March 5th, 2010
Blogging to an audience is all about putting out good content that will keep readers coming back for more. If you deliver quality over quantity, your audience will be more interested in bookmarking your site, subscribing to your RSS, or signing up for your e-mail newsletter. Make your readers stick and grow your following by creating an e-mail newsletter.
E-mail newsletters are a great way to promote your company, brand, and/or blog. If you have valuable information to share, creating an e-mail newsletter tells people that you have value and authority. Keep it fresh by separating your blog content from your e-mail newsletter so that both are unique. Giving unique content to your audience with your e-mail newsletter also entices them to subscribe, so they don’t miss out on your work.
Try to keep your E-mail newsletters on a schedule. Creating a schedule and sticking to it gives your audience some predictability and something to expect. Try not to bombard them with e-mail so you keep your content in demand, rather than becoming annoying spam. Once a week, maximum, or bi-monthly is a good start.
Offer contests, giveaways, and discounts. Offering something to your audience keeps your content valuable and worthwhile. Keeping your content worthwhile generates traffic to your blog and website that will remind your audience that you are an authority, and you appreciate their loyalty. Another great way to give value to your audience is by offering them sneak peaks on projects that are not officially available to the general public.
Tags: "ezine articles", communication, e-mail marketing, social media marketing
Posted in article marketing, social media general, social media marketing | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010
For someone new to social media, it may sound like a foreign language, or hip new lingo terms that seem age specific. In reality, social media is for everyone young and old. Though it may seem that the Gen Y dominates social media, anyone can learn and start using it right away.
Two of the most popular social bookmarking web sites are Digg and Delicious. Social bookmarking sites allow you to save website links online rather than on your web browser. You can add keywords and tags to organize your bookmarks and it can be versatile and helpful in managing many saved links.
Digg
Similar to Reddit, Digg is a sophisticated social bookmarking web site that utilizes user participation to rate web links. Users can share links and vote a link up or down (digg or bury, respectively). The most popular links are showcased on the main page of Digg. This means that depending on your ratability, your site could get potential amounts of high traffic. Keywords are paramount when submitting links. Your link headline should be captivating and grab attention; providing just enough information so users know what it’s about and are interested enough to click and learn more.
Delicious
Delicious is the most popular social bookmarking site out there. By bookmarking sites on Delicious rather than on your web browser “favorites” folder, you get the dynamic community of shared bookmarks by other users. Tag your bookmarks in different categories by assigning keywords to group them with other likeminded users who have tagged their links in the same category. This allows for a great resource for website surfing and getting your websites or bookmarks discovered by other users.
Digg and Delicious have icons you can install on your blog or website to help encourage readers to share your articles. Giving them the option should increase the chances of getting more traffic to your website, by allowing your posts a chance to go viral.
Tags: business social media, communication, Delicious, Digg, social media marketing
Posted in blogging, social media marketing, social media sites | No Comments »
January 22nd, 2010
The social media revolution is on the rise and here to stay. More and more companies will embrace social media as they look to leverage their marketing efforts and keep up with the changing times. The conversation won’t be about why we should use social media, but how. How will you utilize social media in 2010? At Prechnology, we specialize in public relations and social media marketing to help boost your businesses web presence and come out on top. Web 2.0 integration with Twitter, Facebook and blogging are among our services.
As social media grows in 2010, networks and communities will begin to become more exclusive. People will find communities to join but will start to tune out other social clutter in their feeds. Social media marketers have to be one step ahead of the game by making sure their feeds do not go ignored or become part of the clutter. As people become more desensitized to social media, marketers must secure their voice and influence within communities. Enter Twitter twibes.
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January 3rd, 2010
In my previous post, I write about the advantages of social media marketing for your business on Facebook. Here, I will focus on the differences between Facebook fan pages and Facebook group pages and any advantages or disadvantages from a business perspective.
The differences between Facebook fan pages vs. Facebook groups are minor, but one of the main advantages to Facebook fan pages is indexing. Fan pages are accessible to the public and can be picked up via search engines. This means that fan pages have a greater chance of being noticed and will show up on your friend’s feeds when you join. Group pages can only be seen via Facebook and does not have public access. While that makes it harder to search, group pages have the viral advantage of being able to send or invite your friends to join; a feature that fan pages do not have.
