SEO is a process of increasing your website’s visibility online; but really, it is not just about your website, it is about your business. It is about claiming a presence online, with your own website, or the help of other sites too. Social media websites provide free services that allow you to easily promote your company and the message that you want to convey.

In my opinion, the best opportunity for free social media promotion is LinkedIn. This website is a business networking site with an international presence. Membership to the site is free; however website visitors do not have to be members to view your company’s profile. In fact, company profiles on LinkedIn often come up in the first page of search results for a company’s name. Once a member, you can create a personal profile, as well as one for your company. I recommend that you do both. 

Your company profile includes your address, a link back to your website, and a company description. Your personal profile allows more flexibility to not only describe your company, but to expand on that description with details, specialties, and a description of your role in the business. Social networking allows colleagues, associates, and business partners to search for you (and vice versa) and establish connections. You can build out your profile further with recommendations from your connections. The real power and influence of a social media website comes from the participation and engagement of its members.

The benefits to SEO from LinkedIn include:

• Content: Social media websites provide the chance to provide more content that describes your business to search engines.
• Backlinks: Search engines value networks of links between related websites, such as two websites that both describe your business.
• Visibility: LinkedIn is a website with a good reputation for business networking. It also has great rankings in the search engines!

The reality is that social media websites provide an opportunity for you to promote your business, improve your online presence, network with business professionals, and benefit your SEO. Seize the opportunity!

View the Netgenetix Media LinkedIn Profile

Professional SEO usually focuses on improving your corporate website’s results for industry keywords rather than company-specific terminology. This strategy aligns well with most business growth plans, because it promotes your company to searchers that may not know your company name yet. It can be critically important to harness the power of this new audience in order to earn new business; however, keep in mind that you also want to remember those searchers that do already know your company’s name.

When was the last time that you looked at the search results for your company name, rather than the results for your preferred keyword? Top placement is not what you are looking for here, but rather to see how your company looks to searchers who know your name. These searchers may be past clients, a new contact that you met at a networking event, or better yet, someone referred to your company by a client, friend or colleague. You want to ensure that these searchers see you at your best.

Search for your own company and see what comes up. You may be surprised what you see. If you find something you don’t like, contact the webmaster to see if they are willing to change the content. If you discover outdated information, see if you can update the information so that it is current.

Next search for your own name. Surprised again? You may need to consider modifying your privacy settings on social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace. You may want to take the opportunity to promote your professional image online with social media websites like LinkedIn.

For extra credit, search for your competitors by name. Are they doing something well that your company can learn from? Is there press section prominently featured? Are they promoted on industry blogs? Are they listed on respected directories? Learn from your competitors.

The business potential of SEO is greatly enhanced by using search engines as tools to learn about your industry, your competitors, as well as your own company. Check back regularly for best results.