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10 Critical Things to Know About Facebook’s Timeline for Business

Guest — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 02:38:59 +0000

As you probably know by now, timeline on Facebook has rolled out to businesses. Here are some things that you must know!

1. “Likes” don’t matter anymore, if they ever did. The call to action to “Like” your page is gone. Folks will have to be enticed to return to your page or voluntarily give you a “Like” and that will directly be a factor of the next item.

2. Content matters. I think that we’ve said that before. Why would anyone want to put themselves in front of commercials all the time (other than at the Super Bowl)? They wouldn’t, so you cannot become a commercial, but more than that, you must be interesting. Images, videos, and opportunities to share their own opinions are what tend to be the most interesting to others – and it’s about them, not you!

3. Your Cover Photo (851px x 315px) has a lot of restrictions on what it can be. Get help or do the research, but don’t risk your entire Facebook account by violating their terms.

4. Use your Cover Photo to spark curiosity, enhance your brand, connect emotionally, or highlight your features, but like any image, it will need to be visually appealing to the eye.

5. Murphy’s Law applies here. Designing your Cover Photo (and custom apps/icons) will absolutely take more time than you think. Plan for it.

6. Customize your Apps! And again, customize your apps (or tabs if you’ve not made the jargon upgrade). Use these to generate all of the Call-to-Actions you want to, but remember to personalize the icons, too. (App images are 111px x 74px).

7. Carefully consider which 3 apps you will emphasize. The top row of apps will be seen regularly, so put your best call-to-actions there!

8. Learn how to use the “Highlight” and “Pin” features. These will allow you to emphasize key moments on your Timeline in strategic and unique ways. Enter key dates, use pictures and links, etc. Experiment with these tools. You may find, they are actually more engaging than a Landing Page.

9. Get familiar with the Admin panel. There are some cool features there for engaging with your fans. Messages, “New Likes,” Insights, and the Activity Log are great resources to monitor what’s going on with your page and your fans as well.

10. Ads matter. Yes, we said it – the “A” word. Ads will become more important now, BUT they will need to be done differently. Engagement over Likes will be important, so your ads may need to be run to your current fans. Or, you may want to direct your Ad to one of your apps where you have a specific call-to-action. You may want to do both! Focus on engagement, not the “Like,” as one thing can be said to be true…

Timelines for Brands and Businesses changes everything!

Camille Rodriquez is the owner of Polka Dot Impressions, a social media consulting company. She is also the Women’s Pastor at her church, Living Stones Church – Sugar Land, and has authored a Christian devotional titled, “When I Die – On Being, Living, and Having the Last Word.”

She believes passionately in integrity and intentionality – integrity in living, integrity in business, and personal responsibility to others. Because all that we do leaves an impression, she encourages others to make it a good one!

If you’d like a free copy of her “10 Commandments of Social Media,” visit her website and fill out the “Contact Us” form. Or, you can follow along on her blog site – http://camillerodriquez.com.

The Marketer’s Practical Approach to Social Media

Guest — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:09:42 +0000

If you are a marketing professional, you likely don’t live a day without being bombarded by messages about the importance of including new media, especially social media, in your marketing mix. From workshops by so-called “experts” who have been exploiting social media since before Al invented the Internet; to free webinars that result in a barrage of spam messaging, who has time to sort through the clutter and make sense of it all? Most marketers recognize the opportunities tied to participation in new media, but the question is how to do it effectively and strategically – in a way that makes participation worth the allocation of time and resources.

Why is New Media Strategy Important for a Modern Business?

The real problem for marketers is that a shift has occurred in how people communicate and where they interact with information and entertainment. Traditional advertising and marketing mediums are nowhere near as effective as they were three years ago. Here
are just a few evidences of the migration to new media:

The Wall Street Journal has reported that advertising in US print directories is expected to fall 39% over the next four years “as people migrate en masse to the Web.”

According to Wikipedia, the newspaper industry has shed 20% of its journalists since 2001.

According to Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project study, released in November of 2011, 66% of online U.S. adults use social media.

In July 2011, Knowledge Networks reported 38,000,000 people in the US age 13 to 80 said social media influenced their purchasing decisions, a 14% increase over the previous six months.

TOA Technologies estimates that 1,000,000 people view customer service related tweets every week, with 80% of them being critical or negative in nature.

eMarketer has projected that by 2013 the number of US Facebook users will increase to 152.1 million.

comScore determined that 176,000,000 US Internet users watched online video content in May 2011, an average of 15.9 hours per viewer.

Most of us are aware of the trends and shifts, so the question becomes one of how to adapt marketing strategies for effective participation.

How Can My Business Use New Media Effectively, Strategically?

Many marketers have reacted to the shifts and trends by rolling up their sleeves, reading books, attending webinars and seminars, and diving in here or there. While this is an admirable approach, many such proactive endeavors fizzle when the proponent realizes their effort requires objectives and strategies, and their communication needs to conform with the rules and etiquette of each medium in order to be effective.

While competence may be obtained on one social media node, such as Facebook, the vision blurs when it comes to how this competency relates to, or interacts with, other aspects of the Web presence – or the marketing strategy as a whole. In many cases, this initial fire gets doused by frustration or lack of directed time and resources, and the company ends up with a handful of inactive assets doing more harm than good for the brand and visibility of the entity. Sound familiar?

The key to effective use of new media and social media in your marketing plan is a strategic framework that dictates the objectives of each web asset – both as an autonomous tool, and as a component of your overall web presence.

New Media Strategic Framework

When using new media in your marketing plan, it is crucial to understand that the Web has evolved into 3 basic levels of interaction:

Consumption Level: This is the original level of the Web. The hallmark of this level is company-controlled information about products and services (a.k.a. company websites). The consumption level allows companies to facilitate interaction through contact forms, information requests, or ecommerce. It has evolved into a final level of Web interaction that users utilize when they are ready to proceed with a final purchase or consumption decision.

Credibility Level: The Credibility Level of the web has evolved because users recognize that the content generated on the Consumption Level is company controlled. In order to get beyond contrived marketing-speak, users demand technologies such as YouTube, the blog-o-sphere, directories with rating systems, and consumer-generated satisfaction surveys. These tools on the credibility level allow users to form their product or service consideration set based on more transparent content such as video demonstrations, blog posts, consumer feedback, and satisfaction ratings.

Conversation Level: The advent and popularity of social media has led to the development of the conversation level of the Web. This level of the Web features content that is completely user-generated and, in fact, facilitates real-time questions, answers and critique with regard to products and services. The nature of the social media tools allows this conversation to get exponentially beyond one-to-one interaction – opening the floodgates of many-to-many communication. Consumers rely on this level of the Web for forming their opinions and brand perceptions – often prior to seeking information on the Credibility Level or Consumption Level.

In order to remain viable and relevant, it is important for businesses to effectively participate on all 3 levels of the Web. And it’s possible to do so in a way that enhances company brand, improves customer service, and maximizes entrance into the consideration set of target consumers.

By organizing Web assets according to their level of interaction, it brings direction to the purpose and objectives of the asset. For example, recognizing that establishing a YouTube channel will allow the company to participate on the Credibility Level, directs the purpose of the channel – to establish brand voice, demonstrate expertise, and showcase experience.

