Posts Tagged ‘Media’

Using Photo Sharing Websites in Your Social Media SEO Campaign

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

One element of social media which is sometimes over looked is photo sharing websites such as Flickr and Photobucket. These sites allow you to make an account and upload your photos and images.

The importance of these photo sharing sites is that once you have added your photos you can make descriptions, titles and keywords just like a web page on your website. The photo albums you make can be linked into your website or blog and used as a slideshow.

By making these albums with their descriptions, titles and keywords not only can people view your images within these sites but they will also appear within search engine results especially image results and this has to be excellent for your website.

By making the images as attractive as possible so people want to search for them and view them as this way you are increasing your chances of traffic to your website.

To get the people who view your images to your site many of the photo sharing sites allow you to add a direct link into your website from either the image itself or through your profile page on there. The simple the link is to find the higher the levels of traffic to your site. You can then see the impression of your images by studying Google Analytics and seeing how many people linked into your site from the images

Permanently remember to ALT tag all of your images on your website too so you get maximum exposure on image search engine results, every small bit helps with your SEO and SEM campaign.

My Almost Free Twitter-based Corporate Social Media Strategy

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

What if you could reach a few million people, improve customer support, tap into an incredible wealth of customer satisfaction data, protect and enhance your brand, and obtain some positive coverage, all for under $500? But wait, thereâ??s more! Sounds like a late-night infomercial, but in fact, a minimal investment (frequently time) can help you establish a highly visible and rewarding social media outpost on Twitter.

If youâ??re trying to figure out how social media can be integrated into your corporate exchanges strategy, follow this simple program. Donâ??t hire expensive consultants, donâ??t spend millions of dollars on viral marketing programs, and donâ??t wait to be shown proven ROI for social media initiatives. Just roll up your sleeves, get on Twitter, be genuine, and really respond to and help consumers.

Of course there are other social networks and opportunities to use social media in your corporate exchanges initiatives, and Twitter hosts a relatively small audience, perhaps two million people. But online, two million people who are extremely well-versed in the use of social media tools can be a very influential audience. Their comments on your company, its willingness to engage with customers, and the feature of its customer support not only reach a potentially much larger audience, but once in print, are on the web nearly forever to be retrieved via a search on your company name. If those comments are negative, wouldnâ??t you like the opportunity to respond? And if theyâ??re positive, wouldnâ??t you like to know that as well?

Iâ??m sure youâ??ve heard it said hundreds of times, that thereâ??s an online conversation going on about your company. And as much as this is a metaphorical conversation, it is also, in many social networks, forums and chat rooms, an actual conversation in which real people are sharing their experiences with your company.

I was inspired to write this piece as I watched this morning as a well known vehicle rental company come under attack on Twitter. A Twitter user with more than 1500 â??acquaintancesâ? commented on a terrible experience involving the company. Perhaps feeling that the company didnâ??t care about his plight, he invited other Twitter users to share their negative experiences with the company, and thus was born a groundswell of negativity. The company in question had no clear presence on Twitter, and did not get involved in the conversation. Here are a few of the comments:

â??horrendous serviceâ?¦fails on many levelsâ?¦poorly maintained trucks too.â?â??I’m going to need a moving truck soon…maybe I should try a further company this time aroundâ?â??abysmal customer serviceâ?â??I have had way too many problems with them – terrible equipment, oversold equipment, etc.â?To get an thought whether your company is being talked about on Twitter, go to http://www.search.twitter.com, and penetrate your company name. You will be able to scan, in chronological order, user comments about your company. Whether these are largely negative, positive or neutral, each is an opportunity for you to weigh in, which is perfectly legitimate to do on Twitter. And you would be thoughtless not to.

Itâ??s hard for me to say that they â??shouldâ? have been on Twitter, but I have to question, why not? One company after a further has been in the news as they have established a presence on Twitter and started engaging one-on-one with consumers. I am not exaggerating when I say the cost of being on Twitter is under $500. Twitter membership, even for corporations, is free, but I was allowing $500 to pay for the time to have a name in corporate exchanges sign up, make a simple graphics backdrop for the page, complete the very brief profile, and start the conversation.

Itâ??s not that hard to do. I recently wrote on my blog about the Seven Rules for Establishing a Corporate Presence on Twitter. These are very simple guidelines for branding your Twitter account and making it clear to consumers that it is an authorized company exchanges vehicle.There are no barriers to Twitter entry. As I said, it expenditure nothing, and you do not need to make any content, but you do need to identify one or more company spokespeople who can be online periodically to respond to consumer inquiries, questions and concerns. Home Depotâ??s account is staffed by Sarah, a PR person who has agreed to â??moonlightâ? on Twitter to respond to customer comments and issues. Comcastâ??s account is staffed by its â??digital careâ? group, and jetBlueâ??s is managed by the companyâ??s corporate exchanges team. Surely there are one or two people in your company who are social media savoir-faire, and connected either to your exchanges or customer support organizations, who can spend 30-60 minutes a day engaging with consumers, solving problems, and improving the companyâ??s reputation. Not doing so doesnâ??t seem very smart.

