The other day I told you about a couple of my new sites and how one of them that was less than a month old was ranking #4 (and I’m by no means dedicating hours and hours of time to them…but they are very specific so they do tend to require a little less work); today that site is ranking #1 =)

I told you in that post that I sat down a couple of weeks ago and threw some links at it and prepared some content to be published for the rest of the month.  Now here we are at the top of the Google rankings for our keyword, exactly where we want to be.

The Internet Marketing Course where I soaked up even more than I already knew (not that I knew it all by any means but over the years I had learned a lot!) is the absolute reason behind this particular site ranking number 1 and why a couple of my other new ones will be soon =)

That course is currently closed (as of this posting) but the Grand Reopening is soon and Michelle is cramming it full of more value than it already had (and lemme tell you, it was already jam packed). She’s already giving away her Google rank decoding software for free (without you even having to buy a membership) and there’s more to come! What does the decoder software do? It gives you the top places that are currently ranking on Google for your niche or just overall (depending on which you want) so that you can go build links there and create a presence. (I honestly don’t know if she’s just giving it away during the launch or if she’ll keep giving it away after.)

I’ve been using it since last year when it was a ‘members only’ tool. Now if she’s giving that away for free you can imagine what’s inside! If you want to be slapping sites up left and right like I am now and pulling rank, check it out, it’s made a world of difference in my online marketing and I am positive it will do the same for you.

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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Do affiliate marketing? Ever wanted to promote a product but couldn’t get in the affiliate door or wanted a better commission (or even passed on a product because of the low commission)? Me too! So let’s talk about both.

DECLINED! Site not approved?

Have you ever been declined by an affiliate program? I have. It was through the LinkShare affiliate network. They host a variety of affiliate programs (mostly physical products) and they are one of the handful of affiliate programs I use. Because their products are generally physical products their advertisers usually offer a lower affiliate rate than advertisers of digital products (which is understandable and common).

Last year I put up a new site and I applied to be an affiliate for a company via the LinkShare network. I was declined. I thought maybe it was because the site was so new (although in my opinion you shouldn’t turn down affiliates unless there’s a GREAT reason like inappropriate content or something); affiliates get your product in front of even more people which means more money for you.

The notice said I could reapply in 15 days, so I did. I was again declined. Recently I decided to apply again. My site was on page 2 for it’s primary keyword and I sat down and threw some links at it and generated a bunch of content so that I can get it on page 1 and I really wanted to put this product on the site because it’s a very popular product which means it’s likely to convert pretty well (as affiliates we want converting products right)? Sooooo, I applied again the other day. And I was declined AGAIN. Talk about annoyed.

So I contacted the company via email to ask why I kept getting declined so that I could fix whatever the problem was and I provided them with my URL. They responded within an hour and asked me how I planned to promote the product. I told them – on the site as an advertisement, within links in posts and via my email list as I built that particular list up. Within about another hour they emailed me back and asked for my LinkShare ID so that they could extend me an affiliate offer. FINALLY! I’m in! …and I’m excited because again it’s a really popular product and I will have my site up on page 1 in a short time since I’ve finally turned my attention back to it and gave it my ranking sauce recently.

So if you’re ever declined (probably doesn’t happen often, that was the first time in a ton of affiliate programs I had been declined, it’s not too commonplace) you may want to contact the company and discuss it with them. They can let you know why your site was declined so that you can fix it or they can go ahead and approve you.

Negotiations! Want a better commission?

First, let me say that this will not work will all programs/products/companies and if they are offering a good commission you shouldn’t go trying to rob them; they’re trying to make money too. But if something has a really low commission, you might be able to get a better one if you ask (and particularly if you can give them reason why you should get a better commission).

Case in point. When I first started affiliate marketing a few years ago I promoted a particular software and I made some decent sales off of it before I had any real clue about what I was doing affiliate-wise, SEO, or marketing online in general. I was just getting wet behind the ears so I didn’t really know much about picking the right keywords or ranking or anything, I was testing the waters. So I put up a free site and just blogged about various products. This product was one of my best converting products and if I knew how to drive traffic at that time, I would have probably made some crazy money from it. That particular product was getting some nice hits on my site and the commission checks were coming in. Then the product was discontinued *sad face*.

