Content is Just as Important on Social Media Profiles as it is on Blogs

admin    Social Media     Blogs, Content, Important, just, Media, Profiles, Social

With social media being the new phenomenon online today it would be ludicrous for any internet marketer to ignore it when it comes to formulating a strategy for an internet marketing campaign. As with most marketing promotions your success or failure is usually determined by your approach. The most important part of a successful socialization plan when it comes to MySpace and Facebook, for example, is the content on your profile page.

Content drives traffic which drives sales when it comes to your Blog as well as your social media profile page. The richer and more varied the content the more people it will attract and the faster word will spread about your page and what it has to offer. Try to make it entertaining in terms of what’s available for visitors to interact with and adding a touch of humor helps because everyone likes to laugh.

For interactivity you could have your favorite music highlighted for them to click on and sample. You could add a music video or two as well as some comedy clips or maybe implement a joke of the day feature. One important factor not to ignore is your own personal story. The objective of these sites, after all, is to meet and get to know people, and most everyone likes reading or hearing about someone else’s life experience.

This doesn’t mean you have to reveal all of the sordid details but try to convey your likes and dislikes in your own style. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. People want to get to know the real you. Also try to make your profile informative. Everyone has an expertise in some area, so share this knowledge with your guests and before you know it you’ll have more online friends than you know what to do with.

If you keep giving people what they want they’ll keep coming back for more and the best way to do this is to write about what you know and what you are comfortable with. Pictures are also a great way to attract visitors. You can demonstrate some of your interests through photographs of some of your favorite activities. Pictures also add a more personal element to the page giving the viewer a better chance to get to know you and appreciate what you do.

If you’re an avid reader, for example, you could possibly start a book of the month feature where you discuss or critique a particular book you may be reading. You could ask visitors, who are also readers, to leave comments and maybe start a book of the month club. With any relationship, be it online or in your day-to-day life, the important thing is to maintain contact. On any of these social media websites this means visiting on a regular basis to let people know what’s happening in your life. It also means updating your profile page on a regular basis.

Any Internet Marketer who can follow these simple steps should enjoy great success in the new Web 2.0 or Social Media Market not only professionally but also personally, and always remember the old adage “Content is King.”

Content is Just as Important on Social Media Profiles as it is on Blogs

admin    Social Media     Blogs, Content, Important, just, Media, Profiles, Social

With social media being the new phenomenon online today it would be ludicrous for any internet marketer to ignore it when it comes to formulating a strategy for an internet marketing campaign. As with most marketing promotions your success or failure is usually determined by your approach. The most important part of a successful socialization plan when it comes to MySpace and Facebook, for example, is the content on your profile page.

Content drives traffic which drives sales when it comes to your Blog as well as your social media profile page. The richer and more varied the content the more people it will attract and the faster word will spread about your page and what it has to offer. Try to make it entertaining in terms of what’s available for visitors to interact with and adding a touch of humor helps because everyone likes to laugh.

For interactivity you could have your favorite music highlighted for them to click on and sample. You could add a music video or two as well as some comedy clips or maybe implement a joke of the day feature. One important factor not to ignore is your own personal story. The objective of these sites, after all, is to meet and get to know people, and most everyone likes reading or hearing about someone else’s life experience.

This doesn’t mean you have to reveal all of the sordid details but try to convey your likes and dislikes in your own style. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. People want to get to know the real you. Also try to make your profile informative. Everyone has an expertise in some area, so share this knowledge with your guests and before you know it you’ll have more online friends than you know what to do with.

If you keep giving people what they want they’ll keep coming back for more and the best way to do this is to write about what you know and what you are comfortable with. Pictures are also a great way to attract visitors. You can demonstrate some of your interests through photographs of some of your favorite activities. Pictures also add a more personal element to the page giving the viewer a better chance to get to know you and appreciate what you do.

