Google Adwords Guide – How To Avoid Google Adwords Pitfalls

admin    Google Optimization     Adwords, Avoid, Google, Guide, Pitfalls

Google Adwords Guide – How To Avoid Google Adwords Pitfalls

If you have ever wanted to “crack the code” on the secret skills that keep the best Google AdWords pro’s in “the money” year after year… and do it fast, so you can start really making money in your business almost immediately… then this will be the most exciting thing you ever read.

Here is the story:

Every good marketer knows there are just three basic things behind winning AdWords campaigns — (1) a clickable attention getting ad… (2) a decent click-through rate… and (3) mastering the techniques keyword targeting. Oh yeah, have a great product to promote too, but we know you have a couple of good ones, right?

Some guys think they can buy their way to the top of Google AdWords…but it is frightfully expensive, I know…I tried that and failed, maybe you did too! You have seen them – top of the line websites with mega budgets bidding the ads sky-high so that a little marketer like you and I just can not hope to compete! So, you do not have the big bucks to throw away on Google AdWords! Most marketers do not and the cost of Google AdWords ad bid price is getting just plain…well, shameful!

Google is pocketing your money

Google is pocketing all your money just like she used to do mine! Many are searching the Internet for the “next big thing” to help them with running their Google AdWords campaigns. You know the story, you buy the next biggest hyped ebook or whatever and still it does not work like they said it would and your campaigns are still not making you the money you want! Well, that is NOT the end of the story…here is why.

The top Google AdWords pros are keeping a nasty secret from you. Sure, they create the new ebooks and courses to show their expertise, and even occasionally “reveal” ONLY SOME of their favourite tips on handling Google AdWords and show off just a few of their own hard won tips and tricks…

One thing the “AdWords Guru Pros” do not want you to have, is the knowledge or the REAL SECRETS of the science of Google AdWords that will give you the pro-level AdWords skills, that will make you just as smart as they are!

THE REAL SECRETS

I discovered REAL SECRETS of the science of Google AdWords when I watched the Google AdWords Guide DVD. It was like going back to school, having a teacher standing in front of class or over your shoulders teaching you. As I watched the AdWords Guide DVD I started to see things I was not doing right with my AdWords Campaigns. By the time I finished watching the DVDs I was armed to Beat Google at Her Own Game and avoid AdWords mine field and her Slaps.

Whether you agree with me or not, many have a busy lifestyle and some finding it difficult to read and to understand. Educational Videos come very handy in this respect. Unlike teachers in a literal classroom you can rewind and replay points that you need more understand.

When you watch screen captured videos and commentary with the mouse moving on the screen showing you what to do, it feel so real, it gives a sense of someone standing by teaching you. One thing is to read about a story, but quite another to see it in action movie – on the screen. Some of us learn and comprehend more this way than to read, or what do you think?

The Guide To Google AdWords DVD will give you much more than you ever thought, is very interactive, taken you back to your classroom days. it has been especially designed to meet the needs of anyone who really want to succeed with Google AdWords campaigns. Owning and immersing yourself on the information in the DVD means you will suddenly have more campaigns with more ads making more money for you day and night!…

Ways To Sidestep The Biggest Twitter Marketing Pitfalls

admin    Twitter     Biggest, Marketing, Pitfalls, Sidestep, Twitter, Ways

Ways To Sidestep The Biggest Twitter Marketing Pitfalls

In the last several years, Twitter has strengthened considerably as a social forum, and it is still growing at a faster pace. Creating a unique brand, building up a database of prospects, and making money from it are all possible with the powerful Twitter concept, and online marketeers have learned this now. However, there are fundamental steps to take in order to realize a profit, as well as to steer clear of potential marketing gaffes.

There are several common mistakes made by marketers in their attempts to advance their products in Twitter. These are simple mistakes, and they can be easily sidestepped. We will discuss in this article how to avoid making these kind of mistakes so that Twitter as a marketing tool helps you achieve great online success. It is inevitable that mistakes are made, but we can learn from them to our future benefit. The nice part is that you can learn from somebody else’s mistakes, rather than making them yourself, which is why I am warning you about them now.

