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Please could you folks give a rundown of what you think makes a great Korean site submission, and how best to go about submitting to Korean search engines.
My situation is I've got lots of experience in English site optimization and submission, and I've lived in Korea for 4 years and know the language and Internet landscape. What I've never actually done is submit to a Korean search engine before and I want to get it right. I've considered using a "professional" Korean SEO, but I'm not exactly thrilled by the rates and business models I've found (even though most Korean SEs are paid inclusion only) and I'd much rather gain a new skill myself.
Any tips and things I should watch out for when submitting, choosing categories, picking Korean keywords to optimize for and so on would be much appreciated. Thanks for your input!
Cheers,
Jeremy
tough one to answer actually. Conflict of interest. Its a small market here so those who have some insider tips and trickes will be somewhat reluctant with the details .... it wasn't easy to learn and it IS a small market. (to be clear: I do NOT work for an SEO company.;))
THAT SAID (hehe).....
I've posted similar before and some of this I'm sure you know but: for web site promotion in Korea the minimum promtion needed is (but not limited to):
ASIDE: it was unclear whether you were trying to AVOID registration fees (paid inclusion fees) in favor of SEO and some submission tips, so I will write accordingly (note: I do NOT work for a registration fee company either! lol).....
1) suck up the registration fees at as many sites as possible, (see way below)
2) if you can afford it, get SEO company to do it right (at least at first.) Though avoid automatic submission at all costs. If you dont' want an SEO company to manage your ongoing SEO maintanence...
3) apply same standards for SEO you would in the states
4) compliment your promotions with all the PPC services (only three available: zingu, google, and overkorea) or other paid-promotion channels (cpm etc). Paid channels are currently the most immediate and clear-cut way and often ONLY way to get listed for search (though be careful since CPM can SUPER SUPER expensive here).
5) Make your site pretty and slick...that IS important here. ("cute" is good too if not wildly inappropriate to your site).
6) Online guerrilla marketing here is done on Korean community sites. If you read and write korean well...then get off this site (lol ;)) and go to the Korean online cafes and community sites. I notice a growing number of Korean SEO community cafe's even.
7) Keep in mind, learning SEO here is fine and can be useful, but---at least CURRENTLY---much less than you may think. Mostly because, as I'm sure you know, organic web search results have been depricated to lower positions, different tabs or secondary pages in Korea long time ago (eg: in favor or Knowledge search and paid-listings etc). So even done well, SEO inherently does not hold the same relative importance as it does elsewhere in the world. EG: Look where do organic listing even appear on NHN? YIKES!
8) Networking Networking Networking......and more Networking. ;) This IS korea. If its 6 degrees of separation for the world, you dont' need to be here 4 years to know that its like 2 degrees of separation here. lol.
If you're asking....
Why pay the registration fees? (note: again, no, I do not work for a Korean portal site registration company either! lol)
1) In some cases, you will not even exist (or effectively not) without paying the submission fees first---regardless your optimization efforts. (unless you are planning on doing PPC--via Zingu, Goog, or OverKorea--or other forms traditional internet advertising--CPM, banner or otherwise.)
2) And frankly, if not done right at first (via SEO company or whatever company)...you may not get a second chance since as you know...some of the portals have a time limit to making changes to your submission. Its messed up, I know...but its the way it goes here. That is a good reason to go with an SEO company that has done it lots. Tips and tricks might not do that justice. ;). (again, I am NOT an SEO guy--just imo :))
3) There are other (important) reasons for why one should not avoid registering (and with an SEO company to do so)... but the reasons above are the most obvious. Like I said, I don't know how forthcoming they (or anyone) would want to be about the submission techniques though. Again, you might want to try Korean search engine community sites (as opposed to SEO companies) for that.
In general, SEO in Korea is great to do if you can...but imo, if you are serious about traffic...it can not be relied on as a single marketing method as it can be in the States (for example) and I don't think I'd want to risk trial and erroring it.
CAVEAT: Looking ahead...
who knows whether organic listings will take more importance again in Korea down the road (which would increase your incentive to learn Korean SEO)...and I've posted about that. For example, Google is making more obvious efforts in this market recently (they already provide organic web search for DAUM, for example, and have been slowly expanding their Korean distribution) and other Korean companies have loads of new search types coming out nowadays and that could change things again....
but that is the future and is still relative to what I just said above.
Up to you to decide the value of it now. ;)
my 2cents.
--GK
BTW, wondering what do you mean by "not thrilled by the business models" here? Do you mean SEO company business models here or the other multiple forms of other internet advertising available here? or something else?
Bill and GrendelKhan TSU, thanks ever so much for your responses, it's given me plenty to go on and I'm very grateful for your posts. I think I will try it on my own, after all however unique the Korean market is they are only form submissions, with care I should be able to learn how to get them right and hopefully do it right first time. Thanks again and all the best,
Regards,
Jeremy
Cheers again,
Jeremy