If you’re an avid reader, for example, you could possibly start a book of the month feature where you discuss or critique a particular book you may be reading. You could ask visitors, who are also readers, to leave comments and maybe start a book of the month club. With any relationship, be it online or in your day-to-day life, the important thing is to maintain contact. On any of these social media websites this means visiting on a regular basis to let people know what’s happening in your life. It also means updating your profile page on a regular basis.

Any Internet Marketer who can follow these simple steps should enjoy great success in the new Web 2.0 or Social Media Market not only professionally but also personally, and always remember the old adage “Content is King.”

Google Everflux: Just What We Needed, Google on Speed

admin    Google     Everflux, Google, just, Needed, Speed

Copyright (c) 2008 Titus Hoskins

Is it just me or has Google gone into overdrive? As a professional full-time online marketer I have to keep my mind firmly placed on what Google is doing. As much as I try not to because Google has probably driven more people around the bend than Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz put together.

Like any professional marketer, I monitor my numerous keywords on a daily basis – especially my major targeted keyword phrases that bring in the most sales and subscribers. For years now, I have had top rankings in Google for my chosen phrases; they move up and down, but mostly they don’t leave the first page.

However, lately I have been noticing a lot of jumping in the top listings. Links out of nowhere are appearing, links being dropped and my own links moving up and down much too quickly for my comfort. Even six months ago the Google main index seemed to be a whole lot more stable than it is now.

Within the past months, rankings within Google have become more dynamic, more fluid. They can change from day to day, what some people are calling Google Everflux. This is very similar to the old Google Dance we used to have a few years ago…when Google would update or refresh its index about once a month. Now Google is stepping out on that dance floor every day.

Once upon a time, your keyword rankings in Google didn’t change that much. Every four or five months Google would do major updates where your keywords and your site’s PageRank could have a major jump or fall in Google’s index. But have things changed? Has the whole ranking process now been speeded up? Has the Google Index now become more fluid, more dynamic, changeable daily? Updating, fluctuating on the fly?

Inquiring minds want to know…

Keep in mind, Google Everflux is not a new term. As far back as July 2002 there are references in Webmasterworld to the Google Freshbot and Google Everflux. This term referred to the re-freshing of the Google Index.

Unlike many SEO theories and assumptions, the Google Everflux is the Real McCoy. That is if you can believe the Google Guy, and there’s no reason not to take Matt Cutts at his word.

In his site or blog – www.mattcutts.com – he describes what is happening here. In a response to a comment on his blog on January 1, 2007, he gives this answer:

Quoting Matt Cutts: “…I’m not trying to side-step the issue. I believe that a data refresh, which used to be every 3-4 weeks, is now happening more like every day. So the changes in ranking that some people were seeing on the 17th or 27th during the summer months can now happen every day.”

Even more telling was Matt’s response to another person’s summary of these changes within Google.

Senaia said: “So the Index Update is what people use to call Google Dance, when it was on monthly bases. Now it’s on daily bases and they call it Everflux.

Backlinks update and Pagerank update are also types of data refresh.

So, the big scary updates like Florida… are Algorithm updates?”

Matt Cutts said: “Senaia, that’s not a bad summary. Florida and Jagger were changes in our algorithms to score documents, for example.”

However, is the current Google Everflux a more souped-up version of this re-freshing process? Google in fast-forward? On speed-dial?

Regardless of the rate of change, Google Everflux is important simply because Google is so important to any webmaster or site. There’s no denying that, whether you love it or hate it, Google will deliver the most search engine traffic to any webmaster who gets top rankings for his/her keywords. The other search engines shouldn’t be ignored, but most of your search traffic will come from Google. According to Nielsen Stats in February (2008), Google had around 60 percent (58.7 – 4.5 billion Google search queries) of the traffic on the web.

But 60 percent is not the true percentage; from close examination of my different sites’ traffic logs I know Google gives me around 90 percent of my search traffic. Maybe I am over optimized for Google, but even when I manage on rare occasions to get number one rankings in all three search engines for a minor keyword, Google is still the one sending the most traffic.