Once content is generated on any one node of participation, that content can, and should be, integrated into other nodes. For example, once a YouTube video is uploaded to the channel, the same video can be strategically embedded into pages on the website, or can be utilized to enhance the value of a blog post, a tweet or fan page announcement. By leveraging new content across the Web presence, you improve the efficiency of your effort, and keep all nodes more relevant and active for the user.

Branding is another key. Each node of your Web presence should be well encased in brand identity. The Web presence as a whole should be viewed as single user experience. Migration between levels should be cohesive in terms of visual identity (logo, fonts, colors, symbolism), brand promise, and brand messaging.

The strategic framework requires two additional areas of consideration:

Interactions of Value: It’s one thing to have branded, linked nodes of participation established, but another thing altogether to activate the nodes with content that will engage users. The rule of thumb is to create and feed the model with content that informs, entertains or both.

Search Engine Optimization: By interlinking the nodes of participation, you allow Google and other search engines to find and correlate the content and its corresponding key words and key phrases. This improves the organic visibility of the entire Web presence. Conducting key phrase research and understanding the terms people use when looking for your products and services will also enhance the value and strategy of your new media efforts.

Visibility Plan

Understanding the strategic framework makes improvement of visibility a methodical process. The visibility plan should cover 5 basic areas:

1. Branded Assets
2. Enhanced Citations
3. Strategic Listening
4. Engaging Content
5. Promotion

Using the strategic model above as an example, the visibility plan might include the following activities:

* Conducting key phrase research for content improvement/optimization.

* Enhancement and strategic activation of custom-branded, core social nodes on both the credibility level and conversation level of the Web.

* Optimization of directory listings, citations and ongoing establishment of inbound links.

* Activation of a blog, including a detailed content plan that aligns with traditional marketing initiatives and provides interactions of value. Enhancement of each post to include dynamic content (photos, graphics, videos) and key phrases tied to organic visibility objectives.

* Establishing a listening post for tracking of company mentions, competitor mentions, and key topics across the Web and social space – providing real-time market intelligence, competitive intelligence, and key opportunities for joining target-audience conversations.

* Weekly listening post reporting and flagging of key opportunities for response.

* Monthly assessment and reporting of Web traffic analytics and ROI.

* Review and collaboration on current SEO, SEM and PPC efforts to maximize performance and resulting lead generation.

* Design and deployment of a measurable, geo-targeted online advertising campaign – maximization of a monthly spend for geo-targeted advertising across local and national assets that align with the target audience demographic.

Assessment of weekly and monthly reports that indicate traffic generated, traffic sources, click-through rates and other key performance indicators (KPIs) of the campaign.

* Ongoing adjustment and optimization of the campaign based on KPIs (Key performance indicators).

Having a strategic framework to work from is a major component of successful participation with new media. However, finding the time and capable resources for carrying out your visibility plan can be a challenge. Many companies are creating full time positions tied to new media deployment.

With the shift to new media, the market is producing capable experts, consultants and employees. Companies that stay on the leading edge of the shift to new media, using a sound strategic approach, are sure to gain a significant competitive advantage in the decades ahead.

What if you could have the resources of an entire team of new media professionals – highly trained in the models and methods outlined in this article – all at a fraction of the cost associated with a new employee?

Jibe Media offers visibility services that are adaptable to the specific needs of your organization. From consultation, training and support to full service visibility plan deployment, Jibe’s services can be obtained at a cost that is affordable, smart and effective.

Contact Jibe Media today for a free visibility assessment and proposal. Contact: Mark Farr 801.433.5423 ext. 201 email: mfarr@jibemedia.com

Pinterest – What’s It All About?

Guest — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:05:08 +0000

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I must admit to only becoming aware of this new social media phenomenon fairly recently and, having done a bit of research, I thought I’d write about it in case any of you also fall outside the 11M+ registered subscribers it has up to now.

How Does Pinterest Work?

Pinterest is essentially a picture sharing site where subscribers ‘pin’ images to their own ‘pin board.’ This can be anything you like – it can be random stuff that you just have an interest in and want to share with others or it can be multiple images relating to a passion you have. For instance you may have a love for 60′s British roadsters, old business logo’s, antique men’s watches, or even a holiday home you really need to rent out. As a user you can easily browse topics and if you discover something you’ve got an interest in you can ‘follow’ it just as you do in Twitter and you’ll be notified when any new images are added to that board. You can also leave comments and join in discussions on each of the images that appear on the site.

How Will It Help My Business?

Well if you own a business that is selling or producing something which will benefit from good images (which is pretty much anything) i.e. clothes, photography, accommodation, artwork etc, this looks like it’s a very good opportunity to setup some boards to promote your products and services because your pictures can have links to your own web site’s sales pages. The most beneficial long term technique from a sales angle would be to be a part of the community spirit for a few weeks before ‘hard-selling’ your products. For instance ‘pin’ some personal images and then slowly add your products. This approach is possibly not absolutely essential, but it’s just my own choice when I join something which isn’t initially designed to be a sales platform.

In the holiday cottage hire example previously mentioned, it could be somebody has a cottage they want to let in Wales for the nine months of the year they don’t use it. They struggle on Google because the first four or five pages are dominated by the big holiday letting agents and so they get a board on Pinterest and fill it up with images of the cottage itself. They also upload photographs of the surrounding countryside, local places of interest etc. etc. and then wait for other Pinterest subscribers to
find the board, follow them and, perhaps, hire the cottage.

Why Haven’t I Heard Of It & Will It Be Around Long Term?

I’m not sure why its had such a low profile so far since there are 11 millions plus people already registered – (although it seems the majority are based in the United States). Just like Facebook & Twitter before them though, if they carry on at this pace of growth it’s only a matter time before everyone will be talking about Pinterest. You would probably question whether we have time to log onto another social media site, but Pinterest is clearly different & it’s very simple to use so it might fill a gap we didn’t know we had.

From a business perspective it’s another no-brainer – if your company has a product or service which would potentially benefit from a lot of visitors seeing photographs of what you have for sale you need to be on Pinterest. Its free to join and many millions of people go to it every day. One slight negative at the moment is that it’s invitation only. I’m not sure why this is but it’s a strategy which has been used to generate interest in joining an ‘exclusive club’ before (remember Gmail invites?) which I think will change in time.

Paul Cunningham has 11 years experience in website design & for the past five years has specialized in search engine optimization,in Stockport, UK. The team at http://www.websitedesignlab.co.uk have helped hundreds of small & medium sized local business maximize their revenues via cost effective SEO in Manchester and all over the UK.

6 Things You Don’t Know About Online Video Marketing

Guest — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:40:58 +0000

Make no mistake – online video marketing is the “next big thing.” However, there are a ton of misconceptions about it floating around out there. The end result is business owners that are hesitant to jump onboard and who don’t think they have what it takes to use online videos as a marketing tool.

Chances are you don’t know these 6 things about online video marketing. And, until you understand them backwards and forwards,
you’re really missing out!

1. YouTube is the World’s Second-Largest Search Engine

How much time do you spend making your website “Google-friendly”? Why do you work so hard on it? Because Google has a tremendous reach. Heck, the word “Google” has turned into a verb that’s used day in and day out, all over the world. Need an answer? Just Google it!

