Deep Arora is an Internet marketer with over 7 years of online experience and he teaches internet marketing from his blog at HowIDid.com. Check out his blog for some amazing techniques today..
How Social Media Can Boost Your Business
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
These days there are those who would argue you would have to be living under the proverbial rock to not have at least heard of social media. Even those out there who arent even slightly internet savvy have heard of Facebook or MySpace. Social media are the tools that are utilised by just such sites, and there is an increasing number of businesses out there that are developing a presence in this field as well.
With a tool such as Facebook there are businesses out there that are developing enormous followings, and this is an advantageous step to take. If you have everything in good working order, and you are well connected with your customers, then social media gives you an opportunity to feel updates directly to your customers own pages. This makes it one of the easiest possible ways to keep your customers or potential customers up to date with everything you are doing, all from the one place and simultaneously. Even email cant boast being quite so streamlined!
Another popular new social media tool that has taken off in a big way, is Twitter. This is toll that sends out short messages, around 140 characters max. To those linked into receive your updates. As with Facebook this is a direct line of communication with your customers, and if you are clever with how you use these short and sharp tweets you can get your message across to your customers in a witty and succinct format. There is also the possibility for those interested to have this linked into their mobile phones, receiving your twitters as text messages. For the originator of the tweet, it is possible to link your tweets into your web page or blog via an RSS feed.
This brings us to the other social media platform that has shown phenomenal expansion over the last little while, blogging. Few of us arent familiar with blogging these days, so the question that many are asking is how it is of benefit to a business. Well as with Facebook or Twitter this is a great format that allows direct communication with customers.
Creating a business blog however, allows you to go much further than this. For starters a blog is not limited to 140 characters! That said, a blog provides you with the opportunity to show your expertise in your area of business. You can communicate new ideas and developments to your customers and communicate with them via the blog space. Customers have the opportunity to leave comments and this allows you to develop better understanding of their particular needs.
These are only a few of the social media opportunities that are available, there is a number of others that are also worthwhile exploring if you are serious about using this format to grow your business. If you are ready to start linking in with customer and expanding and developing your direct communications, then these options are worth taking the time to explore. As marketing tools go these are some of the cheapest and easiest forms of direct communication tools around. Investigate which options to pursue, and consider the fairly small outlay for getting these up and running. Especially these tools may hold great appeal for the small business owner with the bottom line to consider.
Google, Twitter, Facebook, Bing – Oh My!!
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Today was a big day for Google, Bing, Twitter and Facebook.
To quickly recap:
Bing announced they have made a deal with Twitter AND Facebook to pull their updates into the SERPS (search engine results pages).
Hours later Google announced they too have a deal with Twitter and will be delivering Tweet feeds in the SERPs.
This is exciting and interesting and it confirms one thing: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Social Media are partners in your success. You shouldn’t neglect either.
No one knows exactly how this is going to play out yet but we’ve all started preparing for it already. Off the top of my head, here are some tips to help you prepare.
Since we don’t know how they will sort through the massive volume and pick the tweets to return in the results, we don’t know exactly how to give our tweets the best shot at getting picked up.
Let’s look at a little logic and a little Google knowledge.
They like history and they like quality. They also like volume.
So, get an account now if you don’t have one already. Get as much history in as you can. Accounts that have been around longer with more tweet history (and more followers) may fare better. (PLEASE don’t go overboard – the last thing we need is people to start keyword stuffing mass volumes of tweets).
Tweet often but keep it natural – and tweet quality. Tweet when you have something to ask, share or teach.
Use keywords – but don’t stuff with keywords. If the tweets are about your industry, you should be using keywords naturally anyway.
If you are going to retweet your messages at different times of the day to be more likely to catch your audience, make sure you vary them a little bit (and again, don’t go overboard).
Use links in your tweets back to your site (to relevant content on your site) and share the link love – link to other quality sites out there. Make sure you use your keyword in your bio and if you are just setting up your username, maybe in your username too? This may or not help. Again, I must say – do not stuff keywords anywhere – not in tweets, not in your bio, not in your username.