If you are entering the world of Twitter for the purposed of promoting your business, make sure you keep your business and personal life separate- avoiding tweets like “hanging out with friends”. Amazingly, it’s a blunder that many marketers make while twittering, despite the fact that such tweets are amateurish and sloppy. Your potential business clients are indifferent to who you socialize with during your off-time. They only want to hear from you if the information is relevant to what they are looking for or needing; if your message will not benefit them in some way then they do not want to see it.

Keep in mind that sometimes less really is more.

While it’s a good idea to make your business more personable and help your customers know who you are, it’s important to do so in a way that does not damage your reputation. You do not want to give your customers information about your personal life at any time, but you should keep them updated with tips, techniques and other beneficial information. You want to maintain a strong, professional persona that your customers will be inclined to turn to when they need help.

But it would be a mistake and seem arrogant to make your posts only about you. Your followers must appreciate that you are a marketer to be trusted. Your customers main concern is finding out how they can benefit from what you are offering. Instead of just being too occupied by yourself and your product, show them what they can get out of your offer. Highlighting your offer’s features is great, but it is more important to zero in on what the benefits will be. And make every attempt to be interesting and not too serious, or you’ll be as boring as some unfortunate others. You don’t want to come across to your Twitter followers by coming across as boring and dull.

Don’t put a corporate face on your Twitter account, that’s a big mistake. When your prospects see a corporate logo, they feel that you are nothing but your business, and won’t even take a look at what you have to offer. People will respond and react to another human, not a lifeless company logo. Your product or service will be better served if your followers feel that they have a personal stake in how successful you become. What it all comes down to is giving your potential customers the feeling that you aren’t just there to sell them something, and that if they do choose to buy from you, they would be working with another person, not a computer. But many people confuse this for being a snob. If you make the mistake of appearing too aloof on Twitter your reputation is toast. Always remember that Twitter is a social destination, and should always be treated as such. Interact with other Twitterers here, connect with them and talk without having a promotional tone. You need to really listen to the problems that people present and help them with real solutions when you can. Your best marketing can be done on Twitter by instead serving others.

Find More Twitter Marketing Articles

Ways To Sidestep The Biggest Twitter Marketing Pitfalls

admin    Twitter     Biggest, Marketing, Pitfalls, Twitter, Ways

Ways To Sidestep The Biggest Twitter Marketing Pitfalls

In the last several years, Twitter has strengthened considerably as a social forum, and it is still growing at a faster pace. Creating a unique brand, building up a database of prospects, and making money from it are all possible with the powerful Twitter concept, and online marketeers have learned this now. However, there are fundamental steps to take in order to realize a profit, as well as to steer clear of potential marketing gaffes.

There are several common mistakes made by marketers in their attempts to advance their products in Twitter. These are simple mistakes, and they can be easily sidestepped. We will discuss in this article how to avoid making these kind of mistakes so that Twitter as a marketing tool helps you achieve great online success. It is inevitable that mistakes are made, but we can learn from them to our future benefit. The nice part is that you can learn from somebody else’s mistakes, rather than making them yourself, which is why I am warning you about them now.

If you are entering the world of Twitter for the purposed of promoting your business, make sure you keep your business and personal life separate- avoiding tweets like “hanging out with friends”. Amazingly, it’s a blunder that many marketers make while twittering, despite the fact that such tweets are amateurish and sloppy. Your potential business clients are indifferent to who you socialize with during your off-time. They only want to hear from you if the information is relevant to what they are looking for or needing; if your message will not benefit them in some way then they do not want to see it.

Keep in mind that sometimes less really is more.

While it’s a good idea to make your business more personable and help your customers know who you are, it’s important to do so in a way that does not damage your reputation. You do not want to give your customers information about your personal life at any time, but you should keep them updated with tips, techniques and other beneficial information. You want to maintain a strong, professional persona that your customers will be inclined to turn to when they need help.

But it would be a mistake and seem arrogant to make your posts only about you. Your followers must appreciate that you are a marketer to be trusted. Your customers main concern is finding out how they can benefit from what you are offering. Instead of just being too occupied by yourself and your product, show them what they can get out of your offer. Highlighting your offer’s features is great, but it is more important to zero in on what the benefits will be. And make every attempt to be interesting and not too serious, or you’ll be as boring as some unfortunate others. You don’t want to come across to your Twitter followers by coming across as boring and dull.

