SEO vs. Online Marketing – What’s the Difference?

When people are growing their web presence they often focus on SEO (search engine optimization) to the exclusion of all else. The fact is, SEO is only one component of an online marketing strategy, and often what you do in an online marketing campaign can effect your SEO results.

What is SEO (search engine optimization)?

According to Wikipedia, SEO is: the practice of maximizing the volume or quality of traffic to a web site (such as a blog) from search enginessearch results as opposed to other forms of search engine marketing (“SEM”) which may deal with paid inclusion. via “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”)

In other words, SEO is what you do to come up on page 1 of Google. It is essentially the technical site of online marketing. SEO is primarily focused in 3 areas:

1. Content generation on your site or other sites.
2. Gaining as many links INTO your site as possible.
3. Optimizing your website for keywords chosen.

What is Online Marketing?

According to YourDictionary.com: In its simplest form, the term online marketing refers to using the power of Internet advertising to generate a response from your audience.

So Online marketing ecompasses all things you do to gain customers through your website or blog. This could include:

• Social media
• SEO
• Banner advertising
• Print advertising
• Press releases
• Article marketing
• Creating a blog to compliment your website
• Affiliate marketing
• Email marketing
• Video marketing

Online marketing is the process of turning your web presence into a salesman that never sleeps. It incorporates traditional marketing as well as online marketing, and the end goal is to increase the traffic to your website.

Do I have to do both?

The short answer is yes. If you want to maximize incoming traffic to your website, then SEO and other online marketing techniques are both required. But research shows that 47% of potential customers are going to the search engines to find online businesses, and with those numbers, ranking high in the search engines is a critical component of gaining online eyeballs. So if you do nothing else, focusing on SEO will gain you incoming traffic can help you gain half the market share for your niche.

SEO Webinars

Landau Design has SEO webinars to teach you how to do SEO on your own. Join us and find out how you can create a dramatic increase in website traffic in just 3 months:

• Why is SEO Critical to Online Success?
• Do-it-Yourself SEO, Part 1 (essential tips & techniques)
• Do-it-Yourself SEO, Part 2 (more tips and techniques)

15 FREE Websites to Promote Your Webinars

We have been working to promote our SEO and social media summer school classes for Landau Design, and in the process we have gathered tools to help us get the word out. We thought we would share these tools since we are certain they would be useful in helping you promote your webinars.

General online event sites

• upcoming.yahoo.com
• garysguide.org
• events.org
• eventsetter.com
• eventbrite.com

Webinar listing sites

• webinarlistings.com
• freeteleseminarlist.com
• devtownstation.com
• webinarhero.com
• webinarbase.com
• eventspan.com
• teleseminarlive.com
• webinarboxoffice.com

Social networking sites

• LinkedIn Event Listings
• Facebook Event Listings

Don’t miss our upcoming webinars:

• Jul 07: Why is SEO Critical to Online Success? – FREE Webinar
• Jul 14: Do-it-Yourself SEO Part 1
• Jul 15: Introduction to Blogging
• Jul 22: Create & Utilize a Phenomenal LinkedIN Profile
• Aug 25: Do-it-Yourself SEO Part 2

Webinars: An Effective Way to Grow Your Business

Webinars are becoming a trendy way to share knowledge and grow your business. They provide a convenient opportunity to gather individuals without travel time required by any party. The technology has come so far it literally takes minutes to set up and run a webinar right from your computer.

How can a webinar grow your business?

• It gives you the opportunity to share your expertise.
• You can have anybody with an internet connection join in, so you can reach people who may not be able to come to your office.
• It provides a chance to promote other products.
• It is very inexpensive to hold a gathering.
• It saves valuable time since it takes less time to organize and run a webinar than an in-person presentation.
• It provides an opportunity to stay in touch with your customers.
• Recorded webinars can become assets that you share at a later date.

Why do companies give free webinars?

• Free webinars provide a chance to share what you do.
• Free webinars attract more people than pay ones.
• It is easier to convert an attendee into a paying student once they have experience one of your free webinars.
• It is an opportunity to provide value-added customer service.

Why Landau Design uses webinars

Landau Design has been using online meeting software to train our clients in how to use Joomla. Webinars became a natural extension of this service when our clients began requesting training in areas like search engine optimization, blogging and social media. We now schedule quarterly webinar series which clients can choose from to grow and hone their skills.

This summer we are offering the following classes:

• Jul 07, 2010 – 10:30 AM
  Why is SEO Critical to Online Success? – FREE Webinar
• Jul 14, 2010 – 11:00 AM
  Do-it-Yourself SEO Part 1
• Jul 15, 2010 – 10:00 AM
  Introduction to Blogging
• Jul 22, 2010 – 12:00 PM
  Create & Utilize a Phenomenal LinkedIN Profile
• Aug 25, 2010 – 11:00 AM
  Do-it-Yourself SEO Part 2

Why You Need a Company Social Media Policy

If you have more than one person in your company who engages in social media, you need to have a social media policy. Social media has quickly become the easiest way to grown your online presence. Through all popular outlets, you can quickly and effectively develop your online reputation and extend the brand of your business.

But the lines between person and business social media are quite blurry. For example:

• If an employee uses Facebook to converse with friends and family, should they be using it to share information about your company?
• If Twitter is how they tell their buddies where they are and what they are doing, should the same account be used to spread marketing messages?
• And what if they are looking for another job, but their personal accounts are intertwined with your business accounts. How does that look for your marketing image?

A social media policy is critical for any business since your online reputation will be significantly impacted by what is said about your company. Unless you provide guidelines for employees, you cannot really be certain what sort of reputation is being developed.

Saying “Don’t do it!” is not a policy

Social media has become a mainstream way of connecting with customers. To tell your employees that social media is not allowed is not realistic in today’s business world. Chances are employees are already engaging in social media for private use, and your social media policy should at least discuss what can be done during work hours. Also, if employees are already using social media, a policy can help to define what private social media outlets may be used to extend the brand of the company.

What should a social media policy govern?

A company social media policy should answer the following questions:

• Who owns the social media accounts that are used by your company?
• If employees have personal accounts, can they use them to market your company?
• What is the policy for talking about the company on personal social media accounts?
• What confidentiality is required around your company information?
• What copyright issues should be considered?
• What social media arenas does the company participate in?
• What individuals in the company are responsible for social media, and for those who aren’t responsible, what is their input (if any)?
• Who is in charge of reviewing social media output?
• Who is responsible for responding to customer complaints that appear in social media arenas?

Here are some excellent articles we found that can help you craft a social media policy:

• How to Write a Social Media Policy
• 10 Must-Haves For Your Social Media Policy
• Secrets to Writing a Social Media Policy That Actually Means Something

Sample Social Media Policies

If you’re are in the process of creating a social media policy, Social Media Governance keeps a database of corporate social media policies. They have example from many companies, including FedEx, Cisco and Harvard Law School.

5.28 Blog Carnival: Online Marketing Buzz