This is a good thing, but if people abuse it and bring the overall quality of Twitter down, we will all be sorry.
If you have a feed that sends your tweets to Facebook, or your Facebook status to Twitter, you may want to consider turning it off. If you have the same message in both places you are missing an opportunity for Bing to pick up both. If they are unique, you have 2 chances to get in there!
So, get tweeting and Facebooking! It’s going to be a fun ride!
Jennifer Horowitz, Dir. of Marketing for EcomBuffet.com, has written a book on SEO and has been published in many SEO & Marketing publications. She is the editor of Spotlight on Success: SEO & Marketing newsletter. Over the past 10 years Jennifer’s expertise in marketing & Search Engine Optimization has helped clients increase revenue. Follow Jennifer and stay current on SEO, marketing, social media & more. http://twitter.com/EcomBuffet
10 Ways to Market Your Affiliate Products with Bum Marketing
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Visit http://mybumbusiness.blogspot.com for more information on bum marketing!
Bum marketing is the process of advertising other peoples’ products and selling them without having to worry about shipping, support, or inventory. The system is easy to setup and will make you money for as long as the products exist. Be sure to check out my blog for more information on bum marketing as well as a thorough explanation of how it works and how you can setup your own home bum business online for marketing your affiliate products!
Use the following sites or methods to provide information for prospective buyers and better sell your affiliate products.1. Create a Blog on http://blogspot.com/2. Create articles on http://ezinearticles.com/3. Use http://www.articlesbase.com/ to create articles that help bolster the SEO of your other websites. This site does not allow direct hoplinks so you will need to get creative and make your own webpages which redirect users to where you actually want them to go.4. Submit articles on http://www.articlecircle.com/5. Submit articles on http://www.amazines.com/6. Post on forums related to your niche and leave a link to your hop linked product in your signature. Be sure to create a name for yourself as a helpful member of the community.7. Use http://twitter.com/ to advertise your websites and leave links to hoplinked products in your tweets every once in a while.8. Use http://youtube.com/ to create a video on your niche and leave a hoplink in the sidebar to the product.9. Use http://facebook.com/ to advertise your websites and leave links to your hoplinked products.10. Never ever stop writing. If you want to influence people to buy your products then you will need to become a stellar writer. The keyboard is your greatest tool in Bum Marketing arsenal.
Visit http://mybumbusiness.blogspot.com for more information on bum marketing!
Markco writes daily for Justmytwocopper.blogspot.com and enjoys making thousands of gold each day in world of warcraft.
SEO for the new Bing/Twitter Collaboration
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
I feel like a kid in a candy store, which hasn’t happened in a long, and I mean long, time. What has spurred this sudden joy? A collaboration of grand proportions, I tell you.
Bing, the new “decision” search engine, has fully integrated Twitter posts into search listings. I find this very interesting as I’m sure it will be beneficial for internet marketing, specifically Bing search engine optimization (SEO). The question is — how?
For one, I believe we will see far more keyword-rich Tweets (Twitter posts) along with the inherent spam placements, which will need to be addressed in some way. Instead of simply posting on Twitter, many companies and individuals will spend more time researching their target market and strategically constructing entries. Previously, the intention of a Tweet was to attraction human attention, thus the posts resembled such. Now it’s a whole new ball game.
Secondly, the frequency of entries will surely increase by a large margin. Due to Bing displaying recent/relative Tweets, the more Tweets the better. Rather than posting 5 times per week, companies will make 20 posts. More posts on Twitter = more traffic, each user will spend more time on the site, Twitter will benefit from increased website rank and advertisers will find the site more appealing. I predict an elaborate advertising platform will be launched soon, which will do well given increased website traffic/exposure. Mark my word.
I will continue to research internet marketing with Bing/Twitter and will keep everyone updated. Be sure to sign-up for my newsletter and check back often for case studies and research on utilizing Bing/Twitter to increase traffic/revenue.