Another feature unique to group pages is sending private messages. An administrator has the ability to send messages directly to a member’s inbox, while Fan pages can only send messages that show up on the notification bar on the bottom right hand corner of your web browser. While the notification bar alerts you when a new notification is up, users often ignore the feature due to unwanted or unnecessary “spam” messages that often clog up the notifications.
So which option is better for business and social media marketing? While most of the basic features are the same, the key differences between fan pages and groups are major enough to warrant an examination. Fan pages are more versatile because you can connect your blog rss feeds to automatically syndicate, and add web applications. Administrators are not known publically and fan pages do not connect with the administrator’s personal account. The fan page can be seen more like an entity rather than an individual. This makes it more attractive for celebrities, brands, and businesses, who may hire someone to manage their accounts. Fan pages also do not have a member limit while group pages cap out at 5,000.
In summation, fan pages are the better option for social media marketing and a businesses web presence, but groups can work great for smaller ventures related to a more specific cause or social media campaign, such as marketing an event.
Tags: business social media, communication, creative marketing, facebook, Facebook page, social media campaign, social media marketing
Posted in blogging, social media general, social media sites | No Comments »
December 17th, 2009
As we’ve already covered, social media marketing is all about connecting with your audience, as opposed to selling products. Think of it as a conversation. The more web presence your brand or business has, the more avenues you have towards conversing with potential customers. Brand awareness, customer service, and engaging with your customers should be your primary focus, but how can you turn that into sales?
Vanity Address
Once you’ve created your Facebook page, you can apply a vanity address that reflects your business name. Use this vanity URL when linking your Facebook page on your blog and/or website. This ensures that your social media marketing campaign is established and credible.
Join the Conversation
Add status updates that provide useful links and content related to your business. Social media marketing is about engaging with your market niche and talking to them on their level, like friends. One of the best places to network in a real world environment is through parties, and social events. Not everything should be about business and finding people through parties establishes your trust as a friend first and business second. Think of Facebook as an online party. You can’t build trust by being aggressive on selling. Talk to your potential customers as friends and the sales will come naturally.
Fan Pages, Group Pages and Events
Part of your social media marketing campaign can include the creation of fan pages, group pages or events. This is another tool to build community around your business and connect with your audience. Create an event page when marketing an upcoming event and use fan pages or group pages to keep people updated on your business.
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are a cheaper alternative to marketing your business. What’s smart about social media marketing through Facebook is that you can use profile information to your advantage by using keywords, age brackets, etc. to market to specific audiences. Through the very nature of Facebook pages, businesses can use target marketing to successfully advertise to specific users.
With these general tips, you can start to build your Facebook web presence in no time. If you decide setting up a Facebook page is too hard to maintain, or would like assistance with your social media marketing, we can gladly help. Are you ready to join the conversation?
Tags: "social networking", facebook, Facebook page, social media, social media campaign, social media marketing
Posted in social media general, social media sites | 2 Comments »
November 17th, 2009
Your site will receive traffic from a number of different sources. These sources are called your “top referers” because they refer traffic to your site. Depending on the month, some social media sites will refer more traffic to individual websites than others. For example, for about five months in 2009 Twitter was a top referer to most websites overall. The amount of traffic that Twitter was directing to sites exceeded the amount that Google directed to those sites.
In order for your site to receive top referrals from Twitter, however, your site would need to be optimized for Twitter. This means your Twitter account needs to be linked to your blog or website (preferably both); and you would need to tweet on a consistent basis (at least once a day). People would find your site through your tweets, through retweets of your tweets, and through your profile on Twitter. If you used hashtags in your tweets, then this would be yet another way for people to discover your tweets (and then, your website).
Now Facebook seems to be the top referer for most major sites. Since Facebook introduced their live stream, among other enhancements such as pulling images from links and Facebook Connect, traffic to websites seems to be coming from Facebook in the largest numbers. Again, your site would need to be optimized to receive this traffic. In terms of Facebook, this means you have a Facebook page, you regularly update it, perhaps you run your Twitter stream through your Facebook status that appears on your “wall”. In addition, you can drive traffic to your site with a Facebook Fan Page. And there are countless other ways to drive traffic to your site using Facebook.
But let’s back up a bit. The Google Search Engine was the original top referer on the Web. The whole foundation of Search Engine Optimization is based upon configuring your website and blog to be searchable by Google. In 2009, however, the reality is that Google is not a top referer for most sites. A number of different social media sites are in fact delivering traffic to websites worldwide.