I hated to see it go but at the time I didn’t put a whole lot of thought in replacing it, I was doing other things and was still just kind of dabbling in affiliate marketing. Last year I decided to get further into affiliate marketing since I had learned tons of stuff about driving traffic and search engine rankings since then. So I went and looked for another product similar to the previous one since it did so well. I found a couple but the one I really wanted to promote had an almost insulting affiliate commission. I prefer 50% commissions on digital products/software/info products…I can give a little more leeway with physical products because they have more costs than the former but I also want to reap the benefits of my affiliate work.

So what did I do? I emailed the company and I told them I wanted to promote their product as an affiliate but that another company had a similar product and they were offering a 50% commission but the product cost was also higher. I explained I desired a better commission than they were offering but I’d rather go with their product so that my readers can pay less for the product rather than paying almost double for the competitor product (and I’d probably get more sales with the lower priced product too). I told them that I promoted a similar product before and gave them the traffic stats for the posts I had on the product and explained that was the stats with almost no effort on my part.

We emailed back and forth a couple of times and I proposed to meet them in the middle. They were offering 20% and I wanted 50% so I proposed a 35% commission (which still wasn’t bad on a $100 product). They agreed and they set up my account for the 35% commission. I’ve started promoted their product, made some sales and decided to start a new site focused completely around that product; I am currently working on pushing it up to the top of the rank chain. After I get it to the top and get the traffic and sales up, I’m going to ask for another increase. It’s a downloadable software so I feel it would still be a fair cut for the both of us; if I’m making them more money, I’d like to make a little more money.

So if you really want to promote something but the commission seems way too low for you, talk to the company. They ‘might’ consider it. Again, this won’t work all of the time, not all companies are going to go for it, and you should only do it if you really feel the commission is not fair. And keep in mind that if it’s a physical product they’re less likely to negotiate because their operational costs are more than for a digital product. Let me say that again KEEP IT FAIR, don’t try to rip them off. But the moral of the story is, “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed.” If you’re serious about something and you feel you need to discuss an issue, then discuss it! Open a dialogue.

Talking to them lets them know you’re probably reasonably serious about your venture or you wouldn’t have taken the time to contact them. They want you to sell their stuff and make them money so don’t be afraid to open a discussion with them and don’t just pass up on a potentially good product without first trying to contact the company and talk to them about your problem.

The 2 products discussed in this post are two pretty popular products (which could potentially deliver me some decent affiliate commissions) that I would have missed out on if I hadn’t just taken a few minutes to touch bases with the companies and address my issue. I could have just chosen other products but I wanted these products for very particular reasons (again, primarily popularity which will likely give me higher conversions). Now the one who declined me is accepting me and the one with the measly commission is giving me a better commission…I’m happy, they’re happy. I’m making both of us some money so we’ve hit a happy medium.

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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Less than a month ago, I bought 3 new niche sites. The only one I have actually built yet is currently ranking #4 in Google (it was on the first page within the first couple of weeks and I pushed it up this past week).

A site that I bought in the fall last year, set up and started getting content on, built a few backlinks for and then kind of abandoned it for a few months is now ranking on page 2 since I dedicated a little time and link love to it last week too. I’ll have it on page 1 soon

So what did I do? About a week and a half ago I sat down for a few hours and I scheduled content to be published every day for the rest of the month.  Then I built a bunch of backlinks…and then I just sat back and watched it rise.

See, I’m not good at sitting down every day to write a post so I do it in bulk. And I use some other methods of getting content so that I can cut my work down even more.

I’m also better at focusing on link building in bulk when it comes to my sites. I run a link building service and we build links every day for sites but when it comes to mine, they can fall to the wayside if I don’t do what works for me which is ‘bulk’ work. If I find an extra hour or two here and there I may slide in some content or links but if I don’t, it’s not a huge deal because I sat down and did the month’s worth of content already…and I sat down and did a couple of weeks worth of link building already…so my site is on the rise while I do other things.

So what’s the moral to the story?

Sometimes we simply have to find what works for ‘us’. If working in bulk works best for you, then work in bulk! Don’t try to sit down and write for an hour every day just because someone else told you to…do the writing/work/whatever but mold your ‘scheme’ so that it fits YOU.

And don’t focus so much on ‘perfect’. I think that people often over-think their content or other matters that really just ends up holding them back instead of allowing them to progress. Just ‘get ‘er done’ and you can fix any issues or make improvements later…don’t just do ‘nothing’, something is always better than nothing.

Repetition makes for a perfect recipe. After you do something over and over and over, you naturally build a plan of attack that works for you because it’s been developed over your efforts & experiences and it ends up being what’s tried and true for you. Even if the first 5 sites seem so painful, keep going, by site 10 it will be like riding a bike.