But how much time are you spending, marketing through YouTube?

Did you know that YouTube gets more than 4 billion video views every single day? Yes, that’s “billion,” with a “B.”

And, don’t fall victim to the myth that getting exposure on YouTube is nothing more than a crap shoot. With just a few mouse clicks, you can optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags – and even create your own optimized “About Me” and “Channel Description” areas – so that you’re more likely to pop up in a search. You can even take it one step further and organize your videos into different “Playlist Categories” that – you guessed it – have keyword-based names. That way, you’re optimized from top to bottom!

2. There’s More to Online Video Marketing Than Just YouTube

As powerful as YouTube is, it’s not the only horse in this rodeo. There are plenty of other video sharing sites where you can upload your creations and share them with your target audience.

A great way to make the most out of your online video marketing efforts is to look for sharing sites that are specific to your niche. Some searching may turn up video sites that are go-to resources for people interested in your niche – or that make it easy for people to find videos, without navigating a sea of irrelevant YouTube videos.

3. Longer Doesn’t Equal Better

Lots of people avoid creating online videos because they think they have to talk for hours on end to get their point across. But great videos come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve seen great videos that kept my attention for a full 20 minutes. I’ve also learned a lot from videos that are 2 minutes long. The length of your videos will be determined by what you’re talking about, and how long you can realistically engage your viewers.

And, if you still don’t think your videos are long enough, look at it this way – When you turn on your local newscast tonight, odds are that the lead story will be 1 and a half – 2 minutes long. If a reporter can squeeze all of the facts into a minute or two, so can you!

4. You Can Succeed With Online Video Marketing Even if You’re Camera Shy

Sure, giving your target audience a chance to see and hear you (and, thus, prove that you’re not some kind of slimeball or scam artist) is one of the great perks of online video marketing. However, if the thought of getting on camera has you crawling under the bed and trembling with fear, that’s OK. You can still use online videos to your advantage. To get yourself comfortable, do voiceovers instead of being in front of the camera. Just make sure that you don’t sit there and read verbatim off PowerPoint slides. The last thing that you want to do is bore your audience to tears!

And, really, no one expects you to have the on-camera charisma of Walter Cronkite anyway. As long as you can speak clearly, avoid the dreaded “umms” and “uhhhs,” and look confidently into the camera, that’s good enough. Instead of looking at the camera and envisioning the thousands of people that are going to be watching it, just pretend like you’re talking to a trusted client. That way, you’ll feel like you’re having a one-on-one conversation – and your fears will subside.

5. Most People Make Excuses About Online Videos, Instead of Taking Action

In the online video marketing world, the excuses are never-ending. You don’t have the right equipment – You don’t have the time to upload things – You think your voice sounds funny – Your hair doesn’t look good on camera – You don’t know how to write video scripts.

Luckily, all of these excuses make it easier for the people who actually get out there and do it! If you embrace online video marketing right now – while it’s still relatively new – you’ll be able to jump out ahead of the pack and become one of the “Joneses,” instead of always trying to keep up with them!

6. Creativity is More Important Than Budget

Don’t have a Spielberg-esque budget to blow on sets, lighting, and post-production? No problem! Sure, big companies like Doritos, Volkswagen, and Geico are making a huge splash in the online video world – but that doesn’t mean that your videos have to compete with theirs.

Instead of worrying about dollars and cents, come up with creative ways to get the job done – like turning your living room into a “studio,” having a kick-butt script, or using inexpensive editing software to come up with awesome animations. Remember, at the end of the day, the goal is to create online videos that your target audience will learn from, will remember, and will want to share with their family and friends!

Online video marketing doesn’t have to be scary – as long as you have the right tools to get the job done. If you’re looking for online video scripts Video-Scripts-Online-Video-Marketing.html) that will have your viewers hitting the “like” and “re-tweet” buttons, talk to Nicole Beckett.

Google’s New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes “Above-The-Fold” Advertising

Sheila — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:02:47 +0000

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, a category 5 hurricane named “Panda” swept through the Gulf of Google devastating businesses large and small alike. The hurricane was reportedly named after one of Google’s engineers.

So what was the reason for this catastrophic and “game-changing” update? Well, according to Google:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites – sites which are low-value, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites – sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.” (Source: Google Blog)

Mission accomplished. Anyway, in the aftermath of the Panda update, there are 11 important SEO facts I’ve learned based on my own personal experiences, the experiences of my clients, and from listening to top SEO professionals across the Internet.

The above passages are from an article I wrote last July titled, Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know.

In item #7 of the 11 SEO facts I wrote:

7. Avoid Excessive Advertisements or Images

“Be mindful of having too many advertisements on any of your pages, in relation to “meaningful” content. There seems to be a direct correlation between the number of advertisements on a page (especially above the fold advertising), and the overall ranking of a page. Make sure you have plenty of quality, relevant content to balance out your web pages.”

Well, now it’s official. On January 19, 2012, Google announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads.

The change – called the “page layout algorithm” – takes direct aim at any site with pages where content is buried under tons of ads.

From Google’s post on its Inside Search blog today:

“We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.

So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience.

Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.”

Google also posted the same information to its Google Webmaster Central blog.

Sites using pop-ups, pop-unders or overlay ads are not impacted by this. It only applies to static ads in fixed positions on pages themselves. (Source: SearchEngineLand.com)

Google’s Hypocrisy

Danny Sullivan (SearchEngineLand.com) said on the same day that Google’s web search team announced this change, he received a message from Google’s AdSense team encouraging him to put more ads on his site.

Can you believe that?

Think about the hypocrisy for a moment. When you perform a search on Google, the first thing you see when they return your search results are above-the-fold ads. But yet, they want to penalize you for the above-the-fold ads on your site.

That’s typical Google…Do what we say, not what we do. Hey, Google! What about our user experience when we do a search?

Quality Content Matters

So what does all of this mean? It means play by the rules or suffer the consequences. It also means the content on your website matters more than ever before. Not to be redundant, but I have to go back to what Google said when explaining Panda:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites-sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites- sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

So what constitutes high-quality content?

Like everything else in life, when it comes to quality, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, what constitutes quality to one person, might not necessarily be quality to the next person. You know the old saying…

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

What does that mean? It simply means, what is useless to one person might be valuable to another.

For example, my idea of “quality” content is to write useful “how-to” articles, (minimum 800 words) or blog posts that explain how to market your website better. I strive to create the type of content that not only helps people – but also content that other quality websites will want to link to and share with their visitors. My experience and results has taught me this standard satisfies Google.

Your idea of quality website content might be to write sales copy promoting your products and services. And while there’s nothing wrong with doing that, it’s not exactly the type of content that quality websites will want to link to. While it may do a fine job of promoting your products – (which is what it’s designed to do), it doesn’t necessarily build a relationship with visitors – the type of relationship that will compel them to return to your website over and over again.

And while I prefer to write articles, quality content can take many forms including, videos, e-books, newsletters, press releases, podcasts, seminars, or a variety of other formats. But whatever form it takes, make sure it’s the type of quality other websites will want to link to and share with others.

