Small business SEO & Internet marketing strategy guide, 2012 (SEO & marketing strategy list)

You can learn more about how to leverage social media marketing for your business by reading the following articles:

• The top five tips that teach you how to rock social media
• Social influence trumps SEO on leading blogging and marketing sites
• How to properly calculate social media ROI
• 5 reasons why social is better than SEO

Many business in 2011 and the first part of 2012, especially large brands, have found, to their dismay, that being able to generate 100 000 FaceBook likes is effectively worthless without "engagement" - just because I click a "Like" button doesn't mean I'm going to spend my disposable income on your products and services.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to building a highly qualified and engaged social following. Building engaged social communities is specific to your business, industry and circumstances. It requires an understanding of your value offering, and market context.

But social media marketing is going to become more important! Don't ignore it just because it is hard to get off the ground.

Small business SEO and Internet marketing strategy for 2012

So here it is, based on the current state of search, SEO and social, we can make some pretty powerful deductions about how to move forward with the best SEO and Internet marketing strategy possible.

The keywords for small business SEO and marketing in 2012 are diversity, authority, and engagement.

Content diversity

Content needs to be diversified to cater for different needs now that direct product sale conversions are likely going to diminish with Google's product search taking the majority share of the pie.

Community discussions, reviews, human interest articles are good ways to get around Google product search and still offer value to readers, with the potential to convert.

SEO and Internet marketing diversity

Don't put all your faith in SEO. It's not clear what effects knowledge graph and product search will have. Combine that with the current algorithmic fluxes and, while SEO is hugely important, you should agree that having all your eggs in the proverbial SEO basket is probably not prudent.

Place emphasis on authority and engagement

Not only should small business diversify into social media, but the nature of small business content marketing is going to have to change. Look to put more emphasis on engagement and authority. The more a business can interact with people, the more likely you are to drive success.

Interaction shouldn't be limited to social networks either. Get people signed up to newsletter, get people commenting on blog posts and articles. If someone writes a great comment, take the opportunity to reply and engage with them.

Phew! Now it's your turn. Tell me what you think the next year is going to hold for small business SEO and Internet marketing. Is your brand or company diversifying its SEO and marketing strategies? Do you think this is all a storm in a teacup and that things will continue along with little to no change?