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

photo credit: Kinologik

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If you’re not using the WordPress Signature Plugin you might consider it! It’s a handy little plugin that allows you to preset a signature that will show wherever you want. You can set it to automatically be added to posts and pages or you can use an insert code to insert it only where you want, and you can create up to 7 signatures.

How is this useful? In a  myriad of ways I can’t count!

You could:

• Just use it to post a personal signature that tells ppl who you are and says something about you or what you do
• You could use it to tell people about a product you have, link to it in the signature
• If you are pulling content in to your blog by content posters, you’ll automatically get your advertisement posted at the bottom of each post with this sig plug (maybe you are using content without other people’s backlinks and maybe you’re using content that ‘does’ contain other people’s backlinks…you can still make sure your message is seen on each post)
• If you want to drive people to your newsletter or other page of interest, you could just add it to the sig so that it gets consistent visibility!

…the list goes on, you can get pretty creative (or be as boring as you like) with it. It’s all about visibility, whatever your goal/purpose is.

…did I mention it’ll give you links too

Get it here, yep, it’s free and very easy to install!

*I’m not using it on this site but I’m using it on some others and my sig below is an example of what you can do with the sig plugin (except I haven’t been able to get it to take a color code)

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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Included in this week’s CRUSH coverage:

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• RICKROLLLLL!

I’ll be publishing it each week so stay tuned for next week!  Grab your cup of coffee and get your dose of social media news!

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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Just a quick note about keeping WordPress and WordPress Plugins updated. I updated to WordPress 2.9.2 a few days ago (not because my site is MU but because that upgrade message kept staring at me and annoying me) and then all of the sudden I couldn’t properly publish a blog post anymore! Either it wouldn’t post at all or it would strip the title and images, or content, right out of the post. Once my ‘publish’ button even said “Submit for Review”…submit for review? What the &$@!?

I tinkered around for about an hour the other day trying to figure out the problem. Then I had to let it be for a bit because I had 1001 other things to do that needed my attention first. Last night, it was back to figuring out why it appeared my blog had been hijacked, even though it hadn’t. I knew it had something to do with the upgrade but I couldn’t figure out what (because I have other blogs that I have not upgraded and they work fine and this problem occurred immediately after upgrade…was def related).

So I went to check my plugins and there were a few that needed upgrading (I often wait a short bit until after a WordPress or plugin upgrade, unless it’s totally crucial, so they can sort bugs out first) so I started the process. The first thing I upgraded was Tweet Meme, because I noticed something funny about my Tweet Meme button when trying to publish posts after the upgrade, and it struck me when I saw that plugin needed updating. So I updated Tweet Meme and sure enough, all was back to normal!

And I know better, I just wasn’t thinking at the moment. There are many times that either failing to upgrade  WordPress within a reasonable amount of time after a new version is published will cause your blog to act weird or not work right and that also stands for plugins.

Sometimes plugins don’t agree with your theme, sometimes if you upgrade WordPress you must upgrade plugins, sometimes plugins won’t work with an upgraded version of WordPress (yes you have to love this rock and a hard place when it happens but it doesn’t seem to happen too frequently), sometimes certain plugins don’t play nice with each other…there are a number of scenarios but I believe I’ve mentioned the most common.

So when dealing with WordPress and plugins, if things go awry, sometimes you need to start looking in these areas. And if you’re upgrading to 2.9.2 and run into issues, consider checking your plugins. Try upgrading them one by one to see if your problem resolves (check after the upgrade of each plugin so you’ll know who the culprit is). If that fails, try deactivating them one by one to see if one of them just isn’t yet compatible with the new version….and, if that fails,  you may need to deactivate them all and then reactivate them one by one (yes it serves a diff purpose; first way checks for a culprit but what if 2 plugins are no longer playing nice together…then you need second way to start figuring it out, starting with no plugins activated and then going 1 by 1 through activation and problem checking)

This is true for still-to-come versions of WordPress and plugins too. It’s a common culprit for an array of WordPress problems. It can give us a headache sometimes but such is the world of tech we live in!

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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EXCELLENT reads on Social Media and Marketing Online…

Social Media Landscape Review: Good post about various social sites (including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Digg & StumbleUpon) and the things each site ‘is’ and ‘isn’t’ good for.

7 Things I’ve Learned In 7 Years by Lynn Terry: Lynn is a doll. She’s a successful online marketer who has a great personality and I really LOVE this list of 7 things, I absolutely agree with them all. I blogged about getting a mentor a couple of months ago (1 of the things on Lynn’s list) and I very much stand by that.