Google And Relevancy

But it’s not enough to just publish quality content. Your content also needs to be relevant to the overall theme of your site. Google places a tremendous amount of value on relevancy. So do everything you can to make sure your pages are as relevant as possible and accurately reflect your site’s actual content.

Why am I making such a big deal out of relevancy? Because Google does, that’s why. This is what it says on Google’s Technology page:

“Co-founder Larry Page once described the “perfect search engine” as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” We can’t claim that Google delivers on that vision 100 percent today, but we’re always working on new technologies aimed at bringing all of Google closer to that ideal.

When you type a query into the Google search box, your query is sent to Google machines and compared with all the documents stored in our index to identify the most relevant matches. In a split second, our system prepares a list of the most relevant pages and also determines the relevant sections and bits of text, images, videos and more. What you get is a list of search results with relevant information excerpted in “snippets” (short text summary) beneath each result.”

Did you notice how many times Google used the word “relevant” in the above paragraph? And while Google may not always return the most relevant search results 100 percent of the time, make no mistake, relevancy does matter when it comes to website rankings.

Conclusion

Consistently getting back relevant search results is often an exercise in futility. Think about how many times you have searched for something, only to click on the link to find out the website’s description didn’t come close to matching up with the actual content on the page.

Maybe you landed on a web page that was nothing but one long sales letter trying to sell you an e-book of some sort. Or perhaps, you landed on a page that tried to force you to give up your name and e-mail address in order to receive some free report that had absolutely nothing to do with what you were searching for in the first place.

Like I said, consistently getting back relevant search results is often an exercise in futility. But nowadays, you can benefit by NOT being part of the problem – but rather, the solution.

David Jackson is a marketing consultant and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com

Local Business Online Visibility Tips – Use What You Do Every Day

Sheila — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:39:13 +0000

When you think about online visibility for your local business it’s so easy to get wrapped up and overloaded with what you should be doing on the internet to promote your website. Yet, small changes to your every day business routine can make a big difference.

Often, business owners think about being visible online as a way of reaching people whom you have had no contact with at all. That’s true in many cases. Sometimes, online visibility is as simple as making sure that people you interact with (even briefly) as part of your usual business routines are aware of your online presence.

Not everyone wants to pick up the phone or call in to your premises to find out basic information like your opening hours or who to contact. Sometimes people just want to find out a bit more about you and your company.

In this day and age of always being plugged in to the Internet, your website is the first point of call. That is especially true outside of usual business hours. Make it easy for those brief contacts to find you, don’t make them search when they don’t need to!

5 Simple Offline to Online Visibility Tips

1. Your Business Card

Obvious isn’t it? Well maybe not. I have a mountain of business cards that have little more than an address, phone and email on them. Why force people’s hands and make them search for more information about you? Give them your online details upfront and include:

* Your website address.
* Your active social media profiles such as LinkedIn, FaceBook page and Twitter.
* Why not try a QR Code?

QR Codes can be as simple as a vCard with all your contact details, including your address, phone, email and website to store directly on the phone. You can also redirect to your website, Facebook Page or even Google Places review page. The possibilities are almost endless.

2. Your Business Stationery

Invoices, receipts, compliment slips, info leaflets, headed notepaper… How many of these have your online details displayed? Again, do not just include your email address, but also your website and active social profiles too.

3. Your Vehicle

You may not have the budget for a full designed vehicle wrap, but you can put your details on a decal or sunscreen strip.

4. Print Ads

Whether it’s the local paper or Yellow Pages, always include your online details when you advertise. Make it effective by giving people a reason to visit your website – and capture their email address in return for your offer!

5. Promotional Gifts

We’ve all done it at some point – trade shows, seminars, demonstration or open days give out what seems to be a ton of pens, badges, balloons, key rings, mugs – the whole she-bang all nicely printed with a business name. Make them work harder for you and at least include your website address too.

The great thing about directing people back to your website is it can be easily tracked when you implement it correctly. You’ll get a good picture of where people have come from, what works and what doesn’t.

Before you place the order to re-print your stationery or ads, think “online visibility” – your website is open 24/7 waiting for that 2am inspirational or emergency visit.

Want to know more about getting the word out about your local business online? Help yourself to my “Getting Started Online” guides – they’re free => http://www.mylocalbusinessonline.co.uk/started-online

Jan Kearney specializes in helping local businesses take advantage of the worldwide web to grow their business. You are invited to read Jan’s blog at http://www.mylocalbusinessonline.co.uk

Has Google Replaced Content as King of the Web?

Sheila — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:22:33 +0000

While great content will always get you noticed, I have come to the somewhat obvious conclusion that “Content is NOT King, Google is King” on the web. This is a slightly different mindset when it comes to getting traffic and marketing on the net.

This new mindset doesn’t change the fact that you still have to create great content, but it changes the way one goes about promoting that content on the web.

In the last few years, Google’s share of the search market has grown to 65% or much more in most areas of the world. This domination of online search puts Google in control of what content is seen – regardless of its quality.

It plays a major role in your content’s visibility, a role so great that without Google’s approval, your content is not exactly dead in the water, but your chances of succeeding is much less than with a thumbs-up from Google.

Now, the real turning point (light bulb moment) for me was Google’s recent promotion of its own products or data, as in the whole “Google Plus Your World” search results features which were introduced a few weeks ago. Google is actively showing and promoting its Google+ profiles and posts within its SERPs.

Many believe Google is sacrificing both relevancy and quality by only showing its own data (as opposed to Twitter’s and Facebook’s profiles/posts which Google claims it no longer has access to) when Google users are logged into their accounts.

Those same critics also believe Google has stepped over the line and has become too self-promotional in the way it is now handling search. These critics say Google is promoting its other products such as YouTube, Blogger… over other outside entries in their search results.

Regardless of your view on this matter, there’s no denying Google has become much more pro-active in promoting its products. You can now see ads on TV and elsewhere for Google Chrome, Android, Adwords… all promoting Google’s products.

Why is all this important?

Many believe, myself included, that Google is aiming for control of all aspects of the web – not only search, but video and social as well. They want to control what web users search, see and how they socialize on the net. Google wants to be in the driver’s seat – plain and simple.

But Google’s influence will go much further than those three areas; Google probably would also like to control the browser (Chrome) we use, the operating system (Android) and the device (Chromebook) we view those results on. Only Microsoft comes close to doing the same thing, but they have really not presented a search engine which can beat Google and fall short in this respect.

This leaves Google in the Captain’s chair. It now controls what content on the web is seen and viewed. While this control is not complete, it is growing stronger month by month, year by year.

What is extremely troubling and a little hard to understand, Google is now JUDGING your WHOLE site instead of just the webpage/ content in question. This new attitude is reflected in the recent Panda Series of updates which was supposedly aimed at removing duplicate and low quality content from the web.

However, if a webmaster or site triggers just one of Google’s new rules… their whole site is lowered in the rankings, including their perfectly good high quality content. It is like saying you can’t have visitors into your house, because you have an untidy attic. Your visitors will never see the attic, but Google as Gatekeeper of the web, with the Panda Updates and other restrictions, makes sure your rightful visitors don’t even make it to the door.