Don’t put a corporate face on your Twitter account, that’s a big mistake. When your prospects see a corporate logo, they feel that you are nothing but your business, and won’t even take a look at what you have to offer. People will respond and react to another human, not a lifeless company logo. Your product or service will be better served if your followers feel that they have a personal stake in how successful you become. What it all comes down to is giving your potential customers the feeling that you aren’t just there to sell them something, and that if they do choose to buy from you, they would be working with another person, not a computer. But many people confuse this for being a snob. If you make the mistake of appearing too aloof on Twitter your reputation is toast. Always remember that Twitter is a social destination, and should always be treated as such. Interact with other Twitterers here, connect with them and talk without having a promotional tone. You need to really listen to the problems that people present and help them with real solutions when you can. Your best marketing can be done on Twitter by instead serving others.

5 Dangerous Pitfalls Of New Twitter Marketers

admin    Twitter     Dangerous, Marketers, Pitfalls, Twitter

5 Dangerous Pitfalls Of New Twitter Marketers

Many new Twitter marketers fall prey to these simple mistakes that invariably sabotage their marketing efforts and dilute their Twitter followers.

As Twitter continues to evolve into a major driving force for online marketers, many mobilize their Tweets for the purpose of driving prospective new clients and customers to their offers.
Because Twitter is a social networking medium and not just a distribution channel for promotional copy here are a few pitfalls that you may want to avoid if you’re new to Twitter marketing. Many new Twitter marketers fall prey to these simple mistakes that invariably sabotage their marketing efforts and dilute their Twitter followers.

1 – Using The Wrong Type Of Image On Your Twitter Profile –Why Are You’re Hiding?
If you’re trying to create buzz on Twitter and attract people to your offerings the last thing you need is anonymity. Remember, Twitter is a “social” network; therefore people are attracted to following other “people”. If you have chosen an image for your Twitter profile that is not an image of a “real” person (preferably YOU), you have immediately rendered yourself “anonymous. People like to follow other people not logos, animals or innate objects. Use an image of a person to personalize your Twitter profile and attract others. Once people get to know you, gently move them toward your product brand and product logo for branding purposes but not a moment before.

2- Using A Generic Twitter Page Design For Your Twitter Profile Page – A Sure Sign Of A Twitter Newbie
First let me make something clear here… There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the default Twitter page designs if you’re going to be Tweeting about what you had for dinner last night or who you happen to think the most popular celebrity happens to be… however, if you’re trying to develop a following for commercial purposes I’m afraid that just won’t cut it. Take a look at the most popular profiles… they’re all personalized.

Make the effort to personalize your Twitter profile. Make sure it is consistent with the message and the theme that you’re trying to convey. You can purchase a customized Twitter profile or have someone actually customize your Twitter profile to reflect the look and feel of your commercial offering.
A generic Twitter profile when used for commercial exposure simply says one thing. “I don’t care enough to create a personalized profile to brand myself or my business”. In the mind of many “seasoned” Tweeters it also suggests that you may not care enough to handle the details required by clients or prospects that may be considering you for business projects.

3- You Constantly Tweet Promotions And Advertisements – The Most Fatal Mistake Of All!
Entering into the Twitter realm is like walking into a convention hall that’s filled with thousands of people, with a multitude of interest. Some of these people may very well be interested in your offers or services but some simply won’t be. Imagine walking into this type of environment, totally new, with no relationship ties established. You then proceed to stand on a table and shout promotional lines and persuasive statements about your offers in hopes to gain recognition and exposure. This strategy probably won’t go over very well.

Think about it, do you enjoy being bombarded with commercial based conversations by friends and associates? Probably not… right? If you were to walk into that convention hall, stand on a table and begin shouting about your great product, service or offering that’s exactly what you are doing. Unfortunately, this is the default behavior of most Twitter newcomers. This will quickly get you tagged as a Twitter spammer. Avoid this behavior like the plague. Mix up your tweets. Throw in a little humor, a famous quote, a funny video and gently mix in your promotions. Get personal to develop new relationships that allow you to cultivate new prospects. Remember, Twitter is simply an introductory medium. The final objective is to encourage a visit to your web site and ultimately to your opt-in form. Here’s a better approach…

Do your homework… search for Twitter conversations that reflect “mutual interest”, then simply approach a person or two, by contributing to the conversation. This approach lays the foundation for reciprocal conversation which could lead to new relationships and ultimately more business prospects.