Since this search traffic is extremely important to my livelihood, I keep a close watch on my major keywords in Google. Movement up or down just a few places means an increase or decrease in my traffic. Google has changed. It is not the same search engine it was 6 months ago. Not by a long shot.

What does this mean to your site or keywords?

It probably means you have to put your link building efforts into overdrive if you want to get a top listing in Google and keep it there. It will probably mean that you have to be constantly creating valuable content and quality-relevant links related to your site’s topic in order to remain competitive.

This is what you should be doing in the first place, but now you will have to work harder to keep your links in those top positions in Google. At least this has been my experience lately.

One thing I have noticed with my keyword rankings, links from the so-called Social Bookmark sites (Digg, Reddit, Squidoo…) have become very important to Google. Real people reading and ranking real content. This is what these social media sites are all about, and it seems Google is placing more emphasis on these sites.

I say “seems” because with Google, nobody knows for sure. However, I can see in my daily monitoring of my own keywords – Google Everflux is real and is probably here to stay.

Over time old links you had are being dropped, as Google re-ranks their links and index. The whole fall-out from Google’s paid link crackdown is still being played out as webmasters scramble to devise new ways to juice-up their links. Google is firing back with new ways to keep its index supposedly honest, an ongoing, turbulent battle that will probably get more turbulent. As new sites and links become important there will be a constant change in the rankings within Google.

Google also seems to be favoring big, resourceful authority sites for the top positions in their SERPs, giving these sites 6 or 7 sub-headings and links – all in the top spot.

Which means it will be much harder for the smaller marketer to compete. Of course, it is only a matter of time before big, large corporations completely dominate all the major profitable keywords on the web, in Google and elsewhere. Once big business figures out what’s going on and realizes just what keyword control in their industry will give them.

That may be a little extreme, but like any valuable resource, it won’t be long before multi-national corporate giants eat up the little guys/sites via keyword branding and dominance. It will take some time, and since there are millions of small niches there is still some marketing room for small sites to cash in. But our days of glory are numbered…

For now, if you count on Google for your search traffic, keep building quality links/content daily and don’t forget the all important social bookmark sites… make sure you’re building some good links from them. One simple solution that has given me hundreds of social bookmark links in the past year is simply adding the free AddThis.com button on my sites. Just let your visitors bookmark and build links for you in these social media sites.

Keep a blog or blogs and tie in your site with links and trackbacks. And make sure you tie/connect your site to the whole blogosphere. Don’t forget to add video/audio to your site, as those formats will play an ever-increasing role on the web.

No matter what warp-speed Google finally decides upon, valuable content is still the key to getting top rankings in any search engine. Adding fresh, valuable relevant content to your sites each day will keep them in the picture.

If that doesn’t work, you can always take up speed car racing – I heard it is supposed to be very calming on the nerves. And I bet you one backrub none of them will have ever heard of Google Everflux.

Creating Inbound Links Is About More Than Just Page Rank

admin    Google     About, Creating, Inbound, just, links, more, Page, Rank, Than

I intend discuss the relevance of Google page ranking in SEO through this article. It is an accepted fact among SEOs that striving to get a top rank with the Google directory is all that matters in the long run. How far is this hypothesis correct from the point of view of a professional marketer?

Statistics reveal that of all visitors to a particular website more than 75% originate from Google! Alexa, Altavista, Earthlink, Netscape, Dogpile, AOL, MSN, Jeeves/Ask and Yahoo accounted for the remaining. That is interesting statistics to start this discussion. You may also do a check on the origin of your own visitors to be sure about the validity of my claims.

If that is the case we need to understand the parameters used by Google to give page ranking. They have a very simple but reasonable enough method. Each link is considered as a vote while deciding the value of each vote by taking into consideration the relevance of that site to your own content. Now that is an acceptable method to any logical thinker.

So, most SEOs slog to capitalize on this aspect of page ranking to increase their ratings. The most common methods involved are;

i)    Exchanging links with directories to increase the number of links that point to your own website.

ii)    Identifying directories with a high ranking as prospective link exchange partners.

