The Use of SEO in Effective Marketing Strategy.

The use of Web 1.0 for the development of computer-mediated communication technologies has been a precursor to today's Web 2.0. These computer-mediated communication technologies, called "interactive communication" when applied to diverse businesses, defines as the interaction of an individual with or through an electronic device or communication technology in order to access or transmit useful information or receive guidance and support. To date, interactive marketing communication applications are mostly internet based and include personalized WebPages, online articles, discussion groups, support groups, and games. Savvy marketers use SEO to reach out their audience.

As opposed to the static read-only nature of Web 1.0, Web 2.0 applications tend to be "read and write." That is, the content for these pages is "easily generated and published by users, and the collective intelligence of users encourages more democratic use." Web 2.0 includes a "second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users." Web 2.0 pages frequently get updates with user-generated information so that they include the collective intelligence of all contributors, not just one site developer. Web 2.0 builds on the otherwise flat content of Web 1.0 by engaging and empowering users. Rather than branding a product through Web 1.0, Web 2.0 is about bonding with users, having a "deeper, more intimate, conversational relationship with consumers."

Establishing a blog or a website does not ensure that it will have visits by a large number of users unless steps to connect the blog with the blogging community manifest--the blogosphere. For example, connecting a new mental health blog to the existing mental health blogosphere requires linking blogs. The five most common ways of increasing the number of visits to a website are search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising, tagging/social bookmarking, RSS, and link backs.

Two of these methods--SEO and pay per-click advertising-have helped revolutionize the marketing of digital content and therefore have important implications for health educators wishing to reach target audiences more effectively through the internet. SEO requires an understanding of how search engines retrieve information. To optimize the retrieval process, optimizers manipulate websites so that they are more attractive to search engines--that is, they make the web link (URL) more popular to search engines. Ideally, health educators would have their web content listed first in search engine rankings. Many SEO companies exist to provide this service; however, health educators can enhance search engine ranking and, ultimately, traffic to their websites on their own by submitting site information directly to the search engines (e.g., users can go to "Google Sitemaps" or www.google.com/addurl to add a URL to Google). Additionally, website link popularity finds enhancement by ensuring that a new URL finds place on a site that previously is, indexed by a search engine. Link placement is, achieved when optimizers approach and request "link exchanges" with relevant pages, purchase one-way links, or post their URL on forums, blogs, and social-networking sites relevant to their keywords.

Ghanim Yalda is the author of this article on Toronto Internet Marketing. Find more information about Toronto earch Engine Optimization here.