What is credibility? According to the dictionary it means; "The quality, capability, or power to elicit belief." In short, it means my ability to convey to my followers that I am a truthful and honest guy.
You can trust and believe what I say. How do I get you, my readers to believe this about me? I am going to give you ten steps to build credibility with your followers.
1. Verify that the information on my site is accurate
You can do this by getting third party support for the information you present. When you give links to your source material, even if people don't go to those links, you are showing your confidence and trust in what you're giving out.
2. Show Everyone That You Are Real
We live in an age of scams, inaccuracies, and lies. Showing a physical address, photos of products or offices, and a legitimate website for your organization should boast your credibility.
3. Do You Have Experts On Your Team?
Be sure to give their accreditation. People want to be sure you are affiliated with a respected organization. Make sure they know that you are. Don't link with sites that are not credible. Remember, you are who you are by association.
4. Show That These Experts Are Honest and Trustworthy
Show who they are through some videos, images, or trainings. Let people see that the leadership and training of your organization is solid and true. Don't be afraid to show the value of your group.
5. Put Your Contact Information Out There
So many people are timid and shy about this. You're running a business, how are people supposed to get in contact with you if you don't have an email, phone number, or some other way to get in touch with you?
6. Make Your Site Professional With The Right Look
Set your site up to look the part and create the image that you are trying to portray. You have just seconds to gain the attention of someone who is surfing the net.
7. Make Your Site Easy To Walk Through and Use
Research shows that if it's hard for someone to maneuver around and see all there is to see, they won't stay long and they won't be coming back.
8. Update Your Content Often
Not only do the search engines give you more credibility when you do this, but visitors and your followers will also. Fresh new information will keep the traffic lines flowing.
9. Use Promotional Ads Sparingly
Remember you are branding you, so try not to bombard people with too many promotions and ads. Keep it to a minimum. You don't want people feeling like their walking through the middle of the yellow pages. Keep them with lots of valuable content.
10. Avoid Mistakes - Even The Tiny Little Ones
Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine. It's also important to keep your site up and running. You can loose a lot if your site is down for any length of time.
If you can implement these ten simple steps and be consistent with your efforts, your site will be visited quite frequently, your followers will increase, and your search engine rankings will start to rise.
Remember, consistency is the key. Don't just start and do it for a month or two, keep at it and you will see results.
Try these ten steps and please leave a comment about the results that you received. I would love to hear from you.
About the Author: Brian Gosur - After thirty five successful years at Ford Motor Company, Brian Gosur has a new career as an entrepreneur, network marketer, and internet marketing coach. To learn more about him, visit his website at http://www.bgosur.com.
Google Instant - Implications For SEO & Internet Marketing
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
While reading Harry McCracken's rather insightful article on Google Instant in PCWorld, I was reminded once again, how narrowly focused my own thinking has become in regards to Google. I keep forgetting, not everyone is into SEO or Internet Marketing (lucky dogs), and that Google search has a function outside of SEO.
I keep forgetting that the general public actually uses Google for online search, there are millions of web users out there who have been using Google Instant to find out the weather, the latest Lady Gaga outfit or which flat-screen HDTV to buy? Of course, I know this to be the real function of Google, but if you're a full-time search engine marketer, your perspective is solidly aligned to all the SEO elements - keyword rankings, link building and content placement in the most dominant search engine in the world.
Basically, you will be more concerned with how Google Instant will impact those top keyword rankings, your click through rates and most importantly, what effect will it have on your conversion rates and sales? More specifically, how does this instant search impact the display of your listings in Google and what are the long-term ramifications this instant "real time" display will have on your online marketing?
There are even some so-called experts which say Google Instant will be the end of SEO. This is a rather foolish notion since the underlying structure of using optimized strategies to obtain top rankings in Google or any other search engine for that matter, has not changed. We still have the emphasis on quality content, high quality backlinks and on-page ranking factors.
In the background nothing has changed, in the foreground everything has changed. Well, somewhat.
Google Instant is a game changer for online marketers simply because it changes "How" your listings are displayed. Not only is the faster speed a factor but Google is guessing or rather dictating what the web surfer is searching for so Google's influence on what's displayed has increased 10-fold. They are displaying results not only based on rankings BUT on what their data tells them you're looking for? How big a role this other compiled data and web users' histories play in these suggestions only Google knows, but to the online marketer all this is somewhat worrisome.
Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google has been quoted as saying, "Never underestimate the power of fast. Quick, quick, quick - we want to help you right now... we can understand things like what you really meant."
Only time will tell what effect this "jumping the gun" or "making up your mind for you" will have on Internet marketing. The long-lasting effect of Google imposing its results on the web searcher will no doubt have some strong impacts on web marketing. Getting those first suggestions when a surfer types in just one or two letters... will become the real money-makers in terms of online traffic and sales.