Don’t make the mistake of bombarding the Twitter community with a constant string of promotional Tweets about your products, services or programs. Twitter is first and foremost a “social networking” medium. A place to exchange ideas, exchange conversation and interact with others on subject matter that is of mutual interest. Do yourself a favor and mix up those Tweets instead of deploying a constant string of promotional copy.

4- You Don’t Shortening You URL’s (hyperlinks) – “When You Use A Long Link Your Tweet Stinks…”
This may come as a surprise to you but seasoned tweeters simply don’t use long URL’s in their tweets.
One of the most fundamental reasons is based on the simple 140 character format limit. If someone wants to “ReTweet” your tweet, an extra long URL may be a hindrance to doing so… there’s simply not enough characters left to do so…

URL’s that look something like this http://www.xxxxxxxxx/5555.aaabbbccc.html are simply a dead giveaway that you are new to Twitter and probably don’t understand basic Twitter etiquette. Use one of the many free services available to shorten those URL’s (like bit.ly), it’s easy, simply and will rid you of the neon light that flashes on your forehead and distinguishes you as a Twitter newbie!

5- You Never Send Thank You Messages To Your Followers
Once you began to gain followers, it’s always a good idea to send an instant “Thank You” message to those who have CHOSEN to follow you. Understandably, you may think that this is to laborious but there are ways to circumvent the time required to execute this gesture. Try automating the process with service like http://www.socialoomph.com which can cut down on the tedious task of following up with new followers and save you lots of time. This approach can also start the conversation.

Try following these simple suggestions and your initial Twitter experience will be much more productive.

If you find this article helpful, I’ll make a deal with you…. Tweet this article, follow me on Twitter and I promise to follow you back….. see how easy it is, you’ve already picked up a new follower. (smile…)

Pitfalls of a Newbie – What about Google Adsense?

admin    Google     About, Adsense, Google, Newbie, Pitfalls

Last month I submitted an application to Google to be considered for their AdSense program. After confirming my e-mail address, almost immediately I was invited to place ads on my website.
Within hours I began to accumulate some data on pageviews and click-throughs and could see what my month-to-date total was. I was impressed.

The JavaScript Code
When your website is approved, you’ll receive your own publisher number and the appropriate JavaScript code to paste onto your webpages.
When your page is displayed, here’s the process that Google probably goes through in showing the ads:

1. A visitor’s web browser requests a page on your site.
2. This activates the JavaScript code on the page, sending the URL of the requested webpage to Google’s database.
3. Google looks up in its database the most prominent keywords or keyphrases for that webpage.
4. Then Google searches for the highest paying ads that match these keywords
5. Google places the appropriate ads on your webpage for your visitor to see — all in seconds. Pretty nifty.

How Much Does Google AdSense Pay?
As a publisher, you share in the revenue that Google receives from its PPC ads. Google, however, hasn’t announced a formula for sharing revenue with publishers in its Terms and Conditions document. Google’s audacity to ask publishers to enter into a blind agreement is one measure of publishers’ hunger for advertising dollars — whatever dollars — and an indication of the trust Google experiences in today’s marketplace.

So what is the revenue split? We aren’t told, though the actual amounts are proportional to the market value of keywords that describe your content.

This gives me some idea of possible gross revenue for my site. I am not at liberty to disclose the average click-through rate and average PPC payment per click on my site, though that information is made available to me daily and cumulatively.

In talking to well-known marketers, I hear guesses of a publisher’s share ranging from 25% to 60%. For all we know Google could be striking different deals with different sites, especially those over 20 million pageviews per month that have greater clout in the marketplace. I would guess the publisher’s share to be as much as 50% of the gross PPC revenue — though I could be way off. None of us has enough information to make an accurate judgment and Google isn’t talking.

What the Godfather gives, we bow and accept gratefully without any questions for fear he might put out a contract on our websites.
Here are the factors that contribute to the amount of money you can make on your site:

1. PPC value of the predominant keywords on your website. “Life insurance” for example, would be high. “Fish tank filters” would be low.
2. Amount of traffic you generate to your web pages.
3. Prominence of the Google ads
4. Click-through rate for the ads that appear.
5. The unknown revenue share that Google is paying.