The Census Bureau Goes Social: Just an interesting read that evidences Social Media’s massive reach and varied purposes.

The Ancient Persuasion Tactic Behind “But Wait, There’s More!”: Good read on this tactic, why it works &  how you can apply it to your marketing efforts.

The Sales Boosting Logic of the P.S.: I have to admit the “P.S.” can sometimes seem outdated and overused but after reading this it definitely makes more sense!

Embedding A YouTube Video That Plays Directly In the Gmail Inbox: Good marketing tip!

Hot Damn!: A really cool new way to get YOUR ad on TV at a reasonable cost and right from your home computer!

So there you have it, my fav recent marketing related blog post readings…good stuff!.

photo credit: hellodrew

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

Got Rank? Need Backlinks to Help Increase SEO & Visibility?  Let Link Vines create juicy links for you!

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Article over at Link Vines discusses how you as the blog owner can now get more link juice from Comment Luv. It’s not just link luv for commenters anymore, it’s for you too! Read it at Link Vines: Comment Luv gives YOU even MORE Link Luv!

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

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It’s no secret there’s TOO much marketing info out there….98% of which is either rehashed and NOT new or only teaches you bits and pieces which wastes a lot of other time trying to figure out what else you need to know, how to really go about it, what’s worth knowing, what’s not worth knowing, what doesn’t really work or work anymore, etc.

It was a huge problem of mine when I first started trying to break into the online marketing game. I was lost and confused. WTF – is all this and where do I REALLY start and what do I REALLY need to know and what REALLY works…and does this crap even REALLY work at all? Who do I listen to? Who is honest, who is not? It was overwhelming, frustrating and at times seemingly impossible.

Now that I’ve got it down, I see TONS of other people struggling with the same thing. I’m going to give you a peace of advice but I’m NOT saying it’s going to be easy either but I can say that it will solve those problems when you sort through it.

Get a mentor. Yeah, it’s as simple as that…but yet still not so easy because it’s hard to know who to trust, who to believe, who is giving you the REAL goods vs. the rehashed or outdated goods, who really cares or JUST wants your money, and who will be of the most benefit to YOU  because we all differ.

But the right mentor is really the way to go. The right mentor cares about your success – yes, they have to make money too so you will likely pay for their mentorship, but they still really do care. The right mentor knows how to cut the crap, make it simple, give you step-by-step instructions and simply cut all the b.s. fluff.

I may have given up years ago if it wasn’t for my mentor, and that’s real.

I was truly beginning to think this stuff was crap (and mind you, again, this was years ago when not so many people were as successful with it as they are these days) and I was starting to believe it was just one of those things that only worked for lucky people or already rich people who could afford anything they needed.

Then the best thing that could have ever happened to me happened. I got a mentor. It kind of happened by accident but nevertheless it happened and I’ve never looked back since. I have some successful affiliate ventures, I have a successful business in helping others with their SEO, link building and social media, I am a manager of a successful IM company ran by my mentor,  and I absolutely LOVE what I do. But again, I can honestly say if it weren’t for her, I would have very likely given up. May have come back at a later date and tried to attack it again, can’t say, but I know I was losing faith in it.

My mentor is Michelle MacPhearson, she has been for years and still is. She’s phenomenal and I’m sure you’ve heard me mention her over and over again but it’s beyond well-deserved. She’s the founder of Crowd Mountain, an Internet Marketing step-by-step course; a founder of SEOcialization (the art of achieving SEO with social and Web 2 platforms; creator of several marketing tools and plugins; mentioned regularly as a top marketer, leader, innovator, tech savvy lady; and the list goes on.

But there are other mentors out there too. You just have to find the one that works for you, provides what you need and provides the guidance you need (without all the fluff and confusing bits and pieces)…find a well trusted one. Don’t just fall for anybody, find out who they really are first and find out what others think about them and if they have a good, trusting, reputation.

Figure out what you need to know first. Do you need to know everything from top to bottom? Or have you already mastered something like WordPress (but have you REALLY mastered it?) and now need to understand more about SEO and link building? Do you know all you need to know about articles and bookmarking, etc. or do you need to learn more?

Do an inventory of what you know…and be BRUTALLY honest with yourself and figure out what you need to learn; then look for a mentor who teaches these things – try to find one that teaches them all (all the things you need to know) or gives start to scratch guidance rather than just bits and pieces…unless all you need is to learn a few more bits and pieces a little better (again being very honest with yourself, don’t give yourself too much credit and think you might know something very well when really there’s more to know).

