhile. Here’s why.

*The biggie: links. Not all blogs ‘nofollow’ their comments sections. If you manage to track down a high-ranking blog that allows link juice, your comment adds to your link building campaign, making the efforts of your link building company a little easier.

*Another SEO benefit: reputation. Reputation building is another action taken by any good SEO company, including us here at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk. Getting your name connected to pages for your keywords is important work.

*Direct traffic. This shouldn’t be discounted. Well-written blog comments that feature a link to a relevant page can get traffic. Better still, this traffic is perfect for your landing page, it involves people who have a demonstrated interest in what you’re talking about.

*Customer relations. This is another way of saying ‘reputation building’. Your reputation is important for more than SEO. Commenting on popular blogs in your industry gets customers thinking about your brand.

*Run-on effects. Something a lot of site owners overlook is the indirect benefits of their online activity. This applies as much to blog comments as anything else. Really good comments can draw indirect benefits, such as follow-up articles, reposts of the comment and general reputation building.

Spending all day on Twitter makes no sense. At the same time, only dropping in once a day means your marketing plan won’t move forward. So how much time should you devote to tweeting?

The answer will depend on an extent to your confidence with content. If you’re able to dash off a tweet in five minutes, then doing this ten times a day will be no problem. For less confident content writers, half an hour each day spent on planning is a better idea. The important thing to remember is to restrict the time spent: if you find you’re spending more than an hour each day on Twitter, you’re in trouble.

Why not just once a day?

It would be much easier to just drop into Twitter once a day. Campaigns on other social media sites can work well with this level of activity. Twitter doesn’t. To keep your audience interested, you need to tweet at least three times a day, but remember that some of these should be casual comments.

Twitter and other social media sites can be huge time-wasters, but only if you don’t have strategies and protocols in place. It’s a good idea to talk to your SEO company, or us at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk, before working social media into your SEO schedule.

A good blog can be a link-building gold mine. It only builds links, though, if you work link building and social media into your blog’s foundations. To do this, you may need to change some of your priorities.

Choose the right audience

If you’re running a blog, no doubt you’ve spent some time thinking about what your target market wants to read. Any good SEO agency will hunt out the audience for an SEO blog, as we do when providing SEO services at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk. Time is spent sorting out the style, length, content and even look of articles the target market reads. There’s a lot of concentration on what readers want.

But what about what you want? Your blog doesn’t just need to be read. It needs to be talked about, shared, linked to and generally seen all around the net.

Finding that audience

The audience you want, then, is far more specific than your site’s general audience. This will have an effect on the posts you write, and the way you promote them.

Planning for this more specific audience involves the same steps as preparing content for any audience. The difference is in planning for an audience that will link and share, rather than passively read.

Blogs are terrific for organic search engine optimization. Don’t waste this natural resource by ignoring its potential.

Using Twitter for marketing isn’t easy. With so many businesses tweeting as part of their social media marketing campaign, competition for attention is fierce. You need some aces up your sleeve.

*Share your day. Had something strange happen on the way to work? Use that as your morning’s tweet. Not every Twitter post has to be about your marketing campaign. Quirky posts will keep your followers reading.

*Post opinions. Stir up conversation by posting your opinion on something.

*Call for opinions. Asking readers what they think is always a good way to get people interested. This works particularly well when you post a link or quote.

*Share what you’re reading. The things you read are likely to be of interest to followers, and give you an easy post.

*Retweet. Sharing is a great way to get ahead in social media, and you can discuss this with us at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk. Retweeting interesting posts helps you consolidate your position in the Twitter community.

*Post a pic. People forget that Twitter isn’t just for words. Pictures mix things up a little.

*Don’t always post. Regular activity can get boring quickly, particularly if you’re struggling to find things to write. Just as life has its interesting moments and its lulls, your Twitter activity should have some slow periods.