There is no way to know whether the links have been purchased from link farms or from high ranking directories that capitalize on their popularity to mint money by demanding a payment for displaying external links. Page ranking, which have thus been ‘purchased’ rather than attained on merit, is a lot different from the point of view of a quality analyzer. Unfortunately there are no methods available to classify websites on the basis of procurement methods used to reach their rankings.

Another eye washer is the Google tool bar. It is a known fact that the PR is displayed on the tool bar and makes it easy for anyone to come to know of the ranking of a particular site. But, how frequently is the ranking updated on the tool bar? That is a million dollar question which needs a matter of fact answer in order to hold the figures in the tool bar to be of any consequence.  

There is a great discrepancy with regard to the visitors received from external links for different search engines. This too raises many eyebrows about the dictatorial standing enjoyed by Google in judging PR.

My Website Has Just Had Its Google Page Rank Updated From 0 To 3 Out Of Ten. Is 3 Out Of Ten A Good Ranking?

admin    Google     From, Good, Google, just, Page, Rank, Ranking, Ten., Updated, Website

What page rank with google gets you noticed?

Why Just The Right PPC Campaign Management Brings in Lots and Lots of Cash

admin    PPC     Brings, Campaign, Cash, just, Lots, Management, Right

So you spent all your time and energy building the perfect website. Now you want to share the fruits of your labor, and maybe even make some money on the side through your online ads.

Maybe you have an online business that markets a hot product that you are selling on your website; but you find that you are having trouble bringing customers into your site. So instead of gaining money, you are actually losing money because of the monthly rent that you’re paying to have your website hosted in cyberspace.

The best solution to this problem is to advertise. Let people know that you are here and ready to do business. One of the quickest and most effective ways to advertise your website on the net is to come up with a great PPC campaign management plan. PPC is an abbreviation for Pay Per Click.

Certain keywords or phrases that people type into a search engine lead to hundreds and hundreds of search results that pertain to that specific keyword. Businesses that want to advertise on the net using a PPC campaign have to come up with a plethora of keywords that is associated to the business that they are running; so when potential customers type in these keywords, it will lead them to their business site.

This is pretty much the whole concept that operates behind PPC. This is how a PPC campaign brings in traffic to your site, with the selection of the right keywords that people can search through the net.

Some keywords tend to be more expensive than others, especially popular ones. It is vital to select the right keywords, in order to get your money’s worth. This is why it is important to manage you PPC campaign wisely. Sometimes you are better off opting for the less popular keywords that are not so expensive, especially if you have a limited budget. Some businesses even hire the help of a consultant to manage their PPC campaigns.

There are a lot of experts that specialize in PPC campaign management. They come with strategic plans, and assess the need of their clients. They then come up with a PPC campaign that caters to their client’s specification.

This is why big online businesses seek the expertise of a professional to run their PPC ad campaign, because the right set of plans, can potentially bring in a large amount of profits. The more keywords you have, the more you increase the chances of customers clicking these keywords that would lead them to your website. There are also some software you can purchase, such as GoToast, or Bid Rank. These software track down your keywords listing.

If you are running a business online, and are planning to run a PPC campaign, it is advisable to purchase keywords that are extremely related to the theme of your business. This way, people know what they are getting, and don’t get confused about the content of your website. The secret is to use keywords or phrases that are searched frequently, but cost very little.

The chances are, the longer people stay in your site, the likelihood of these potential customers making a transaction. But first thing is first. You must lure them into your turf.

This is why a lot of entrepreneurs spend a large amount of their budget on advertising, because they know that the right advertising campaign can start the ball rolling.

Also, you should do some research before you start your PPC campaign. There are a lot of PPC search engines to chose from. Those who are less renowned charge less for the same keywords that you’d find in the bigger PPC search engines.

The great thing about PPC campaigns is that you can reach a worldwide audience. Advertising online means global marketing.