Sincerely,
Aaron Schoenberger
The Brainchild Group – Internet Marketing Company specializing in Professional SEO, Website Design, Online Marketing Campaigns, Restaurant Marketing, Law Firm Marketing
New Twitter Users’ Biggest Mistakes: How to Avoid Them
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
I am not usually a big fan of rules when it comes to social media, but I do think there are ways to make your experience using tools such as Twitter more beneficial to yourself and others. There are some common mistakes I see new users make that I want to share with you. The good news is, once you are aware of them they are really easy to avoid!
Mistake: Not using a real picture of yourself for your avatar.
When I first joined Twitter over a year ago I was guilty of using a cartoon-type picture of me for mine. I thought it was cute and it happened to be part of the design I had on my previous blog. However, I switched to an actual photo of myself a few months later, and more than a few people commented that they were glad to see the real me.
I feel the same about others now. A picture of you is a lot more personable than a picture of your dog or a company logo. People like to see your smile!
Mistake: Automating pushy direct messages for new followers.
Many Twitter users use a service such as TweetLater to set up automatic messages to go to anyone who begins following them. This is a bit controversial among people on Twitter. If you are automating a friendly message to just say thanks for following me, that’s one thing, but a message with a link to one of your products when we haven’t even connected yet is generally frowned upon.
Mistake: Starting to follow people without posting a couple of your updates.
It may feel like you are talking to yourself to do this, especially if you don’t have any followers yourself. But when someone comes upon your page and is deciding whether or not to follow you, they need something to go on. People are looking for some sign of life or personality.
Mistake: Not spending a good amount of time interacting.
There is nothing wrong with letting others know what you did last night or what your plans are for the day. Just be sure to intersperse your tweets with some two-way conversation. Ask questions, re-tweet others, reply to questions, comment on others tweets, etc. This builds community and keeps things balanced and interesting.
Mistake: Mass following right out of the gate.
My ratio of followers to those I am following is pretty even, mainly because I like to follow back most of the people who follow me as long as they don’t look like spammers.
However, I find it hard to follow others who, in addition to having only a couple of updates, are following thousands of people and have only a few people following them. It feels spammy, like they don’t have much interest in having a relationship or conversation with anyone.
Mistake: Doing everything from the web instead of using a Twitter client.
Installing a client such as Tweetdeck gives you more functionality than what you can do from the Twitter website alone. For example, Tweetdeck allows you to place people in groups which make it easier to keep track of them, especially once you are following lots of people. Plus, you don’t have to be connected to the web to use these types of clients. I find they make tweeting a lot easier and more convenient for keeping track of your replies, direct messages and followers.
Mistake: All promotion, all the time.
As I have mentioned in previous articles, no one likes to follow someone who is constantly selling and promoting without giving anything back. Keep things balanced and respect that others do not want to be pitched all of the time. That being said…
Mistake: Not leveraging Twitter as part of your business marketing strategy.
If you are in business and using social media, you are looking at Twitter as a tool to get results in that business, not to just socialize all day. Remember that it is a great way to reinforce your brand, form strategic alliances and build credibility and trust.
Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business how to boost their business and their profits by using online marketing and social media tools to communicate effectively and authentically. For F.R.E.E. tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com
Twitter for Real Estate Professionals: What’s All the Tweeting About?