This absurd, arbitrary ruling by Google is extremely hard to understand by small web site owners and businesses who don’t have the resources/manpower to re-design their sites at a drop of a hat. Whatever happened to Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil” or “Do no evil” when it comes to judging and penalizing WHOLE websites, instead of the pages in question. Many webmasters would be satisfied with “Don’t be cruel” when Google is ranking their sites.

Likewise, Google is rolling out another rule which states webmasters can’t have too many ads “above the fold” or their whole site will be penalized, not just the offending page in question. Ironically, at the same time, Google is actively telling webmasters to place Adsense above the fold… but they have no problem with placing their own ads above the fold.

What does this all mean?

To put it bluntly, you must make sure your content passes ALL of Google’s hurdles if you truly want it to succeed on the web. The long series of Panda Updates really pointed this out to many webmasters who failed to jump a few hurdles and saw their rankings drop from sight in Google.

To put it even more bluntly, webmasters and marketers must please Google if they want their content to have the best results. While quality content is still important, without Google’s approval your great content will go nowhere fast.

In addition, webmasters and marketers must optimize their content not only for Google search, but also for other Google products such as Google+, YouTube… and they must make sure their content displays properly in the Chrome browser because Google is taking data from these users to rank your content.

Quality content is no longer king of the web, Google is king of the web and you better play by Google’s rules or you might as well take your ball and go home.

All views, opinions and conclusions are solely those of the author, who is a full-time search engine marketer. He runs numerous niche sites, including two sites on Internet Marketing. To get valuable marketing tips for free click here: internet marketing tools or here: web marketing tools. Titus Hoskins Copyright 2012.

You Made This Happen!! STOP PIPA and SOPA!

Sheila — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:39:23 +0000

Everyone online really came together to help stop the SOPA and PIPA act. It was almost like a community after a disaster. Everyone comes out of their homes and works together for a cause. Though not as dire as a natural disaster, I saw the same tendency for a group of people to come together to fight against something I believe would be hugely detrimental to our rights and the future of the internet. Here is a copy of the email I received from Ben Simon of Mozilla Firefox – “we” were very impressive!!

Hi Sheila,

Great news — this morning, Congressional leaders announced that votes on both the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act have been postponed!

Make no mistake — you made this happen.

This week, more than 13 million people spoke out against these disastrous pieces of legislation, and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it’s your protest and your action that made it happen.

To see some of the awesome numbers from Mozillians this week, check out this blog post, and you can see some internet-wide stats here.

There will be more that we need to do in the future on this — this fight is not over — but, for now: Thank You.

Ben

P.S. — We couldn’t do this without financial support from people like you. Can you chip in $5 or more so we’re prepared for whatever comes next?

–

Ben Simon
Join Mozilla Lead
Mozilla Foundation

Educating Your Visitors

Guest — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:29:41 +0000

The Power of Giving and User-Friendly Websites

I’ve been involved in sales and marketing for over twenty years – half my adult life. And sometimes I still get confused when I browse the Internet and visit websites searching for information, or to make a purchase. I’m absolutely amazed at how complicated some marketers make doing business online.

Let’s talk about searching for information for a moment. After all, most people go online not to buy anything, but rather to search for information to solve a problem they have. Knowing this is important, because if you understand that the Internet is driven by information and information seekers, as a marketer, you can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

1. You can provide information seekers with the information they’re looking for.

2. You can educate potential prospects and turn them into customers.

Educate Your Visitors First

If you visit my website, you won’t see any banners or advertising of any kind. Why? Because I built my site as a free marketing resource to educate my visitors. I’m not selling anything, so the only thing you’ll see on my site is free information… lots and lots of free information.

So how do I monetize my site? How do I make any money? Well, people read my marketing articles on highly-respected websites like SiteProNews, then they visit my website. And between the advice I dispense in my articles and on my site, as well as select small business forums, people can determine for themselves if I know what I’m talking about. Once they become convinced of my expertise, they inquire about my marketing consulting services… become satisfied clients, word-of-mouth kicks in, and voila… my cup runneth over!

In other words, I create content to educate people and help them solve a particular problem. And I do this without an agenda – without asking for anything in return. But a funny thing happens when you educate people – provided the information has value and is accurate. You enhance your own credibility and increase the value of your products and services.

And this method of marketing works regardless of what you’re selling – even if you sell something as nondescript as a glue stick. Yes, a glue stick! Become the glue stick expert. For example, you can create content about the glue stick industry and related products. Educate people about glue sticks. Enhance your company’s credibility, and increase the value of your products and services.

So am I suggesting that you shouldn’t have any banners or other types of advertising on your site? No, I’m not suggesting that at all. Whether or not you choose to feature advertising on your site is a decision you have to make for yourself. I choose not to. What I am suggesting, however, is that you put educating your visitors first – ahead of profits. If you do that, the money will follow… I promise you.

The Power of Giving

“The universe operates through dynamic exchange… giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives.” – Deepak Chopra

The bible says…

“Give, and it shall be given to you. For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return.” – Luke 6:38

In other words, the more you give to others, the more you will get back in return. You’ll find this law is infallible – provided you aren’t giving with the express purpose of getting something back in return. You see, giving disingenuously is both manipulative and calculative. And while you may reap some benefits in the short term, eventually, bad karma will come knocking at your door, and you will have to pay the piper. So when you give, give freely and mean it sincerely.

I think the great Seth Godin put it best…

“Gifts with strings attached don’t make good gifts.”

How To Create A User-Friendly Website

1. Have fast-loading pages. Slow loading pages are annoying to searchers and affects their ability to access content quickly. If your pages load slowly, this may frustrate visitors and cause them to exit your site, never to return.

You can quickly check your page speed at Page Speed Online, a free web application offered by Googlelabs. This tool tests the speed of your page and gives it a score from 1-100, based on the performance of your page. The Page Speed Score indicates how much faster a page could be. A high score indicates little room for improvement, while a lower score indicates more room for improvement. In other words, the higher the score, the better. The Page Speed Score does not measure the time it takes for a page to load – just whether or not it loads quickly. If you score on the lower end of the scale, read “How to Speed Up Web Pages,” to learn what you can do to speed up your pages.

2. Have a crystal clear identity. Have you ever landed on a website and didn’t know what it was about? How did you feel? You didn’t like it did you? And I’ll bet you probably clicked out of there pretty quickly. Well, your visitors don’t like it either. Don’t let your visitors have to try and figure out what your website is all about. Make it crystal clear, right from the beginning. Having a big, descriptive headline on your home page is an excellent way to announce what your website is about. Also, choose relevant keywords for your pages, as opposed to trying to trick people just to get eyeballs. Keep your keywords relevant to your web pages.

3. Keep it simple. Don’t worry about trying to impress with all kinds of unnecessary whistles and bells. (Does anyone really need flash?) Focus on usability, sales and conversions. Simple website designs convert.

4. Stay away from clutter. Have a clean, user-friendly site that makes it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Remember, white space is a good thing. Also, if your website has a lot of content and/or pages, add a search box, to make it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for.

5. Don’t give prospects too many choices. While variety can be a good thing, giving prospects too many items to choose from can often backfire. Why? Because giving prospects too many items to choose from can confuse them. And confused prospects don’t buy. Limit product options to no more than two or three choices.

6. Make the buying process easy. Make it easy for prospects to get from your home page to the product page or the checkout page. Don’t make prospects jump through hoops, clicking thru page after page after page to give you their money. If you do, they will become frustrated and abandon your shopping cart.

