Gaining Success With Social Media
Standing out on the Internet can be a troublesome process. When a person has a significant amount of competition, it is easy to give up. However, if a person utilizes a social media website, it is possible to garner benefits.
How to Gain Followers and Fans
1. Update a Profile Frequently
If a person wishes to gain as many followers as possible, it is crucial to remain active. A person should not create a social media account and then pay little attention to it. People may lose interest in the account. If this is not the case, potential customers may assume that a business is no longer active. A person should ensure that recent information is always available. It is also a smart idea to ensure that the information is helpful and informative.
2. Interact With Followers
Popular people on social media websites tend to interact with followers; they answer any questions that they may receive. They talk to people and update them on certain events and issues. Emulating these popular social media individuals is a plan to keep in mind. It is necessary for people to feel that they are important. They should have the impression that their comments and opinions are valid. If a person feels acknowledged, he or she may tell friends and family members. When a social media account owner takes these steps, they will receive more followers. They will gain more attention in the long run.
Utilizing Social Media
1. Link to Blog or Other Website
A business or individual may wish to link to a blog or other website. When a person chooses to do this, potential readers and customers may discover the website. The link to the website may be placed in a profile area of a social media account. If this is not possible, daily entries may provide a link to the website. It is vital to exercise caution; a person should not link to the website too frequently. Many people may assume that the business is unprofessional or desperate. Restraint should be practiced.
2. Announce Upcoming Products or Sales
It is not enough to link to a website. If a person wishes to gain further success, he or she should advertize upcoming activities. If a business is releasing a new product, the product should be discussed on the social media site. Some people will appreciate the gesture and reward the owner in the long run. A business may wish to reward followers by providing exclusive discounts and other incentives. When a person chooses to do this, the online presence of the business will improve. People will be aware of the business; they will wish to share information with people around their community.
If a person or business wishes to reach the same level of success as Charles Phillips, Jr., the information above should be kept in mind. A willingness to try new things is paramount, and giving up is not an option. The Internet has many possibilities. It is a terrific idea to utilize this medium.
Read More6 Tips To Improve Keyword Research for SEO Content
Guest Post by Sam Mauzy.
Keyword content creation is one of the best ways for people to increase their search engine rankings. However, it is important that you chose the right keywords to focus on for the best ranking results. Here are some tips for determining which keywords you should use as a part of your SEO strategy.
Long Tail Keywords
Instead of focusing on direct keywords, like “cars” or “cats,” websites are far better able to get traction with long tail keyword searches. To begin with, most people are more likely to search specifically than broadly, so it makes more sense to create content for phrases like “cheap used cars” or “long-haired cats.” To find the most popular terms related to keyword bases, simply type in a keyword and Google will provide a drop-down list of the most popular long tail searches.
Localize Your Keywords
One of Google’s recent updates was to prioritize local search results. This means that if you have a physical storefront, you will want to create keyword content that includes your location. This also ensures that you are getting your target demographic to your website. If you sell used cars in California, visitors from New York are likely to be simply taking up your bandwidth.
Focus on Keywords that Improve Your Conversion Rate
Related to localized content, you want to try to hone in on keywords that will not only increase the number of visitors to your website but keywords that will improve your conversion rate as well. Creating keyword content for things that have little to nothing to do with your site will not improve your conversion rate and could hurt you in the long run as it increases your bounce rate.
Take Advantage of Analytics
One of the best ways to do keyword research and track your progress is to look at analytic data. The information provided by Google Analytics alone is both extensive and valuable. Some of the things that you should be looking at specifically are your pages with high bounce rates and your pages with high conversion rates. High bounce rates mean that people aren’t finding what they are looking for, meaning keywords used on these pages are probably not your best bet. Conversely, landing pages with the highest conversion rates are those that you should use as a base for additional content.
Use PPC Data
PPC ads are a great way to do a test run on a keyword selection. Since keyword content can take weeks or even months to turn into search engine ranking improvement, PPC ads are a quick way to see if new keyword content will improve your conversion rate. Used correctly, PPC ads are a great source of inexpensive and real-time market research.
Make Your Keyword Goals Attainable
Finally, make sure that you are choosing keywords you can realistically achieve high search engine rankings with. It is better to achieve a high ranking with a few long tail keywords than spend months achieving little progress with a highly competitive keyword. That is not to say that you cannot ever achieve top rankings with a particular keyword, but you should consider it a long term goal and put your effort into several keywords at the same time.
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Sam is a blogger with a background in SEO. His latest challenge has been learning how to make iPhone apps which he has found to be a great new marketable skill to have.
Read MoreReflecting on an Origin Story: Affiliate Summit East 2007
Yes, you read that right. After a whirlwind trip to Oregon this week for a wedding, I’m making off into the night on a red-eye flight to New York for Affiliate Summit East 2012.
