Automatic Twitter updating whether it is adding followers automatically, adding tweets automatically, or getting followers automatically is a a growing industry. It also may very well be the downfall of Twitter if the Twitter team does not establish some sort of control over the automation of Twitter. Much like FFA(Free For All) pages of years ago,Twitter is at risk of becoming a spammers playground.
I too am guilty of using automated programs on Twitter. Recently I began experimenting with some services that enable the automation of your Twitter account. Be warned again. Be sure to give your followers some good tweets, not just automated tweets from feeds.
A great way to promote your online business is via article marketing. This involves writing articles to submit to article directories. Learning how to write articles to promote your internet based business will be an invaluable skill to have.
It’s a straight forward process. You write good articles on your niche and include a bio with a link or two back to your site in the resource box. Then you submit these articles to article directories.
The quality of your article will determine how much traffic you receive and whether Google and other search engines are impressed. It is recommended that the articles you submit to article directories are newly written. With other words avoid re-using the same articles from your site.
Although it is good to write articles on your particular topic or niche in which you are marketing, it is better to approach the articles you wish to submit using a more broader approach.
As an example, if your blog income is based on marketing a particular diet product your articles could be on the broader topic of living a healthy life. Your aim is to attract a larger readership base than just those who might be interested in the product you are selling.
Article directories have a stream of readers interested in a range of topics. Your articles end up being read a surprising number of times.
But what is even better than the number of readers it that it your articles are read over a long period of time. This is contrary to a blog where mostly the newest articles receive the immediate traffic. Thereafter articles are at the mercy of search engines to receive further air time.
Each time your article is read you have the chance that the reader might be interested enough to click on the link to your site which is shown in the resource box at the end of the article. This allows for a possible constant stream of traffic to your site.
Besides the regular readers who use article directories for information or entertainment, article directories are also used by non-writing website and blog owners to source articles for their sites.
They are allowed to use them on their own sites in exchange for including your bio with live links. As a source of links this can be invaluable. And it requires no further effort on behalf of the internet marketer.
However, probably the most valuable part of this exercise and what makes it really worthwhile for internet marketers to submit articles to directories is the backlink the directory itself provides to your own site.
Most of the well established article directories such as Ezinearticles or Go Articles have a high PageRank. Having a link back from their site to your blog or website has high value for you the internet marketer.
Learning how to write articles for submission to directories is an excellent marketing strategy for the internet marketer. As an article writers who is developing an online business with the aid of good content you will certainly miss out on a golden opportunity if you do not make this part of your marketing strategy. Read more at The Digital Archives.
Just a little note. I am actually in Maine for a wedding but I needed to get this quick post out. The site had actually been down for well over 3 days due to some errors from the hosting company…will be changing hosts…They were unable to find out why the site was redirecting to a gambling site.
Numerous emails and phone calls later, I finally got a supervisor on the line today, and he promised me he would call me back when the site was up and running.
3 days is a long time.
I was quite irritated with the host, and we have actually already switched the site over to a new host, and will be switching all our other sites over as well. This level of incompetence is just unacceptable. (more…)
Today, Google released the Google Local Businesses Center which gives businesses that advertise on the local level some pretty impressive tools to track their web traffic. With these great tools that Google gives you, your business does not even need to have a website to take advantage of this free service.
You will need to have a Google Account,which includes a free gmail account. If you don’t have one, this is really easy to set up as well…you will need a pre-existing email account to sign up for a Google account if you don’t have one already.
How to Add Your Business to The Google Map
So you now have a Google account. The next step in getting your site/business listed on the Google Map is to visit the Google Local Business Center and login with your Google account login info.
Then click the “Add new listings” link. You will then need to fill the form out which includes your location to include country, business name, address, city/town, zip for US, main and alternate phone numbers, mobile, fax, and TTY/TDD. You will then need to put in an email address. If you have a website, I recommend using an email with your domain instead of a free email account. You then have the ability to put in your business website url. Next comes your business description. Be short and concise giving a good non-sales like description. (200 Char max).
