Marketing Your Website in 2013 and 2014
Need straight forward advice about marketing your website?…Read on..
2012 gave Apocalypse Now a whole new meaning. If you survived it’s back to business. But if you’re just clinging on it’s time to do some changes in 2013. At this time of year it’s common to see lists of what’s hot and what’s not. In the SEO community you can bet that poor quality content is out along with spammy links. What’s in is diversity. Or put another way, SEO efforts have to look natural and sites need to reduce their dependency on Google. Low quality lazy marketing has been thrown out of the room.
Google is upping the ante on its mission to provide searchers with quality results.
The pace of change in 2012 in the world of SEO was staggering. What you can bet is that there’s more to come. Few predict what Google will do next, so it’s become important not to put all your SEO eggs in one basket.
How 2012 changed for anyone using SEO
The SEO’s who relied on ‘tried and tested’ tactics were caught napping in 2012. Low quality, lazy marketing has firmly been kicked into touch. Everything from links to where you place ads on your pages was the subject of Google’s scrutiny. Here’s a roundup of some of the major developments.
Penguin and Link Building
Links have been a cornerstone of how Google ranks sites. With that information quarters of the SEO community set about gaming link building. Google hadn’t figured the lengths people would go to accumulate links. What Penguin has shown is that link building needs to be smarter and more natural. If Google suspects you’re engaged in link buying or even swapping there could be a penalty on the way.
Panda and Content
As of the end of November there have been 22 Panda updates. Panda is a Google filter that aims to weed out poor quality content. Originally introduced in the Farmer Update, it started by making seismic changes to the SERPS, removing scraper sites and other internet pond life. Google is now looking for original quality content that your visitors want to read and it wants to see fresh content. This means you can’t just put up a site and leave it there. Google believes if you have a real business you’ll be updating it frequently. There’s also been an indication your copywriting has to be of near professional quality. Google expects.
The Evolution of Social Media
social media has become main stream. It’s not just for the kids and geeks. It’s a powerful source of traffic in its own right and can help protect your business from the vagaries of Google. It’s also likely that social networking sites such as Facebook will begin to exhibit search engine capabilities if they haven’t already.
Before SEO’s began to game website links, they were the currency of Google’s algorithm. They are still important but the internet has changed, and social media activity could one day replace links as ‘votes’ for your site or blog. Google is certainly watching social media to see where it goes next. And of course the advent of Google+ tells you Google doesn’t want to get left behind.
A New Framework for SEO in 2013
I’ve already had people ask me what the next big thing in SEO is going to be. For them the penny hasn’t dropped. SEO efforts in 2013 need to be based on 360 degree marketing. You need to cover all bases because all elements of an SEO strategy are linked. If you try to take short cuts with one, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot and wasting all your other efforts. The name of the game in 2013 will be diversification. I’ve written about it before, so here’s why it’s important.
Diversification in SEO
In 2013 you need to apply multiple marketing strategies to your SEO efforts. If it’s going to look natural then you have to diversify your sources of traffic. This is essential and will protect you from further Google algorithm changes and give your business a more solid foundation. Beyond that you must diversify anchor text and the sources of your links.
My view is if you manage to diversify your sources of traffic the rest should largely take care of itself.
Unbiased SEO Advice – Minus the Sales Pitch
Online businesses are going through a serious of big adjustments to cope with the changes.
Whoever helps you in 2013 needs to have the ability to stay focused, updated with new developments. They also need to be able to tap into your customer’s persona for their efforts are going to be effective.
If you have not yet managed to apply the principles outlined above, I can help. I offer unbiased advice with no sales pitches – perfect for anyone wanted to refresh their marketing knowledge or those new to it all. For example, I can do a one-off 1 day marketing consultancy that will assess where your website is now, and what you need to do in the future. Or we can discuss how I can help support specific marketing campaigns.