 

How To Use Twitter And Social Media Marketing To Explode Your Online Profits

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Itâ??s not surprising that social media has become so standard in so fleeting a time. Not only is it a source of entertainment for most people, it is also the newest strategy for acquiring customers for businesses. And with hot new tools like Twitter, social media marketing has only become more progressive and standard!

What Is Twitter?

In case youâ??re not familiar with Twitter, it is a social media tool that allows people to know what their fellow twitterers (people using twitter) are doing at this very moment.

Are you getting ready for bed? Place that on Twitter! Are you buying a new couch or writing a report on the things of social media marketing? Place that on Twitter! Are you throwing a birthday party for your golden retriever? Well, you can place that on Twitter as well. There are no boundaries as to what you can place on Twitter. In Twitter, even the most mundane updates about your life can be pretty liberating. 

Sounds simple, right? Perhaps, it is this simplicity that has made Twitter reasonably a sensation on the Internet. Thereâ??s also a touch amusing about knowing what other people are doing and letting them know your own business as well. This combination of fun and simplicity is what ultimately appeals to Twitter fans.

Applying Twitter In Business

If youâ??re business-minded, then you probably by now have more than a few thoughts on how to make this social media marketing tool work for you. Having a Twitter account allows you to inform your clients and would-be clients the progress in your company. Youâ??re not putting up an ad every week (because that tends to be annoying). But, you get the chance to share with them whatâ??s happening to your companyâ??s harvest, people, tools, etc. right now. 

Twitter, unlike MySpace and Facebook, poses an advantage for new and advanced marketers. As an well-organized social media marketing tool, Twitter allows you to build a giant list of followers. It allows your clients and subscribers to see what youâ??re doing right now. It gives them access to your immediate profile and permits you to share your thoughts with other twitterers. All free of charge.

How Twitter Can Explode Your Profits

While many people have other purposes and principles for the use of the free service, the peddler can use Twitter to jumpstart a list of followers that can grow into thousands.

If youâ??re a name who sells used cars, you can use Twitter to attract members who are interested in automobiles. When a new consignment comes in, you can use Twitter to announce that the newest Ford model has arrived. Or if youâ??re having a sale, you can use Twitter to let everybody know about it.

These followers are the next best thing to customers. If they havenâ??t bought anything from you yet, then you can rest assured that they will be buying a touch soon. As long as you keep providing them a touch nice to look forward to, they will permanently be enticed to buy a touch from your company.

Reckon of it as fishing. You by now have the fish interested in your bait. All you have to do is wait for the fish to bite. According to quantcast.com, Twitter reaches about 6.1 million U.S. people every month. This social media tool has also reached other countries and is hugely standard in Japan. In fact, there are other Twitter-like applications that have popped up due to its insane fame!

Despite the huge popularity of Twitter, it is not a disorganized system that doesnâ??t have any limits. For example, you can only send 1,000 updates, 100 API requests and send 250 direct messages each day. And while there is no limit to the people who can follow you, the same frankness doesnâ??t apply vice-versa.

The maximum number of people you can follow is limited to 2,000. In Twitter-speak, to follow means to receive Twitter updates. This limit will only be lifted if you manage to attract more than 2,000 followers to your account.

According to Twitter, this is done to prevent SPAM users from count up into their system and to prevent abuse from all current members.

Itâ??s not that hard to attract more followers into your account. In the long run, this will only make your Twitter account more meaningful because of the effort youâ??ve place into it.

The beauty at this stage is that once you are at such a amount, itâ??s simpler to attract new followers into your account. The benefits from taking such steps are acquiring your own list of keen followers (in which you can pitch your own harvest and air force); and more importantly, gaining new business contacts.

Other Social Media Marketing Methods

There are other methods of social media marketing available for your use. Twitter isnâ??t the only way to enhance your business and get a constant flow of leads.

Other methods you can explore include:

1) Blogs

2) Community forums

3) Social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn.

4) Video-sharing sites such as Youtube, Metacafe, Google videos, Yahoo videos, and AOL videos.

5) Content sharing sites such as Squidoo, Hubpages, Wetpaint, Qassia, and Google Knol.

These days, you shouldnâ??t just limit yourself to one thing. With the Internet as vast as it is, you should use every opportunity to make new contacts and establish yourself. Besides, reckon of all the new things you can learn from interacting with other people online!

Leave comments on your choice blogs and participate in forum discussions that allow for signature files after every post.  Make informative videos and upload them to video-sharing sites.  Explode your list of contacts through social networking sites. Share your knowledge and be recognized as an authority by submitting your content to content-sharing sites.

Not only will these help you establish credibility, you probably wonâ??t even have to worry or stress about making cash in the future. Remember that social media marketing, like any other marketing methods, works if you work it! Now like many of our mentors say â?? get to work!