Those companies and products which pop-up first will gain in market share and importance, but hasn't this always been the case with getting those first place keyword rankings in Google? Yes, but now Google is giving the searcher options and planting seeds/suggestions, which Google has done in the past but not at this speed and to this extent. The implications for online marketing could be enormous, assuming of course, web surfers actually use this function because Google does give users the option of turning off Instant search. In our hurried fast-paced world, one would reason, web searchers would not turn off this function, although if your Internet connection is too slow, Google will automatically turn off Instant search for you.
From a marketing angle, webmasters must now note Google's keyword suggestions which quickly pop-up and target them in their SEO efforts. Analyzing and targeting which keyword phrases Google are displaying in your niche market will be vital to capturing the majority of the traffic. Surfers will click on Google's suggestions to find what they're looking for on the web. Getting top rankings for those 4 or 5 suggestions will become important if an online marketer or webmaster wants to cover/corner all the search territory in their niche. Whether you actually target these keywords would really be determined by their commercial intent probability which can be discovered by using Microsoft's Adcenter Laps (http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/) and of course, the amount of traffic each keyword gets each month. (Try here: https://adwords.google.co! m/select/KeywordToolExternal).
Another area of concern has to do with the ever decreasing space for organic listings on the new Google Instant interface. With the drop-down menu and depending upon how many paid listings are shown, there may only be room for 3 listings instead of five or more above the fold. Keep in mind, we are mainly talking about lucrative keyword phrases which will also usually have three paid Adwords listings in the spots where organic search results were formerly displayed. Searchers are lazy, they will probably not scroll down, especially if they see different listings popping up as they narrow down their search. So your SEO has probably gotten much harder since you will now have to aim for the top 3 spots - thanks Google.
Of course, savvy online marketers know the real gold is in the long-tail keyword phrases which surfers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Google Instant could possibly play havoc on this whole process because before the searcher finishes typing in the long 4 or even 5 word phrases, they would be exposed to maybe 4 or 5 pages of Google listings... chances are great that searchers will click on one of these listings before they finish typing, especially if the listing contains a part of the searched for phrase.
Marketers will have to closely analyze their own web stats and conversion rates in regards to Google Instant. I am seeing little change in my own online marketing... traffic has dropped on some sites and risen on others, subscription rates are up and sales are steady. What really concerns me is the fact that Google may not only be pre-judging their rankings but also your mind. They are playing a much bigger role in how you decide which listing you click. Granted, this is probably drawn from unbiased data but will the influence of top-brand companies be more dominant in Google's Instant results?
Another general concern, will the display of so many listings make it harder for your site or page to be clicked? Will giving the searcher so many options so quickly, lower your chances of getting that click-thru, even if you have the top spot in Google? The laws of probability and human nature says your chances have diminished somewhat in this new instant search environment. Not good news if your livelihood depends upon getting that click.
However, many of these changes and no matter how fast Google gives you their search results, will not change the fundamental principles of good SEO practices. Keyword positioning will still get you to the number one spot in Google for your chosen phrase if you have the time and resources to create quality content, build quality one-way backlinks and use good on-page optimization. Besides the smaller emphasis on organic traffic, the only other real concern is the degree to which Google will use their suggestions and how much those suggestions are based not on SEO ranking factors but on users' histories and compiled data. Even with this concern, Google Instant, even at warp speed, does not negate the importance of getting those top rankings. For many search engine marketers, like myself, it's business as usual. Full speed ahead.
About the Author: Titus Hoskins - All opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author who is a full time search engine marketer with numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing: internet marketing tools or try here internet marketing.
I keep forgetting that the general public actually uses Google for online search, there are millions of web users out there who have been using Google Instant to find out the weather, the latest Lady Gaga outfit or which flat-screen HDTV to buy? Of course, I know this to be the real function of Google, but if you're a full-time search engine marketer, your perspective is solidly aligned to all the SEO elements - keyword rankings, link building and content placement in the most dominant search engine in the world.
Basically, you will be more concerned with how Google Instant will impact those top keyword rankings, your click through rates and most importantly, what effect will it have on your conversion rates and sales? More specifically, how does this instant search impact the display of your listings in Google and what are the long-term ramifications this instant "real time" display will have on your online marketing?
There are even some so-called experts which say Google Instant will be the end of SEO. This is a rather foolish notion since the underlying structure of using optimized strategies to obtain top rankings in Google or any other search engine for that matter, has not changed. We still have the emphasis on quality content, high quality backlinks and on-page ranking factors.
In the background nothing has changed, in the foreground everything has changed. Well, somewhat.
Google Instant is a game changer for online marketers simply because it changes "How" your listings are displayed. Not only is the faster speed a factor but Google is guessing or rather dictating what the web surfer is searching for so Google's influence on what's displayed has increased 10-fold. They are displaying results not only based on rankings BUT on what their data tells them you're looking for? How big a role this other compiled data and web users' histories play in these suggestions only Google knows, but to the online marketer all this is somewhat worrisome.
Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google has been quoted as saying, "Never underestimate the power of fast. Quick, quick, quick - we want to help you right now... we can understand things like what you really meant."
