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Search vs Social Media

Looking to drive traffic to your site? Search engines are still dominating – make that crushing – social media sites as referers.

A recent year-over-year analysis for one client showed search engines referring 60% of all the web traffic for 2009, while social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Yelp, EventBrite – only contributed 2% of all traffic.

Search Is Becoming More – Not Less – Relevant

More over, search isn't losing ground – it is gaining ground by leaps and bounds. Google referrals for this site were up 257% in 2009 (compared to 2008). For this site, that equates to over 300,000 additional visitors.

Social Media Referrals Grow Too – Just Lots Less Impact

Now, social media showed amazing growth as well. Of the sites listed above, many contributed no traffic to the site in 2008 and started contributing in 2009. But the growth and dominance of search engines cannot be quibbled with.

Is there are place for social media? You bet, but it's not a referral engine for this business.

Jason Smith
Feb 19, 2010
Search Engine Marketing, Social Media
10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Website

One of the concerns I most often hear from clients about their websites is "how can I make them more effective?" Well to help out we've put together a list of common items that are quick wins and can help improve almost any website.  This blog post is a sneak preview of these top 10 ideas.  Over the new few months we'll be discussing these in more detail in a series of seminars and white papers. 

10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Website.

  1. Write meaningful page headlines.
    It’s great for visitors and search engine optimization.
  2. Set-up Google Analytics.
    It’s free (!) and tells you how people found your site and what they did.
  3. Take an hour to read your site and update inaccurate information.
    People expect websites to be the most current information source.
  4. Delete 10 pages to remove clutter and out-of-date information.
    You’ll feel better knowing your site is accurate.
  5. Claim your organization on Yelp, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
    Put up some basic information so people find you on social networks.
  6. Cut your word count down to 400 words per page.
    Separating different ideas onto different pages helps people to search and to browse.
  7. Write a sub-head for every 2-3 sentences.
    It makes the page easy to skim and scan – people are in a hurry these days.
  8. Add maps, videos, and pictures to pages.
    The web is primarily a visual medium.
  9. Start online search engine advertising.
    Drive some new traffic to your site at any budget level.
  10. Create an XML site map for search engines.
    It’s not as hard as it sounds and it improves search rankings.

If you'd like a printed card of these ideas or  have questions or comments feel free to send me an email.

Ed Hastings
Sep 25, 2009
Search Engine Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Website
Upcoming OHO Client Webinar: "Search Engine Marketing"

 

Wednesday March 11 at 2:00 PM ET.

As the first in a series of webinars just for OHO clients, we’ll bring you up to speed on the latest trends in search engine marketing.  In this 50-minute session, we’ll cover search engine marketing basics, blow up some search engine optimization myths, and answer key questions:

  • How do search engines gather information?
  • What's the difference between search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM)?
  • Should I ever use paid search to improve my results?
  • How can I write content to improve my search results?
  • Is optimization a technical or a content problem?

After the session, you'll have a clear understanding of how search engines work and the core strategies for making updates to your site to improve rankings. We will also introduce you to third-party tools for gathering data and improving rankings. Register Now. See What You'll Learn >>

OHO Newsletter
Mar 02, 2009
Clients, Search Engine Marketing, Webinar
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