What is Social Media Optimization | Affordable SEO Services | SEO Traffic Spider

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Social media optimization or SMO is yet a further method for search engine optimization of your site. As the name implies, you optimize your site by advertising it through the social media sites, online communities and community websites such as blog sites, message boards, podcasts, wikis and vlogs.The methods for social media optimization involve the use of RSS feeds, social bookmarking, video and photo sharing, social news buttons and blogging etc. The basic thought is to drive traffic to your site without spending cash on search engine advertising.The concept of social media optimization was introduced by Rohit Bhargawa of Ogilivy Public Relations. Originally, he enunciated five rules for social media optimization, but the list was expanded by other contributors.According to Rohit Bhargawa, “The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.”In actual practice, social media optimization seeks to make links to the site by making it more visible through the social networking sites like Squidoo, Blogger, Hubpages, Face Book, Twitter, Digg, Tasty, My Space or search engines like Technorati.How does one go about social media optimization?Getting links for your websiteThe number of links your site manages to pull through decides its popularity with the search engines. It is like deciding the popularity of the chief through the votes he gets. In case of a website its popularity index is the number of links it gets from other websites. Tagging and bookmarkingTagging and bookmarking can be made simpler by inducting content features such as buttons like “add to tasty” and other bookmarking sites. In addition to this, you can also include relevant tags to your pages besides the home page for the standard social bookmarking sites.Make inbound linksInbound links are considered vital for the popularity of the site and its content in searching engine ranking. You should make links to the blogs or sites that contain back links to your site and increase its visibility.Make your content travelMake some changes in your site to enable your content to travel far and wide in your niche area. This can be done by including portable content such as PDFs, video and audio files and submitting them to your list members as well as sites related to your niche. This will help you to make back links for your site.Allow others to use your contentA glaring example of this practice is YouTube. You can download its videos to your sites to illustrate your content and make it more appealing. A further example is to use RSS feeds to syndicate your content so that others can use it for their benefit. This can help you to drive traffic to your website.Pros and cons of social media optimizationAs with other methods of driving traffic, social media optimization has become victim of spamming or link farming. While the noble thought behind social bookmarking is to include links to informative, useful and appealing sites, people bookmark – syndicate – their own sites in numerous bookmarking sites not heeding of the feature of their content which can be pirated, duplicate and low-cost. It simply eats into the web space of the bookmarking site and makes a kind of content nonsense making it hard to sift grains from the chaff.

Mike Gravel Joe Lauria on blogging vs mainstream media

Thursday, January 14th, 2010


oldhacks.blogspot.com http Mike Gravel and Joe Lauria talk about their book “political odyssey” www.amazon.com and on the importance of blogging truth to power.

The Newest Terms in Social Media Marketing: Tweet, Retweet and Hashtags

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Perhaps you have noticed how Twitter recently gained influence to a lot of online people. Really, it isn’t only Twitter which is getting too standard. Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are achieving fame, too. You will hear about these online craze wherever you go. This makes other people curious. What is with these websites that makes everyone so into it? If you don’t have a Twitter account yet, why don’t you make one? You will then know why your acquaintances are so fascinated by it. The Social Media Marketing is so evolved now. There are several brilliant updates made that are more beneficial to its users. There are websites even made available for both recreation and business.

Take for example Twitter. It may appear dull to other people. But if you try to know its real essence, you will appreciate how it works. In Twitter, there are terms coined to make the experience more unique and appealing. These terms are peep, retweet and hashtags. There are really hundreds of terms produced by now and new ones are still coming in. Through Twitter, people can get in touch 24×7. This facilitates exchange of thoughts or information quicker.    

A person is called a tweeter because of giving personal updates to his Twitter account. Right now, there are more than 14,000,000 Twitter users in the US alone. There are also millions of members from other countries. It is a fantastic tool to share information inexpensively to other people. In order to make your followers keep their interest in you, you have to constantly give them a touch appealing regarding your activities. These updates are called tweets. It is called twittering when you post updates on Twitter. Tweets only have 140 characters or less. When you peep, you have to maximize the 140 characters allotted. So you have to perfect how to deliver your lines precise and appealing. 

If you haven’t had a Twitter account previous to or you are plotting to make one, there are other vital terms you should remember. A retweet is done when you peep again the same quote or line of your fellow tweeter. When you retweet, you place an @ sign previous to the name of the person from whom you derived the peep from. Some people use R/T or just RT previous to a person’s name to indicate retweeting. Retweeting is viewed as a respect to your co-tweeter. It will make them feel that their peep is worth to be mutual with others. Usually, tweeters are grateful when their tweets are being retweeted.

Hashtags are also significant for tweeters (e.g. #hashtag). Tweets can only be viewed by your own set of followers. If you do hashtag, you are making it possible for other people to view your tweets even though they aren’t your followers. This can help increase your followers. So, can you now know how twittering can do well for your online advertisement? Surely, this is an vital addition to your SEO strategy.