Sensors and network administering


 

Search Wars Continue - Is Social Search The Holy Grail?

Abstract:goals.  Answer  these:
The latest frontier in search engine- Who is your ideal customer, what does he
technology is social search. Born out of thelook  like?
social networking boom, social search will
attempt to humanize search results thereby- Do you merely want 200,000 hits per day or
providing users with consumer driven answersdo you want 200,000 hits from people that
to their queries. Considering that 50% ofhave a problem your product or service can
queries go unanswered, social search could besolve?
the  biggest breakthrough since page ranking.
- What complementary products or services do
Overview:they  buy?
As search giants, Google, Yahoo and MSN-  How  often  do  they make purchases, when?
continue their fierce battle to become king
of the search engines, internet marketers areTake the time to identify your target market
faced with increasing challenges to dominatebefore you launch a marketing plan. Make sure
in the rankings. As algorithms andto also include complimentary offerings
methodologies change, savvy entrepreneurs andthrough popular email courses, as in: to
Madison Avenue continue their heated battleeducate your audience first. Then, sample
for a coveted Top 10 spot in search enginethem via a survey, to find out more about
rankings.them. And, because you gave them something
for free, they'll be more willing to fill out
Social search is not officially here but thethe  survey.
debut is not far off. Yahoo, MSN and Google
are all purportedly working on methodologiesNow that you have identified your niche,
to converge search and user generated contentyou'll have a much easier time capturing them
all while walking the tightrope known asusing SMM. Marketing whether online or off is
"privacy." Yahoo has been beta-testing Yahooall about relevancy, visibility, and
Answers since December 2005 and has hiredcredibility. As an internet marketer you want
powerhouse, Raghu Ramakrishnan, the co-authorto dominate your niche market by establishing
of Database Management Systems and co-founderyourself as the expert in your area,
of QUIQ. Mircosoft is in talks withdelivering content to your potential customer
Eurekster.com, a company specializing inthat is relevant to their needs and
social search and Google is experimentingpreferences and have greater visibility than
with  Google  Base  Beta.your  competitors.
Why are these internet behemoths investing soSteps that you can take to achieve expertness
much in social search? Social networks suchwith  SMM:
as MySpace and Friendster are threatening the
domination  of  established  search  giants.1.  Become  an  expert source of information.
Social networks are pulling in a significantUse the bookmarks and article submission
and  increasing  share  of  web  traffic.features of sites such as Digg to establish
yourself as a credible and recognizable
Social network sites are actively working tosource  of  information.
improve their internal search capabilities
and provide an even richer experience for2.  Hitchhike  on  a  blog.
their members. Search giants such as Google,
Yahoo and MSN must accelerate their socialPost relevant and informative content on high
search efforts or they may be left out of theprofile blogs in your industry. Contributing
search game that they now dominate. Searchto a blog on relevant subject matter will
giants must step it up or they will get leftincrease your visibility and credibility with
behind.your  target  market.
Why now, what drives this apparent sudden3.  Share,  share,  share.
change?
Create a Squidoo lens, write and publish
It is hard to believe that in the early daysarticles to online article banks (i.e.
of the net, there was an underlyingezinearticles.com), contribute to wikipedia.
assumption that technology would replace orIssue quarterly press releases through PR
hinder human interaction. There were thoseWeb. Providing content will establish
that believed users would prefer gettingfamiliarity with your name (the "haven't I
their information from a computer rather thanheard of you?" effect) and enable you to
a person. Social networking is reallycement your expertise with your audience. You
something old made new by bringing it online.will then drive pre-qualified users to your
It turns out we humans still rely on othersite, who has already established interest in
humans and technology simply allows us towhat  you  have  to  sell.
expand the boundaries of our social networks.
Studies have proven what we already knew4.  Create  your  own  friendly  network.
intuitively, we pay attention to
recommendations  from  real  people.Link sharing with complementary products and
services is still a great way to expand your
Social search, viral marketing and socialsocial  network,  and  hence your visibility.
networking are not at all new concepts.
Social search is really the technology5. Build on your existing foundation. The
derivative of asking friends and colleaguestechnical aspect of search will not be
for recommendations. In the long ago, darkeliminated with the dawn of social search.
ages before we "googled", if you needed aRather social search will augment technical
mechanic you asked your neighbor, yoursearch. Thus, it is important to continue
colleagues and your friends for autilizing the tools and resources that drive
recommendation. We now google for mechanicstechnical search including optimization
and visit websites to gain information thattechniques  and  paid  inclusion.
will  help  us  in  our  decision.
6. Apply innovation directly to your site.
Social search will enable users to combineHere's an example: that we are using, and
the two for a robust result that combinesit's  a  free  service.
user driven content or the human element with
the power of technology. Pretty heady stuff,Summary:
when you contemplate the impact of this new
era  of  search.Social search will not entirely replace the
traditional technical driven search but does
What does all of this mean to the internetopen up yet another avenue for internet
marketer?marketers. One of the more exciting aspects
is that smaller businesses are better
The internet marketer's goals remain the samepositioned to make the most gains from the
- drive traffic and convert that traffic tosocial frontier. We have seen the power of
profitable  sales.the "regular Joe" community in driving site
popularity and outpacing Madison Avenue
Social search will not change the foundationmarketing  efforts.
of marketing but it will change the way in
which you present your information toYouTube, MySpace and Facebook owe their
generate leads. In other words, you willgrowth to the power of viral marketing. Big
still need to apply good old fashioned PublicBusiness has not yet mastered the art of
Relations and Marketing tactics to the newgetting up close and personal with its users
fangled Social Search Medium, fondly dubbedproviding savvy entrepreneurs with the
SMM  by  some.opportunity of a lifetime. By using the
simple techniques outlined in this article
Drive traffic to your site from social searchyou will be well poised to take advantage of
and  search  engine  optimizationthat  opportunity.
To take advantage of social search, the firstSocial  Marketing  Resources:
step is to develop a plan, and finding your
niche. Contrary to popular belief, the worldDigg, Wikipedia, Wikihow, Flickr,
is not your customer. Often the focus is onStumbleUpon, Newsvine, LinkedIn, Del.icio.us,
pure traffic results, but none of thatMySpace, Ma.
matters if you're not hitting your sales



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