Only time will tell what effect this "jumping the gun" or "making up your mind for you" will have on Internet marketing. The long-lasting effect of Google imposing its results on the web searcher will no doubt have some strong impacts on web marketing. Getting those first suggestions when a surfer types in just one or two letters... will become the real money-makers in terms of online traffic and sales.
Those companies and products which pop-up first will gain in market share and importance, but hasn't this always been the case with getting those first place keyword rankings in Google? Yes, but now Google is giving the searcher options and planting seeds/suggestions, which Google has done in the past but not at this speed and to this extent. The implications for online marketing could be enormous, assuming of course, web surfers actually use this function because Google does give users the option of turning off Instant search. In our hurried fast-paced world, one would reason, web searchers would not turn off this function, although if your Internet connection is too slow, Google will automatically turn off Instant search for you.
From a marketing angle, webmasters must now note Google's keyword suggestions which quickly pop-up and target them in their SEO efforts. Analyzing and targeting which keyword phrases Google are displaying in your niche market will be vital to capturing the majority of the traffic. Surfers will click on Google's suggestions to find what they're looking for on the web. Getting top rankings for those 4 or 5 suggestions will become important if an online marketer or webmaster wants to cover/corner all the search territory in their niche. Whether you actually target these keywords would really be determined by their commercial intent probability which can be discovered by using Microsoft's Adcenter Laps (http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/) and of course, the amount of traffic each keyword gets each month. (Try here: https://adwords.google.co! m/select/KeywordToolExternal).
Another area of concern has to do with the ever decreasing space for organic listings on the new Google Instant interface. With the drop-down menu and depending upon how many paid listings are shown, there may only be room for 3 listings instead of five or more above the fold. Keep in mind, we are mainly talking about lucrative keyword phrases which will also usually have three paid Adwords listings in the spots where organic search results were formerly displayed. Searchers are lazy, they will probably not scroll down, especially if they see different listings popping up as they narrow down their search. So your SEO has probably gotten much harder since you will now have to aim for the top 3 spots - thanks Google.
Of course, savvy online marketers know the real gold is in the long-tail keyword phrases which surfers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Google Instant could possibly play havoc on this whole process because before the searcher finishes typing in the long 4 or even 5 word phrases, they would be exposed to maybe 4 or 5 pages of Google listings... chances are great that searchers will click on one of these listings before they finish typing, especially if the listing contains a part of the searched for phrase.
Marketers will have to closely analyze their own web stats and conversion rates in regards to Google Instant. I am seeing little change in my own online marketing... traffic has dropped on some sites and risen on others, subscription rates are up and sales are steady. What really concerns me is the fact that Google may not only be pre-judging their rankings but also your mind. They are playing a much bigger role in how you decide which listing you click. Granted, this is probably drawn from unbiased data but will the influence of top-brand companies be more dominant in Google's Instant results?
Another general concern, will the display of so many listings make it harder for your site or page to be clicked? Will giving the searcher so many options so quickly, lower your chances of getting that click-thru, even if you have the top spot in Google? The laws of probability and human nature says your chances have diminished somewhat in this new instant search environment. Not good news if your livelihood depends upon getting that click.
However, many of these changes and no matter how fast Google gives you their search results, will not change the fundamental principles of good SEO practices. Keyword positioning will still get you to the number one spot in Google for your chosen phrase if you have the time and resources to create quality content, build quality one-way backlinks and use good on-page optimization. Besides the smaller emphasis on organic traffic, the only other real concern is the degree to which Google will use their suggestions and how much those suggestions are based not on SEO ranking factors but on users' histories and compiled data. Even with this concern, Google Instant, even at warp speed, does not negate the importance of getting those top rankings. For many search engine marketers, like myself, it's business as usual. Full speed ahead.
About the Author: Titus Hoskins - All opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author who is a full time search engine marketer with numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing: internet marketing tools or try here internet marketing.
Link Building - Do It Right Or Don't Do It At All
Link building is a tricky deal. Links may either shoot up your website popularity or raise red flags with search engines standards and make your site slide down in search results.
But why is it that link building cuts both ends when it comes to website optimization and what's the point behind it all?
Years ago link building was just about getting as many links as one could. But the times have changed and link building is a different beast today. Now Google makes everyone who is engaged in link building process sweat the big stuff. It practices the quality approach evaluating each link to numerous criteria to surface the sites having only premium quality backlinks profiles.
That's why every website promoter must keep in mind: one must either do link building right or don't do it at all.
However some folks are tempted to get quick results overnight. They utilize link building practices that may actually hurt their SEO campaigns a great deal over time. Here is the list of 5 commandments that will help you avoid committing 5 deadly link building sings.
# 1 Keep it relevant
No matter how many links are pointing to your website they won't mean squat if they are sitting on irrelevant industry websites. The point is that Google tries to think like an ordinary website visitor. If a visitor sees the link pointing, let's say, to the website about second-hand cars on the site about dieting pills he is unlikely to click it.