This marks a milestone for me. Affiliate Summit East 2007 in Miami was my first Summit, so this will be (counting last May’s Affiliate Summit Central) my 10th Summit and the 5 year anniversary of this blog and my participation in Affiliate Marketing. I was just a baby in affiliate marketing back then.
Wow… how things have changed! Back then I didn’t know what I was doing at ALL, somehow teaching my co-worker everything I knew about affiliate marketing on our red-eye flight from Oakland to Miami. And by everything I knew – that means everything I’d learned since about November of 2006, so not much. How naive we were – we totally blew off the Meet Market thinking it would be lame (maybe back then it was, I wouldn’t have known) and didn’t participate in hardly ANY networking. We were more interested in South Beach every night to eat dinner on the strip.
The trip was not all fun, and I did take it seriously and so glad I did. I still use the same college-ruled composition book for notes. The sessions I went to at that Summit might make you chuckle:
I remember some of the speakers, but not all… Jeremy Palmer, Scott Jangro, Rosalind Gardner, Stephanie Agresta, most notable in my mind at the time was Jay Berkowitz and his 10 golden rules session. I remember offering up the merchant I worked for at the time for analysis in the Conversion Rate Clinic and going back to my manager at our booth saying, “We have a LOT to fix when we get back! Josh Sloan made a magical impression on me with his magic tricks as we exhibited beside 1&1,. We went to ONE networking event and only because we were told we could win some sweet prizes. It was there that I met Karen & Joel Garcia, who I count as friends now. I remember returning from that show and deciding that I should start a blog. I started it on Blogger (I know, I’m ashamed too…) and later got with it and ported it over to self-hosted WordPress. Want to read my first post? It’s a doozy… but it was 5 years ago on 8/2 (also my wedding anniversary & Kevin Smith’s birthday).
So in a few days I’m off to Summit again, and I’m so glad I went to summit back in ’07. It set me on this career path when I just had a job, so I’ll be forever grateful to the speakers in the sessions I attended and the people I met back then that ignited this spark. I’m proud to say that 5 years later, I’m still loving it!
Want to sit down with me and chat about any of the affiliate programs I manage? Check out my schedule at Tungle.me/trishalyn and let’s set something up!
Another laugh… my random photos from Miami in 07!
The True Value of Google+
When you are trying to promote a site for your business or for a cause, it is important to promote its visibility as much as possible. This often involves you signing up for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Recently, Google+ has become a popular social network that many webmasters and businesses are turning to for promotion. Here are a few things to consider about the true value of Google+.
Integration With Google Places
If you have a local business, you will definitely need a Google+ account, so that you can take advantage of Google Places. Google Places was a service offered by Google, which made it possible to promote your business listing for local searches. Recently, Google moved all of the Google Places accounts over to Google+ accounts. This means that if you want to participate in this program now, you have to have a Google+ account. This makes it possible for you to reach customers in your local market for free and interact with them.
Multiple Ways to Connect
One of the nice things about using Google+ is that you can connect with other people in many different ways. For example, you can form circles of different types of contacts. You can set up “hang outs” where you can video chat with a group of people. You can send direct messages, public messages, and chat with people as well. If you are trying to increase visibility, and get to know your customers, this can be a good way to go about it.
Integrate Into Site
If you are a webmaster, you also have the opportunity to integrate Google+ features right into your site. There are various widgets that you can put into your site with just a few clicks. For example, if you have a Brain Host hosting account, you’ll be able to integrate Google+ buttons easily onto your pages. This makes it easier for your website visitors to interact with your Google+ profile, and for Google+ visitors to find your site.
Why Get Started?
If you are serious about developing an online presence for your business or website, you owe it to yourself to open a Google+ account. It is the latest social network to make a splash online, and it is growing quickly. While it is yet to unseat Facebook as the undisputed king of social networking, it can provide you with some benefits for your business.
Read MoreHow to use Twitter to Effectively Market Your Blog
Guest Post by Sam Mauzy.
Today, just about everybody you talk to has a blog. The best bloggers will keep their site updated by posting regularly, from several times a week to even several times a day. Bloggers use several different tactics to get people to find their little corner of the Internet. SEO keywords and tags are a common way to make sure that web surfers find a blog post. However, so many bloggers put up the posts, add the keywords and leave it at that. They’re missing a huge part of marketing tactics for their blog, particularly Twitter.
Twitter is a fantastic way to get your blog’s name and recent posts out and about. However, every single Tweet will only capture some people’s attention, and only for a split second. The key ingredient to marketing successfully is repetition. This is the only way to ensure that your message will stick and that a large number of people will hear it.
