White Knight

Lately, the catch phrases and buzzwords in the ecommerce design and custom web design world centre on search engine optimisation and social media optimisation. Self-proclaimed experts lurk within the ether and are perfectly willing to give advice on how your Web site can be ranked higher than the competition by using their foolproof SEO and SMO techniques. Of course, all of this is for a price.

Different SEO and SMO techniques are valid, but there is no magic bullet that will catapult your Web site into the heavens. Frankly, it requires dedication and work, but the results will be well worth the effort. Following are some social media implementation techniques that will help raise the visibility of your Web site among your target audience.

Links Generate Higher Search Engine Rankings

Within your e-commerce website you should be creating links to and from different pages within your own site and also linking to relevant content outside of your site. One of the most important aspects of link generation is using social networks to create linkbacks. Facebook, Digg, Twitter, mySpace and other sites are a perfect venue for placing your links within a group that you’ve created. Another way to generate links is to ask different Web site owners that have similar content on their sites to link back to your site when you link to theirs.

Tagging and Bookmarking

One of the easiest ways to generate new and return traffic to your custom designed website is through the use of highly visible tag or bookmark buttons. Within your site, make sure that all content has a very visible tag button or bookmark button. At the end of articles or content pages, be sure to encourage your audience to bookmark your material. Social media sites pick up on these tags and bookmarks and generate tag clouds of meta-data and content from your site that users can click on.

Be Involved and Interact With Your Audience

Discussion boards, wikis, Facebook and mySpace groups are all excellent ways to engage your target audience. By continually interacting with your users, you’ll ensure that they are up to date on your site’s latest content and at the same time generate buzz about your site.

Reward Your Users

Everyone likes a bit of recognition now and then. Whenever someone visits your site and leaves a message or a helpful bit of information on your discussion board or wiki, be sure to thank that person for their effort and knowledge. By doing this, they’ll be sure to return and contribute to your site.

Understand Target Audience Demographics

This seems pretty basic. It’s one of the most important aspects of any marketing campaign, yet so many people who are building ecommerce and social media sites overlook it. MySpace users are generally teens and early twenty-something’s. If your product or service is targeted at an audience that is over thirty, it’s probably a waste of time to advertise or form a group on MySpace. By understanding who your target audience is, you can implement a strategy that incorporates the social media outlets that are most suited for your business.

Content is Still King

One of the final keys to implementing a social media strategy is remembering that your Web site’s content needs to be current, relevant and interesting. It’s up to you to make sure that you’re keeping your content updated. Also keep in mind that today’s world is about up-to-the-second information. If your Web site has content that is outdated and irrelevant, you can utilise social media to try
and find users until you’re blue in the face. However, it won’t work. People realise very quickly when a Web site doesn’t live up to its own advertising.

Following these principals requires a certain amount of discipline and hard work, but the benefits of applying them are undeniable. Social media can be a powerful ally in your quest to generate new and return Web traffic.

Companies requiring basic websites or custom web design solutions have quickly learned the importance for their Web sites to have social media marketing capabilities. One need look no further than the explosive growth of social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to recognise the potential for marketing that lies within this emerging area of technology. The question, however, which is on the tip of every business owner’s tongue is, “What are the benefits of a social media strategy?”

The Benefits

Individually Targeted Advertising - When you purchase advertising on a social media site such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, you’re not just purchasing a standard pay-per-click advertisement that no one will ever look at. Social media sites special in that the users of these sites entrust their personal information to the databases that sit behind the sites. What this means for you is that your advertisement is matched up with the key words that each user places within their profile. For instance, if a user is male and has a birth date of 1971, ads that are specific to his gender and age group will be placed on his profile each and every time he logs in. In terms of targeted marketing, this is an incredibly powerful tool because the ads that appear on an individual’s profile page are specifically relevant to that person.

Word-of-Mouth - Another benefit of advertising on a social media site is word-of-mouth advertising from the people ordering and using your products. In March of 2009 the average number of friends per Facebook user was 120. Consider that users post their likes and dislikes to their profile on a daily basis. If they’re posting about your product and how amazing it is, there are potentially 120 pairs of eyes that see the virtues of your product. When you take into account that 120 pairs of eyes look at each of the original 120, you can see that the numbers begin to grow exponentially. Another component to the idea of word-of-mouth advertising is the amount of social influence that some people have within their network of friends. Those who have deep influence on their peers can have a tremendous effect upon the popularity of your product or service.