This is not to say that your website should not be Search Engine Optimized. Because your site will still receive a significant amount from Google. If your site has a lot of images on it, then it will receive traffic from Google Images as well.
But because social media sites have recently begun delivering most overall traffic to websites, let’s take a look at which ones are the top referers. (Disclaimer: this is a generalized overview of the top referers I have seen from my own experience.)
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a social media site that gives new meaning to the word “viral”. If one of your pages becomes popular on StumbleUpon, you can see thirty thousand visitors to your site in one day. People who use StumbleUpon are called “stumblers”. Some stumblers looks a thousands of webpages a day, and they have a close-knit network of friends. When one stumbler discovers a page, all their friends find out about it. Usually the page shows up in the “recently popular” category. Before you know it, 100 visits has turned into a 1000.
So how do you get your page on StumbleUpon? First, you can begin using the service yourself. It’s a form of web entertainment. Build a community on StumbleUpon, and once in awhile index a page from your site. Make sure to categorize it properly with the right keywords.
Or you can wait for the stumblers to find your site, but this might take a bit longer depending on the type of material on your website. Most business websites are pretty dry. Social media is all about excitement. What can you create for your business website or blog that would serve as linkbait? How about a YouTube video? Instructive videos are very popular. Or maybe a top 100 list. Don’t try to be cool. Think, “What would most people find useful? What can I offer others that no other site can offer?”
Reddit
Reddit is another social media site that has the potential to deliver a lot of traffic to your site. Like StumbleUpon, either you or someone else posts a link to the webpage of interest. On StumbleUpon, you can write a short review of the site. Reddit is all about brevity. Everything depends on the heading of your link. So before you post that link to Reddit, make sure the heading is just right. Pick a heading that gives enough information to tell people what to expect, but not too much information to take away their curiosity.
Another important aspect of Reddit are the subReddits. Like StumbleUpon, you want to index your page under a category. For Reddit these categories are called subReddits, and you have to subscribe to them before you can submit. Subscription just means you join the subReddit group. You essentially become a follower of the subReddit.
Reddit can really work for you and deliver traffic to your site if you take the time to learn Reddit. Begin by submitting links that are not from your website, add friends, and learn the overall attitude of the particular Reddit.
Both StumbleUpon and Reddit have widgets that you can put on your website or blog. StumbleUpon has a thumbs up widget. When a person comes to your site, or lands on one of your pages, they can thumb it up. Reddit has a meter widget that shows how many people bumped up your article or webpage.
I will cover more social media sites that deliver traffic in the coming weeks. But I wanted to cover the two big ones, Twitter and Facebook, and then two other lesser known social media sites, StumbleUpon and Reddit, that can also send a significant amount of traffic to your website.
Tags: social media marketing, social media sites, top referrals, traffic
Posted in social media sites | No Comments »
October 15th, 2009
Business in the online world involves a spectrum of services that may require outsourcing. By outsourcing, I mean online contract work for specific projects rather than hiring on new people. Depending on your business, you may find a need for the following services:
- programming/development
- graphic design
- article writing
- SEO
- Search Engine Marketing
Good business sense tells you to outsource these tasks for cheaper, rather than to hire someone outright. The reason for this is simple. In recent years, there has been an explosion in the online contract market. Thousand of people are willing to take on your project from every corner of the world. Now, how do you find them, and perhaps more important, how do you find someone reliable?
These are some of the top sites to look for freelancers on the Web:
A recent post on ReadWriteEnterprise notes that “Elance reports that they are seeing a 46% increase in hiring for contract work, compared to a year ago.” The recession has definitely contributed to a surge in the online marketplace.
I began my contract work on Elance several years ago. I’ve worked on both sides; hiring and being hired.
So, let’s say you want to hire, manage, and pay experts to do your work. Elance is the most reliable site for this. Before you post a job, you might want to search the category of work you are looking for.
In the “Find Experts” box, type in the online contract work you are looking for. Narrow it down by category. As an exercise, I entered “blogging” under the “Writing and Translation” service. Now I can see a full page of professionals who blog for pay. The professionals with the most earned income and the highest ratings will appear at the top of the page.
You can examine their profiles and portfolios on Elance. If you would like to hire them, you simply press “Get a Proposal”. You can also conduct an online interview with them.
But let’s say you want to post a job instead. Posting a job will get many more eyeballs to your project. Moreover, the bidding process involves professionals telling you their lowest rate for the job. The bidders cannot see each other’s quotes. You must enter in a ballpark figure for what you are willing to pay.