Most PPC search engines require a monthly payment in exchange for their services. But if you fail to make payments, they will automatically take your listings out of their search engines. So make sure that you pay your monthly bills, so all the efforts that you put into your PPC campaign don’t go to waste.

The potential earnings that can be generated by starting a pay per click campaign is significant. That’s why a lot of online businesses now are trying to get in on the act. Now, with the right set of keywords, and a smart PPC campaign management plan, more than ever, online businesses are bringing in the big bucks.

It’s not just for kids and geeks – Twitter is good for Business too!

admin    Twitter     business, geeks, Good, It's, just, kids, Twitter

5 types of business that should be using Twitter

They’re all talking about it – the online phenomenon for 2009. Forget Google, forget Facebook and don’t even mention Yell.com – Twitter is where it’s at this year!

Founded in 2006 as a way to let fellow members know “what you are doing”, Twitter has expanded way beyond its founders wildest dreams.

2009 is the year Twitter has become more “mainstream”. This has been helped by celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Ashton Kutcher and Jonathan Ross espousing its virtues but also by the number of businesses out there realising the marketing and promotional capabilities of Twitter.

However it’s usually when I talk to potential clients about using Twitter as part of their social media marketing, I hear:

“It’s just for kids and geeks”

“Only IT and Marketing bods make money from it”

and other such comments.

With this in mind, here are a random 5 industries, each with 5 ways they could use Twitter to promote their business:

1) HOTELS

Twitter is fast paced, instant communication, ideal for the hotel & hospitality industry.

Hotels could:

- Communicate last minute offers – Use Twitpic to show pictures of rooms – Post customer testimonials – Request feedback from guests

DM Bonus – If your guests have Twitter, why not DM them a special Twitter code if they eat dinner in the hotel?

2) PHOTOGRAPHERS

While Twitter is seen mainly as a textual medium, it can be visual too.

Photographers, why not:

- Use Twitpic to post a “picture of the day” – Tweet about the photo shoot you’re doing today, so people get a feel for your scope – Post links to your blog/website – Use TwTQpon to offer free studio time (specify purchase of X photos) – Ask satisfied customers to retweet the link to their pic(s) in your portfolio

DM Bonus – If your customers are on Twitter, DM them the link to thier pictures on your password protected server, or private group on Flickr/Facebook etc.

3)ASTROLOGIST

It’s not always easy to get people to sign up to a mailing list on a website if you’re in a very niche industry, but it’s a lot easier to get followers on Twitter.

- Use Hootsuite to run 12 daily horoscope accounts – one for each star sign – Post details of astrologically important days/dates/events – Offer a free reading for every 50th follower – ask people to retweet – Post testimonials from satisfied clients – Post celebrity horoscopes on a weekly basis

DM Bonus – Offer free 140 character descriptions of each star sign – have them ready to cut and paste. Offer them by DM only. (People have to follow you to get DM’s)

4) HOLIDAY RESORT/GUESTHOUSE

If SEO is too competitive and too costly, try Twitter – the only cost is your time, and even that can be minimal!

- Use 12 second TV to post short video testimonials filmed on an iPhone or similar – Use Twitpic to post pictures of your resort – Post about local traditions/holidays/etc – Tweet last minute special offers/prices – Use TwtQpon to offer money off local/on site restaurants/bars

DM Bonus – Guests on Twitter? DM them to let them know they can check in.

5) SPEAKERS

It might be written communication, but I know a few speakers doing very well from Twitter, so if you’re a speaker, why not:

- Post links to audio files of you speaking – Autofeed your calender/blog into your Twitter account so people know where you’re speaking – Post a “tip of the day” each day, related to your speciality – Use 12 second TV to post short clips of you speaking then link to the longer version on youtube/your website – Use Twitter search to find people talking about your speciality/niche – ask them if they can introduce you to people wanting speakers

DM Bonus – Offer a free ebook / whitepaper / mention on your website by DM only. The only way to get it is to follow you so you can DM them.