Google acts the same way that's why such a link is not going to bring any SEO benefit. Google made large strides to enhance relevancy criteria in its algo, so that unscrupulous website promoters can't blanket links across vast amounts of irrelevant sites any more.
# 2 Check who your neighbors are
Always take care of your web-neighborhood. Keep away from the places called Link Farms or FFA sites! It may be tempting to get some links fast and free but that may slash your link building efforts and you'll have to start everything from scratch.
Neighborhood with sites that have bad reputation (e.g. porn or spam distributing websites) can negatively reflect on your website's rankings. Google may automatically assume that you are one of the bad guys and lower your positions in search results.
# 3 Avoid mass link exchange
Never rush when running link building. If you send mass link exchange requests you may get the reputation of a spammer. And if you get lots of links within a short time period that may raise suspicion with search engines as they consider this a counterfeit way of getting to the top result pages. Keep your link building natural, don't run link exchange at high speed and make sure you exchange links with really worthy websites.
# 4 Properly place your links
One shouldn't get links pointing to their homepages only. Getting deep links to any other webpage may significantly improve your website rankings. The approximate ratio of all links on a website's backlink profile should vary between 30-40% of links pointing to a homepage and 60-70% being deep links.
# 5 Don't forget about the anchor text
The backlinks with the right anchor text can help search engines understand what your website is about. Anchor text is like the nuggets of gold that search engines look for in a river of content. If there are lots of backlinks pointing to your website with the appropriate anchor text that may significantly increase the chances to get high rankings in search results.
And mind that doing careful backlink research and planing out link building activities few steps ahead, not only lets you make your link building campaign manageable, but also keeps your link building program on track.
Besides there are lots of SEO tools that can be a real leg-up in link building. They can help you run all-rounded competition research to discover the juiciest link sources, evaluate each links in terms of SEO-usefulness and manage all your links. Among the most popular links for link building are IBP, SEO PowerSuite and Market Samurai.
About the Author: Patrick Mccord - Visit this site to discover cutting edge SEO tools for link building. Download SEO PowerSuite for free.
But why is it that link building cuts both ends when it comes to website optimization and what's the point behind it all?
Years ago link building was just about getting as many links as one could. But the times have changed and link building is a different beast today. Now Google makes everyone who is engaged in link building process sweat the big stuff. It practices the quality approach evaluating each link to numerous criteria to surface the sites having only premium quality backlinks profiles.
That's why every website promoter must keep in mind: one must either do link building right or don't do it at all.
However some folks are tempted to get quick results overnight. They utilize link building practices that may actually hurt their SEO campaigns a great deal over time. Here is the list of 5 commandments that will help you avoid committing 5 deadly link building sings.
# 1 Keep it relevant
No matter how many links are pointing to your website they won't mean squat if they are sitting on irrelevant industry websites. The point is that Google tries to think like an ordinary website visitor. If a visitor sees the link pointing, let's say, to the website about second-hand cars on the site about dieting pills he is unlikely to click it.
Google acts the same way that's why such a link is not going to bring any SEO benefit. Google made large strides to enhance relevancy criteria in its algo, so that unscrupulous website promoters can't blanket links across vast amounts of irrelevant sites any more.
# 2 Check who your neighbors are
Always take care of your web-neighborhood. Keep away from the places called Link Farms or FFA sites! It may be tempting to get some links fast and free but that may slash your link building efforts and you'll have to start everything from scratch.
Neighborhood with sites that have bad reputation (e.g. porn or spam distributing websites) can negatively reflect on your website's rankings. Google may automatically assume that you are one of the bad guys and lower your positions in search results.
# 3 Avoid mass link exchange
Never rush when running link building. If you send mass link exchange requests you may get the reputation of a spammer. And if you get lots of links within a short time period that may raise suspicion with search engines as they consider this a counterfeit way of getting to the top result pages. Keep your link building natural, don't run link exchange at high speed and make sure you exchange links with really worthy websites.
# 4 Properly place your links
One shouldn't get links pointing to their homepages only. Getting deep links to any other webpage may significantly improve your website rankings. The approximate ratio of all links on a website's backlink profile should vary between 30-40% of links pointing to a homepage and 60-70% being deep links.
# 5 Don't forget about the anchor text
The backlinks with the right anchor text can help search engines understand what your website is about. Anchor text is like the nuggets of gold that search engines look for in a river of content. If there are lots of backlinks pointing to your website with the appropriate anchor text that may significantly increase the chances to get high rankings in search results.
And mind that doing careful backlink research and planing out link building activities few steps ahead, not only lets you make your link building campaign manageable, but also keeps your link building program on track.
Besides there are lots of SEO tools that can be a real leg-up in link building. They can help you run all-rounded competition research to discover the juiciest link sources, evaluate each links in terms of SEO-usefulness and manage all your links. Among the most popular links for link building are IBP, SEO PowerSuite and Market Samurai.
About the Author: Patrick Mccord - Visit this site to discover cutting edge SEO tools for link building. Download SEO PowerSuite for free.