Unless you’re glued to your cell phone even when you sleep, you can’t exactly update your Twitter every few hours of every single day. However, you do want to be bringing readers to your blog around-the-clock. The best way to deal with this is to sign up for a program that you can use to schedule your Tweets. TweetDeck and HootSuite are two programs that people can use to schedule Tweets for any hour of the day, up to several weeks in advance. You want to be reaching your Twitter audience as new people are signing on and as others are signing off. Schedule posts for every few hours during the day for several days in advance.
Make sure to rotate the times of your Tweets, too. For example, you may want to schedule links to your newest blog post for the next three days, but don’t schedule each one for 4 p.m. every day. Your fans who are browsing the Internet as they’re waiting for their work day to end will see your same post three days in a row. Next time you have something on Twitter, they’re going to ignore it because they’ll figure they’ve seen it before. If you post on even hours one day, post on odd hours the next. Also, HootSuite lets you choose five-minute intervals, allowing for even more flexibility.
Don’t overlook the importance of promoting older blog posts. As you gain new followers, they may want to read what you had to say this time last year. Obviously, this tactic will only work if you have several blog posts to choose from. Even if you’re a new blogger, however, you can start recycling old posts once you get on a regular, frequent blogging schedule.
Avoid posting the same exact thing over and over. Choose different excerpts from your blog to catch the interest of varying audiences. Repeating the exact same message multiple times is boring and akin to traditional marketing and sales methods, which people really don’t respond to anymore. Think about what your audience will find interesting and then present that information in multiple ways, even if you’re always linking back to the same blog post.
One thing that even the most frequent Twitter users forget to do is to add pictures to their posts. Pictures are worth even more than a thousand words when it comes to social media marketing. Photos get just about everybody’s attention and are one of the main things to keep in mind when composing Tweets or scheduling future posts.
Last, but not least, use hashtags wisely. Don’t overload your Tweets with them and always use hashtags that actually have to do with your Tweet. Otherwise, Twitter could prevent you from posting altogether.
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Sam is a blogger who specializes in website conversion rate optimization and other online sales conversion services.
Read MoreGetting a Job is As Easy As 1, 2, 3
Guest Post by Emmy Wilford
I am looking for a recent college graduate with a degree in Marketing. I have a good job. Of course, any job is a good job in this economy. I have some advice and, since I am the one hiring, it is probably a good idea to pay attention.
Lesson 1
It is easier to get a job when you have a job. Just ask someone who has been unemployed for more than one year. Chances are, your employer knew you would be leaving when you graduated and was glad to have you as a part-time employee while you were in college. If you stay on the job and, especially, if your supervisors will provide a reference, that is a real plus. If you are returning to your home and cannot keep that job, see if you can get a transfer. They will not pay relocation expenses, but that probably does not matter. If the company allows you to transfer, that says a lot about your value as an employee.
If you decide to keep your part-time job, that will give you a little income. That takes a bit of the pressure off. The next thing you have to do is accept your first marketing assignment – yourself.
Lesson 2
You are the first product you must market. If you envision job hunting this way, you should slip comfortably into the marketing techniques you have spent the last four years learning. What better way to demonstrate your competency? Identify your strengths. Create a resume that concentrates on them and presents them in the best light. Your resume is the place to shine. It will be speaking for you, so make sure it has nice things to say. Your cover letter is important, too. Do not be too friendly. We do not know each other, but do not be aloof, either. Instead, focus on convincing me I want to get to know you. That gets you to the interview, and that is critical. Once there, you will have the opportunity to speak for yourself.
Apply for every job that seems reasonable which brings us to the third lesson. In this economy, the value of this approach cannot be underestimated.
Lesson 3
If you cannot get in the front door, try the back. For instance, while I am looking for a new member of my marketing team, I am also looking for a mailroom clerk, secretary, and janitor. Those might all seem beneath you, but they are not. First of all, the people who do those jobs are important. With your background, it is not difficult to imagine that any one of these jobs could lead to a future marketing job with my company. Remember to do your homework before trying the back door. Make sure it is a company that encourages internal upward mobility. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time.
The back door can lead to a dead end, as well. Think carefully before pursuing any of these kinds of jobs. For instance, if it is a nighttime janitor, there is little chance you will ever see anyone on the dayshift. A mailroom clerk stuck in the mailroom all day will probably never get out, but one who makes the rounds might get to know the right people. Think, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. As a secretary for the right person, you might meet me, the one who can be so impressed with your skills and attitude that a marketing job might be in your future.
Creativity is the key to standing out. These three lessons should help. There are jobs out there. You want to position yourself to be the best candidate. That is the secret to good marketing.
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Emmy Wilford works with The College City as an online instructor. Marketing is her passion, and it shows.
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