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I started working on search engine marketing in 1999. Back then, a good optimized website with keywords, a description and a good title tag would get ranked well on search engines including Google. Noone had heard of the terms "Page Rank" and once a month, Google would dance.

Yes, Virginia, there really was a google dance each month. (It isn't just us old folks' imagination gone wild). Times have changed, actually they have mutated into a wild rush for websites to look "popular" to the search engine spiders so that they rank well. The methods of gaining popularity are exploding and new "bookmarking" and social networking sites are popping up everywhere.


It is so confusing .. but here are a few SIMPLE guidelines for newbie online marketers that are trying to promote websites.

1. Blogs will help. Yes, they will, but you have to take time to create information that people want to read. Not just spiders. Search engine algorithms are getting smarter and they really can tell if your post is just a bunch of spam. Write for people, double check your spelling and grammer .. for people. Write consistently and you will be rewarded.


2. As a guideline, use TWO tags for the post. In a nutshell, the way that Blogger and other Blog software handles tags is that it creates a single page for every tag. Therefore, unless you have a 10,000 entry Blog, you will have alot of duplicate and useless pages that Google DOES NOT like.


3. Be consistent about your linking strategies. If you are promoting an eCommerce site, don't link to a product 15 different ways (with and without the www etc..). Use a consistent linking method so that search engines don't think you have duplicate content on the website. Unless you are lucky enough to have a super popular website, Google is only going to index a limited amount of pages. Make those pages worthwhile.

On the flip side, the above guidelines don't work well for social bookmarketing and social shopping websites. On those websites, it behooves you to use as many tags on the product or page that you are promoting as possible. Confusing and conflicting information, right?

The tags on public websites are used for searching and normally, they DO have millions of products submitted, so making a page for "Dog Bone" and "Dog Chew" makes sense because it would not generate duplicate content.

Don't spam with your tags, anywhere. Only use applicable terms - this corresponds to Web 2.0 social responsibility. (a term that I coined myself)

Happy promoting! - Next article will be on making money with affiliate marketing!

Labels: Blogging, social networking