The Top 7 Facebook and Twitter Strategies That Are Working Right Now
One of the great things about the work I do is that I have a bird's eye view of what's working and what's not when it comes to social media. Every so often I like to give sort of a "state of the union" on Facebook and Twitter best practices, because as I am sure you know, social media is constantly growing, changing and evolving.
As you'll see, some of the strategies I am recommending are tried and true-they have been working since day one and will probably continue to for the considerable future.
However, there may be a few here that you've never considered-or may even be surprised by. But they are what I see as being the biggest keys to success and results for business owners on the two hottest social networks on the planet: Facebook and Twitter.
1. Find your peeps.
What this means is that you want to become part of the community you are looking to serve. The first step of course is to be clear on whom it is you want to serve and what problem you are solving for them. Once you know that, the goal is to go where they are hanging out.
There are specific tools you can use to easily find and interact with your target market. Two of my favorites for Twitter are wefollow.com and search.twitter.com.
2. Concentrate on conversing and building relationships, instead of broadcasting and selling.
One of the most common yet biggest mistakes that people make when they are first introduced to social media is to focus on pushing their product or service in a spammy way. That approach fails miserably in social media because most people are there to build relationships and interact.
There's nothing wrong with letting others know what's going on with you or your business sometimes--just be sure to intersperse your tweets or Facebook updates with some two-way conversation.
3. Use a Facebook personal profile AND a Facebook business page TOGETHER.
This might be a little "controversial" - and don't get me wrong, your business SHOULD have a Page -- but when you have a personal profile, you are able to interact with other people much more easily.
As a business Page, a Page can't go comment on another person's Wall or profile or in their Group or on THEIR Page AS that Page. You are really contained inside the space of your own Page. This might be something to consider because a lot of the magic of Facebook and the relationship-building and rapport-building comes from that ability to interact.
4. Cross-post and cross promote.
Once you've decided to make social media a part of your marketing strategy, you don't want to keep it to yourself.
There are lots of ways to spread the word, for example: you'll want to advertise your social presence on your blog, add links to your email signature and use one social media platform to post to another.
5. Use a social media dashboard like Hootsuite and other productivity tools to accomplish more in less time.
Hootsuite.com is my hands-down favorite, free social media tool, and the reason why is because it does so many different things. For example, you can use it to update many social networks at once, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; you can use it to pre-schedule tweets and status updates and more.
6. Get them on the list.
In most cases, people aren't going to buy from you right off of sites like Facebook and Twitter. You need to shift your thinking from "how can I get this person to buy from me or hire me now?" to "how can I bring this person into my community and strengthen the relationship with them on an ongoing basis?"
One of the best ways to do this is to offer people a way to provide their email address via your blog or website so that you have permission to keep in touch and build an ongoing relationship with them.
7. Measure and track your social media results.
Measuring the ROI of social media isn't exactly cut and dry. I am often asked how you can tell whether the time you've spent on social media activities is really making a difference.
Some of the best metrics? Blog comments, blog subscribers, newsletter subscribers, social media profile engagement, number of friends and followers and website traffic to name a few.
No matter who your target market is, you can be sure that at least some segment of them is using social media. The important thing is to understand that social media is a great way to get in front of that target audience.
And remember, you may not be able to equate your interactions to dollars now, but what you are doing is planting seeds which can have big payoffs later on.
Most of the strategies I've mentioned here aren't really "strategies" unless you keep applying them over time-so stick with it to reap those results you've been searching for.
About the Author: Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. For free tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com/subscribe.
As you'll see, some of the strategies I am recommending are tried and true-they have been working since day one and will probably continue to for the considerable future.
However, there may be a few here that you've never considered-or may even be surprised by. But they are what I see as being the biggest keys to success and results for business owners on the two hottest social networks on the planet: Facebook and Twitter.
1. Find your peeps.
What this means is that you want to become part of the community you are looking to serve. The first step of course is to be clear on whom it is you want to serve and what problem you are solving for them. Once you know that, the goal is to go where they are hanging out.
There are specific tools you can use to easily find and interact with your target market. Two of my favorites for Twitter are wefollow.com and search.twitter.com.
2. Concentrate on conversing and building relationships, instead of broadcasting and selling.
One of the most common yet biggest mistakes that people make when they are first introduced to social media is to focus on pushing their product or service in a spammy way. That approach fails miserably in social media because most people are there to build relationships and interact.
There's nothing wrong with letting others know what's going on with you or your business sometimes--just be sure to intersperse your tweets or Facebook updates with some two-way conversation.
3. Use a Facebook personal profile AND a Facebook business page TOGETHER.
This might be a little "controversial" - and don't get me wrong, your business SHOULD have a Page -- but when you have a personal profile, you are able to interact with other people much more easily.
As a business Page, a Page can't go comment on another person's Wall or profile or in their Group or on THEIR Page AS that Page. You are really contained inside the space of your own Page. This might be something to consider because a lot of the magic of Facebook and the relationship-building and rapport-building comes from that ability to interact.