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Tech savvy real estate agents understand the importance of using the Internet’s global reach to their advantage. They build informative websites that are optimized for search engines, they blog regularly, and have started to create profiles on various social networking sites like ActiveRain and Squidoo. A relatively recent addition to the social networking sphere is Twitter, a place where you have only 140 characters to write something about your day, ask a question, or link to an article or website of interest. Some consider Twitter to be a place where users “micro-blog,” while others see it as more of a chat room with thousands of users ‘chatting’ all at once.The original premise of Twitter was to provide a venue for people to post short, simple status updates; to answer the question: What are you doing? Users share stories about their pets, upcoming appointments, their moods, and much more. You can follow the adventures of other users, and accumulate followers of your own. You can direct questions and answers to specific people, or send out calls to everyone all at once. The appeal of this type of technology baffles many real estate agents who’ve never used the service, but those who have stuck with Twitter see the benefits of this new type of networking. Rather than trying to see Twitter as a revenue producer, it’s important to understand that Twitter is first and foremost a networking tool. Don’t be overtly promotional in your posts (known as “tweets”). If self promotion is your primary M.O., you’ll quickly lose followers. Users aren’t interested in being bombarded with spammy posts, so if you want to use the site to advertise your services, be very subtle and make sure that your personal posts far outnumbers the more professional ones.While it may seem counterproductive to be laid back when you’re trying to promote your real estate business, you have to keep in mind the intention of social networking sites. They are meant for people to connect with others who share similar interests, or who live in the same community. The mood is casual and definitely more personal than your business website. Grammar and spelling rules are relaxed, and you can talk about the pizza you ate last night or the rotten movie you just watched. People following you will find your posts interesting because you’re being authentic.The more people that get to know you and like you, the more opportunity you have to gain clients in the future. It’s the same as expanding your circle of contacts in the real world, and it can be invaluable for your business in the long run.The idea of social networking being effective over the long term is critical to understand. Unless you are very lucky, you probably won’t gain any new clients right away, but you’re building a solid foundation of online friendships that may develop into business relationships.In addition to being a vehicle for finding potential clients, Twitter is also a great venue for networking with other agents. You can share tips, ask questions, and refer clients to agents outside of your service area. Other agents will do the same for you. Building relationships with other real estate agents can be educational and emotionally satisfying, as they can relate to the stresses you encounter on a daily basis. Twitter is free and it only takes a moment to create an account. Search your area for people with accounts, or see if anyone you already know has an account. You can start to follow their tweets and engage people in conversation. Soon you’ll have followers too, and you’ll begin to appreciate the possibilities that this kind of networking can offer. Be open-minded and creative, and soon you’ll see how you can make Twitter work for you and your realty business.
Edkirkland.com has everything you need to get started in the Destin real estate market. Buyers and sellers here can search homes and compare deals for free, and get tips on entering the market. There’s also a local information section with details on our featured markets, including the Santa Rosa Beach real estate area.
That’s all of the Twitter about?
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
By now if you are not a user of Twitter, you have at least heard of it. It has experienced an almost unbelievable growth in its short lifetime. Twitter is a micro-blog that anyone can participate in. Each post, a tweet, is limited to 140 characters. That’s not very long so it’s pretty easy to read a lot of posts. Twitter asks the question “What are you doing?” Some people actually use it this way… you will see things like “brushing my teeth” or “going to bed” or “eating.” However, most use it to communicate things that they consider more important than those mundane examples.
There is a lot of good and worthwhile information flowing on Twitter every hour of every day. So much, in fact, it’s a bit difficult to keep up with. There is also a surprising number of celebrities (politicians, stars, athletes) using Twitter. You can follow them all and see what they are saying. Even Barack Obama is there, and I believe he is the most followed player.
You follow anyone you want, and people follow you. Of course the more people you follow, the more tweets you will be exposed to, and the harder it will be to develop relationships with your Twitter “friends.” You have the option to communicate privately with a friend (a follower that you are following) by using the Direct Message, or DM feature. All other postings are visible to everyone, but mostly to those following you.
Twitter is so new (started mid 2006) that appropriate Twitter etiquette and protocol is just developing. It is clear that many people have likes and dislikes about what others say and/or do. It seems that the majority of users dislike being contacted automatically with a DM. This is a fairly common practice when saying welcome to new followers, except they don’t like the automatic message because it’s not personal. This can get the relationship off to a bad start. In addition, many don’t like Twitter being used for commerce but I seriously doubt that will stop. Marketers will market where they can if it brings in business. The marketing I see personally does not bother me. Remember it’s limited to 140 characters and real easy to just skip the tweet.
