A smart business needs to know what is going on around it. Doing things like reading industry publications and sections of the newspaper helps you to keep tabs on the industry, on its customers, and on global finances. When half of your world is electronic, you need to find ways of keeping in touch with the relevant changes affecting the internet.

If your website plays any part in your business, you need to know about the environment in which that site exists. Obviously, if you’re considering search engine optimisation, you’ve already realised that internet users won’t simply flock to your pages, and you’ve realised that paid advertising has a limited shelf life. Search engine optimisation is built squarely on knowledge of user behaviour and is continued by a study of the patterns of behaviour around the net.

The initial optimisation period will give you a good idea of what’s happening around the internet… at that particular time. Three months, six months or a year down the track, things will have altered significantly. This is why many companies keep in touch with their SEO firm, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult about ongoing SEO. It’s a good idea to check in on the following areas for yourself, which act as pulse points for the lifeblood of the internet:

• Industry blogs. If your industry features some prominent bloggers, you’ve been given a gift. Fortunately, the popularity of blogging means that there are some really great blogs for most industries. Read through a few to discover which ones you like, then subscribe. Even when you don’t agree with what the blogger says, blogs provide valuable inside information that can change your industry. They’re called influential bloggers for a reason

• Internet analysis blogs. After you’ve found out which way your own industry is leaning, it’s a good idea to look at where the internet is going as a whole. SEO experts often read analytical blogs to keep up to date with developments. This enables them to set plans in place for when changes occur, like when Google heads out in a different direction on real-time search or mobile browsing

• Twitter, Digg, and other social media or social bookmarking sites. It’s not necessary to be an active participant in a social media network to access their ‘most popular tags’ list. Check this list every week to make note of what’s hot. To gain further insight, go a little deeper. Following the tweets of people in your industry, for example, enables you to eavesdrop on the gossip of your industry as it happens. Looking at the articles users bookmark from your industry is also a great idea

• Your comments pages and customer emails. Some of the best information about your business comes directly to your site in the form of customer comments. Most businesses will react to customer comments in the direct way in which the comments were addressed, user by user. Reviewing all of your comments as a whole will give you insight into specific trends in your industry and customer behaviour, including keyword changes

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