If you are looking for work, you post a description of your project and categorize it accordingly. Be descriptive in your job post–tell your potential bidders exactly what you are looking for. This includes the time length of the project, whether you will pay hourly or a fixed rate, and if there are more opportunities after this project is complete.
In the next step, professionals will make bids on your job. You may receive twenty-five bids on a project or more, so be prepared in the next couple days to comb through the bids.
The private message board allows you to ask questions to a potential bidder. This feature can help give you a better idea of the services the professional is able to offer you.
The public message board allows you to make announcements to your bidders about the overall project. Maybe you had to modify the job post or add some details; you can notify your potential bidders through the public message board. In addition, the bidders themselves can use the public message board.
Online contract work can be a huge benefit to your business. But it’s important to do your research on each service provider, and take your time in the process of hiring the right company for the job.
Tags: consulting, hiring, online contract work, outsourcing
Posted in online contract work | No Comments »
October 1st, 2009
The first thing we suggest to companies that want to utilize social media is to create a blog. It is becoming common now for small and large companies to have a blog attached to their main website. The advantages of having a company blog are numerous. Blogs are dynamic, while websites are static. Blogs are engaging and conversational while website pages tend to be more formal and they do not typically engage the user.
With the explosion of other social media, blogging has become stronger, not weaker. Now you can connect your Facebook Fan Page to your Twitter account, and your blog to both. The interconnectedness of all social media around your blog and company website is the definite trend.
But simply setting up a blog and making the occasional post will not gain much traffic to your website. Through trial and error, bloggers have learned the most effective ways to build traffic. I will share some of these tips and tricks now.
1. The more posts you make on a weekly basis, the more traffic you will get.
This is the hard and fast rule of blogging. Nothing is more predictable. The more you post, the more traffic you will receive. Granted, if the quality of your posts are poor, you may be better off making fewer, high quality posts. But in general, a steady stream of useful and interesting information will gain traffic to your blog/website.
2. Read blogs that are similar to yours and comment on them.
This is another fairly predictable way to attract attention to your blog. If your company blogs about local coupons and discounts, then discover some other blogs in this niche. When you comment on a blog, you leave your name and website. Most people click on the links to learn more about who made the comment. Not only will your comments attract the blogger whose blog you commented on, but also the readers of that specific blog. If the information on your site is similar, people will also be interested in your blog/website.
If you frequently comment on a handful of blogs, you may get to know the bloggers who run the sites. This can lead to link exchanges and other cross-promotion opportunities.
Lastly, reading blogs in the same niche as your company helps you to get to know the community. This community will turn out to be much more important than you originally thought. Business on the Internet differs in some significant ways from business in the “real world”. One difference is the huge importance of community. To get traffic, you have to be connected to a community. You have to know people with similar interests. Later comes “fans” and “followers”.
3. Use Keywords
This may seem obvious, but keywords are often used in the wrong ways. For example, when I first started blogging I used too many keywords. After you create a blog post, review the content and pick out two or three words that summarize the topics you cover. If you make a blog post about wonderful travel locations for fly-fishing, then make sure you make “fly-fishing” one of your keywords. Also use the exact location names as keywords. Your keywords should be repeated only four or five times in your post body, depending on length. Don’t try to trick Google by stuffing your posts with keywords because it won’t work. Lastly, make sure one of your keywords appears in your post title.
4. Social bookmark your posts
After you make a post, it may go unread for two or three days. The best thing to speed up the process by which somebody sees your post on the day you make it is to use social bookmarking. We suggest you set up an account on Twine, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Reddit, and possibly Digg. Every time you make a post, share your post on three or four of these social bookmarking sites. A couple things to keep in mind: The category or tags of your post is important. Make sure you list the most accurate category for your post. Also join groups on social bookmarking sites. Without joining groups, you may not have much of an influence. Reddit, specifically, has sub-categories of smaller Reddits, such as SEO, Art, Photography, Travel, share your post to these smaller categories rather than the main Reddit. Twine, too, is an excellent way to get traffic. Join twines, make contacts, and submit your posts to the appropriate categories.
Like social bookmarking, Twitter is an excellent way to boost the traffic to your blog. Every time you make a post, you can tweet it on your account. If you are curious about Twitter and want to learn more, try “Twitter Etiquette: Ask the Experts“.
Tags: keywords, social bookmarking, traffic
Posted in blogging | 1 Comment »
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