4. Cross-post and cross promote.
Once you've decided to make social media a part of your marketing strategy, you don't want to keep it to yourself.
There are lots of ways to spread the word, for example: you'll want to advertise your social presence on your blog, add links to your email signature and use one social media platform to post to another.
5. Use a social media dashboard like Hootsuite and other productivity tools to accomplish more in less time.
Hootsuite.com is my hands-down favorite, free social media tool, and the reason why is because it does so many different things. For example, you can use it to update many social networks at once, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; you can use it to pre-schedule tweets and status updates and more.
6. Get them on the list.
In most cases, people aren't going to buy from you right off of sites like Facebook and Twitter. You need to shift your thinking from "how can I get this person to buy from me or hire me now?" to "how can I bring this person into my community and strengthen the relationship with them on an ongoing basis?"
One of the best ways to do this is to offer people a way to provide their email address via your blog or website so that you have permission to keep in touch and build an ongoing relationship with them.
7. Measure and track your social media results.
Measuring the ROI of social media isn't exactly cut and dry. I am often asked how you can tell whether the time you've spent on social media activities is really making a difference.
Some of the best metrics? Blog comments, blog subscribers, newsletter subscribers, social media profile engagement, number of friends and followers and website traffic to name a few.
No matter who your target market is, you can be sure that at least some segment of them is using social media. The important thing is to understand that social media is a great way to get in front of that target audience.
And remember, you may not be able to equate your interactions to dollars now, but what you are doing is planting seeds which can have big payoffs later on.
Most of the strategies I've mentioned here aren't really "strategies" unless you keep applying them over time-so stick with it to reap those results you've been searching for.
About the Author: Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. For free tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com/subscribe.
The Top 7 Facebook and Twitter Strategies That Are Working Right Now
One of the great things about the work I do is that I have a bird's eye view of what's working and what's not when it comes to social media. Every so often I like to give sort of a "state of the union" on Facebook and Twitter best practices, because as I am sure you know, social media is constantly growing, changing and evolving.
As you'll see, some of the strategies I am recommending are tried and true-they have been working since day one and will probably continue to for the considerable future.
However, there may be a few here that you've never considered-or may even be surprised by. But they are what I see as being the biggest keys to success and results for business owners on the two hottest social networks on the planet: Facebook and Twitter.
1. Find your peeps.
What this means is that you want to become part of the community you are looking to serve. The first step of course is to be clear on whom it is you want to serve and what problem you are solving for them. Once you know that, the goal is to go where they are hanging out.
There are specific tools you can use to easily find and interact with your target market. Two of my favorites for Twitter are wefollow.com and search.twitter.com.
2. Concentrate on conversing and building relationships, instead of broadcasting and selling.
One of the most common yet biggest mistakes that people make when they are first introduced to social media is to focus on pushing their product or service in a spammy way. That approach fails miserably in social media because most people are there to build relationships and interact.
There's nothing wrong with letting others know what's going on with you or your business sometimes--just be sure to intersperse your tweets or Facebook updates with some two-way conversation.
3. Use a Facebook personal profile AND a Facebook business page TOGETHER.
This might be a little "controversial" - and don't get me wrong, your business SHOULD have a Page -- but when you have a personal profile, you are able to interact with other people much more easily.
As a business Page, a Page can't go comment on another person's Wall or profile or in their Group or on THEIR Page AS that Page. You are really contained inside the space of your own Page. This might be something to consider because a lot of the magic of Facebook and the relationship-building and rapport-building comes from that ability to interact.
4. Cross-post and cross promote.
Once you've decided to make social media a part of your marketing strategy, you don't want to keep it to yourself.
There are lots of ways to spread the word, for example: you'll want to advertise your social presence on your blog, add links to your email signature and use one social media platform to post to another.
5. Use a social media dashboard like Hootsuite and other productivity tools to accomplish more in less time.
Hootsuite.com is my hands-down favorite, free social media tool, and the reason why is because it does so many different things. For example, you can use it to update many social networks at once, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; you can use it to pre-schedule tweets and status updates and more.
6. Get them on the list.
In most cases, people aren't going to buy from you right off of sites like Facebook and Twitter. You need to shift your thinking from "how can I get this person to buy from me or hire me now?" to "how can I bring this person into my community and strengthen the relationship with them on an ongoing basis?"
One of the best ways to do this is to offer people a way to provide their email address via your blog or website so that you have permission to keep in touch and build an ongoing relationship with them.
7. Measure and track your social media results.
Measuring the ROI of social media isn't exactly cut and dry. I am often asked how you can tell whether the time you've spent on social media activities is really making a difference.
Some of the best metrics? Blog comments, blog subscribers, newsletter subscribers, social media profile engagement, number of friends and followers and website traffic to name a few.
No matter who your target market is, you can be sure that at least some segment of them is using social media. The important thing is to understand that social media is a great way to get in front of that target audience.
And remember, you may not be able to equate your interactions to dollars now, but what you are doing is planting seeds which can have big payoffs later on.