Mobile Internet browsing is a world away from the way we’ve always explored the Internet. Users simply don’t act in the way they do when sitting in front of a computer. The form itself pushes other behaviours:

* Smaller screens – make it harder to look at content, so web pages have to be minimised
* Lots of distractions – these not only make it harder for users to concentrate on content but cut short the time any site has to get a message through
* Interrupted use – most searches are performed while the user is waiting for something else to happen or killing time, such as a train or a friend to arrive

What the average site should take from each of these points is that mobile browsing involves less time and less space. This should be the starting point for mobile website optimisation and this is something you can discuss with us at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk.

Many sites are trying to get into mobile search without fully committing to a mobile site. While a mobile site is an increased expense, if your target market is making use of mobile browsing, a new site is something you really need to consider.

Social media marketing can be a huge drain on a business’ time resources. If there are no guidelines in place, you can waste hours. When those hours could have been used more productively, that’s a serious liability.

To prevent your social media bonuses from turning into losses, you need to

1. Schedule for social media. Darting onto Facebook pages every half-hour isn’t necessary or productive. Set aside specific time each day for your social media activities.
2. Schedule reading time. Social media isn’t all about action. Reading other people’s posts is key to any social media campaign’s success and you can discuss this with us at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk. A separate chunk of time needs to be allocated for your social media reading.
3. Plan content. Social media is fast-moving but don’t be afraid to plan. It saves time in the end.
4. Re-use content. Good content is essential for catching attention in social media. There’s no rule that says you can’t post the same content on several sites. This also makes more efficient use of your content.
5. Cross-promote. The most successful social media users use various avenues to promote themselves. Use your website to promote your Twitter account, your Twitter to get people liking your Facebook page and any other combination you can think of.

1. Start out slow – leave comments on interesting posts. Make sure they’re intelligent, rather than just ‘What a great post!’. Once your confidence increases, start referencing your own posts and linking to them. Be cautious of linking on a blog that doesn’t appear to support links.

2. Link and contact – though it may go against the SEO grain, linking to other blogs within your search engine optimisation blog is a great way to form relationships and you can explore this with us at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk. Reference other bloggers’ ideas and give them a link, then contact them to let them know. This can open up exchanges of ideas – and more links for you.

3. Invite – there’s a lot of talk about doing guest posting but what about hosting it? Hosting posts from bloggers you respect can encourage them to return the favour. It also helps you to establish your blog in the community as a reliable publication.

4. Change your mindset – finally, the biggest step you can take is to think that you’re part of the community. Act like a respectable blogger in your interactions, and people will treat you like one.

Part of the difficulty for most site owners is that regular marketing tactics aren’t the most effective strategy for social media communities. While traditional marketing might market your business, it won’t help your website. A sideways approach is often needed.

* Blogs – Reading is the first step to take when wanting to promote your blog. The more familiar you are with other blogs, the more you’ll know about how to make connections and extract benefits. Once you’ve read, start talking with other bloggers

* Facebook – Facebook is a particularly difficult one, and you can discuss this with us at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk. It takes time to make individual connections here so you need a broader plan. Games and competitions are your friends

*Others – For most other sites, your content is how to attract attention. Read up on what’s popular and plan well. More importantly, keep on posting new content and promoting what you post. This is your in-road

A final note: you can join up with a hundred different social media sites, but you’ll get nothing from them if you don’t know how to go about it. It’s better to know your way around one network. Invest time in one social media site that will work for you.

Blogging etiquette isn’t that difficult to work out once you’re in the blogosphere. When you’re just dipping your toes in, though, it can be a trying time. If you’re like most site owners and in a rush to get your blog started, you won’t have the time to research as your SEO company says you should.

Before you dive in, here are three rules to help:

1. Inclusive communication. Another title for this point could be ‘no flaming’. The quickest way to lose any respect you’ve gained in the blogging community is to lose your temper. Intelligent comment, on the other hand, will draw people in.

2. Always credit properly. Plagiarism is considered the foulest of crimes in the blogging community and that includes idea theft. On the bright side, always crediting others means you build up your connections with other blogs. You can discuss how to use such connections with our experts at Searchengineoptimisation.co.uk.

3. Stop thinking like a linker. This is strange advice for a strategy that is heavily connected with link building strategies, but link building involves a certain selfish mindset that doesn’t work well with blogging. For blog links, you’ve got to give a little before you can get. It’s also a good way of connecting with others.