Conclusion

The methods I suggested in this article are not only good business practices, they will make you successful faster as well. How? By making you stand out, that’s how. After all, if all of your competitors feature advertising on their sites and you don’t, you’re going to stand out.

If you have a user-friendly website, as well as educate your visitors, and your competitors don’t, you’re going to stand out. And if you give your visitors something of value, without asking for anything in return, you’re going to stand out.

And if you stand out among your competitors, eventually, you will stand above your competitors!

David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com

Avoid 7 New Website Legal Compliance Gotchas

Guest — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:45:09 +0000

Your personal New Year’s resolutions are important. You bet.

However, if you’re a SaaS or Internet marketer, your best-laid plans for 2012 may hit the skids if you fail to avoid new website legal compliance gotchas that emerged in 2011.

So, It’s highly recommended that you add to your personal resolutions the requirement to review the checklist of critical developments and related gotchas in these 2 categories: privacy and Internet marketing.

Privacy

Privacy developments have led the way in terms of new developments in the last few years, and 2011 was no exception. These are the new key developments and related gotchas to avoid.

* Readability of Privacy Policies. In its Preliminary Staff Report issued in December, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated its criticism of “long, incomprehensible privacy policies that consumers typically do not read, let alone understand”. The FTC stated its policy that “although privacy policies may not be a good tool for communicating with most consumers, they still could play an important role in promoting transparency, accountability, and competition among companies on privacy issues – but only if the policies are clear, concise, and easy-to-read”. So, the gotcha to avoid is clear: review your Privacy Policy and replace the disclaimer boilerplate language with clear and easy-to-read text.

* Location Data Now Subject to Privacy Protections. In its Preliminary Staff Report, the FTC also added a new category of information that’s now subject to privacy regulation which includes location data. If your site collects location data via GPS (also referred to as “Covered Information”), avoid this gotcha by disclosing in your Privacy Policy how location data is collected, what’s actually collected, and how it’s used and shared.

* Behavioral Advertising. On March 14, 2011, the FTC announced a settlement regarding behavioral advertising, and along with it, the FTC’s policy requiring prior notice and an opt out mechanism for the collection of data online for behavioral advertising purposes. Behavioral ads are based on anonymous data collected on how a user’s computer browses the Internet, including websites visited, searches made, and content read. This data is used to create a behavioral profile that is linked to a specific demographic. If your site collects behavioral data or serves behavioral ads, avoid this gotcha by full disclosure in your Privacy Policy.

* Undisclosed Uses of Personal Information. On March 20, 2011, the FTC announced a new settlement regarding its established policy regarding undisclosed uses of personal information. This is the big gotcha to be avoided at all costs: collection, use, or sharing of personal or covered information in a manner that is materially different from, or contrary to, the stated purpose in your Privacy Policy. For example, if you collect personal or covered information for one online service, but use this information for a new online service without permission, you could be in big trouble with the FTC.

Internet Marketing

New Internet marketing regulations were numerous in 2011. This is a checklist of the new key developments and related gotchas to avoid.

* ROSCA’s Limitations on Data Pass Transactions. On December 29, 2010, President Obama signed the Restore Online Shopper’s Confidence Act (ROSCA) that regulates credit and debit card data pass transactions. ROSCA prohibits cross-sell Internet marketing schemes where Merchant 1 makes an online sale to a consumer and then passes billing information (the “data pass”). ROSCA permits transfer of the consumer, but not the consumer’s billing information, and that’s the gotcha to avoid.

* ROSCA’s Limitations on Sites With Continuity Income. Websites with continuity income are now regulated. The typical continuity income site would be a membership site where a consumer agrees, for a price or for free, to receive a product or service for an initial period of time, after which the consumer will be charged without giving additional consent for another period of time. If your site is a continuity income site, avoid this gotcha by (i) clearly and conspicuously disclosing all material terms of the plan prior to obtaining billing information, (ii) obtaining express informed consent before charging the consumer’s account, and (iii) providing a simple mechanism for canceling the plan.

* Defamatory Blog Posts. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) shields operators of “interactive computer services” from liability for defamatory posts by visitors. However, if you make the defamatory statement in your blog yourself, you’re not protected by the CDA Section 230. A key development in 2011 involved a defamatory blog post in a blog that was a direct competitor of the defamed person, and the blog operator also re-posted the defamatory statements as a stand-alone post together with a new heading and some additional comments. Although the court found that CDA Section 230 still provided a shield from liability, this was a very close case with a strong dissent. So, the gotcha to avoid is to not repost or even enhance potentially defamatory posts by visitors.

Conclusion

Beginning in 2009, we’ve experienced a tsunami of new legal regulations affecting websites and Internet marketing. And the tsunami continued in 2011. The old “wild, wild west” days are over.

It’s critically important for SaaS providers and Internet marketers to stay on top of new developments and to avoid the related gotchas. The price for failure to comply in terms of liability exposure can be very high. While this checklist is not exhaustive, it’ll provide a good start as you plan ahead for 2012.

This article is provided for educational and informative purposes only. This information does not constitute legal advice, and should not be construed as such.

Is your website legal? Do you understand what you need to do for website legal compliance? Protect your website and your business with near-custom Website Legal Documents. One size doesn’t fit all. Leading Internet and SaaS Attorney Chip Cooper’s “done for you” online legal document service does all the work for you. No special knowledge required – http://www.digicontracts.com/

Tips on How to Convert Your Articles Into Videos

Guest — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:17:54 +0000

When I wrote the article “10 Proven Benefits of Converting Your Articles into Videos” the first comment I received from one of my followers was “How do you turn your articles into videos?” This prompted me to come up with this simple explanation on how to go about it.

There are several options of converting your articles into videos. For instance you can use PowerPoint to create animated slides and convert them into a video format. You can use a flash program to create your videos. But these options really require technical know-how and most people may find it a little bit difficult.

The easiest way to convert your articles into videos is by using an article-to-video-converter software that turns them into videos in the shortest time possible. It is user friendly and it doesn’t require much technical know-how. But you need to select a good program that allows you to edit your article in any way you want. Secondly, you need to spend some money to use the service.

Normally a good program will have a variety of free images you can choose from to use as a background for your videos, with an option to upload your own images. A good program should also have a variety of free background music and a provision to distribute your videos to major video sharing websites like YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo Video, Daily Motion, Metacafe, Revver, Sclipo and many others at no extra cost to save you time and money.

Converting your articles into videos, using an article-to-video converter program, is a three-step process that involves copying and pasting your article into the program, converting it to video and uploading it for distribution to video sharing websites. It’s as simple as that.

Copying and pasting your article into the program takes just a second. After pasting it into the program, the software automatically separates the paragraphs, which then become your video screen descriptions. Each screen description corresponds to a specific paragraph.

To effectively convert your articles into videos, you need to edit the article. Editing entails making changes on your video descriptions. When you add so many words, you risk having very small words on the screen. It entails transforming your text into audio, using the voice-over tool. The program already has prerecorded voices of varying tones for both men and women. You just have to pick the voices that best meet your needs and use them. You also have the option of uploading your own voices.