So, should you get involved with Twitter? Why not? It’s going to be here for awhile and it’s growing. About one year ago there were 600,000 users and now the number is somewhere north of 6 million. Twitter subscriber numbers are doubling every month. I say you better jump on now while there is still room. I should warn you though, it can be addicting!
Happy Tweeting!
Wayne Weeks
http://waynestreasuretrove.blogspot.com
Wayne Weeks –
A published author, fee writer and blogger. —
If you are interested in a free ebook “Mastering Twitter in 10 minutes…or less!” visit: — http://waynestreasuretrove.blogspot.com/
What’s so Great About Twitter?
November 16, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
“What are you doing?” This is the question that Twitter asks you upon logging in or upon opening the site. Just what are you doing? If this is how the site charms its members, what’s so great about Twitter?
First, you need to know what the site is. Basically, it is a social network and micro-blogging service. If you are familiar with FaceBook, MySpace, or Multiply, then you’ll have no problems getting into Twitter.
As a social network, it aims to gather groups of people who have the same interests. As a micro-blogging service, it provides short updates on the users blogs, or even just his activities.
Twitter is all about the “tweets”, or updates. Updates are the answers to the ultimate Twitter question: “What are you doing?” What’s great about Twitter is that is only requires you 140 characters to answer the site’s central question. To many, the prescribed length of characters is seen as a limitation. On the other hand, it challenges you to say things using fewer words. After all, less is always more!
So again, what’s so great about Twitter? What makes it different from other social networking sites?
The Terms
The terms that Twitter uses are unique and interesting enough to differentiate the site from other social networks, like “tweet”, for example. Below is a list of Twitter terms that you need to be familiar with:
1.Follower – Those who have chosen to receive your tweets. Simply put, these are your friends who want to be updated about your life.
2.Following – Those whom you want to be updated about. For instance, if you are following Anna, you will receive Anna’s tweets regularly. Following Anna essentially shows that you want to know what Anna is up to as of the moment.
3.Nudge – This is a friendly reminder to your circle, urging them to give out updates. You can nudge, and you can be nudged.
The Commands
The commands used in Twitter are plain and simple, no pesky steps that need to be followed. If you want to tweet, you simply have to write your message in the small box on top of your page.
The registration process? Simply wonderful! You don’t need to key in a number of unimportant pieces of personal information. You just have to be ready with a username (and Twitter checks out the availability of that chosen name right then and there), a password, an email address, and a URL to your personal site or blog, if you have one. The registration process takes no more than 2 minutes of your time.
The Ways to Receive the Tweets
With Twitter, you are provided with more than one way of sending your tweets. This feature is perhaps the most remarkable edge of Twitter. So how can you post your 140-character updates?
1. Through your home page at Twitter.com. – This is the most widely-used method of tweeting. The home page is so friendly and is neat-looking. As such, you aren’t bothered by pesky pop-ups, complicated commands, and useless applications whose sole purpose is to make the page look heavy. Now with such an atmosphere, isn’t it nice to just randomly type in your thoughts? Even tweets such as “I’m bored” are very welcome on Twitter!
2. Through your mobile phone. – Before you can use this feature, you need to verify your number first. It can be done in a few simple steps.
Before you start, however, you initially need to check if your area or country of residence supports this type of service. Surely, those living in the US and Canada will fully enjoy the advantages of this feature.
3. Through http://www.m.twitter.com. – This is Twitter’s mobile site.
4. Through third-party applications. – Twitter Fan Wiki is the most popular third party application that uses Twitter’s API (Application Programming Interface). As it is a “wiki”, you can add, remove, and edit available content. You simply have to create an account to join this group.
Twitter is a relatively new network. Its official launching can be traced back no more than two years ago – July 15, 2006, to be exact. Despite this, it has gathered more than 3 million accounts in just over two years of operation. This shows how increasingly popular Twitter has become.
So, what’s so great about Twitter? Everything!
For more information on Twitter as well as other life streaming services, visit our new life streaming blog at http://www.LifeStreamingNews.com
Looking for an SEO copywriting job? Follow the checklist!
