Now, let’s assume you won the seo gold medal and are sitting on the top position in Google for your most important keywords, the same question can be asked “What now?”…

Michael Phelps actually answered this question in one interview he gave after his last win and said that he might now compete in different swimming styles. So basically “Try New Things”

In the wonderful world of SEO, winning the Gold doesn’t mean you can rest. Unlike swimming, in web marketing there are no limits to the number of gold medals you can have. There are an endless number of keywords (long and short tail) that are out there and every single one represents its own podium finish. Moreover, web marketing is a constantly growing and changing field which means that the gold you hold right now might not even carry you through the end of the day.

Whether the gold is getting top positions in Google, raising your traffic by 70% or increasing your online sales, there are many ways you can choose to achieve it.
Today one of the most popular ways to achieve your target is using Social media websites and online communities. Social media generally referred to as Web 2.0, can be a very rewarding way of achieving your online goals. It is however, also a demanding one.

Writing good and interesting titles, descriptions and choosing the most relevant keywords are only one aspect of the equation. The cliché “Content is King” remains true today and without content that will capture your readers attention and imagination, you’re going to be treading water To effectively use social media you need to be web 2.0 active.

As I’m sure we’ve all found out more then once, just posting content and forgetting about it doesn’t work. That’s the main reason many web marketers found Social Media to be disappointing when it didn’t deliver the traffic they thought it should.

A good Web 2.0 strategy must have at its core a well developed social persona. Someone that others can believe is real, relate to and most importantly want to keep in touch with.

For ongoing Web Marketing you need to not only bring in the masses, you also need to keep them coming back and bringing their friends along as well.

According to numerous surveys done over the past 2 years, and out of personal experience (unfortunately) I can say that most web 2.0 users have an instinctive dislike towards spammers and fake users, and to be perfectly honest that’s a good thing. That’s the quality check, spamguard, call it whatever you like.

Spammers are very easy to spot as are most of the fake user profiles. Most social sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Stumbleupon have a few unwritten rules, the first and most important one being “be real”: don’t spam and don’t promote yourself without having anything of value to add.

For example, if you’re watching a video about SEO, and you add a comment, then a link to your site will appear in your signature; which is the correct way of doing it.  Comments along the lines of “I have a great SEO site check it out at:  www.mysite.com” will not be received well and will be marked as spam.

Think before you add content to the social sites. Make sure it is not just self promotion but has real value to your would be site visitors and potential clients. People will respect you more, follow you and probably end up following you, twittering you or digging you.

Once you manage to find the right combination of quality content and marketing, the next important thing is to be consistent and persistent. Unless you want a one time only rise in traffic, you should be active online and let people know you’re out there not just to market yourself but also to interact and listen to others.

As your online community will grow and expand so will your ability to better market yourself and your site. It might take some time and hard work but it’s definitely worth it.
After all, if getting a Gold medal was easy it wouldn’t have any value.

Web 2.0 is defined as a term which describes the trend to enhance information sharing and users’ collaboration all over the web.
You probably already know that everyone today uses web 2.0 sites in order to increase traffic or to try and strengthen their authority. A link on Digg’s first page is every advertiser’s wet dream (and then some). The thing is, that web 2.0 links, as well as web 2.0 sites, are very dynamic and are constantly changing. Therefore, your results will peak like a really high cliff with a 90 degree drop on the other side- very high but for a short period of time.

When starting to build your SEO strategy plan try to follow the following steps:

1 – List the sites that you want to have presence in. These sites have to target your potential consumers/readers. Keep them on hand because it’s important to be able to measure what you do (remember the first rule of marketing, if you can’t measure it, then don’t do it).

2 – Create an entity that leaves its presence on relevant web 2.0 sites. Another option is create a company profile or a real profile. This entity has to be listed with consistent details and even an image, so it will appear real. If the content on each site is creative, interesting and original (no duplicates!!) then the comments, authority and buzz will follow. You’ve heard the cliché “Build them a field and they will come” right? Wrong. In today’s Web 2.0 world, the cliché should read “Build them a field with a winning team and free beer and dogs, and they will come, but then make sure they keep winning and the food and drink is still free”. These “web 2.0 listings” have to be constantly updated and you always have to look for new sites – Remember the peak principle!
Note: there are many web 2.0 specialists around the web that can create a link bait article which can, for example, take you to the first results in Digg.com. These services are pretty expensive (about $3000 a piece), but sometimes the exposure, traffic and links that you can gain by doing so is invaluable.

3 – Link from your website to your web 2.0 profiles so that everyone will see you have a significant presence on the web. Also, this makes all these listings look more reliable. As a marketing person/company, this activity can give you an added value in the eyes of potential costumers. As a B2C company, this presence looks fresh and different to your potential costumers to be.

4 – Follow your “Web 2.0 listings”, analyze them and improve them accordingly. (remember measure, measure, measure)
Web 2.0 presences are crucial to web marketing professionals, but like everything is marketing – you have to measure it and then optimize accordingly. You also have to be unique and original in everything you do, or as Seth Godin likes to say “Be Remarkable” as always.

A great site that lists most of the top web 2.0 sites is Go2Web2.0.com. You can use it as a resource of sites that might be relevant to what you’re trying to do. They’re a great Israeli initiative (and did you see that Page Rank)?

If you are interested in Web 2.0 packages, further details are provided here.