Tag: Google

social media, bloggingBlogging and Search Engine Optimization? Consider this… 

A great idea: That’s what inspires most to start their own blog. But no matter how great your idea is and how well-written or visually pleasing the blog is, no one will read it if they can’t find it. Search engine optimization for bloggers is often as elusive as the Philippine Eagle is for birders. But Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing told the audience at BlogWorld & New Media Expo that SEO doesn’t has to be that elusive — and with the right formula, one can propel his blog from Page 15 of Google’s search results to Page 1.The first secret to having a successful blog is being specific in your blog’s topic. Finding that niche community for your blog is important to set it apart from other blogs. This will also assist in SEO as well. Odden recommends the following to dominate search engine results…

via smartblogs.com

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to get 7 ideas on search engine domination. Comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…

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All the topics that interest US in the past 24 hours…

 

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Here are 4 great ways to find rss feeds for Google Reader…

  1. Use the ‘add a subscription’ button in Google Reader to search for great content…
  2. Search for great content using Alltop and add their feeds to your Google Reader account…
  3. Click the rss feed icon on any page and add it to Google Reader…
  4. Search for specific content using Google Alerts and add the feed to Google Reader…
  5. Add your own great ways in the comments!

I’m a firm believer in the power of Google Reader to consume and publish great content — use the search box to find other things I’ve written about it. If you have questions do like Donna did and give me a call — I’ll be happy to show you how it all fits together…

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All the topics that interest US in the past 24 hours…

 

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All the topics that interest US in the past 24 hours…

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Here’s my Alexa ranking…

…after a year on Posterous. Let’s see what WordPress.com can do with this domain! :-D

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What a great quote on the possibilities of social media…

How dare you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?

via great-quotes.com
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I found a great post on the Duct Tape Marketing site that was very timely for me…

To help website owners take full advantage of the most important online marketing opportunities, here are 3 things small businesses can do to attract and engage new customers.

Content Publishing & Marketing – Consumers are interacting with multiple content sources before purchase and businesses that provide useful information beyond product features and benefits can attract more traffic and referrals.

Tips, articles, videos and experts interviews provide customers with the information they need to buy and refer to others. Useful content optimized with keywords also attracts more search engine traffic and links.

Social Media & Networking – 90% of marketers say that social media is important for their business according to the 2011 Social Media Marketing Report. Word of mouth, referrals and buzz on social networks can increase awareness, build trust and influence sales.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer useful platforms for small businesses to be helpful and share information with networks far beyond their customer base.

Local & Mobile – By 2014, mobile Internet will take over desktop Internet according to Microsoft Tag Lab. Small business websites can increase page views by offering a mobile friendly version of their website. They can also increase visibility on local search by making sure they’ve claimed their listings on Google Places and Bing Business Listings.

via ducttapemarketing.com

I just spoke last night to a group of independent home inspectors about these very issues. Some didn’t even have a site. Those that did had ‘brochureware’. The problem, I explained to them, is how will someone know you’re an expert if they can’t google you? That’s now this next generation of buyers will make there decisions…

The answer is as easy as using a free WordPress site as your business blog and adding Google Apps for corporate email. Next, link the rss feed from your blog to your Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn account and your MailChimp newsletter. Then all you need to do is use Google Reader to ‘listen to the internet’ and make the information you need come to you. Out of that listening will come a lot of great ideas for you to create or curate on your website. This is the ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cycle of ‘thought leadership’ marketing. I call it the ‘e1evation workflow’.

Anyone who can send an email can use these tools to get known by Google and the best news is every single one is free and completely cross platform right down to the smartphone level. Comment or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to your organization…

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Nice praise for one of my favorite tools…

“Financial Times reports that Gmail has about 100 million users and the growth rate is still significant: “[Gmail] has been gaining ground in the US over the past year, with users growing by more than 40 per cent, compared to 2 per cent for Yahoo and a 7 per cent fall in users of Microsoft’s webmail.” 

Even though the competing mail services improved their offerings and storage is no longer an important differentiator, Gmail still offers an unmatched user experience. After using Gmail, you’ll no longer understand why Yahoo Mail places the “Send button” above the message, why Yahoo Mail thinks it’s more important to show news and weather information instead of your inbox, why Yahoo Mail still charges for features that are available for free in Gmail, why Hotmail shows a large banner at the top of the page or why you can’t auto-forward mail to a non-Hotmail account. Gmail made so many right choices that it’s easy to ignore some of its quirks, downtimes or bugs.” Source: On Gmail’s Success

Don’t forget that you can also outsource your corporate email to Google as well! Ask me how…

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‘Thought leadership’ marketing takes time! Here’s one man’s perspective on taking that time to ‘make media’ as he says…

This is a chicken or the egg causality dilemma for me: as I create more media, my media consumption has changed or my media consumption has changed, hence I’m able to create more media. I really don’t know which came first but what I can tell you is that I definitely watch much less TV, read more than I ever have in my life, and listen to industry specific podcasts.I rarely watch TV anymore and when I do it is usually a sporting event, a movie, or Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. I just don’t find sitting mindlessly in front on the TV exciting anymore. Rather than watch TV, I take time with my family or read. Speaking of reading, I read all the time. Whether it’s a book, a blog, or the newspaper, not only do I find enjoyment in reading – I also find blog topics and ideas.