Web Traffic, Brand Awareness and Global Reach - The final three benefits to you as an advertiser on a social media site are increases to your web traffic, growth in your brand awareness and broad customer reach. The first point is that when you have a web advertisement that is matched up to an individual person’s profile, that person will be more likely to actually click on your ad. Positive brand awareness is based on the quality of your product plus the word-of-mouth advertising you’ll receive. When users of social networks like your products they’ll talk about them. Remember, they’re broadcasting, on average, to a group of 120 people or more when they do this. Finally, a basic issue that many people forget is that the web is a global phenomenon. You will reach more people through social media than you could ever reach through other standard forms of advertising and because of the individually targeted nature of the advertising these ads are more likely to work.

Advertising within the context of a social media Web site is more than just a pay-per-click issue. Your Web site, which you’ve so carefully crafted with its amazing ecommerce design, quality user interface and relevant content will sit out on the Internet and pull in a few visitors now and then. However, if you choose to harness the power of advertising within a social network, you’ll find that the return on investment will be greater than you could have ever imagined. So much so, that you’ll find yourself laughing all the way to the bank.

Imagine being able to access all of your applications and all of your documents regardless of whether you’re at your desk, at home or on your mobile device. What if you never have to worry about maintaining your own network or hardware? This is the reality of cloud computing.

By definition, cloud computing is a way of providing software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure and hardware as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), either individually or in different combinations. The basis of cloud computing is that all of these services are offered via a network connection to a server or servers within the “cloud” of the Internet using some type of networked appliance.

Why Use Cloud Computing?

Whether you’re an individual or a small or large business, cloud computing offers a reliable, low-maintenance way to provide a scalable solution for on-demand services at a fraction of the cost of having licensed locally installed copies of software, IT infrastructure and hardware that quickly becomes outdated. Cloud computing also eliminates the need for a large staff of IT personnel and it also allows you, as a business owner, to decide which services you actually need and which you don’t.

Using infrastructure as a service provides limitless server capacity available on a pay-as-you-use basis or on a monthly payment structure. Having this storage capability makes it easy for businesses to store all of their integral information in a secure, centralised area without worrying about costly upgrades. The software as a service model in cloud computing allows individuals or businesses to use only the software they need, on an as-needed basis while upgrades are taken care of by the service provider. Finally, platform as a service offers a software development environment that is not restricted to a localised area. This means that software and upgrades being developed within a cloud computing platform can be delivered to consumers faster and easier.

Will Cloud Computing Work for Me?

Regardless of what type of business you operate, if you rely on an IT services that always has a need for increased capacity, continued software upgrades or constant hardware and software maintenance, it’s easy to recognise the advantages of cloud computing. The question that should be asked is, “What business wouldn’t benefit from having unlimited infrastructure, consistent software upgrades or a world wide platform for delivering its products?” The most important aspect of cloud computing is that it allows you to run your business the way you need to run it without constantly roadblocks such as downtime, continuous upgrades and outdated equipment.

Unlimited Access

From a practical standpoint, cloud computing offers freedom from the desk or office and access from a huge selection of portable devices such as netbooks, laptops and web-enabled mobile devices. How often does this scenario happen? Your team is on the road pitching a client and at the last minute you realise that you’ve left an important part of your presentation sitting back at your office on your desktop computer. The presentation doesn’t go well and your potential client shows you the door. If your business had been using infrastructure as a service, that integral piece of your presentation would have been accessible to your laptop or mobile phone and you wouldn’t have missed a single beat.

A Solid Customisable Solution

Cloud computing is a solution that can be scaled directly to the size of your business. It eliminates software licensing costs, downtime, obsolete software and equipment and the possibility of losing the documents and information that are important to the success of your business. Ultimately, one of the most beneficial aspects of cloud computing is its cost-effectiveness when compared to other localised solutions.

The movement toward this model will continue and successful businesses will reap the benefits of this new shift. When it comes right down to it, businesses not using cloud computing will find it much harder to succeed.