Next will come the categories. Prior to doing this, I am going to recommend that you do a bit of keyword research using the Google Adsense Keyword tool to see which of your keyword phrases get the most traffic. So for the Earth-in-Hand Landscape site local profile, I used “Landscaper”, “landscaping”, “landscape contractor”. That way when someone types in “Landscaper Easton, PA” my friend’s website will be on the local listing section.
Important Step in Listing Your Business on the Google Map
For your categories, use the broadest keywords that get the most traffic.
The rest of the process of adding your business is pretty easy and straight forward. Your Google Local Profile can include up to 10 pictures, and 5 videos…I suggest adding as much as you can.
To move your site up in the local listings, encourage your patrons to give your profile a rating. Reviews on local sites can also help.
Below is a video that Google put out for business owners…check it out.
This past week we were in Chicago for OMS(Online Marketing Summit) which we both enjoyed tremendously, and would highly recommend anyone who has an interest in online marketing attend. This is not going to be a thorough review of OMS, as we are getting ready to fly out in several hours.
Check out the post I did on the All-Travel-Sites blog about our Chicago Trip.
New Design for BaldyDog.com
We also just had our main business site BaldyDog.com redesigned. Stop in and check it out and let us know what you think about it.
There will be a ton of changes happening on that site in the upcoming weeks to include the installation of a new SEO Blog. Wordpress is installed on the site, but it has zero activity and just the basic template.
Looking at the newly designed BaldyDog and let us know what you think of the new design. Do you have a groovy Wordpress template that you would recommend we use?
SES NY was well over a month ago, and I have yet to do a blog post about it. Cleaning out the SES swag bag(had two), I found a variety of swag items to include;
My favorite pieces of swag include the two bags and the social media map.
60 SES NY Notes
(skip to the end–its all bs)
I forgot to bring a decent notepad to write on so I had to use the crappy pads provided by GlobalCollect…every page came off of the pad and my notes got hopelessly disorganized. Lets see if I can make them into something that could be of use to someone else besides me:
Everyone was giving out the Twitter profile @joshGerzema @lisabarone @Storyspinner @chriswinfield @DaveSnyder @milestonemktg @aimclear @converseon @webmomma
Do to the economy, hot markets include Couponing which is up 300%, cragislist is up 100%
Check out the book “The Brand Bubble”
Zappos is doing a great job of using SM.
Youtube has the 2nd largest search engine.
Big-boards.com
Facebook pages vs Groups
Microblogging vs Forums
Flickr groups vs Wikis
Tailor content to give
Decide where you will play- find out where your consumers play
Don’t be afraid of niches
Set measurable goals
use an analytical approach to measurement
You get what you give
Don’t drop SEO and PPC for SMO
Your SMO strategy is not the same for everyone…number 11 might relate to this
Create a brand for your Social Media profile
Define architecture of your blog.
integrate Social Media profiles with your blog/site
Ground Swell? ( my crappy pen was giving out here, so as bad as the notes were, I had an even harder time making sense of them).
Join communities and participate
Be active
Be helpful
Find niche sites to network with, that can work with your site.
pick partner sites that relate to your niche
TweetDeck
basic keyword research
Be Authentic
@thenegotiator priceline.coms twitter.
Define your goals and measure
Beth Harte 4 views of Social media
Pr-Listen
Plan Goals-Objectives(smart)
Social media news release
pitch engine
Social media & news Releases– Best Friends forever
Rod Key - Conversion Funnel
need to infuse SM
Listen what is being said - who is involved?
Organize- Engage- Measure/optimize
Listen- use Google alerts
Conversation mining on forums and social search engines- twitter
We(Lizzie and I) learned that the bus terminal is at the Port Authority. We took a taxi to the Penn Station and then had to wait in the rain for another taxi to take us to the Port Authority.
Found out about Womma.org..sounds like a groovy organization.
Discovered the so called experts are no smarter than I.
If you are only attending the last day of SES, since the vendor area is done the second to last day, you need to go sometime before the end of the 2nd to last day to get the good SES swag. A 700 dollar swag bag was the highlight of SES NY.
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