Most of the strategies I've mentioned here aren't really "strategies" unless you keep applying them over time-so stick with it to reap those results you've been searching for.
About the Author: Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. For free tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com/subscribe.
One of the great things about the work I do is that I have a bird's eye view of what's working and what's not when it comes to social media. Every so often I like to give sort of a "state of the union" on Facebook and Twitter best practices, because as I am sure you know, social media is constantly growing, changing and evolving.
As you'll see, some of the strategies I am recommending are tried and true-they have been working since day one and will probably continue to for the considerable future.
However, there may be a few here that you've never considered-or may even be surprised by. But they are what I see as being the biggest keys to success and results for business owners on the two hottest social networks on the planet: Facebook and Twitter.
1. Find your peeps.
What this means is that you want to become part of the community you are looking to serve. The first step of course is to be clear on whom it is you want to serve and what problem you are solving for them. Once you know that, the goal is to go where they are hanging out.
There are specific tools you can use to easily find and interact with your target market. Two of my favorites for Twitter are wefollow.com and search.twitter.com.
2. Concentrate on conversing and building relationships, instead of broadcasting and selling.
One of the most common yet biggest mistakes that people make when they are first introduced to social media is to focus on pushing their product or service in a spammy way. That approach fails miserably in social media because most people are there to build relationships and interact.
There's nothing wrong with letting others know what's going on with you or your business sometimes--just be sure to intersperse your tweets or Facebook updates with some two-way conversation.
3. Use a Facebook personal profile AND a Facebook business page TOGETHER.
This might be a little "controversial" - and don't get me wrong, your business SHOULD have a Page -- but when you have a personal profile, you are able to interact with other people much more easily.
As a business Page, a Page can't go comment on another person's Wall or profile or in their Group or on THEIR Page AS that Page. You are really contained inside the space of your own Page. This might be something to consider because a lot of the magic of Facebook and the relationship-building and rapport-building comes from that ability to interact.
4. Cross-post and cross promote.
Once you've decided to make social media a part of your marketing strategy, you don't want to keep it to yourself.
There are lots of ways to spread the word, for example: you'll want to advertise your social presence on your blog, add links to your email signature and use one social media platform to post to another.
5. Use a social media dashboard like Hootsuite and other productivity tools to accomplish more in less time.
Hootsuite.com is my hands-down favorite, free social media tool, and the reason why is because it does so many different things. For example, you can use it to update many social networks at once, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; you can use it to pre-schedule tweets and status updates and more.
6. Get them on the list.
In most cases, people aren't going to buy from you right off of sites like Facebook and Twitter. You need to shift your thinking from "how can I get this person to buy from me or hire me now?" to "how can I bring this person into my community and strengthen the relationship with them on an ongoing basis?"
One of the best ways to do this is to offer people a way to provide their email address via your blog or website so that you have permission to keep in touch and build an ongoing relationship with them.
7. Measure and track your social media results.
Measuring the ROI of social media isn't exactly cut and dry. I am often asked how you can tell whether the time you've spent on social media activities is really making a difference.
Some of the best metrics? Blog comments, blog subscribers, newsletter subscribers, social media profile engagement, number of friends and followers and website traffic to name a few.
No matter who your target market is, you can be sure that at least some segment of them is using social media. The important thing is to understand that social media is a great way to get in front of that target audience.
And remember, you may not be able to equate your interactions to dollars now, but what you are doing is planting seeds which can have big payoffs later on.
Most of the strategies I've mentioned here aren't really "strategies" unless you keep applying them over time-so stick with it to reap those results you've been searching for.
About the Author: Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. For free tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com/subscribe.
Web Design Issues - The Client Who Wants To Make Millions
We often get requests in to assist people with building their websites - no surprises there; we are, after all, a web design company.
But these requests often need to be translated from some form of Klingon or other alien language since often it feels as if the potential client is just making a fleeting visit to planet earth.
Some examples:
"Hi, i would like to start an advertising buisness (sic) that allows me to generate money while people are surfing into my web. The problem is I just do not have enough info about Enzine."
"I require a website that I can use to have customers registering and bidding online, also need to have a feature where users can buy tokens."
"I want to have a web, graphic and search engine software. If you can't you can't design me the software, how about you give a search engine quote. I just want only 5 pages and the rest I will do. I am a web designer so I find it difficult to design search engine for my self."
We also get requests from people who want to have Facebook clones, Ebay type sites or a shopping cart 'like Amazon'.
One of the biggest problems seem to be that of unrealistic expectations of what a website can do or cannot do, and how much it will cost.
What people do not realize are some of the following factors:
1. It is a lot more difficult to 'make money on the Internet' than other people would want you to believe. It is in Internet Marketers and other 'gooroos' best interest to let you believe that making money with a website is as easy as pie.
The hard truth is that turning a profit from a website is really, really difficult, especially one that is aiming high. Even wildly successful internet endeavors such as Facebook and Amazon took years and years before they started to show profit.
2. In a lot of cases, people just do not know enough about the Internet and how it works to start up such a venture successfully.
