I’m struggling with giving this new service a name.  I’m billing myself as a search engine optimization guru because that isn’t what I am really doing.  Search engine optimization is more about building the site right, putting it online and waiting.  Some companies use internet tricks to help bolster page rankings while other company’s take the wait and see approach.  The one thing consistent with SEO companies is they are BLOODY EXPENSIVE!

What I’m doing is building web presence through activity.  I’m doing the SEO stuff, making sure the right keywords are used, the page description tell the right story, the page title is good and the page text support the message…but in my service plan these steps are only the beginning.  I then look for marketing opportunities on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and blogsites around the world.  I help the small business owner do the things they don’t have time to do, publish links on the internet and build residual search engine value for the effort.

SEO companies have relationships with link site.  They get their customers listed on these sites and they create thousands of links to the customer’s site.  So long as the customer keeps paying the annual bill, the links continue.  The problem with this approach is once the links are down, the marketing value is gone.  To me this is turning internet marketing into an expense rather than an investment.  Google, Yahoo and alike keep search base links int heir index for a very long time.  By building associations with keyword topics on Google, Yahoo, etc.  Business owners can turn their internet marketing dollar into an investment and long after they stop paying me for my efforts, they will continue to get links from the effort.

So what do I call this service?

I was tardy from blogging this past week because I’ve been researching social networking for a blog article and wiki page I am writing.  The article is a compare and contrast of social networking and personality based marketing.  I am hopeful that I will have the article completed and published by Monday.  I built an initial wiki page, you can see it by clicking here.

I have been a member of all the social networking sites for a couple of years, but I never added any friends nor did I participate in the online forums.  I wasn’t against the idea of social networking, I was just focused on all the other things I had to do to start up a new business.

All-in-all, I think social networking falls a little short in the business world–not flat mind you, there is value in the medium.  Social marketing holds an allure for those seeking immediate activity with no money down, but long term success depends on, like every other marketing method, lots of TIME, EFFORT and PURPOSE.

Because social networking doesn’t have a set structure (i.e. create an ad and submit by the deadline), finding a business viable direction is left to the user.  Organized internet users are more likely to experience long term success than disorganized users.  Why?

The normal strategy of the disorganized is throw as many things against the wall as time permits and see what sticks.  This does produce lots of immediate response, but without purpose, people joining disorganized networks get bored and go away.

Another challenge I’m seeing with social marketing is conflicting goals between online “friends”.  First off, a “friend”" is someone who is in your social network, us computer geeks call them nodes.  A node is something that contains data.  A tie connect two or more Nodes together.  Social networking sites (like FaceBook, MySpace, etc.) provide the tie between nodes (people).  I made the Node comparison on purpose…

People who go online only to seek “access” to information are going to work the network only until the information is obtained.  Once the thirst for knowledge is quenched, the tie between nodes is effectively severed.

Put into an online scenario.  Someone joins FaceBook, invites all their friends and then culls through the friends lists seeking new friends.  If the purpose for seeking such knowledge is the introduction of a sales presentation to the friend of a friend, success is dependent on the current need for suck offering by the friend of a friend.

Ok, now in plain English.  If I learn you know Bob and I befriend Bob only to make a sales pitch, then the success of my effort is hinged on Bob’s current desire for what I am offering.  The article I am writing is taking this action apart and defining the flaws and workarounds.  What I don’t address is the purpose side for successful social networking: so I’ll address it here.

In Neal Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he referenced how online damage the social fabric that humanity depends on.  Epidemiologists have been studying the impacts of social networking on general health and fitness for decades.  Because online social networking is still relatively new, scientists are still drawing conclusions.  However, I think we can use short burst research on several different mediums, measure results and draw a basic hypothesis from which we can develop further research on the topic.

Here is my initial hypothesis on the long term value of social networking.  There is no long term value to the medium.

If social networking, by itself, was the goal of humans, then MySpace, FaceBook and all the other sites like them would have no graphics, games, or other sources of entertainment designed to stimulate social interaction.  However, back in 1785, the French Philosopher, marquis de Condorcet, wrote a paper on what would become known as the Paradox of Voting.  His theory said that when three or more choices are presented voting become irrational.  Now, on FaceBook, instead of the exchange of social thoughts and ideas users are given the option of playing games and building contests to stimulate interaction.  Why?

I believe FaceBook, MySapce and all the other sites know that in order to gain eyeballs they have to help users along with interactions.  Like the teacher in the school yard, FaceBook is the organizer that tells the children, “Ok everyone, lets sit down and play nice together.”

Only time will tell if social networking will stick…  Take a look on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com next week to read about my suggested alternative to gambling on social networking.

Ed Bejarana
BusinessBlogging.net
a division of Zenith Exhibits, Inc.