Social Media and Website Marketing: Two Halves of One Whole

While looking at the website of a local business with currently no social media presence, I considered which is more important:

A website with basic SEO (search engine optimization) to help people find the site through Google, Bing, etc. searches as well as to positively reflect on the business when prospective clients or customers come to the site?

Or active social media participation on major sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter with a touch of YouTube and blogging (or at least posting comments on other people's blogs) thrown in for good measure?

And the winner is?



These are both equally important although they are effective for attracting different prospective clients or customers.

For a prospective client who isn't on social media but uses Google or Bing to look up everything – obviously a website with basic search engine optimization is very useful.

For a prospective client who primarily relies on the opinions of his/her friends on Facebook and tweets on Twitter – obviously consistent active participation on these sites is very useful.

Voila! We now have the question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg?



In other words, if you have neither, which to do first? Why both of course!

You want to attract both the people who rely on search engine results and the people who rely on the opinions of social media friends. And in the year 2011 it's going to be vital to want to attract more sets of prospective clients.



Warning: All websites are NOT equal. Before you jump on a free website offer, make sure that you can include basic search engine optimization such as metatags and preferably a blog as part of your site. (Search engines like websites with continually added new information.)

And, of course, put your social media links in a prominent place on your website. Do NOT bury the icons at the very bottom of long home page copy.



If you have a website and aren't sure how effective it is or if you are planning to have a website, check out our website plan or website review service at www.millermosaicllc.com/website-review/ It's always important to have a solid foundation for your online marketing activities.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing. Download now the company's free report "5 Tips for Staying Top of Mind With Your Prospective Target Markets" at www.millermosaicllc.com/los-angeles-social-media-consultant