That is not to say that we are belittling people who want to start ventures such as these. We all have to start somewhere, and even Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg at one stage knew nothing about the Internet or websites, but come on... there is a wealth of information available out there today as well as these sites that can be used as case studies. How much did Facebook cost to implement? It is reputed that angel investors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the site.
We then get requests for social networking types of sites with clear 'want to make millions' aspirations behind it and when we try and understand the client's budget it is in the region of about $1000 - if we are lucky.
3. People seem to really think that getting the site built is enough. They suffer from the classic 'build it and they will come' fallacy. There is no clear understanding of what it takes to get visitors to a site, or how to market the site either online or offline.
This leaves us, as the web design company, with an ethical dilemma. Do we implement the site and leave the client to his own devices? A version of 'take the money and run'? Or do we tell the client that his brilliant idea is just never going to fly.
Unfortunately that means that we will probably go out of business too since about 50% of the websites we build are based on some crazy business idea. The other alternative is to act not only as a web design company but also as a consulting firm, dispensing advice, coaching and guiding the client.
After all, that is really what customers expect from a web design company, not so?
The question is - how much is this advice worth and how does one work it into the business model of the web design company?
This type of advice and consulting takes up an inordinate amount of time and effort and working that into the costing of a website tends to push the costs up even more - try and work those costs into the 'new cool social networking site that will merge Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, to be called YouTwitFace, site' and see what happens to website costs!
About the Author: Christine Anderssen is the owner of Tailormade4you, a website design and hosting company specializing in building cost effective websites for small business owners in South Africa.
But these requests often need to be translated from some form of Klingon or other alien language since often it feels as if the potential client is just making a fleeting visit to planet earth.
Some examples:
"Hi, i would like to start an advertising buisness (sic) that allows me to generate money while people are surfing into my web. The problem is I just do not have enough info about Enzine."
"I require a website that I can use to have customers registering and bidding online, also need to have a feature where users can buy tokens."
"I want to have a web, graphic and search engine software. If you can't you can't design me the software, how about you give a search engine quote. I just want only 5 pages and the rest I will do. I am a web designer so I find it difficult to design search engine for my self."
We also get requests from people who want to have Facebook clones, Ebay type sites or a shopping cart 'like Amazon'.
One of the biggest problems seem to be that of unrealistic expectations of what a website can do or cannot do, and how much it will cost.
What people do not realize are some of the following factors:
1. It is a lot more difficult to 'make money on the Internet' than other people would want you to believe. It is in Internet Marketers and other 'gooroos' best interest to let you believe that making money with a website is as easy as pie.
The hard truth is that turning a profit from a website is really, really difficult, especially one that is aiming high. Even wildly successful internet endeavors such as Facebook and Amazon took years and years before they started to show profit.
2. In a lot of cases, people just do not know enough about the Internet and how it works to start up such a venture successfully.
That is not to say that we are belittling people who want to start ventures such as these. We all have to start somewhere, and even Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg at one stage knew nothing about the Internet or websites, but come on... there is a wealth of information available out there today as well as these sites that can be used as case studies. How much did Facebook cost to implement? It is reputed that angel investors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the site.
We then get requests for social networking types of sites with clear 'want to make millions' aspirations behind it and when we try and understand the client's budget it is in the region of about $1000 - if we are lucky.
3. People seem to really think that getting the site built is enough. They suffer from the classic 'build it and they will come' fallacy. There is no clear understanding of what it takes to get visitors to a site, or how to market the site either online or offline.
This leaves us, as the web design company, with an ethical dilemma. Do we implement the site and leave the client to his own devices? A version of 'take the money and run'? Or do we tell the client that his brilliant idea is just never going to fly.
Unfortunately that means that we will probably go out of business too since about 50% of the websites we build are based on some crazy business idea. The other alternative is to act not only as a web design company but also as a consulting firm, dispensing advice, coaching and guiding the client.
After all, that is really what customers expect from a web design company, not so?
The question is - how much is this advice worth and how does one work it into the business model of the web design company?
This type of advice and consulting takes up an inordinate amount of time and effort and working that into the costing of a website tends to push the costs up even more - try and work those costs into the 'new cool social networking site that will merge Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, to be called YouTwitFace, site' and see what happens to website costs!
About the Author: Christine Anderssen is the owner of Tailormade4you, a website design and hosting company specializing in building cost effective websites for small business owners in South Africa.
New Digeous software - snapit screen capture
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Digeous software is new snapit and screencapture that helps business professionals especially in writing posts and blogging with the following benefits as follows
It is a very convenient tool for bloggers. When you write posts on your blog you need to
capture and crop images from different sources - this tool is for you.
- Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard
- Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard
- Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images
- Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats
- Auto-names captured images
the link
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html
Feel free to get information about product here:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html.
It is a very convenient tool for bloggers. When you write posts on your blog you need to
capture and crop images from different sources - this tool is for you.
- Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard
- Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard
- Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images
- Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats
- Auto-names captured images
the link
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html
Feel free to get information about product here:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html.
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