3rd Party Site Presence and Internet Marketing

[LighthouseC]

An issue that I do not see discussed about much in Internet Marketing circles is the importance of establishing and developing a presence on third party sites other than through guest posting and I was wondering how much other internet marketers focus on this area and recommend this to clients.

I see many people wanting hiring internet marketers basically for SEO and the KPI's on which they are judged are SEO based outcomes (higher alexa rank, number of page 1 keywords, number of top 1, top 3 keywords etc).  I recently gave advice to someone who had very little time, very little money and very little SEO skills who wanted to rank in number 1 positions for their band for wedding and corporate bookings.  I basically showed them sites that were highly positioned in the SERPs where they could get develop a strong online profile and how this would work better than investing 3 hours a month badly into SEO.

Ultimately what businesses want is strong convertible leads and sales.  For many businesses that might be better established particularly where budgets are tight through other elements whether it is Tripadvisor rankings, presence in other 3rd party sites or in an Ebay store than through SEO for their own site.  Obviously for big brands with big budgets SEO is essential but as many keyword terms become increasingly competitive how important should referrals from 3rd party sites be in businesses internet marketing strategy and to what extent do you feel current internet marketing businesses identify and promote this need rather than simply working on improving ranking performance for keywords?

[MoosaHemani]

Interesting discussion! I would love to start with dividing the 3^rd party website in to different forms.

1. 3^rd party websites like Yelp.com and other Yellow pages websites
2. 3^rd party websites like trip adviser who allow limited niches to promote their services (niche related portal)
3. 3^rd part websites like SEOmoz who are the leaders in their industry and give you a chance to build your authority within the community over the period of time.

Option 1:

I think this is something here many SEO firms and freelancers are focusing already but i still think it needs more focus and concentration. If a business plays a vital role on 3^rd part websites like stay action, reply to questions and reviews and communicate with the clients on regular basis i believe this can seriously help businesses get some serious leads.

This will be a great option for local business who offers services within a limited area. Websites like Google Maps, Yelp and other yellow pages websites are great in that case...

Option 2:

Portals or websites like Trip Adviser or more are helpful but one need to spend some major time there... I personally don’t think that many people are investing their time on building strong presence on these websites, although business with limited online marketing budget should focus here specially websites from travel, Real Estate and hotel niches.

I think service providers (this goes to me too) should invest more time building strong presence there because i think many people use these kind of portals before making any decision so I think building strong presence will make a difference.

Option 3:

This is the most interesting and time taking at the same time. Websites like SEOmoz who are the industry leaders in their particular niche but does not offer SEO services are great place where you can build your brand. This can be possible by being active in the community, commenting to daily blog posts, writing guest posts on the blog and building strong and communication with the community not only on the platform but on other channels like twitter facebook and emails.

This will help you build yourself as an expert within the community and you can get a chance to get more leads for your business.

Hope this helps, love to listen your point of view on this...

[Zoolander]

I can't remember buying anything I found on page 1 of google. Search engines are usually part of the "investigative process" when making a decision.  I'm not really a "shopper" most things I already know what I want, are for business and it's at least a month before I first heard of it before actually buying.  The first point of interest for me is often not one source but something I have absorbed over time from various sources like how I noticed SEOmoz mentioned on Webhostingtalk by it's users.

Perhaps for some kind of business I am a worthwhile "consumer profile" but for something which requires less thought and it being more "what you see it what you get" (such as T-shirt designs?) search engines are more worthwhile.  So I think it can depend on the market and therefore type of customer.

In similar vein to long tail keyword, 3rd party sites, particularly established ones in their fields can offer a closer distance to purchase intention so to me are certainly a worthwhile part of my strategy.