Not a Blog, just a Pin!

Did you know there are 29.6 million small business owners, 69% of whom want help getting customers using the internet?

Furthermore most of them don’t understand internet marketing. Therefore, they won’t take the time to study social media, and they don’t have a clue about search engine optimization.

Nonetheless, business owners today realize that online marketing is a problem they MUST face and capitalize on. They
also understand that traditional marketing doesn’t work on its own. They need systems and tools, and social media professionals who know how to attract the eyes and ears of their marketplace. Do you know how?

Many social media managers focus on building numbers of facebook fans and twitter followers only to be disappointed that no one is really paying attention. These social media professionals are missing a key ingredient: Third party endorsement. Have you noticed that when someone else promotes your brand or links to a quality post on your blog, you get more traffic? Assuming that the social media and blog managers are adding interesting, engaging and quality information to their social media feeds, then brand advocates will be extremely helpful in getting results.

Social Buzz Club founders, Kathryn Rose and Laura Rubinstein, surveyed some of the internet’s most active social media pros and discovered that 90% of social media pros and business owners find that getting the word out about their brands effectively is the number one challenge when using social media sites.

Building up your facebook fan pages and twitter followings is a good thing, but building a tribe of brand advocates is the most powerful way to stand out on the social networking sites. People really do love to share quality, interesting, humorous, touching or valuable content with each other. What if you could count on a group of people consistently sharing your high quality content? That’s the foundation of the Social Buzz Club community.

Since it’s founded on the principle of reciprocity, the Social Buzz Club is set up to attract social media managers who
participate weekly in sharing content and buzzing out other people’s content. It’s a brilliant way for any social media
manager to get the word out about his/her companies because every member must share about others before sharing about their companies. The Social Buzz Club is a social marketing tool making social media managers more effective at doing their job. It turns social media managers into social media influencers.

The critical factor is that everyone in the tribe must have at least 1 year’s experience on the social networks and have an existing following (minimum of 1,000 twitter followers and 150 facebook friends and /or fans). Each of these proven social media users are established credible resources on the social networks and have value to offer to the members. Quality content from quality people who collaborate together to build a robust brand-boosting tribe.

If you’re a social media savvy professional who loves the idea of collaboration and qualifies for membership, then click here and give the Social Buzz Club a whirl for free.
Try it here: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1104189

Here’s to your social media success!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are methods that aid in the improvement of a website’s Ranking in the listings of search engines. There are different kinds of listings that are displayed in the results pages of search engines, such as paid inclusion, pay-per-click advertisements, and organic search results. Utilizing SEO can increase the quantity of site visitors that acts on the activity that the site intends.

Sites have different goals for search optimization. Some sites search for all kinds of Traffic. A SEO Strategy that is broad in scope can be advantageous for sites that cover broad interest, such as directories and periodicals. On the other hand, majority of the sites attempt to maximize their pages for a high quantity of very specific keywords that radiate the possibility of a sale. Usually, focusing on well-chosen traffic produces sales leads of desirable quality, and allows advertisers to pull in more Business.

The importance of having a high rank for an advertiser’s site cannot be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, many site owners believe that their site has a high-ranking, when the truth is exactly the opposite. Others who are aware that they do not possess enough presence in search engines do not know that it is possible to achieve the ranking they want, and that they can get it through means that are a lot easier and more efficient.

So what are the techniques that advertisers must employ to maximize their optimization and garner the site activity and profits that they seek? Here are some of the most useful ones.

1. Title tags should be written in a creative way. It should be created with the strongest Keyword targets as the basis. It is the most important tag of a web site when it comes to optimization. The specific keyword of the web site that is being optimized should be the one that is placed in the title tag. It goes without saying that every site should have its own title tag.

2. Carefully select the words and phrases to be assigned to Alt tags. Alt tags are not really mandatory, but they are provided for text browsers because images do not get displayed in web browsers, and it is the Alt tags that give information to the users about its significance. The rule in Alt tags is fairly simple: only key phrases or key words should be put in Alt tags, overdoing may cause a site to disappear in search results or get banned from it indefinitely.

3. Manage keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage occupied by keywords or keyword phrases in a web page. Ideally, keywords are used once in the title tag, the heading tag, and in bold text. Keywords should be placed at the top of the page, and phrases can be inserted in every paragraph, depending on how long the paragraph is.

4. Determine the appropriate page size for the site. Speed is a vital element to the success of a site, and it important to both online visitors and the search engines. It is recommended to limit web pages under 15K.

5. Create rich themes for the pages. Search engines are increasingly getting particular about themes. Content should be created as often as possible, and the pages should be maintained to 200 to 500 words. The content should be created in relation to the market, and should be linked to the other related content present on the site.

6. Make the site’s design attractive to the viewer. All efforts in optimization will be in vain if the site is poorly designed and if its contents are hard for viewers to read. There should be more text content than HTML content in the web site. Viewers should be able to use the pages in all major browsers. It should be noted that most search engines veer away from JavaScript and Flash.

7. Stay away from the bad techniques. Utilizing them could get a site blacklisted from the search engines. Spamming is a no-no, and the following techniques are considered spamming: doorway and identical pages, tiny or invisible text, cloaking, usage of keyword phrases in author tags etc.

Advertisers should keep in mind that simplicity is the basis of a successful SEO campaign. Sites should be easy for viewers to locate, follow, and read, and should contain relevant content. Following the techniques above will prove worthwhile for site owners in the future.

Tweet

Getting a “Buzz” On

Viral marketing has matured a bit over the years. There seems to have been a shift to the web not just being seen by agencies and brands as another tick box for any ad campaign, which is significant enough, but now being the medium where a campaign is launched to create a buzz before it hits TV and print. Even before a movie is released which used to be seen as the pre-launch buzz-generation activity. Big business “gets it”.

Buzz works! It can work for small and start-up businesses, as well. The planning stage of a viral campaign will set out objectives and develop the viral theme for a buzz. There are three core components to any viral campaign and businesses of any size can use them. They are:

1. The creative material: the viral agent that embodies the message you want to spread in a digital format (image, video, text, etc). The trick is to put together material that people will be eager to share with their family and friends and people are much more eager to share “advertainment” and advertisement.

2. Seeding: distributing and placing the agent online in places that provide the greatest potential spread. Direct viral material downloads or links on specialist viral third-party web sites in order to create awareness and spread before users get to the campaign destination site.

3. Tracking: Measuring the spread of the campaign to provide accountability and prove success. It is absolutely vital that you know what is or is not working. The only way to get that information is to track the results of your seeding.

Lessons have been learned, trends have been developed and there is definitely some science involved in creating a buzz successfully. The buzz technique is here to stay and, if used strategically, it can make a difference to the success of your e-business.

In 2011, marketers will need to “intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less,” said the CEO of eMarketer, Geoff Ramsey.

Blogs are the answer!

Consider these interesting factoids:

• Most people read blogs: More than half of Internet users read a blog at least monthly and find them very influential, according to research from Technorati and eMarketer. This is expected to rise to over 60% by 2014.
• Blogs are the #1 priority for marketers: Marketers indicated increasing their blogging activities was their number-one priority, according to the 2010 Social Media Industry Report.
• Corporate blogging on the rise: More than 43% of U.S. companies will market via a blog by 2012, up from 34% in 2010, according to eMarketer. Media companies, marketers, and small business owners are a sampling of the businesses driving this growth.
• Blogs enhance search engine rankings: A significant 58% of marketers use their blog to improve their search engine optimization, according to eMarketer.
• Small businesses are seeing big benefits: Businesses that have blogs receive 55% more traffic than those that don’t, found a HubSpot study.
• Blogs generate quality leads: The primary benefit of a blog for most self-employed business owners is generating new leads for their businesses, according to Technorati.
• Consumers trust blogs more than Facebook and Twitter: A significant 47% of consumers will refer a brand they read about through a blog, versus only 28% for a Facebook brand and 22% for Twitter, according to Technorati and Razorfish.

And these recent statistics are just a small illustration of the power of blogs.

So the big question is: What do experienced marketers and business owners know and do with their blogs that makes them so successful?

If you knew that—if you knew step-by-step how the pros use their blogs to attract high-quality customers and achieve success—you could simply duplicate what they do and achieve similar results.

That’s what Blogging Success Summit 2011 is all about. We’ve brought together the world’s most successful blogging practitioners and asked them to reveal their success secrets to YOU. And it’s all live!

And the best part? You don’t have to spend a small fortune on travel, meals or a hotel to attend. The conference is completely online. You “attend” from the comfort of your own home or office, using your computer to watch, listen, and participate in the presentations and networking.

However, like any conference, there’s a limit to how many people can fit in the “room.” So if you’re interested in connecting with valuable customers and prospects, enhancing your image in your industry, and improving sales, secure your spot at this conference today.

Discounts available until January 24, 2011

Tweet

If you have a knack for Writing and if people love what you write about but you can’t find a publisher that wants to publish what you write, you have to try out the internet. You have to consider the fact that writing can make you famous. If you think that you are good enough, then you should try writing blogs. Ever since blogging craze began, there were a lot of people who began opening up their own Blog sites and a few of them have become famous. So, how does blogging bring fame?

First of all, because you will be posting what you write on blogging websites, it can be easily accessed by a lot of people. This is the internet. With millions of people logging in each day, there is a great chance that someone will come across your blogs. This is the secret to becoming famous in blogging and gain a lot of loyal readers.

If you are seeking fame and be known as a great writer, then positing what you write on blogging websites is the cheapest way to do so. It is also one of the easiest ways to become famous in the internet.

To start writing blogs, you first need to create a blogging website. Today, there are quite a lot of websites that hosts blogging for free for example, Blogger. Sign up with one of these websites and begin posting your blogs.
Basically, blogs are known to be journals. Think of it as writing your day to day activities and experiences and letting people know about it. However, you can absolutely write about anything in blogs. It can be facts or you can also write fictional short stories. Or, you can do a mix of both.

The great thing about blogging is that you absolutely have complete freedom on whatever you want to write about. However, you must consider the audience you are looking to attract.

Now that you posted your very first blog, the next thing to do is sit back and wait for readers to come across your blog and begin reading it. You don’t actually need to advertise as the people who read it will be the ones that will advertise for you. If you are good enough, then they will leave a comment on what they think about your blogs and they will also recommend it to their family and friends as a good read.

The secret in becoming successful and famous in blogs is the content of what you write. It should be interesting and easy to read. Try catching people’s attention on the very first sentence. Once you catch their attention, they will become interested enough to read the entire blog.

Blogging Summit starts February 1st, 2011

Tweet

Keyword Density

Keyword density is an indicator of the number of times the selected keyword appears in the web page. But mind you, keywords shouldnt be over used, but should be just sufficient enough to appear at important places.

If you repeat your keywords with every other word on every line, then your site will probably be rejected as an artificial site or spam site.

Keyword density is always expressed as a percentage of the total word content on a given web page.

Suppose you have 100 words on your webpage (not including HMTL code used for writing the web page), and you use a certain keyword for five times in the content. The keyword density on that page is got by simply dividing the total number of keywords, by the total number of words that appear on your web page. So here it is 5 divided by 100 .05. Because keyword density is a percentage of the total word count on the page, multiply the above by 100, that is 0.05 x 100 5

The accepted standard for a keyword density is between 3 and 5, to get recognized by the search engines and you should never exceed it.

Remember, that this rule applies to every page on your site. It also applies to not just to one keyword but also a set of keywords that relates to a different product or service. The keyword density should always be between 3 and 5.

Simple steps to check the density Copy and paste the content from an individual web page into a word-processing software program like Word or Word Perfect. Go to the Edit menu and click Select All. Now go to the Tools menu and select Word Count. Write down the total number of words in the page. Now select the Find function on the Edit menu. Go to the Replace tab and type in the keyword you want to find. Replace that word with the same word, so you dont change the text. When you complete the replace function, the system will provide a count of the words you replaced. That gives the number of times you have used the keyword in that page. Using the total word count for the page and the total number of keywords you can now calculate the keyword density.

GRATITUDE is my word of the day….directly aimed at Mari Smith who a year ago sent out an email promoting her upcoming Social Media certification program. I had barely heard of her, but loved her approach and her idea going forward to create a Social Media Association – later to be known as ISMA aka International Social Media Association. My gut said to move forward!

No doubt I learned so much, no doubt it was exciting to become a founding member of ISMA, but the most rewarding outcome was, and still is, the relationships that I have formed with the peers I trained with:

~ Karmen Reed, Angela Albright, Debbie Zachary, Megan Fitzgerald, Cindy Ratzlaff, Lisa McKenzie, Lesley Morgan, Mark Eldridge, Kathryn Rose, Lani Voivod, Allen Voivod, Monique Ramsey, Susan Critelli, Kris Hoots, Steve Thomas, Francine Allaire, Lisa Garcia-Ruiz, Diane Rayfield, Jack Smith, Dee Overly, Cheryl McLeod, Cathy Planchard, Debbie Riviera, Tina Cook, Laura Rubinstein, Amy Porterfield, Karriann Graff, Kam Hubbard, Andrew Zirkin, Kathy Hagenbuch, Cheryl Jack, Bill Jackson and Michelle Tielmeland ~ (so hoping I didn’t leave anyone out!)

For a better look at these amazing folks, check out:
http://www.marismith.com/social-media-proteges

And to see what ISMA is all about, check out:
http://ismaconnects.org

All of these folks are phenomenal and it’s been fascinating to watch how they apply what they learned in that certification program. It is truly amazing how Social Media can bring folks who have never met together, to form lasting partnerships and friendships. And, while I have yet to meet any of these sensational folks in person, including Mari, I relish the day that I do!

Not A Blog, Just My Thoughts!

~ Always be engaging!
Heather

Tweet

Old = One way conversation and mediums such as print, television, radio, direct mail, telemarketing.

New = Two way conversations and mediums such as social media, blogs, video, RSS Feeds, SEO, webinars, teleseminars.

When I studied marketing at American University, focus was on platforms that did not really engage the customer.  While brands/companies still utilize all those mediums, they need to not only consider, but implement Web 2.0 platforms.  Now-a-days, consumers want to engage, interact with brand representatives, be heard, have their thoughts considered relevant, and get results! 

Consumers are making it clear that if companies don’t embrace the ‘new’ style of marketing, they will make it known to their piers that you’re not listening and they, and their influence, will move on.

Not a blog, just my thoughts!

~ Always be engaging!
Heather

Tweet