Finally, I have become a fan of podcasts. In my never ending quest to find time to exercise, which I still don’t do often enough anymore, I’ve started to walk and listen to podcasts at the same time. I feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone. There are many great podcasts out there but two I would recommend are John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing and Copyblogger’s Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio.

via schneiderb.com

Brendan Schneider has put together a thoughtful post on ‘making media’ [you can follow the ‘via’ link to read the whole post] in which he talks about ‘Getting Things Done’, staying away from the ‘idiot box’ [as my father was so fond of saying’], and creating a SMS — a social media system — for managing his social media outposts. I have a lot of similar needs and biases as Brendan and my social media system is called the ‘e1evation workflow‘ — kind of a ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cycle for ‘thought leadership’ marketing [my way of saying ‘make media’]. Comment or ‘connect’ above so we can talk about a ‘practical, tactical’ approach to social media how this applies to you and your organization…

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…and use Google Apps! I had a chat with a business owner yesterday who was still using a pop mail account to run his business — scheduling meetings with his partners is a nightmare! Enter Google Apps! Here’s a quick overview…


Contact me! I’ll be happy to talk you through it because your organization needs Google Apps, too…

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Gmail recently kicked butt in a Mashable poll asking users for their favorite email client. Adam Pash writes…

“Way back in 2006, I showed you my favorite tips, tricks, and tools for making the most of Gmail. A lot has changed in the Gmail world since then, so much so that it seemed like a good time to revisit our favorite tips, tricks, and tools for getting the most from Gmail. Most, if not all, of these tips and features will also apply to the Google Apps accounts set up by businesses and organizations, but your administrator may not have enabled everything you see here.

No one really needs to be sold on Gmail anymore. Either you like the threaded conversations, powerful search, built-in filters, and awesome Gmail Labs functionality or you don’t. I love these things, and below I’ve attempted to put together my comprehensive guide for turning Gmail into the ultimate communication and productivity hub. (I’m focusing on covering territory that I didn’t cover in my previous guide, so if you’re looking for a more beginner guide, read that first. Much of it remains true.)

I’ve broken things down into sections, starting with keyboard shortcuts, then moving down into the best Labs add-ons, third-party add-ons, search techniques, etc. Ready to power up your Gmail? Let’s get started with how to set up and use Gmail’s robust keyboard shortcuts—my favorite Gmail productivity booster.” Source: Become a Gmail Master Redux – Gmail – Lifehacker

Gmail [and Google Apps for Business] is the killer app for email. If you want to become a Gmail master and master your email, follow the link and read Adams article. Comment, call or contact me if you’d like to know more about how to leverage Gmail in your business…

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A client asked me what is the best way to include pdfs in WordPress. Since I really hadn’t thought about that for awhile, I asked the smartest WordPress guy I know what he does. He answered “I like to upload to the media library, grab the URL link and then link to it in the post. More work but better control over appearance and such.” Now I’m sure that works fine, but for now, I’m going to use Scribd [an example of which you see below]. Me? I’m always thinking ‘home bases and outposts’ [use the search box] so Scribd makes perfect sense for me. If I post my pdf there and copy the embed code here, not only do I get some powerful viewing tools [full screen, print, etc.] someone my find my blog because they found my document in Scribd…

Here’s his approach:

Here’s Scribd:

Either way works — which one is more effective depends on your objectives but I’m biased toward being ‘social’ and Scribd helps me accomplish that objective nicely. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me…

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Here’s something to ponder this afternoon… 

The story has it that when Michelangelo was commissioned to do the sculpture of King David he looked at hundreds of blocks of marble before he decided on the “right” one. To most of us all those blocks shown to him would have looked more or less the same but for Michelangelo it needed to be a certain piece of marble – nothing else would do. Why was that? It was because he knew exactly what he wanted his David to look like. He could see the end result in front of his eyes.

When asked how he was going to create such a fine figure as King David out of such an enormous chunk of marble his answer was: “That’s easy. All I have to do is chip away everything that is not David.” Isn’t that incredible? And so easy…

But why am I telling you this story? Do you know what your David (end result) looks like? Do you know where you are going with the actions you take every day?

Did you know that about 90 % of us do not have a clear goal; do not have a clear vision of what we want?

But if we don’t have a very clear picture of what we aim at how can we reach it? How can we chip away at the rock to create our David if we don’t know what David is supposed to look like? That doesn’t make sense, does it?

via streetdirectory.com

Let me take a minute to illustrate a point. Because I use Google well, I was able to find a story to illustrate a point I’m trying to make for a meeting this afternoon. If I curate the content and post it to my blog, it lives on as part of MY site. Who knows how many times Google will bring people to my site to hear this story?

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Desert

In December of last year, I embarked upon an experiment to see if I could leverage a website with a blog combined with social media tools to increase traffic to a site. In that month, my sandbox site had a grand total of 670 pageviews. In the month that ended yesterday, I had a total of 15,985 — an approximate 25 fold increase in traffic! This morning I got 670 pageviews by 10:00. Here are some other statistics… Continue reading “Is your website a ‘billboard in the desert’?” →

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