So there you have it – 5 types of business that should be using Twitter, and 5 things they can use it for.

Nikki Pilkington is author of TweetMentor from NikkiPilkington.com, a 100 day hand holding support system to help you through the Twitter maze.

It’s not just for kids and geeks – Twitter is good for Business too!

admin    Twitter     business, geeks, Good, It's, just, kids, Twitter

5 types of business that should be using Twitter

They’re all talking about it – the online phenomenon for 2009. Forget Google, forget Facebook and don’t even mention Yell.com – Twitter is where it’s at this year!

Founded in 2006 as a way to let fellow members know “what you are doing”, Twitter has expanded way beyond its founders wildest dreams.

2009 is the year Twitter has become more “mainstream”. This has been helped by celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Ashton Kutcher and Jonathan Ross espousing its virtues but also by the number of businesses out there realising the marketing and promotional capabilities of Twitter.

However it’s usually when I talk to potential clients about using Twitter as part of their social media marketing, I hear:

“It’s just for kids and geeks”

“Only IT and Marketing bods make money from it”

and other such comments.

With this in mind, here are a random 5 industries, each with 5 ways they could use Twitter to promote their business:

1) HOTELS

Twitter is fast paced, instant communication, ideal for the hotel & hospitality industry.

Hotels could:

- Communicate last minute offers – Use Twitpic to show pictures of rooms – Post customer testimonials – Request feedback from guests

DM Bonus – If your guests have Twitter, why not DM them a special Twitter code if they eat dinner in the hotel?

2) PHOTOGRAPHERS

While Twitter is seen mainly as a textual medium, it can be visual too.

Photographers, why not:

- Use Twitpic to post a “picture of the day” – Tweet about the photo shoot you’re doing today, so people get a feel for your scope – Post links to your blog/website – Use TwTQpon to offer free studio time (specify purchase of X photos) – Ask satisfied customers to retweet the link to their pic(s) in your portfolio

DM Bonus – If your customers are on Twitter, DM them the link to thier pictures on your password protected server, or private group on Flickr/Facebook etc.

3)ASTROLOGIST

It’s not always easy to get people to sign up to a mailing list on a website if you’re in a very niche industry, but it’s a lot easier to get followers on Twitter.

- Use Hootsuite to run 12 daily horoscope accounts – one for each star sign – Post details of astrologically important days/dates/events – Offer a free reading for every 50th follower – ask people to retweet – Post testimonials from satisfied clients – Post celebrity horoscopes on a weekly basis

DM Bonus – Offer free 140 character descriptions of each star sign – have them ready to cut and paste. Offer them by DM only. (People have to follow you to get DM’s)

4) HOLIDAY RESORT/GUESTHOUSE

If SEO is too competitive and too costly, try Twitter – the only cost is your time, and even that can be minimal!

- Use 12 second TV to post short video testimonials filmed on an iPhone or similar – Use Twitpic to post pictures of your resort – Post about local traditions/holidays/etc – Tweet last minute special offers/prices – Use TwtQpon to offer money off local/on site restaurants/bars

DM Bonus – Guests on Twitter? DM them to let them know they can check in.

5) SPEAKERS

It might be written communication, but I know a few speakers doing very well from Twitter, so if you’re a speaker, why not:

- Post links to audio files of you speaking – Autofeed your calender/blog into your Twitter account so people know where you’re speaking – Post a “tip of the day” each day, related to your speciality – Use 12 second TV to post short clips of you speaking then link to the longer version on youtube/your website – Use Twitter search to find people talking about your speciality/niche – ask them if they can introduce you to people wanting speakers

DM Bonus – Offer a free ebook / whitepaper / mention on your website by DM only. The only way to get it is to follow you so you can DM them.

So there you have it – 5 types of business that should be using Twitter, and 5 things they can use it for.

Nikki Pilkington is author of TweetMentor from NikkiPilkington.com, a 100 day hand holding support system to help you through the Twitter maze.