Linkerati the Pawns of Social Media
Posted on April 6th, 2007by Michael Gray in Social Networks
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Last week on Lee Odden’s blog he made a post about Crowdsourcing and Subvert and Profit. However what I’d really like to talk about is comment made by Simon of Bon Prix since it’s something I hear/read quite often:
Social networking sites have their place, not everyone wants the entertainment 18-24 year old segment anyways, the richer pickings are the older demographic.
To address that we need revisit the concept of the Linkerati
To get an understand of exactly what the Linkerati are we’ll turn to Rand of SEOMoz (side note:when no one else is putting out quality videos there is less competition and you’re more likely to get embedded/linked by someone else)
With social media unless you are selling things that directly appeal to a sites audience (like a 2GB USB jump drives for $4.99 in the tech deals section of Digg) you really aren’t going to be making many direct sales. What you are trying to do is get the attention of the “entertainment 18-24 year old segment” Simon mentions. Why go after the non affluent who may not be your target market, because they are more likely to be the Linkerati.
Sure websites are owned by people of all ages, and bloggers span all demographics, but the the Digg/Netscape/StumbleUpon audience is more likely to be out link friendly than the guy who runs a B2B website selling industrial refrigeration units.
While I shouldn’t have to say this I will, links are not only the currency of the web, but they are a major factor in helping your rankings. Don’t neglect the basics when it comes to link building, directories and trade organizations are critical, but there comes a time when you might run out of linking options, and that’s where social media fits into the picture.
Is writing a good piece of linkbait and getting 50 links going to matter, probably not. Is doing it 10-15 times a year and getting 50 links each time going to matter, you bet it is. And if you’re the only one in your sector playing the social game you have an unfair linking advantage.
In the end it’s all like a chess game, and the Linkerati are the pawns on the board, much less powerful by comparison to the other pieces. However used together in support roles you can develop stronger more complex strategies, improving your overall position.
Sphere: Related Content
April 7th, 2007 at 9:37 am
This is an excellent article. That is one of the things about blogs that I like so much, you can get some solid advice and also have confirmation of things you have suspected all along.
“note:when no one else is putting out quality videos there is less competition and you’re more likely to get embedded/linked by someone else)”
I absolutely agree with that. I have close to 100 videos SEO related on my domain and I watch every single one of them before i embed it. I also give links to those people because in my opinion, they deserve it for creating quality videos.
“but there comes a time when you might run out of linking options, and that’s where social media fits into the picture”
I had been struggling with this from a business perspective. Trying to find a way to get “social” with respect to promoting business needs in a positive manner can often be a hazzard for my niche. However, I was able to find a few ways that I could benefit from the social end of it.
The following is only one way.
Places like mybloglog are a virtual stomping ground of bloggers that can write or review products and services. I have been occasionally offering “free things” business related if I could get an honest review about it. Its better than payperpost and the like, because I am not paying them to do it at all, just asking for honesty. Some may be surpised how many people are willing to do this…
April 7th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I forgot to add–
About the video rankings and no competition, you are correct. Do a Gvideo search for competitive intelligence and the 2 video that have the highest rannkings are not the best in my opinion. I am not bashing that person in the least because I made them. I just know that there is no competition for that keyword and happen to rank for it in Google video search and that is most likely the only reason they are there. Sorry about the double comment.
April 7th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Nice way of explaining the linkerati, the people who you want to target with link bait articles or games.
What stood out more is how Rand compared Yahoo vs Google as Traditional Offline Media vs Online Media, where Google is the Online Media delivering targeted results upon a search. And to gain that trust with online media, the more linkerati, the better.