Trevor Clendenin Social Media | Accessible Web Design | St. Croix, USVI

According to Wikipedia…

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the methodization of social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO is one of two online methods of website optimization; the other method is search engine optimization or SEO.

There are two categories of SMO methods:

(a) Social media features added to the content itself, including: RSS feeds, social news and sharing buttons, user rating and polling tools, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos

(b) Promotional activities in social media aside from the content being promoted, including: blogging, commenting on other blogs, participating in discussion groups, and posting status updates on social networking profiles

Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines.

Social Media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.

Social Media Optimisation (SMO), is not limited to marketing and brand building. Increasingly smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy (ie. product/service development, recruiting, employee engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business development and more).

By Kristine Schachinger |  Search Engine Watch

As someone who has been building websites for over 11 years, I can tell you the two areas that are the least understood and the most maligned are compliance and accessibility.

Seen as a type of website welfare, only for the few, they are often ignored as an “only if I have to” or “only if I’m sued” addition to most websites. But following W3C compliance and the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) Level AA can help you reach an untapped $13 trillion market, and also reduce your IT costs, ready you for mobile, improve your Google quality score, and organic search engine placements.

Also, adding the accessibility guidelines would require only 2 percent more effort if you’re doing everything else right, so you could have just one website to meet all your needs. (Note: there are some sites where the functionality is so complex a mobile site will be necessary to present users with paired down functionality. However, most sites can be transformed to work with smart phones and dumb phone mobile devices without creating a second site.)

No way you say? Yep, way. Here’s how. Read the rest of this entry »

I am happy to announce that, after a long application process, I was granted a sole-proprietor’s license by the United States Virgin Islands Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs for the Development of Computer Programs/Systems within the Territory. The license became effective on June 25, 2010 and is valid for one year. I certainly anticipate a long and prosperous career as a web designer and social media consultant here in St. Croix, and hope that the “re-licensing” process each year isn’t quite as “thorough.” However, it is an exciting time to be part of the technology transformation that is happening in the territory, and I look forward to working with both private and public organizations to celebrate our unique culture and way of life in the digital age.