I’m sure you are already ready to post some nasty comments on this blog about how big of an idiot I am. Before you do that, please hear me out.
I have recently come across two prominent (Shoemoney, The Simple Dollar) bloggers in the blogosphere that both had written posts about how SEO doesn’t really matter and how SEO has no future. I understand that they both wrote these posts to generate buzz but the message they are sending is very misleading. Both of these guys are very smart and know a ton about blogging and internet marketing in general. They also share the same trait in that neither of them has a strong background in SEO and they may not truly understand the big picture.
The post at the simple dollar is actually a good post and I agree with some of what he is saying, what I don’t agree with is the fact that he starts out by saying it doesn’t matter. His main point was that if you write great content then the keywords will be in place and the page is already optimized. Writing great content is an excellent suggestion but if you really understand SEO, you know that you have to research and choose keywords people actually search for and write content to include those words and try to keep a good balance of key phrase density. You need to write good titles and descriptions targeting those key phrases as well.
My background is in SEO and so I know how valuable it is. I don’t have a ton of experience in social media, so I could easily write a post about how social media has no future because the bulk of my traffic comes from SEO, not social media. I make alot of money online taking advantage of the SEO knowledge that I have. I could stand up and shout SEO IS THE FUTURE, NOT SOCIAL MEDIA and try to make my point. But just because I am proficient in SEO doesn’t have anything to do with the future or effectiveness of social media.
The truth of the matter is that they both are very valuable internet marketing tactics. They are both legitimate ways to build traffic and you can make a lot of money online implementing one or both of the techniques.
So SEO does have a future and it does matter, social media however is dead.
3 comments On Social Media Has No Future
I really enjoyed this article, thanks Adam. Too funny. Hey wait a second aren’t we doing a form of social media right now. What the??? Funny stuff!
The truth of the matter is that data and finances speak louder than opinions. I would really like to see someone try to your kind of income from a website that just writes good articles and gets promoted exclusively through social media. There may be a few that could pull it off, but the data and revenues on average cannot compete.
I have to agree with the bloggers.
I have tried SEO techniques for years, sometime successful and sometime not. It’s like throwing darts. SEO is a moving target, as search engines are constantly changing. Because of this, I think it’s harder to make money with SEO then with social media. Building quality content is also more reliable source of income because each day you are increasing your influence and your customer base. It’s a slow process, but because building quality content is difficult to build, it gives you a much better barrier between you and your competitors. A competitor cannot just create 1000 quality articles overnight – and when you do have competitors growing in traffic – you can see them coming and find ways to minimize their impact. Unless you are a master at SEO, a competitor can find a new method to drastically reduce your traffic overnight. I no longer spend time on SEO, because in the long run, my time investment is more profitable in other things.
I believe that you have to utilize both practices to find success within the internet marketing industry. By utilizing proper SEO techniques when designing your site, or posting blog content for that matter, you are putting yourself one step higher on the search engine ladder. However, if you aren’t marketing your site or blog within social media resources as well, you are truly wasting an amazing opportunity.
Social media sites are some of the top ranking sites within any search engine’s ranking system. Any back-links to your site or blog from these social media sites will only strengthen your site’s ranking even further than your water-tight SEO site was standing alone and on its own. You can elevate your success even further by marketing the same links, products, or services directly to your contacts within these social medial sites. However, don’t leave you mother-ship website or blog out in the cold. If you fail to pursue a good opportunity simply because you don’t think it will last, you bank account will suffer for it – and mine won’t.