Business-focused sites will do very well with Google AdSense, but information sites that don’t contain high-paying keywords won’t receive nearly as much.

Will They Accept My Site?
Google AdSense tells us that the following sites are not acceptable: sites with excessive profanity; hate, violence, racial intolerance, or advocate against any individual, group, or organization; hacking/cracking content; drugs and drug paraphernalia; pornography; gambling or casino-related; content; incentives of any kind for users to click on ads; excessive advertising; other content-targeted and/or text-based ads on the pages displaying AdWords ads; pop-ups that interfere with site navigation or are for downloads; and ads that mimic AdWords ads or appear to be associated with AdWords ads on your site. Google says it will monitor sites that are showing their ads and suspend sites that don’t abide by their rules.

Does a person from Google look at a site before deciding to accept it into the program?
If it’s a new site with little traffic, a human surely views the site. Don’t submit a site that isn’t ready for prime time, has “under construction” signs, or looks tacky. It’s a lot easier to get your site ready first, than try to convince Google to re-examine a rejected site. On the other hand, if your site has lots of incoming links and is generously spidered by Google already, you might receive approval within minutes after confirming your e-mail address.
Once you are approved, you can login and get HTML to paste into your webpages.

The Automatic Ad Agency
If you’ve ever worked with ad agencies or tried to solicit individual advertisers to place ads on your site, then Google AdSense will feel like a breath of fresh air. Google handles the entire relationship with advertisers. There are no run dates for publishers to schedule, no banners to install, no invoicing, no reporting. Just apply, paste in the JavaScript code, and Google’s “automatic advertising agency” works for you day and night finding willing advertisers, taking orders, and matching appropriate advertisers with your site.

Problems for Publishers
That doesn’t mean, however, that Google AdSense is problem-free. As I mentioned above, Google’s unwillingness to specify revenue share percentages doesn’t bode well. Sure, Google is just feeling its way in uncharted territory and has to stay profitable when the inevitable competition arises. I don’t think publishers should get too confident in Google’s current largesse. What Google gives, Google can take away — either as a result of economic squeezes or greed.

A more mundane problem is finding inappropriate ads appearing on your webpages. Fortunately, this is much easier to fix. You can filter out any ads you find from competitors or that you find distasteful. (I had to exclude some ads for cheapo e-mail addresses to spam with.) Just list the advertiser’s domain name under Advanced Options | Site Filter List.

What do you do when the ad just doesn’t seem to correspond to the content on your webpage?
Adding the appropriate keywords or keyphrases to the title tag, Meta description tag, and headlines should help Google do a better job of matching ads with your content.

Problems for Advertisers
Advertisers who use Google AdWords have the choice of limiting their ad to show only on the Google search engine, but you can choose whether campaigns also appear on the network of search sites, the network of content sites, or both.

Google AdSense on content sites gives advertisers a new opportunity. Previously, their revenues were limited by the click-throughs that could be generated on Google’s search engine and search partner sites. Now the pool of appropriate content sites is greatly widened, offering greater traffic and more sales. But their is a price for this greatly increased ad coverage — potentially lower responsiveness for the same cost per click.

When people use a search engine, they are looking for answers or solutions to click on. But when they are reading the text of a content site, they aren’t in the same searching, clicking mode. They’ve already found what they were searching for and are now trying to absorb it. This will affect the click-through rate, but also the likelihood that these users will complete a transaction.

Publishers are rejoicing today. But what if three months from now advertisers come to the conclusion that content sites are less responsive and routinely exclude them from their advertising coverage? Or refuse to pay the same prices for content sites that they do for search engine exposure? It’s too soon to tell.

Implications of Google AdSense
One thing is certain: Google AdSense is changing the way websites are being monetized.
AdSense “rewards you for creating sites rich in high-quality, focused content … the sort of sites that make the Net a better place.” Google is going to grab a whole lot of business away from those who try to ‘make crime pay’ — no need for nasty tricks, useless marketing gambits, in-your-face ads, etc.

Instead, Google is rewarding those who ‘make grime pay’” — that is, those willing to do the hard work to produce quality, focused content.

