Obsolete SEO, Social Media & Content Marketing Tactics

You don’t have to be in business on the web very long before you start realizing that successful SEO, content marketing and social media tactics shift on an almost daily basis.
Unfortunately, clinging on to obsolete tactics, especially the ones that once worked so well for you, is the online equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot.
Giving up on strategies that once drove revenue can be tough, but it’s also necessary. If you’ve been using any of these out-of-date SEO, social media or content marketing strategies, you may be doing more harm than good.
Obsolete SEO
Obsessing Over Links – In the pre-Penguin days SEOs practically tripped over each other trying to build up as many links as they possibly could.
While links are still important, more is not necessarily better on today’s web. Rather than focusing on link quantity, sharp SEOs should be focusing on link quality. A few backlinks from a high-end authoritative site are much more valuable than dozens of links from lower-quality sites.
SEO is a Standalone Strategy – There’s a lot more to driving traffic these days than simply focusing on on-page SEO.
Climbing up the page rankings on today’s web involves building up solid social media profiles on a variety of social networks.
While there’s no question that this involves a lot more work, there’s also no question that on-page SEO is no longer a standalone strategy.
Content Marketing
Long-Winded Blog Posts – Bigger is not always, especially when it comes to blog postings. Content marketing guru Neil Patel points out that plenty of sites, like Upworthy, have found success with posts that are less than 100 words.
Quality trumps quantity in the content marketing world and makes life a whole lot easier for your readers who want to share your postings.
You might also find that focusing your thoughts into a short, hard-hitting post, takes less time than drafting the web-equivalent of War & Peace.
Blog, Blog, and Blog Some More – Casino affiliates love spreading the word about their partner sites but, once again, less is actually more when it comes to content marketing.
If you’re cranking out post after post in the hope that something will hit the target, you’re probably creating Panda bait, not link bait. So take it easy on the postings and just focus on a few, high-quality posts.
Social Media
Too Many Social Share Buttons – The social media world has exploded over the past five years with new networks springing up on an almost daily basis.
While the temptation is exploit as many of these networks with social share buttons as possible, reality would tend to disagree.
Not only are too many social share buttons confusing for readers, they can also slow down site performance.
The best move you can make is to post up one or two social share buttons for the one or two social networks that you’re active on.
Too Much Self Promotion – Most social media users have a very limited tolerance for self-promoters. While a certain degree of hype is expected, it needs to be served up with quality content and meaningful interaction.
Bottom line, nobody wants to share your promotions on social media.