Regular content updates have always been key to any successful organic SEO campaign but not it is more important than ever with the recent roll out of Google’s new indexing system, Caffeine.

When it comes to SEO, content that is regularly updated is a MUST. I know what you are thinking, “yeah, yeah, you’re one to talk”. True enough but just because I have not been heeding my own advice of late does not mean that it is not sound all the same. One of the keys to any successful SEO program is regular updates. Just like with a city, you can lay all of the scalable infrastructure you like but if you do not do anything to maintain what you have created all your good work will eventually break down leaving nature to reclaim your land. The same is true of your SEO and you don’t want all of that effort to go to waste. You spent time researching keywords, optimizing your content, and tagging all of your images but unless you are regularly updating your content your rankings are slipping day by day while your competitors, who are updating their content regularly, are slowly but surely erasing your existence from the top tiers of “The” List.

Whenever you set out into new online marketing territory you need to make sure to consider the old when developing the new. Whether you are venturing into blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Technorati, del.icio.us or any of the other myriad of social media outlets out there you need to make sure to always maximize your exposure. There are multiple ways to do this but whenever possible it is always best to get back to basics.

When you set off to make your mark in social media there are three things that you can do to help maximize your impact.

An important part of any company is a cohesive brand identity. This is an area that is sorely lacking in many small businesses. Sure, their print collateral is tied to their print ads but does that design identity follow to their website? Maybe, but in most cases that is where it stops. Once people start venturing into social media they just take what they are given identity be damned and that is a huge mistake. It is important to make sure that while you are venturing into new and different areas with your marketing efforts that your brand is working for you.

With social media, as with many things, it is best to wade in slowly and get used to the water rather than just heading straight for the high dive and hoping for the best. There are many places where you can get your feet wet and it is best to just choose one or two to start and see where it takes you as you begin to develop your full social media plan.

Giving out “Freebies” to potential customers is nothing new in marketing. From the sausage lady at the grocery store to the guy at the trade show throwing t-shirts to anyone he can see, businesses have been using the art of the FREE Gift as a means to a sales end. Social media is no different. One of the best ways to attract new leads is by giving people a reason to want to get to know you. If you offer something of value at no charge and without expectation, you can begin to develop a following of people with similar interests and some of those interests may be you.

You’ve heard all the buzz about social media and now you want to throw your hat in the ring, so where should you start? You cannot throw a mouse these days without hitting a self-proclaimed expert on social media but with all the conflicting views on how things should be done the best place to start is to get back to basics with a few simple social media best practices.

When developing your companies social media strategy, the first thing you need to determine is your company philosophy (for lack of a better term) for its use. Many old school marketers (as well as self-styled social media mavens) push the idea of social media simply as an additional channel for positioning a brand but it can be so much more. Don’t get me wrong, this type of social media marketing has its uses and on its own can yield the awareness and support you seek but it should not be the end all be all of your strategy. It should be but a part of a more comprehensive immersion that can affect the company at a cellular level (and no I don’t mean phone).

So you are ready to go with your new site: You have the perfect domain, you have set up hosting, you have found a fabulous designer but you are stumped when it comes to adding the content to your site. So what do you do? Well, every site is different and what works for company A will not necessarily work for company B so that is a difficult question to answer in absolutes but when in doubt, always go back to basics. There are certain types of information that most websites have in common and they are a good start for any site outline: