W.H.S.R. » Web Marketing

9 Tips to Writing a Killer Headline

Danielle Towner — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:21:51 +0000

A good headline can be the difference between social sharing stardom and not a single hit. But what does a good headline look like? At the core, a good headline will communicate a message and suggest a benefit to the intended audience. There isn’t a catch-all format for effective headlines, but there are several types of headlines that have been proven time and time again to get hold of attention from a target audience. Let’s look a few of them…

1. Time Periods: A short amount of time can put your topic into perspective and increase the appeal.

(Benefit) (Time frame) – Example: Lose 10lbs in 4 Days

2. Ultimatum: This also helps readers put into perspective – if they don’t do the task you are suggesting they are going to face some consequences.

(Do this), (this will happen) – Example: Spend Time Developing Content Now or You’ll Regret it Later

3. Lists: I’m sure you’ve noticed the popularity of this style; there are a ton of “list” headlines circulating the blogosphere and other media outlets. People love lists.

(Number) (Description) – Example: 7 Ways to Easily Redecorate Your Kitchen

4. How-to: How-to articles are similar in popularity to the list headlines. If you are providing step-by-step instructions this is a great way to capture attention.

How to (action) (benefit) – Example: How to Up-cycle That Garage Sale Couch for Less Than $50

5. Mistakes: It’s pretty common that people don’t like to make mistakes. Hitting this sore spot will likely bring some attention to your article.

Are you making (these mistakes) Example: Are you Making These Facebook Marketing Mistakes?

(Number)(Mistake) - Example: 5 Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make in Your Marketing Plan

6. Announce News: Humans, by nature, are curious. Feed this temperament by providing a informative title.

Example: New Research Suggests a Cure for Cancer!

7. Secrets: Knowing secrets is seen as an exclusive honor – everyone wants to be on the cutting edge of their industry. This type of headline suggests an elite tip that will set them apart in whatever their industry or hobby.

The Secret of (secret) - Example: The Secret of Online Marketing

(Number)(Mistake) – Example: 4 Secrets to Increasing Your Twitter Following

8. Small Time Commitment: Provide a quick explanation of a quick solution to gain attention from the really busy portion of your audience.

A Quick Way to (topic) – Example: A Quick Way to Build Brand Awareness

9. All Inclusive: Structure your title to imply that all your reader would want to know about the topic is outlined in your article. Not only will this attract those trying to learn about the topic, but those that are well versed (they’ll see it as a challenge to see how much they really know about the topic).

All You Need to Know about (topic) – Example: All You Need to Know about Online Banking.

There is no right or wrong style as your audience may respond differently than another. Spend time on your headline, brainstorm ideas, ask your colleagues for their opinion, and analyze the results. Don’t stop learning about your audience and accommodating their preferences in your headline writing.

How to Improve Your Blog Search Ranking in Bing

Guest Poster — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:39:05 +0000

The vast majority of SEO discussions focus on how to rank well in Google (http://www.google.com), and with good reason. Google is unquestionably the king of search, and there is a good chance things will stay that way for quite some time. That said, Bing (http://www.bing.com) is having a strong impact on the industry, and it can no longer be ignored by anybody who takes SEO seriously.

Now that Bing controls the Yahoo! search results as well, it means that they control at least 30 percent of the search market. In other words, nearly a third of people are now looking at Bing’s search results, not Google’s. Therefore, if you properly optimize your site to deal with both Google and Bing, you could see almost a 50 percent increase in your traffic over focusing just on Google.

Fortunately, you don’t have to completely overhaul your SEO efforts in order to rank well in Bing. Most of the factors that improve a site’s rankings are the same in both search engines. That said, there are some important differences that you can’t ignore if you want to capture as much search traffic as possible.

Editorial Links

The first important difference is the relevance of editorial links. An editorial link is a link from within the content of an article. Many SEO experts have already pointed out that Google now places a stronger emphasis on these types of links than other types of links such as Blogrolls, comments, link directories, and similar links. But Bing places an even stronger emphasis on these types of links.

This doesn’t mean that other links don’t matter, but it does mean that if you want to rank well in Bing, you better have a strategy for getting contextual links. This isn’t going to happen by spamming the Internet with comment links or buying links in the sidebar. You’ll need to write guest posts, use link baiting techniques, and find other ways to attract links from the content of articles.

One easy way you can increase your number of editorial links is to start an article marketing campaign. This can be as simple as writing some short (300-500 words) articles and including your links within the body. Be careful though – you won’t improve your ranking with Bing if you just throw your link in the article over and over again. Your article needs to make sense, and your links should be worked in naturally in a way that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the article or make it sound contrived.

Press Release

Press releases are another great way to get editorial links. If your company or website is doing something newsworthy (like launching a new product, donating to a charity, or hosting an event), then write about it in a press release and include a link back to your website. If you have the budget available, there are a number of good press release distribution services out there (like PRWeb.com) that will send out your release for you. You can also distribute your press release manually if money is an issue. A good press release can get picked up by thousands of other websites and news sources, which can result in a ton of good editorial links pointing back to your website.

Do Not Buy Links

Whatever you do, though, do not buy links from link brokers or other websites that sell links in bulk. Bing (and other search engines) frowns upon this practice and will actually punish you for purchasing links with a worse ranking. The best kinds of links to get are organic links that you acquire naturally using effective link-building strategies like the ones we just talked about. If you suddenly acquire 100 new links overnight, Bing will get suspicious and could penalize you.

Domain Name

Another factor that seems to have relevance is the domain name. While having the keyword in your domain matters a lot for Google, it matters even more for Bing. There is some debate about whether an exact match domain is more important than a good brand name, and this will depend as much on your own business strategy as anything else. Nevertheless, realizing that this factor is even more important for results in Bing is an important thing to keep in mind while you make this decision.

Content Freshness

Finally, Bing seems to have a stronger emphasis on content. A page can rank well in Google even if there is almost no content on the page. This doesn’t appear to be the case with Bing. The search engine prefers to rank pages that have a lot of content on them. Even if a page has a large number of high quality links pointing toward it, Bing may refuse to rank it well if it doesn’t have very much content on it.

It’s a good idea to add fresh, unique content to your website on a regular basis anyway, in order to attract visitors and give them a reason to keep coming back to your website, and if this will help your Bing rankings too then that’s just icing on the cake. If you find that you have trouble creating your own content, you can find ghostwriters and freelance bloggers on job auction sites like Guru.com and Elance.com that will create content for you at an affordable rate.

As with Google, the most important ranking factor for Google is links. While the domain name and the amount of content on the page are both important, the difference in links is the most important factor that will improve your rankings in Microsoft’s search engine.

About The Author: Sarah Tharp

Sarah Tharp is the Social Media Manager for Brain Host. Brain Host is an industry-leading web hosting company that offers superior shared hosting packages, 99.9% server uptime, and 24/7 US-based customer support. For more information about Brain Host, please visit http://www.brainhost.com.

What SEO Isn’t

Danielle Towner — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 07:02:31 +0000

Image Credit: Sean MacEntee.

SEO is one of the biggest buzz words (actually, it’s an acronym) in marketing right now, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. It is also one of the most ambiguous. With the complexity of the algorithms Google and other search engines use to determine search engine rankings, it is no wonder so many are at a loss for where to start. Sometimes, though, it’s not just about doing what’s right; it’s also about avoiding what’s wrong. Let’s explore what tasks should be kept on the do not do list.

Do not pay $4.99 for 500 links. Or $5.99 or even $6.99! In other words, be leery of companies that promise you spectacular results for dirt cheap. They implement the shadiest techniques and are more likely to get your site penalized than number one rankings. If you want to rank well you will need to make an investment. Find a company that will be transparent about their process, analytical in reporting, and responsive in communications. Or, hone up on the best practices and perform the basics on your own.

Do not think Google is the only search engine. While Google is the biggest and probably most well-known search engine in the U.S., it isn’t the only one. Both Yahoo and Bing are hovering around 15% of the online searches each (source). A lot of the techniques will be the same to rank well across search engine algorithms, but it is a good idea to take note of differences between the major three players (Google, Yahoo, & Bing).

Do not optimize for SEO. Optimize for users. The ultimate point of your website is not for search engine spiders to deem your site worthy, it’s for consumers to find you, learn about you, and ultimately become an advocate (whether that is purchasing goods, services, or supporting your cause). If you rank #1 but your visitors aren’t enjoying or revisiting your site, would you really consider it a success? Probably not. You’ll need to find the sweet spot between providing information to your visitors and writing it in a way that search engines find it relevant.

Do not limit SEO to a one-time task. Content is constantly being added to the Internet, new websites are being published, and search engines are tweaking their algorithms to provide better results to their visitors. In light of this, if you want to see steady results from your SEO efforts, it needs to an ongoing part of your strategy. Just like if you want to be a professional athlete; you don’t buy the sports gear, practice for a day and think you have what it takes to be on top. You invest time and money in to practicing and learning the techniques necessary to succeed. The same goes with SEO.

Do not use SEO as your sole online marketing technique. SEO is not the end all be all of online marketing. While it is important, there are also several other online channels you can use to increase traffic to your site and convert visitors into customers (PPC, social media, banner ads, email marketing, etc.)

Do not think you will jump to #1 over night. If it were possible to jump the ranks like that you would be just as likely to be jousted from your #1 position the next day. Like I stated in #4, positive and quality SEO results will take time. SEO efforts require a long term investment.

Do not steal your competitors’ info. Also known as “scraping” a site, not only is it unethical, it is very likely Google will penalize you for this practice and mark your site as spam. Take pride in your understanding of your target audience and tailor your content to fit them to a T.

Do not add keywords just to have them. It used to be a common strategy to write very keyword dense content, most of the time well past the point of comprehension. Not only is this a turn off for your visitors, search engine algorithms are onto this and will penalize you. Please refer back to #3 – don’t write for spiders, write for people!

Do not think all links are created equal. “SEO Gurus” often strive to get as many links as possible without worry about the quality of the link. A link is a link, right? Wrong. The fact is that quality does matter in building links. Spend time retrieving quality links, not just volume.

Have you seen any other SEO no-no’s being committed? Have any other advice to relay regarding SEO don’ts? I’d love to hear from you!

Tips for Writing a Testimonial about Yourself

Guest Poster — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:05:59 +0000

A personal testimonial can be a great marketing tool in highlighting the unique value of your blog. However, it is never easy to sing one’s own praises. You don’t want to give the impression of excessive bragging, yet extreme modesty will not serve you well either. The following provides a step-by-step guide to writing an impressive testimonial that will draw readers to your blog.

7 Steps to writing a great personal testimonial

1. Pose questions to yourself of both a professional and personal nature. Questions will help you to clarify the most important points you wish to cover in your testimonial statement. Examples of questions include:

What is special or unique about your blog that differentiates it from others within your niche?
What value will your blog provide readers that competitor blogs do not?
What are some major successes of your firm and what have been your most significant challenges?
When did you become interested in the area you are writing about? What motivated this interest?
How did you learn about this field (coursework trade journals, seminars, conversations with colleagues, etc.)?
What are the core values of your business (e.g. integrity, customer service, quality)?
What experiences in your life (family, academic, professional) have shaped your goals and how do these play into your blog?
Have you had to overcome any significant barriers (e.g. economic or health) in your life that formed who you are today?

There is nothing wrong with blending the business with the personal in your testimonial statement. The personal side will humanize your testimonial and permit your readers a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse of some significant factors involved in building your business.

2. Once you have answered each of the above questions, organize your answers into an outline. The answers to each question above can serve as separate paragraphs of your testimonial statement. Make sure that you plan the testimonial so that you adequately to cover the answer to each question.

3. Using your outline as a guide, make sure to create an introduction, body and conclusion. In essence, let readers know what the testimonial will be about (introduction). Provide details in the body of the testimonial using the answers you developed to each of the questions, and wrap it all together in the conclusion.

4. Once you have prepared an outline and main talking points, free write for about an hour or so. Write down everything that comes to mind and do not stop to edit or criticize what you are writing. The goal is to record every relevant piece of information with no regard to organization, writing style, spelling, grammar, arrangement, or logical flow (all this will come later during the editing process). Let go of the internal critic and have some fun since your passion will show through in the testimonial statement and draw readers like a magnet!

5. As per Diana Huff, principal of DH Communications, a Boston-based marketing consultancy and copywriting service, to establish yourself as the expert within your field, share any special challenges that you successfully navigated and include quantifiable metrics that back up your claims.

6. Look over what you have written during the free write and make changes as necessary by either adding or deleting content. However, you don’t want the testimonial to be more than a single page in length or it may come off as too much bragging and turn people off. Take the best of your ideas and develop them further with specific examples and details.

7. Thoroughly proofread and edit your testimonial for spelling, grammatical errors. You might also want to have a second pair of eyes review the statement to better ensure it is error-free. Do not simply rely on spell- check to catch all mistakes since the tool often misses synonymous and grammatical context.

About The Author: Daniela Baker

Daniela Baker is a blogger and social media advocate with the credit card comparison website, CreditDonkey. She helps bloggers and web hosts compare small business credit cards to find rewards right for them. Visit her blog or follow her twitter.

Track Your Twitter Influence: 6 Must Know Twitter Analytic Tools

Danielle Towner — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:04:07 +0000

When using Twitter for business, the second most important tasks, next to actually being active, is measuring how you are doing. If you have spent any time researching Twitter analytics resources you are well aware there is quite a plethora to choose from.

Let’s break a few down so you can make an educated choice about what tool (or combination of tools) will work best for you.

Klout

Gaining a lot of publicity, and rightfully so, Klout works great to measure your social media influence (your ability to drive action). It isn’t limited to just Twitter but rather takes all of your social media accounts into consideration. Scoring you on a scale of 1 to 100, Klout specifically measures:

Your reach: How many people you influence
Your amplification: How much you influence them
Your network impact: The influence of your network

They provide really easy to read graphs that track your score. My favorite feature of Klout is the “Klout Style”. They have developed several different social media styles and, based on how you rank within their algorithm, they place you into a 4×4 matrix. This gives you a visual idea of where you are at and how to get where you want to be.

Visit online: http://www.klout.com

Peer Index

Peer Index is very similar to Klout, but not quite as visually appealing (in my opinion at least ). Peer Index ranks your social presence (again, not just Twitter) using a different algorithm, so it can serve as a great complement to Klout to give you more of a complete picture of how influential you actually are.

I have two favorite features of Peer Index: 1) It shows your fingerprint of influence is a variety of benchmarks (8 to be exact) and 2) you can compare yourself to others giving you an idea of where you stack up to others in the industry.

Visit online: http://www.peerindex.com/

Twitalyzer

Twitalyzer offers a lot of great information (impact, engagement, generosity, followers, reach, and several more), but all of the information can be a little overwhelming. If you are a friend of statistics this may be the tool for you, but if you just want someone else to do the calculating of where you stand in the Twitter world, one of the other tools will probably be best for you.

Visit online: http://twitalyzer.com/

Tweet Grader

Unlike the previous tools, you don’t need to sign into Tweet Grader to retrieve their report on your twitter influence. However, this means it doesn’t track your history either. If you are looking for a quick report on where you stand, this is a great option. If you want something that tracks how your rankings change over time this isn’t the best option for you. The site ranks how well you are doing on an algorithm that takes followers, influence of followers, updates, engagement, and a few other elements into consideration.

Visit online: http://tweetgrader.com/

Tweet Reach

Like Tweet Grader, there is no need to sign up for an account with Tweet Reach. It’s a very straightforward tool – type in your Twitter handle and they will populate the reach of your Tweets. The coolest part of this tool is that you are able to download a report of the results so you can track your progress.

Visit online: http://tweetreach.com/

Tweet Stats

Tweet Stats has a lot of room for design improvement, but that’s not the main reason we are using it, right? Once you enter your Twitter handle it populates several graphs visually depicting your Twitter usage. This information could serve as a great compliment to another tool but doesn’t provide a lot valuable information for a standalone tool.

Visit online: http://tweetstats.com/

So, how do you track your Twitter influence? Make sure to leave your handle, I’d love to follow you.

A/B Testing: The Top Five Things to Test

Guest Poster — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:26:47 +0000

Website usability and conversion testing is one of the easiest ways to improve the profitability of a site yet it’s often overlooked as many of us get too hung-up on driving the largest amount of traffic possible to our sites. Yet what’s the use of traffic if it doesn’t convert, after all for most us achieving conversions (be that sales, banner clicks, newsletter sign-ups, enquiry forms or affiliate product sales) is what pays the bills. A/B testing is one of the simplest ways to increase your conversion rate, this article looks at 5 of the top elements to test, if you need a generic overview of how this technique works there’s more here in this guide from A/B testing software provider Maxymiser and you can make use of Google website optimizer to A/B test for free.

Marketers know that in an A/B test, just one element is changed for the duration of the test to achieve clean results against the control piece. If you change too many elements are once, you’re either straying into multivariate testing or you’re muddying the waters so much you won’t be able to get a clean result. Yet if you can only change one element, which element do you choose to get to the most profitable results quickly?

(Courtesy of Flickr User: mil8)

The Top Five Items to Change and Assess in an A/B Test

1. Creative

The creative element refers to the graphic design or layout of the piece. It may be as simple as changing the color (green to orange) or the font (Verdana to Times New Roman.) You can try changing one aspect of the overall appearance of the piece or the entire design.

2. Headlines

Headlines are the most important aspect of the copy, and testing several headlines often yields a quick bump in response and conversion rates. Try testing a question (How Happy Are You With Your Bank?), a benefit statement (Better Banking for Less – New Lower Monthly Fees) or a provocative statement (Most Banks Are Blah).

3. Call to Action

The call to action is the statement near the response mechanism that directly asks for the lead, sale or action step you want customers to take. Try tweaking the wording in one test, the placement in another. Sometimes the call to action is obscured by the graphic design or the wording is weak. A simple change has the potential to boost response rates with minimal changes to the overall piece. However, you won’t know until you test it!

4. Timing

Timing is often an overlooked aspect of A/B testing, but it can have a surprising impact on response rates. If you typically post to your blog in the morning, test the results of morning versus evening posts (there are automated features that let you write posts in advance and schedule the timing). If you typically send email marketing out on the first of the month, try the first Monday, or perhaps Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday is the best day for your customers because none of your competitors are sending out messages. The point is that timing is one aspect of your marketing efforts that’s typically inexpensive to change and may boost response rates. It’s worth testing.

5. Offer

What are you offering your customers? Are you trying to get them to sign up for a magazine, buy a book, order a free information kit or take some other action? Change the wording of the offer. If you give away a premium or a free shipping incentive, test one against the other. Does the premium generate a higher response rate or the free shipping incentive? Modest changes in how the offer description is worded may clarify the offer further or entice customers with more appealing language.

No matter which element you test, be sure to roll out your A/B test at the same time. Don’t send out your control first, then your test. Even the difference of a week or two between the pieces can alter the results so much as to make the test untenable. Change one variable per test for your A/B testing efforts, and be sure to have a clear-cut method of tracking the responses. Soon you should have enough data to tell which among your test piece is the clear winner.

About The Author: Ruben Corbo

Ruben Corbo is a freelance writer and writes for multiple websites including Maxymiser which helps evolve your website with a multivariate testing guide and by deploying A/B and testing, website personalization and multichannel marketing with one instance of a simple line of code, forever. When Ruben is not writing he’s producing or composing music for short films or other visual arts.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube – Which is Right for Me?

Danielle Towner — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:35:26 +0000

Social media is everywhere. Consumers can go from their home computer, to their mobile phone, to their tablet, to their office laptop without missing a social beat. What started out as an easy way for people to connect with one another has turned into one of the most influential communication mediums ever known. Not embracing social media could prove very detrimental to businesses’ marketing efforts.

But, like most people, you’re probably wondering where do I begin? Do I join ever social network I learn about? Do I have to upload videos to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Twitter every single day? Each social network has both pros and cons (just like any other marketing medium) that need to be weighed against your goals.

Here are some brief highlights of four of the top social media networks (if you want to learn more about some of the other popular networks, CMO.com publishes a Social Landscape Chart each year outlining the major networks and their best uses).

Facebook

Facebook is a destination network, in other words, consumers go on the Internet to go to Facebook and spend time on the site. The primary usage is not a means to get to other sites; in fact most users don’t want to navigate away from Facebook. The site has been developed to be an all encompassing platform (pictures, pages, chat, email, video, etc.) and a hub of all social media (you can integrate nearly every other network into your Facebook profile).

B2C businesses are thriving on Facebook by being where their target audience is already conversing and simply joining the conversation.

Twitter

Twitter is the most popular microblogging site (messages of 140 characters or less) and, like Facebook, it is a great means of communication. You can almost liken Twitter as a text message to your target audience – any exciting news, informative article link, press release, or even a quick “hello, how’s it going,” can quickly be posted in a matter of seconds for your entire following to see.

Whether you are a B2B or a B2C business, Twitter can provide a great platform for you to converse with your target audience. However, if there isn’t a lot happening in your industry and you don’t have the means to tweet regularly, a different network may better suit your business.

LinkedIn is the new digital rolodex and the best network for personal branding and to position yourself and your business as experts in a specific area. With the ability to both create and/or engage in groups regarding specific topics, you can provide your intellect as a resource for the other group members. Just as businesses used Rolodexes pre-Internet, businesses use their LinkedIn connections to help them with their business needs.

If you are targeting business professionals, LinkedIn is the place to be.

YouTube

The benefits of YouTube are limited only to your creativity. CMO said it well, “Whether you seek to entertain, inform, or both, video is a powerful channel for quickly responding to customer complaints and showing your social-media savvy.” Not only is YouTube great for communicating and building brand awareness, it is also a great tool for SEO.

Any business can utilize the benefits of YouTube.

Now, there are several hundred (if not more) other social networks with many more being started regularly. If you find yourself become overwhelmed with the amount of social media possibilities, take a step back and look at the overall picture. The best question you can ask yourself is, “where is my target market?” If they are on Facebook, go there. If they are on LinkedIn, go there. If they are on a very targeted network specific to industry, go there. Don’t waste your time and energy trying to connect to your target market in networks they aren’t active in.

Still unsure what network to join or if you are on the right one(s)? Comment below and let’s talk about it!

Twitter Is Like A Cocktail Party

Danielle Towner — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:16:39 +0000

If there is one thing that grabs my attention, it’s statistics. Thanks to creative designers and 21^st century technology those statistics are often compiled into pretty infographics. The nice people over at Touch Agency created an informative infographic on Twitter that has some remarkable stats (feel free to check out the infographic here).

200,000,000 registered Twitter accounts
450,000 new Twitter accounts are created every day
43% of people follow a brand on Twitter for special offers/deals
There are 18,000 search queries every second which is around 1.6 billion searches every day
88 of the 100 Fortune Global Companies post daily news and updates
As many as 52% of users update their status every day
67% of users are likely to recommend a brand they follow to others

Bottom line: Twitter has grown into a very powerful marketing medium and it’s only getting stronger. So the next question is how do you capitalize on this medium and the uber-social culture in which we live? Allow me to let you in on a secret…Twitter is like a cocktail party. Allow me to explain.

Meeting People/Followers

Just like at a party, you are able to meet new people on Twitter (it’s just called “followers”). There are three different “types” of people to follow:

People you know: If you were at a cocktail party with your friends you probably wouldn’t ignore them so why ignore them on Twitter? Ask friends and colleagues for their Twitter handle and start conversing with them through this medium as well as in person.

People you wished you knew: These are the people that everyone knows about, “the popular crowd/celebrities/industry front runners”. You could gain great insight from them at a party and the same is true about Twitter. But not only will you gain great insight on whatever interests you share, you can also learn from them on their technique. How often are the sharing information? How do they share? How do they interact with their followers? How often do they promote themselves verse just sharing their personality (funny jokes, situations, thoughts, etc.)?

People you don’t know yet, but could become great friends with. At the party, you could use small talk to meet new people and discover similar interests. In Twitter terms, you can find others with similar interests by using hash tags. For example, if you are a photographer, search #photographer and scour the results for interesting tweets. You can also use mutual friends. On Twitter, people with similar interests also tend to follow the same people. If you find a great Twitter user, look through their following for more potential contacts.

Converse

Not many relationships are sustainable without communication, both digitally and in person.

Produce Content: When you are talking to someone in person you are more than likely to share a new topic of conversation. For example, you may something like, “Did you see that touchdown in the football game last night!” or “Have you read that article on the effects of BPA in water bottles?” Do the same thing on twitter, converse with your friends based on your mutual interests. Share comments and/or links to videos, articles, and websites.

Interact: A mention (@) on twitter is synonymous with Hey! If someone starts a conversation with you, respond.

Share Stories: How many of you have retold a joke or story that you heard from a friend? On Twitter this is the “retweet” button. It’s like you’re telling your twitter followers, “Hey, my friend John just said…”

Repeat

Continue to make new friendships and develop the ones you have in the same way. Before you know it you will have a solid only group of friends that you learn from, grow with, and love.

A few last tips

Be yourself (nobody likes a phony or spammer)
Have fun

Is Social Media Right For Your Business?

Danielle Towner — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:36:19 +0000

A few years ago many people still saw social media as a fad, and rightfully so, it wasn’t completely established as a quality marketing medium. However, the adoption rates by companies’ marketing efforts are rising and so are the amount of time consumers and other businesses are spending online. So, is social media right for your business? The simple answer is yes. Here’s why…

Benefits of Social Media

Minimal cost – Because social media is based (mostly) on free platforms, the only resource you need is time. When compared to the cost of other mediums (TV, print, PPC), the cost is minimal.

Established expertise –By sharing your knowledge of the industry you work in via social media, your end users will begin to see you as an expert and will more quickly develop the trust necessary to do business with you.

Online Reputation Management & Customer Service – People will talk about your brand whether you are online or not. If you want to monitor what people are saying, you simply need to be connected. Social media can serve as reinforcement to your brand’s evangelists and also serve as a way for you to reconcile to your brand adversaries.

Competitive research – You are able to quickly and easily see not only what your competitors are doing, but how the market is responding to them.

Word of Mouth/Creating a Buzz – Social media users love to be the first ones sharing about a new product, idea, situation, etc. They are active on social media because they want to be part of the buzz. By sharing your news on social media you can allow your following (fans, friends, connections, etc.) to spread the word about the product.

Instant Feedback – Not only to social media users love sharing new brands with their friends, they also love to let the brand know what they like don’t like. If you aren’t sure how your audience feels about a specific idea, ask them!

Connect on an international level – Because social media is global in nature and many people connect with a wide geographical variety of people, the buzz about your product can quickly spread internationally.

Build relationships – Marketing communications is no longer one sided. Social media opens the opportunity to converse and build relationships with your following.

Lead Generation – This increase in ability to build relationships will likely generate more leads.

Increase traffic to your website & SEO – Not only do the links and content you post via social media increase your sites’ traffic, they can also benefit your SEO efforts. Unfortunately, some of the biggest networks (Facebook, Twitter) don’t do much for SEO, but platforms such as Flickr, Digg, YouTube, and many others can greatly increase your search result rankings.

More accessible – The more ways an individual can find out a business, the more reputable you will appear.

Direct access to specific niches – As social media became more popular, organizations began creating ways for specific niches to build online communities. There are many unique networks that are highly trafficked by individuals with similar interests (here’s a list of some of the popular ones).

The benefits of social media are only increasing as the current networks are improved and new ideas and networks are brought into the shuffle. To avoid this marketing opportunity could be very detrimental to the success and sustainability of your business.

Case Studies: How Social Media Impact Businesses

Because a social media strategy is dependent on the industry you are in and the audience you are trying to service, I have compiled links to a wide variety of case studies for you to check out.

Know of any other case studies, want to share your own, or have a comment? Share it with us!

77 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Jerry — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:15:38 +0000

Having been doing Internet marketing and developing websites that rely heavily on natural search engine traffic for the past few years I can say without a doubt the largest challenge that site owner’s face is getting traffic into their website and that doesn’t include getting highly targeted traffic which is looking for your content. "Build and they will come" is nothing more than a slogan on your car bumper sticker.

The second largest challenge, of course, is converting that traffic into your desired result. That could be newsletter signup, sale, new reader, blog comment, new StumbleUpon fans or Twitter followers, or even just a new friends on your facebook profile.

Key To Success: Multiple Traffic Sources

A website can look professional, have great content and be on the cutting edge of a new wave of creative ideas but without traffic, it’s just like a flyer in the wind. You’ve got to develop multiple inroads into your website using as many different methods and strategies as possible. Never place your eggs in one basket, keep things varied and then you will maximize the growth from your site.
The key to leveraging your efforts is to outsource the work through one of the many outsource services online.

Drive Massive Traffics To Your Site With These Methods

Here are 77 ways you can use right now to drive traffic to your website or blog.

Create Articles and submit to EzineArticles and Goarticles
Viral Ebooks/Reports
Blogging
Comment on others Blogs with Backlink to your site
Get Guest Bloggers to post on your site
Join Interest Groups – Yahoo, Google, MSN
Create Widgets for WordPress ( outsource the work )
Create Widgets for Google ( outsource the work )
Create Extensions for Joomla ( outsource the work )
Create templates, themes ( Outsource the work )
Yahoo Answers – Posting Questions and Answering
Write a Press Release submit to PRWeb
Keep adding Content to Your Site
Write a Book, Publish on LULU
Write something controversial on your blog
Create a review site of your site and others, list you at the top
Keywords in your Image File names
Create Small Product then Create Affiliate Program For it
Email/Newsletters – Repeat Traffic
AutoResponders
Monthly Contests
Social bookmarking using SocialMarker.com or similiar
Safelists
Giving away Website Award Banners
Joint Ventures with other site owners
Giving away articles, audio and video to other site owners
Creating Tutorials on your site
Submit Articles to Newsletters
Ezines like http://www.ezezine.com/
Organic SEO ( Good Titles, Description, Headers, Quality Content )
Submit to Directories
Using Search Boxes to Traffic Search Items then Provide That
Creating or Using Free Viral Software, giving away or uploading to
Shareware websites.
One Way Links Back To Your Site
Newsletter Directories
Creating Videos and Uploading to Sites, Youtube, Revver etc.
Linking Videos to Other High Traffic Videos on YouTube
Craigs List Free Classified Ads
Kijiji Free Classified Ads
Ebay – Listing Reports
Blogrolls ( To Related Blogs )
Forum Posting
Forum Signatures
Create your own forum
Tag Your Blog and Images
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Utterli
Delicious
Digg
MyBlogLog
Linkedin
Bebo
Orkut
Squidoo Lenses
Stumbleupon
HubPages
Free Online Teleseminar – Provide good content
Write Testimonials for products provided by related sites
Beta Test Products, sometimes leads to a testimonial and url back
Get involved in a Community Site, there are 1000’s related
Blog RSS Feeds
Create a Freebies Section on your site
Join Website Rings
Join Business Associations Related
Submit RSS Feeds to Directories
Submit to Blog Directories
Add a Directory to your site
Add Classified Ads area to your site
Create a Podcast
Submit Podcast to Podcast Directories
Submit to itunes Your Podcast
Buy Ads on Sites
Buy Ads in Newsletters
Use Amazon profile and commenting

Ten Easy Ways to Amass Wealth and Friends on Facebook

Jerry — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:24:46 +0000

Facebook (URL: http://www.facebook.com/) is one of the most popular social networking sites in the online world and honestly, 9.5 out of 10 of my friends have a Facebook (FB) account these days. Even me, checking my FB became a part of my daily routine – From the moment I greet the online world ‘good morning’ to the time I say ‘goodnight world’ – I know, it’s a sin for wasting this much of time.

I enjoy a good number of Facebook friends. With Facebook, I can gain new friends or enhance existing relationships and you can, too. Take, for example, an acquaintance you met during an event or during a party of a common friend, Facebook can link you to your new acquaintance and enhance your relationship with him or her. More so, you can even use Facebook to increase your sphere of influence and gain business success, but only if you know the right ways to do so.

How To Get Popular (And Rich Too) On FaceBook

So here you go, following up on my previous How To Convert FaceBook Into Your Most Powerful Advertising Tool, I present you 10 easy ways to amass wealth and friends on Facebook

Create a Compelling Public Profile. If you are aiming to increase your sphere of influence that could positively affect your business, then ease a bit on the security setting and create a compelling public profile. This way, you can let strangers stay informed and updated of your activities since in the long run, your public profile will be your stepping stone in creating and nurturing a relationship with people outside your social network.

Use Tags Sparingly and Only When Your Friends are in Their Best Behavior and Look.Tagging your friends in photos is one way to connect and reconnect with them. Yet posting unattractive photos of your friends may not get the positive result that you will want. Rather than thanking you, the tagged photos may become an annoyance.

Make Your Facebook Page Popular and Interesting for the Advertisers. Having a good number of friends and establishing an influence over them is one way to help you make money. Whether you are selling your own products online, you can always earn money by attracting advertisers.

Spare Enough Space for Advertisers. Knowing the different applications in your Facebook will help you customize and make your page attractive for your social network and possible advertisers. Also, spare enough space where your possible advertisers can advertise.

Explore the Marketplace in Facebook. You can participate in Facebook’s online business activities. You can sell or buy different products or items. Great thing is, items on sale are with corresponding photos, brief descriptions and other pertinent information that the buyer may want to know. So, whether you are buying or selling, you can take advantage the Marketplace.

Group Your Friends’ List. You can tweak your privacy settings depending on the set or segment of your friends. Managing your privacy will help you filter the contents that your particular set of friends can and may view. This will also help you set the levels of priority and help you wisely spend your interaction time.

Maintain a Regular Facebook Visibility. It is not enough that you successfully created a Facebook account and gain some friends. Rather, maintaining a regular Facebook visibility added with interesting posts or updates will help you increase your social influence.

Post Interesting Stories and Updates; Don’t Brag in Your Posts, Too.Updating your status is not simply posting what you are doing, plan of doing or thinking like “Will go to the market,” or “Planning to read a book.” Don’t you think seeing and reading status like that is boring? It is. So, post witty status updates and interesting stories rather than becoming a boring annoyance. Post more thought-provoking status like “Paolo Coelho’s novel, Veronika Decides to Die, will truly make you appreciate life and living more, right?” Furthermore, ask questions in your FB status because this will surely get feedback or comments. Also, don’t brag in your posts. The more you brag, the more annoying you become. So, instead of giving personal validation on how good you are, let other people say so.

Leave Interesting Comments on Your Friend’s Stories and Updates. Leaving comments in your friends’ status or stories will make them feel that you are interested and attentive on what’s going on with them. It is also a way to let them know that you enjoy what they share. Your simple, short and polite comments will help you establish a relationship and reconnect with even a long lost friend. Your comments also reflect how sensible you can be; yet be wary of going overboard since commenting too much might spell that you ‘stalking’ someone.

Post Public Compliments and Greetings on Special Days or Birthdays. Complimenting your friend privately is heartwarming, but posting your compliments in public holds greater value. Public compliments are like your testimonials; however regularly complimenting your friends will somehow lessen the value of your compliments. It is also equally important to greet your friends or those in your social network during their birthdays or other special days. But if time allows, spend effort calling or even perhaps visiting your friend.

Guest Posting: How to Set Up a Virtual Office for Your Home Business

Jerry — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:20:46 +0000

Perhaps you will agree with me when I say that the internet is an entrepreneur’s best friend. With internet and the worldwide web, you can have an instant access to information and researches, and help you send communication fast and easy. But I am pretty sure that you are already aware on the advantages and benefits of the internet and the web including the ease and efficiency of having a virtual office for your home business.

Just a run through, a virtual office will lessen your overhead expenses since not only that you don’t need to pay costly monthly office space rental but you also saved on gasoline expenses. You will also enjoy lesser water and electricity bills but most importantly, you saved yourself the trouble of rushing to the office early in the morning and enduring the traffic at night. You also saved the energy of your employees or team members since they are not wasting their time commuting everyday. In fact, having a virtual office can make your employees become more productive; they can concentrate on their work instead.

Also, since the online world set no boundaries on the reach of your business, your employees can then be located on the other side of the world and have a different timeline than yours. In a virtual office, physical location is not a cause for concern nor is it a hindrance. So, if you are decided to set up a virtual office for your home business, consider these three important factors.

Determining and installing the right equipment

A reliable phone system preferably with a facility and capability for an interactive voice response (IVR). Having this will enable you to efficiently support and link different locations while you can also transfer calls to your employees.
Your own intranet where you and your team members can meet, communicate and facilitate sharing of information easily, or you may also consider a Virtual Private Network (VPN) wherein you can transmit documents and information securely, it will also enable you to maintain full confidentiality.
All possible communication devices and programs that you will need like online forums, instant messaging system, email, VoIP or mobile phones.
All equipment that will be necessary like the number of computers you need to install, modems, DVD writer, printers, scanners, web camera for video conferencing, telephone lines, fax, and large Hi-Fi speakers that can numb your ears instantly (okay, the last one is just for me).
Software needed for your business operation. If your business is involved in graphics and design, then it follows that you and your employees need to install different designing programs.
A reliable and efficient anti-virus program will protect your computer from viruses and other malicious threats.
A business address wherein you can get a service for mailbox like CMRA (Commercial Mail Receiving Agency) or a box number from the post office.

Finding and hiring the right people for your team

Having a virtual office will enable you to grow your team without the need of expanding your physical office. It will also be possible for you to hire professionals located anywhere in the world, thus saving yourself from worries on how to run the back office since your online and global staff are taking care of it already.

Also, I am sure that you will hire a proactive and competent employee that could meet your business needs. So hire virtual professionals who can take care of your office administration, programmers, designers or assistants.

Heard of Elance? Well, that’s t-h-e place where to look for talents online.

Set up an effective business operation system

Having the right gadgets and competent people for your virtual office will still not make your business run smoothly. Another equally important factor that you need to look into is your business operation system since this is what you and your employees will follow in your daily business conduct. When your employees know by heart your company’s business operation system, then no need to regularly explain how they should do the task, when they should do it, etc.

Let’s say you are running an online writing and research company. Your employees already know your writing standards on how they should write it and when do you expect it to be done. Unless, you have special instructions about a particular project, otherwise they can write following your writing standards. Also, you may keep entry and exit logs since this will help you determine who among your employees is entering or using your company’s database and other information.

More so, set up a reliable and clear online payroll system for your employees. If you are paying your employees by the hour, then you can require them to keep a daily online work log. Or if you are paying them per output, you can easily see the details of their submissions and completed projects within a specific timeframe. So, when payday came, it’ll be easy for you to send online payments or bank transfer depending on what you and your employee agreed upon.

So, handling a virtual office is almost the same as handling a traditional company. The only big difference is, you or your employees don’t need to be in one physical office setting just to get the job done. Other than that, running a virtual office entails the same proficiency and professionalism.

About the Author: Clarissa

Clarissa is a work from home mom. She has been working as freelance web developer since year 2005 and she recently built her first hosting review sites at iPage Review (http://www.ipagereview.biz). Just like WHSR, iPageReview.biz is a site that offers free website hosting reviews and web development guides. The website also provides a free-platform that allows users to input their personal review on iPage hosting. She enjoys cooking and hanging out with her kids during free time.