Familiarizing yourself with these digital skills will help build your audience and increase website traffic
I talk about the future quite frequently. It may get tiring to read, but it’s a topic worth keeping in mind, especially since it feels like evolutions in online publishing and the state of the Internet itself are rapidly taking place. The future will be here before you know it, and it’s not worth getting caught by surprise.
The digital skills I am referring to are not necessarily new, but aspects of them do change.
Digital Skills
SEO Campaign Management – The two most popular websites on the Internet today are search engines. The majority of Internet users are traveling the information super highway to find content that speaks to their interests and passions. Putting together SEO campaigns and participating in SEO campaign management will help you target the keywords your audience is searching for.
The “new” Google, know as Google Caffeine while in beta testing, has been updating its indexes much quicker since its release went live. The system is bringing in fresher content with searches, which means it’s even more important to continuously update your website with new, up-to-date search engine optimized content. You may experience a drop in search engine rank if you aren’t actively engaging in SEO campaign management.
SEO Copywriting – Including keywords into your copy, reaching a desired keyword density and allowing for your keywords to fit the flow of your article is a major part of SEO campaigns.
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Social Media – The Internet allows people to stay connected with family, friends and topics that interest them. Staying in touch with your audience is possible through social media, and will help build a reputation with your audience.
Recently I stumbled upon an article on Mashable that discusses how social media is changing the way people consume news online. A study found that 75% of news consumed online is from social media sites or email shared from others. Social networks help news consumers filter out the noise that they have no interest in while allowing the interesting news from friends and familiar sources get through.
Utilizing these networks in a personal, unobtrusive manner will help you connect to the people who share the same passions while broadening brand awareness.
Apps for mobile devices – According to NewMacOnline, there have been over 3 billion apps sold worldwide, and that is only for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Apps are hot, and the market is huge since mobile devices that support the platform are also popular.
The multimedia interactivity found in apps is where the evolution of technology has led us thus far. Harnessing this technology and bringing your content to it will open up a new world to your audience and allow them to experience the content they are already interested in while on the go in unique ways.
Content Management Systems – Many online publishers are already using content management systems (CMS), but for those who aren’t, it’s time to see which system will help your content the most, and which will be the easiest to use.
Our WordPress system offers a lot of plugins to customize your experience and help the process of creating content and publishing it to be more efficient. With platforms like WordPress being offered for free, you can sample the systems before digging too deep into your content creation.
For more on all of these digital skills, attend our Mequoda Summit Boston 2010, which will include workshops on all of these topics and more.