November 15, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Many of us are aspiring authors who have spent many hours expressing our thoughts, feelings and ideas in writing. A quick stroll down memory lane reminds us that we started off on paper and then moved to the typewriter. When computers were introduced and the Internet made its debut, the communication world was turned upside down and underwent tremendous changes. Not only did we pack up our pens, but also changed our writing styles. Impressing worldwide search engines was not as easy as convincing the local editors that our articles were going to bring glory and fame.
The Internet not only opened up the entire planet to us, but also presented us with a new vocabulary. Web-savvy, keywords, link building, landing pages, blogs, web traffic, tweets and the list goes on. It seems that almost every day a new word or expression hits the news.
One of the idioms that has been around for a while and seems to be vital to hopeful Internet copywriters is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO refers to a technique used to optimize a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to boost the website traffic it receives through search engines. To apply Search Engine Optimization, some technical knowledge is required. If you are interested in this kind of information, or you want to improve your skills, stick to the following check list.
1. Know-how
Familiarize yourself with the main directories and search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista, or Lycros and study the Internet language. Visit social media sites, such as Youtube, Twitter, or Digg and read as much about it as you can, as almost daily, updated technology, inventive websites, and new acronyms or expressions find their way onto the web. The more you know, the more impressive your articles, copies or posts will be.
2. Publishing
If you want to get noticed, you need to publish your work. Start with practicing your basic html skills and upload blogs and articles onto free information sharing sites. You can also start your own website or blog section. In that case, update frequently with fresh content to keep your visitors hooked.
3. Keyword rich content
‘Powerful keywords or key phrases are the backbone of great SEO publications.’ What this statement implies is simple! Keywords are like magnets. They attract the attention of the search engines and put your work ahead of similar articles. That is what employers are looking for; they want creative writers who know how to balance keyword density and make their products or services stand out.
One word of caution: Neither search engines, employers or clients are impressed if you repeat the same buzzwords too often in one and the same article. Be inventive and diversify.
4. Attract viewers
A writer needs readers which, in this case, can be found on the World Wide Web. They go by various names, such as users, visitors, viewers, traffic, or customers, and basically all do the same thing; they browse for products, services and information.
As a skilled SEO copywriter you will have to compose creative and keyword-rich pieces which will attract all those readers and make them want to come back.
5. SEO extensions
Knowing all the SEO tricks is not enough when promoting a business. You will also have to familiarize yourself with SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and PPC (Pay Per Click). ‘Search Engine Marketing’ is a way of Internet marketing designed to promote websites by increasing their visibility to search engines and ‘Pay Per Click’ is a form of Internet advertising in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked on.
6. Building links
Links are connections to other websites or pages. Click on a link and you will automatically be transferred to your next destination.
Building links is one of the key factors in reaching top placements on major search engines and is a vital part of any SEO strategy. Learn linkbuilding and try to understand the difference between quality links and trashy lines resembling spam footers.
7. Hey you…
Finding a fan club for your work is easier than you think. All you have to do is practice social networking. Start by hanging out in a few forums, social media or blog sites and soon you will realize which ones are perfect to promote your work. Treat these communities respectfully as, like with real-life friends and customers, they too can be offended and leave!
8. Get noticed
Did you know that only 20% of your work is publishing posts? This means that you will have to introduce your brainchild to the world once it has been released. If you do not submit SEO friendly Press Releases (PR), your hard work will remain unnoticed. Some places will allow a free press release or guest post.
9. Be original
Using your SEO skills, create original and interesting content. Search Engines will reject duplications and readers turn away if they are bored. They want something new and fresh that speaks to their intellect or imagination. In other words, compose short paragraphs and write in a clear, concise, engaging and understandable manner and success will soon be yours.
Visit Shout SEO Services to find out more.
Shout SEO is a premium SEO services business based in Melbourne. Shout SEO will help increase your traffic and sales through achieving top rankings on the major search engines. Visit Shout SEO services to find out more.
Increase Exposure For Your Twitter Tweets.
November 12, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
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