Social Media, Search Engines, Human Users – Who do you market your website to?

I have always had a trouble with the concept of SEO – or what people make of it. When we started CueBlocks, we decided that we are going to change the way optimization is carried out and understood.

What disappointed me in our industry was that it was encouraging the business owners to sell the website to the Search Engines instead of the end user. Content was being written so that Search Engines could read it, websites were being redesigned so that they were search engine friendly, links were being created so that PageRank would increase…. no one was thinking if the website was user-friendly, if the content was accessible to the human visitor, if the links were genuinely being created and bringing traffic!

This I feel, is what the optimization industry unknowingly promoted so much that we ended up with websites that were search engine friendly alright, but sent users away!

Thus, right from the start, we have been working with our clients to make the websites not only search engine friendly, but user friendly. If your website is easy to navigate, easily accessible to users regardless of disability, and has content/products that are quality – search engines will love your website and the links will bring in traffic as well as PR!

A real online marketing plan will not only include SEO, PPC and Link Building, but a combination of online technologies that will help make the website popular, not only among Search Engines, but among human users as well.

Social Media like blogs, wikis, podcasts, vlogs etc are an integral part of an online marketing strategy. Social Media Optimization, a term coined by Rohit Bhargava, describes the use of these online technologies for website promotion. Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing and basically just Online Marketing wings. When working with either, make sure that your online marketing company is targeting your end audience.