The process of converting your articles into videos also entails adding background images and music that you consider to be good for your videos. After inserting the background image and music, make sure you preview your video to see whether it’s showing properly and is as you want it to be. If there are any changes to make, you can always go back on specific paragraphs to make your changes.

After converting your articles into videos, you are left with the task of uploading and distributing them to video sharing sites. There is an option of uploading them to your blog and to your Twitter and Facebook pages. If you have a website, you can still copy and paste the HTML code to your website. You can also adjust the settings to resize the width and length of your video on your site.

While turning your articles into videos, you need to optimize your keyword phrases in your video titles and high to enjoy the benefit of getting organic traffic. Secondly, you need to be creative enough to spice up your videos and to make them unique. When you do that then you are assured of getting a steady flow of traffic to your website. Does that help you?

Charles Kiyimba owns http://www.CashWithGoleza.com and http://www.golezadesigners.com where popular home business ideas and opportunities are tested rigorously to find out what works and what doesn’t. Visit today to discover the secrets behind building a successful home business.

Advantages and Features of Mobile Web Design – What You Need to Know

Sheila — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:16:54 +0000

2011 is being touted as the year when mobile technology really comes to the fore. So what are the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of mobile web design? Which web development features are mobile friendly and which are not? Lastly and most importantly, how do you find out how mobile web design could work for your business?

Advantages of Mobile Web Design

* A well developed mobile website can mean an increased range of web visitors to your web site who will be happy to use your site to full effect and appreciate that it functions in the right way.

* If your business targets people on the move (e.g. a restaurant or hotel), you’ll most likely pick up business with good mobile web development.

* Even if your business isn’t a natural fit with mobile technology, giving thought to good mobile web design can present your company as a professional, cutting edge outfit which embraces new technology.

* Developing for mobile can expand your brand and product beyond your website into apps and software programs. The possibilities with mobile technology are growing by the day.

Disadvantages of Mobile Web Design

* You have to know what you’re doing. If done properly, there shouldn’t be any disadvantages to having a mobile web designed site. However, there are a few potential pitfalls which might annoy your mobile customers and have a detrimental effect on your search engine rankings for your web site as a whole.

* Things are always changing. You can’t expect to invest in your mobile web design and leave it there. Mobile web technology is growing and expanding. When a new smartphone comes on the market, you need to be prepared to grow and change to meet the new demands.

* It may not be appropriate for your business. As with any investment of time or money, you need to decide whether the ROI merits the effort you will put in. Businesses don’t all fit one mold, so you need to do your research before embarking on developing a mobile site to ensure that your expectations of the returns are met.

How to go about developing your mobile site – some of the characteristics of mobile web design and development

1) Check Your Stats

Before developing a mobile site, your first port of call is Google Analytics or similar program, where you can identify sources of traffic to your website. Google Analytics lets you know what percentage of your visitors are using mobile to access your website and which specific devices people are using. This will help you decide whether it is worth allocating resources to building a mobile web site for your business and which devices to use when testing your website design.

2) Create a Mobile Stylesheet

The best way to manage a mobile site is to use a different CSS stylesheet from the one you use for your browser pages. This technique is preferable to any other because it avoids duplicating content within your site (which can damage your search engine rankings) and makes it easier to update your site in one fell swoop.

3) Avoid Duplicating Content

Google can penalize your website for having lots of pages with the same content, so if you do decide to develop a different set of webpages for mobile phones, make sure that the content is specifically different from that for your browser website. If you need a full reference of dos and don’ts from Google, Webmaster Tools is a good place to start:

4) Keep Images to a Minimum

You need to work to your lowest common denominator and you don’t know what connection speeds you are dealing with on smart phones. If you can do so, keeping to a few small images will provide a more enjoyable experience for your customers visiting by phone.

5) No Flash… end of

Flash is not a feature of web development which is considered mobile friendly. It doesn’t work on iPhones and because of security constraints, may be phased out of many web browsers in the future, so it’s best avoided in any case. Additionally, Flash can’t be read by search engines so you won’t be scoring points on Google or Bing. If you want a phone-and search-engine-friendly Flash look-alike, why not try jQuery? It works using JavaScript, which is available on the vast majority of browsers and phones and your text can be read by search engines.

6) Apps

Depending on the nature of your business, you may wish to develop an app. An app is a small program which is either free or can be purchased (the usual price for an iPhone app is £0.80). Apps sit as icons on the iPhone or other smartphone, so as well as providing a useful service to your web visitor, they are a great ongoing advertisement for your website and business.

6) Test It Out

Don’t have a smartphone? Opera has a great mobile emulator which allows you to see how your mobile site will look to your visitors by phone. With the Opera mobile emulator, you can try out different phones, vary screen sizes and resolutions and test out touch and keypad phones.

Happy mobile web development!

Victoria is an experienced, professionally qualified freelance web developer and web design professional based in Cambridge, UK, committed to delivering bespoke, elegant and reasonably-priced web solutions to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.

My web design and development website: http://www.rebelphoenix.com Find me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/rebelphoenixweb/

Endless Articles Ideas: What Everyone Wants to Read

Guest — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:42:21 +0000

Have freezer eye? You know, you stare at the computer long enough hoping to figure out which article ideas to write about only to have your eyes freeze. You ask yourself, “What do visitors want to read? What do I like writing about? What have I already written? What pertains to my website or blog? What will help sales? What will help people sign up for my newsletter?” And the main question most people ask, “What am I an expert on so I feel confident enough to write about?”, so on and so on.

Well, you don’t necessarily have to be an expert on anything for your article ideas. Yeah, that’s right.

Instead of feeling like an expert why not take a journalistic approach. Are journalists experts when they report on an event or when they conduct an interview? No, most likely not or someone would be interviewing them, right? But in many cases they have discovered a problem and are looking for a solution. It just so happens that the solution is found somewhere else.

How do you find the problems? How do you find the solutions? Well, here’s how I do it.

I. Questions People Ask Online

1. Search Engines

Plug in different questions into Google and other search engines. I would use at least 2 for each search. Play with word combinations.

- For example, there is a big market for my site’s theme on how to make dessert cupcakes. I admit cupcakes are not something I make a lot, so by no means am I an expert on cupcakes, but I have good content about the market and different niches on some of my pages. I found that many people were asking “how to deliver cupcakes” in Yahoo questions and in blogs. So after much playing with word combinations I found that, “how to transport cupcakes” wasn’t quite as competitive as, “how to deliver cupcakes”. In this case I created a written interview for another webmaster that has a website for cake and cupcake decorating. I took her answers and wrote up an article and plugged in backlinks to both our sites.

2. Your Site’s Statistics Dashboard.

What are the long tail searches people are typing in the search engines to find your site? For me many people ask “how to” questions looking for solutions: “how to send chocolate covered strawberries in mail”, “how to package chocolate covered apples for delivery”, “how to make colored chocolate lollipops”, “how to make filled chocolate candies”, etc. This is a great source of knowledge about both your current visitors and potential visitors.

3. Google Adword Tool.

Find the exact number of monthly searches for different questions. Again play with different word combinations and you will get back a big list. This is one of the best free tools for keyword and phrase searches. Type “Google adword tool” into a search engine to find it, if you haven’t ever used it.