Thought for today:
Should you apply to put Google AdSense on your website? If your site seems appropriate, yes, by all means do so. Google AdSense represents a significant opportunity for content publishers to monetize their content. And so long as this partnership benefits both publishers and advertisers who pay the bills, this could be the start of a new and brighter future for both.

Social Media Pitfalls: 5 Lessons Learned

admin    Social Media     Learned, Lessons, Media, Pitfalls, Social

Allow me to introduce my friend Jordan Kasteler also known as Utah SEO Pro. His background is in organic search engine optimization, which has been doing professionally for 4 years now, and has stayed pretty focused on that and has’t delved much into paid search at all. But as of late, he told me he has been playing a lot lately in social media and there are quite a few things he has learned. He also told me that there were quite a few things historically done he wishes he could erase. He doesn’t want to look like an idiot, especially to the SMOs, but what he wants to do is save a few headaches for people getting into social media. Today I am going to take what Jordan has taught me and I’m going to focus primarily on Digg because, it seems to be the most complex social media site out there due to its sophisticated algorithm. I am going to write his exact words, of course with his permission. So everything below will be straight from Jordan, which is some great insights on Social Marketing.

Mistake #1: Abusing self-promotion

For the past year and a half to two years I’ve had social media accounts but I never used them. If I did ever use them it was just to submit some of my own blog posts or my company’s blog posts too.

Let me note that self-promotion isn’t bad all the time. If you’ve established an authoritative status in a community or are a power-user then you are more likely to get away with it if you do so sparingly. Nobody likes a self-promoter or person who is greedy. It is essential to contribute to other people and help them promote their stories. Karma comes full-circle when it comes to social networking.

Mistake #2: Not understanding the scope of the site or the community in its entirety

I’ve heard a lot of social media experts suggesting to take a look at the site and community before you register to understand what it’s about. That advice is half the battle but before you can really understand what it’s about you have to observe, participate, and test significantly. My mistake was not knowing that the one community perceives things differently than other communities.

For example, Digg.com hates SEOs. I learned this by my low response on SEO articles submitted. Good thing I was currently operating under the name “jordankasteler” instead of “UtahSEOpro”. This could have been bad had I started participating with the name “UtahSEOpro” and then realized, after much wasted time and effort, that none of my stuff will ever get promoted because nobody likes me.

Another example happened lately on Mixx.com. I submitted one of my own articles to a group on Mixx that had a rule strictly against self-promotion. Needless to say that didn’t go over well.

Moral of the story here is know the community, know the rules, know that goes hot and what doesn’t, know who’s hot and who’s not and imitate them.

Another tip is to seek out niche communities that aren’t as big as say Reddit, Digg, Delicious, or StumbleUpon. There are niche sites like sphinn.com for Internet marketers, Sk-rt.com for woman, and Hugg.com for nature lovers. Relevant content in niche communities can drive more traffic and links than broader communities sometimes.

Mistake #3: Not having goals When I very first started using Digg used it almost as a bookmarking service. At the time, I probably didn’t even know the difference between Digg and Delicious. When I found a site I liked, I submitted it to Digg not considering or caring if the community would like it or not or if it was news worthy. What a horrible waste, I now have 70+ submissions and only a small percentage of them are actual quality content that I’ve submitted with intentions of promoting news worthy or remarkable article, video, or image.

Start by creating goals for every piece you submit. Your goals should be to promote everything you submit and do so with pride. If you submit low-quality content then you’re a low-quality contributor and the community will recognize it quickly. Don’t just submit and forget. Use a tool like Digg Alerter to watch your submitted content. If someone comments on a post then respond back to them whether the comment was positive or negative. The key here is to engage with the community and try to start a conversation. Comments are a good quality indicator of a post so this is an important part detail. If you don’t have a good response for the comment at least vote it up or down depending on the quality of the comment.

Mistake #4: Choosing quantity over quality when it comes to friends

Initial thinking of a newbie would be the more friends the better, right? WRONG! I’m not sure if this is recent with Digg’s new algorithm change or what but what I’ve found out is that the more friend you have the higher the threshold is for a story to go popular. My mistake was adding too many friends and not monitoring if they were voting for my content or not. After decreasing my friend count on Digg from nearly 500 friends to about 65 friends I’ve seen the threshold drop dramatically. For most social media sites you want to keep your friends very relevant to your interests and make sure that they are active users. Having non-active users, people who don’t appreciate your submissions, and people who don’t help you promote your submitted content is useless. I’ll go back to Karma here, if you’re not being active and helping others yourself then don’t expect your friends to do the same.

