Companies hoping to use social media sites to improve their search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns may want to consider including links in Twitter posts.
In an article for Search Engine Journal, SEO consultant Wasim Ismail noted that the microblogging site may be particularly useful now that Google is displaying tweets in search engine results pages.
He recommended adding "effective keywords" to accompany links and said posting these a number of times could help to maximise exposure.
"Putting your links on your posts will aid your link building activities … [and] has the potential of giving a wider web presence," he stated.
The expert noted that spending time working on a strong Twitter campaign could help firms to build their online brand as well as strengthen their SEO efforts.
Earlier this month, AnnMarie Hanlon said in a piece for Smart Insights that Twitter is a particularly useful tool for marketers targeting consumers.
She suggested creating separate Twitter accounts to promote products and manage customer service issues.
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Providers of internet marketing services are starting to get used to utilising social media as part of their advertising campaigns.
This is according to Guy Phillipson, chief executive officer of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), who noted that a quarter of the time spent on the internet is on social media sites.
Recent figures from the IAB revealed that advertising on the internet grew by 12.8 per cent in 2010, with display advertising through social media cited as the most important factor in this boom.
"Whereas, in the past, advertisers have been wary of advertising on user-generated content and social media, they understand it much better now," he claimed.
The expert noted that services such as Facebook enable marketers to utilise more targeted advertising and that there is a "kind of value exchange" between them and the potential customer.
He noted that an increasing number of professionals in the online marketing services sector are aware that they "need to respect their consumers".
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Companies implementing search engine marketing strategies are still keen to focus their attention on Google, despite the growing popularity of the Search Alliance.
Speaking to Direct Marketing News, founder and president of Fruition Brad Anderson noted that the Yahoo! & Microsoft Search Alliance still has some way to go to catch up with Google.
Yahoo! and Microsoft received approval from regulators to forge their alliance in February last year.
Mr Anderson commented: "When you start factoring in mobile devices for most of our clients, we're not really seeing Bing anywhere higher than ten per cent to 12 per cent of the total search audience."
He noted that for shopping and among some less experienced users, usage of Bing is more popular.
Paul Goldman, chief executive officer of JuicedHybrid.com added that his firm will continue to focus search engine marketing efforts on Google because it gets the most traffic and best results.
However, he suggested that his firm may try branching out to incorporate the Alliance later this year.
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When writing content for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes, it is better to keep it short.
This is the opinion of Rutger Steenbergen, who said in an article for Rinf News that readers are often lazy when browsing the web so if they do not find what they are looking for quickly, they leave a page.
Consequently, the expert claimed that "less is therefore almost always more" when creating content to be featured on online portals.
"Write short paragraphs, use bullets, short paragraphs and attracting sub-headlines," he advised.
Mr Steenbergen said it is important to try every means possible to grab the attention of visitors to a site and to ensure that it is retained.
The expert added that text should be compelling and needs to invite action on the part of the person reading it.
Earlier this month, writing for the same publication, Adam Thompson said keywords should be used throughout content, but that efforts should be made to fit them in naturally.
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This is not a sight you are likely to see very often.
Twitter is alive with the hashtag #bbcblackout as it turns out that our seemingly infallible Aunty has lost her DNS.
The BBC has engineers on the task, but it will be interesting to hear from ISPs tomorrow whether the absence of the ubiquitous BBC has affected traffic usage during the downtime. iPlayer has been seen as responsible as putting a considerable strain on some players.
We now have high level BBC Execs apologising on Twitter – good crisis management. Let everyone know as quickly as possible what is happening, or just that you are aware it is happening and are looking into it.
Steve Herrmann, Editor of the BBC News website just tweeted:
We will keep you updated!
A tense 45 minutes later – she’s back, seemingly unharmed.
Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC Tech correspondent) deserves the prize for best tweet:
When creating content, firms looking to improve their search engine optimisation (SEO) should aim to create a buzz and get people talking.
This is according to a blog entry on Smarta.com, which suggested that firms are more likely to get readers to link to content if it is interesting and creates a topic for discussion.
Commenting on how to format items, the blogger said: "Keep it simple and focus on creating discussion. What gets people talking will get them linking."
He also suggested encouraging user-generated content, allowing those who access the content to voice their opinion on it, which he asserted can help to "foster links of their own".
Firms considering using internet marketing services might also heed the advice of the writer to use social media to send content to potential readers faster than through traditional search pages and blog posts.
This comes after Econsultancy's Kevin Gibbons said a blog can be a useful tool when developing an SEO campaign.
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Firms running pay per click marketing campaigns should consider setting up two almost identical adverts as a way to optimise their strategy.
Anthony Green explained in an article for Technorati.com that by changing one variable, it is possible to establish what elements make up the most successful ad.
He advised those using pay per click services to run only two at a time and see which has the best click-through rate.
The least successful can then be dropped and the advertiser then has an insight into what aspects of the advertisement attract the most responses.
"The higher the click-through rate, the less money you'll pay for ads and the more relevant they'll be to the people searching for you," Mr Green explained.
However, he warned against changing more than one variable at a time because this will negate the point of the exercise as it will be too difficult to establish what facet of the advert attracts clients.
This comes after Matt Swan claimed in an article for Econsultancy that pay per click services providers are increasingly in demand as online marketing becomes more popular.
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Firms formulating a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign should treat keywords as a "means to an end", according to one expert.
In a column for Search Engine Land, founder and president of AudetteMedia Adam Audette said keywords act as bait to draw people to a website.
However, he warned companies not to become too obsessed with them because the real "hook" is the content, which he warned needs to be of a high quality.
While he said it is important to pay attention to algorithms and the number of hits a website gets, he asserted that it is vital to focus on what those visiting an online portal actually want.
"Build your SEO strategy around your users," Mr Audette advised.
This comes after Sharon Flaherty said in an Econsultancy blog that content written for SEO purposes still needs to be "interesting", "useful" and "informative".
She noted that the recent Farmer update by Google makes this a particularly important consideration.
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Firms investing in online marketing services might soon be able to take advantage of a new system set to be unveiled by Yahoo!.
The organisation's Search Direct features some similar innovations to those recently introduced by market leader Google, including the technology to predict the end of a query and bring up results as the user types.
Advertisers might be able to make use of the pop-up box which appears containing potentially relevant content to the person using the search engine.
Shashi Seth, head of search and market places for the online giant, suggested that video and graphical ads could be displayed in the Search Direct box, news that could be particularly interesting for those considering launching a pay per click campaign.
"Over the course of the next couple of months you're probably going to see some of these ideas at play," he commented.
Those who use Google's AdWords pay per click services were recently offered a host of new options by the internet giant, including the chance to optimise their campaigns by displaying ads with the best rates of conversion.
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Businesses using social media as part of their online PR strategy should take steps to define their goals, it has been stated.
Writing for Mememburn.com, Gareth Bloor said it can be dangerous to use this channel without a plan because it may result in a waste of time and effort.
He warned firms that "the medium is not the message", saying that the ingenuity of each organisation is the key element in a successful social media campaign.
"When someone is reading your social media goal, ideally, they shouldn't be able to tell it has anything to do with social media or even the internet," he asserted.
The expert advised companies investing in these online marketing services to set "business goals" rather than to try to hit social media targets.
Earlier this month, Ben Staveley said in an article for Econsultancy that ecommerce firms utilising social media should use the channel to give customers greater value and improve their shopping experiences.
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