4. Blogs and Discussion Boards.

Practically any market or niche market will have these and they provide a wealth of insight. Search for them and you will find them.

5. Q & A Page from your site. If you already have done the work why do more?

II. Solutions

There are a few ways to find the solutions.

1) You, the expert. This is the easiest way obviously.

2) Research the answer. Search for it online or in books at the library.

3) Ask an expert. Someone will help you. Think about someone you know or just go ask someone. Send the question to someone’s website, see if they answer. Offer to give them credit in your article. Or offer to conduct a written interview that you email them like I did and give them backlinks to their site or credit if they don’t have a site.

Solutions to problems are what people look for online. This is one of the primary reasons people use the internet to begin with. And the value of a well written article or page on your site with the solutions to these problems is immense. First, do the research to see which word combinations to use which have the best possible chance of being found.

Only write about 2-3 questions per article, preferably if they are related so the search engines will be more clear about the theme of the article. Break the article into clear and concise paragraphs to make it easy to read and understand.

Would you agree that people are always looking for solutions to problems online? You probably do.

Just think of all the questions you had about creating a website, writing an article, what information to put on your site and all the everyday questions you ask regarding your health, diet, financial questions, parenting, pet care, house repair, car repair, cooking, delivery, entertainment systems, household product reviews, vacation planning, etc. Everything on the internet starts with a question. Every potential visitor to your site has questions that need answers. Find the questions and provide the answers in your articles and I promise you will never run out of article ideas.

Rick is founder of Deluxe-Sweets-and-Candy-Gifts.com a site dedicated to dessert and candy making ideas as an option for economical, edible gifts. Along the way he discovered how article marketing attracts backlinks and increases both short-term and long-term traffic to his site. His only regret is he stopped article writing a while back and should have stuck with it. http://www.deluxe-sweets-and-candy-gifts.com/article-writing.html

Forwarded Email From Ben Simon, Mozilla.org

Sheila — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:34:32 +0000

Hi Sheila,

Mozilla’s roots go back to a time when the Internet was new, fragile and in need of nurturing.

A small group of people came together to do just that. They collaborated to create, shape and build a Web that is safe, open and accessible for anyone.

They made it something better: a place where anyone could come to build their dreams. With Firefox, they helped create the Web we know and love today — and ensured the Web would be a force for good in the world.

Today Mozilla continues to stand up for the Web we helped to build, and we are glad you’ve joined us.

We put together a fun and quick video that tells that story — and why we need your support to keep it going. I hope you like it!

Please watch “The Mozilla Story” and make a year-end donation of $10 or more to help keep the Web a force for good in the world.

We are a non-profit, which means we can keep our focus squarely on the people who use our software, on the public good, and on our mission, rather than on a bottom line or shareholders. And it means we can stand up to protect the Internet when it comes under attack through harmful legislation like SOPA.

But being a nonprofit means we also rely on your support to make it happen, to build software and programs that will create the next generation of webmakers. And, to be honest, building a better Web where anyone can dream, discover and create isn’t cheap.

We’ve set a year-end fundraising goal of $300,000 — and because of supporters like you we are really close to reaching it. With just ten days left, we’re at $263,000 — I hope you’ll help us cross that finish line. Your gift will be put to work in the New Year as we fight to keep the Web a public resource for innovation and opportunity and protect the Internet as it comes under attack.

Can you help us meet our $300,000 goal with a donation today? It’s tax-deductible if you live in the US:

https://donate.mozilla.org/EOY-Story

Thanks so much, for all you do,

Ben

The New Part Played by Social Media in SEO

Guest — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:47:11 +0000

When most people start planning SEO for their website I can bet you a large proportion of them get stuck when it comes to really understanding what part social media has to play in SEO.

Social media often lags further down the priority list behind SEO for a variety of reasons, mainly a lack of clarity as to what benefits it will actually bring and the fact that it’s often difficult to relate a tweet or Facebook message to a return on investment whereas with SEO, for example, website owners can more easily attribute a growth in sales to new rankings for key-phrases.

However, the way that social media has evolved means that it now plays a much more important role in search engine optimization. Searches are now taking into account the reputation of websites as reflected in social media sites to determine rank.

What Content do Users want to Share?

A more common occurrence nowadays is the placing of social networking buttons alongside pages and various pieces of content within the website.

That’s all fair and well, but it’s only an issue if people actually bother to click on them.

Users will generally want to share some content if:

* They find it funny or amusing

* Interesting

* Educational or inspiring

* Controversial or shocking

Depending on what business you’re in, particular areas of the page can be targeted towards the above sharing factors. So if the page in question is about a product, then the focus could be on the:

* Product Description

* Price

* Reviews

* Images

The marketing principle here is relatively straight forward. Like you would plan content for SEO to ensure maximum effect – take the same approach towards social media strategy. Identify areas of content that could be of interest to users and are most likely to be shared. Don’t be afraid to adopt or add to the content to make it appear more attractive / amusing to users. At the end of the day, whatever works best for you!

Facebook Seeding for SEO

The principle behind using Facebook is to engage with, and build an army of fans who then recommend you to others which means more ‘likes’ and help for the SEO and the domain of the website. However it’s not just that simple – to build a presence on Facebook and to attract fans takes ongoing work and management. The following tips will help you to build a suitable fan page and attract new followers:

* Design an entrance page that compels the visitor to click on the ‘like’ button – there are many things you can do for this – be creative, clever and innovative.

* By using Facebook PPC ads you can drive visitors towards the fan page thus building a larger and more active fan base that in turn helps the SEO and brand awareness of your business.

Social Sharing Sites

Some online communities, such as Digg and StumbleUpon are dedicated to sharing content and can be very powerful ways of spreading a message about your brand and forming social media links that will directly help your SEO. Users can vote on the content and enough votes will result in being featured on the homepage. A link from one of these sites will reflect well on the SEO of your own.

Again though, it’s not enough to stick up any old content and hope for the best. If it’s unplanned and ill thought through, the likelihood is people won’t click on it. In order to stand a chance of success follow these basic steps:

* Devise an eye catching and attractive piece of content that readers are likely to share. Offer people an incentive to share it, whether that means free samples, a discount or just make it so funny, amusing or interesting that people are compelled to share it. Just making it a straight forward advert isn’t going to work – be imaginative.

* Now you need to promote it, and this means work! Create suitable profiles, engage with users and don’t be pushy.

Social Competitions

The idea of running competitions isn’t a new one, but conducting a competition using social media solely, is.

The principle is basic – get users to follow your business on social media and in return they stand a chance to win something. Entering such a competition is easy for people – all they need to do is click ‘follow’ or ‘like’ and that’s it.

The Social Media / SEO Relationship

This is where website owners sometimes get confused. The whole idea behind social content seeding is attracting social signals rather than the traffic. Yes traffic will come to the site via social media sites, but it will not result in conversions.

Where the benefit comes is from the organic rankings, the place where people are already looking for you. The social signals will be helping your website attain better rankings and that’s how the conversions are achieved.

Article by Kausik Dutta. As a UK based search engine optimization company, SEO UK can develop and roll out social media campaigns for any new or established business. SEO UK has a wealth of experience when it comes to social media and can successfully weave it with SEO so as to create the maximum impact.