A wise thing is to constantly monitor your friend activity and trim down friends who aren’t beneficial to your success or not. This isn’t to hurt anyone’s feelings but if they aren’t going to play they need to get off the field.

Mistake #5: Not using RSS

I hate RSS when it comes to reading my news so I’ve stayed clear from it but I discovered that RSS is my best friend for social media. There are a couple reasons why. The first reason is if you’re contributing a lot of content, especially news worthy items, then timing is everything. It’s wise to subscribe to news sites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com so you can catch hot stories as soon as they are posted.

The second reason is that you can subscribe to what your friends are posting so you can help them promote their content without having to go to each profile and check up on them daily. It’s a huge timesaver and an easy way to keep tabs on your friend’s activity.

*BONUS Mistake* Not considering submission timing

There are certain times in each community where there are more eyes on the site or certain categories than others. Knowing those times and submitting during them is important. Generally, most people surf social sites in the morning or around lunch time during their break at work. It’s a good time to submit around then to capture people’s attention. It can make the different of whether your story goes popular or not.

If you’re up at 3:00 a.m. and you see a hot story pop up on your RSS reader from CNN then it’s probably not wise to save that until lunch-time the next day to submit because then you run the risk of someone else submitting it first. So be wise and use common sense.

Summary

Hopefully learning from my mistakes will help you avoid them in the future. I like to teach people the correct way of doing things based on my experience and hopefully you can take what you’ve learned and do the same.

Four Pitfalls Associated with any Social Media Marketing Campaign

admin    Social Media     Associated, Campaign, Four, Marketing, Media, Pitfalls, Social

The most recent phenomenon to hit the Internet Marketing scene in recent years is another form of Internet Marketing in its own right called Social Media Marketing. While Social Media Marketing has the capability to drive hordes of targeted traffic to your website there are still some pitfalls involved which you should try to avoid, at all costs, if you want to be successful with your Social Media Marketing campaign.

First of all one of the major targets of Social Media Marketers are the social media websites themselves, for example, MySpace and Facebook. In order to target and market to these sites you have to join and attract friends to your profile page. The first thing to avoid after joining is becoming involved with any of the software available which allows you to send mass invitations to certain groups you may have targeted inviting them to be your friends.

Everyone in the group receives a generic message inviting them to be your friend. If the site owner or webmaster discovers you are using this software you could be banned for life or, at the very least, have your membership suspended for a period of time. This can result in giving you a bad reputation within this community and make it very difficult to build any type of trusting relationship you need to establish for your future marketing activities on this site.

Another pitfall to be avoided is related somewhat to the first demonstrating how any type of news, good or bad, travels fast within these social media networks. When you approach your Social Media Marketing campaign and any of these social media websites you have to do so with the right attitude. By saying this I mean you have to be open and honest about your intentions. You have to be Transparent.

If you try to deceive any of your social networks it will usually come back to haunt you which can, again, result in a tarnished if not trashed reputation within these internet communities. A wise Internet Marketer once told me, when it comes to Internet Marketing the more you give, the more you receive. This brings us to a third pitfall which, if not avoided, can stall your Social Media Marketing campaign as if it were mired in quicksand. And this is, always be available and eager to offer help and advice.

But don’t offer advice if it’s not requested. If you are available to answer a Blog or forum question for someone who is stuck in a particular situation and needs help then by all means try to help. This will pay big dividends later on when needed because your reputation will precede you which, in this case, will be a good thing.

A fourth and final pitfall has to do with knowing who you are approaching. In other words you wouldn’t take a trip to Singapore without doing a little preparation and study about the culture and practices of these particular people. You should take the same approach when planning your social media campaign. If you’re approaching communities such as Facebook or MySpace, learn the proper etiquette and above all try not to offend anyone.

Especially try not to offend anyone who wields any kind of influence or power over the other members of the community. This too can result in a quick death for your Social Media Marketing campaign. If you approach your promotion with these four pitfalls in mind and put in the necessary planning and preparation as you would with any marketing campaign then you will be much more likely to encounter success with your social media strategy.