You still may need to pick up more info from other places, but having a mentor that teaches what you need to know will give you a solid foundation and then you will easily be able to pick out any other courses, ebooks, etc. that are truly worth your time and money because you’re not totally in the dark buying just anything and everything.

I now teach my team members what they need to know (for one, so they can implement it for our clients; but for two, because like my mentor I would LOVE to help them also succeed with their own ventures) and they’re already seeing the light and learning that it’s VERY doable and it’s not necessarily as complicated as it seems when someone walks you right through it and teaches you what you REALLY need to know. Not only do you now have a foundation and ‘get it’ but it’s SO easy to sift through most of the b.s. at that point because it’s like spotting a big steaming piece of poop in your dinner plate - it stinks and looks out of place. That’s not to say you’ll NEVER purchase something that really wasn’t worth your time or money, or was everything you thought it’d be, but it WILL help you eliminate a lot of that problem.

And it also frees you up to stop digging around, stop wasting time on worthless people and products and actually IMPLEMENT the things you now know because you know you’ve finally got the GOODS. You now know where to really start, you know the ins and outs, you know what must be done and what’s a waste of time, you can now spot steaming pieces of poop …and you can now IMPLEMENT.

It’s too easy to spend countless hours, days, weeks, months and years never moving forward because you’re so busy learning. But a lot of that learning is misleading, confusing, unnecessary, doesn’t make sense because it’s not the big picture, just leads you to more crap, doesn’t work so you have to now read 50 more books that don’t work either, the bits and pieces just leave you trying to learn more (wasting more months digging around) because you’re still just not sure or unsure of how it all works together, still don’t know where your real focus should be, etc. So if you can cut the crap you can actually IMPLEMENT and move on to SUCCESS.

Surround yourself with people already successful at what you want to do and find a good, respected, trusted mentor that teaches the things you’re hungry for. I’ve lived it and I know it’s what has allowed me to move in a successful direction rather than drown in info, ebooks, scattered teachings, outdated strategies, money-sucking time-wasting garbage, and more…which could have lead to me deciding to quit. I couldn’t be happier with my ventures and involvements and I may have missed this boat had it not been for my mentor; and at the very least, I would have not caught the boat for who knows how many more years to come.

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

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photo credit: Migraine Chick

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1. Marketing & Social Media Services I have an extensive background in Internet Marketing & Social Media/Social Networking.  Not only do I absolutely love it but I have worked for Top Internet Marketers (and still am an apprentice of one huge IMer – can’t ever stop learning!), and I also actively practice in these areas for...
2. Marketing Connections – Good Resources Here are some of my favorite and a couple of new (new for me) Web, Internet Marketing and Social Media resources. Octane Interactive Facebook Page Wayne is THE BOMB and he’s my secret to a few web issues I have run into over the last few months. He knows his...

Having been involved with WordPress for years, I’ve thumbed through thousands of WordPress templates, tried on hundreds of them (& I do mean this literally), become frustrated because I couldn’t find the perfect template, been annoyed by having to add and edit coding to change things, spent ENTIRE nights fooling with edits, and just overall not having been totally satisfied with most themes out there.

Then I found a few that were absolutely perfect, so customizable that there’s no way you can be unhappy with how it turns out and so easy to customize that it’s just a matter of clicking some buttons. Now every time I set up a new site for myself or a client I can easily customize it perfectly and quickly set up everything I want.

From completely (and I mean completely) customizable themes to themes that generate a squeeze/sales page with the click of one button, ad space, customization of literally everything from colors and text to styles and layouts and more, we never have to fret about themes again.  They all cost except that FS has a free version of theirs, but they are FULLY worth paying for; unless you are going to build everything from scratch, you’ll NEVER find themes that are so customized and so flexible and that look SO freakin’ good.

Top 3 WordPress Themes for Internet Marketers:

FS One of my absolute favs. Apparently not as well known yet but it should be, it rocks. Offers a free version & a paid version that has more bells & whistles. Free version, $129 version (can be used on multiple domains) and $299 version (Developer version) that lets you build client sites with it and charge them for it.

THS Widely used by marketers for its extreme flexibility, options & easy advertising. $87 for single domain use, $164 for unlimited use. Also has client site option licenses.

AT Highly used for affiliate marketing for similar reasons to THS. Single use $97, Multi-use plus bonus materials (niche header graphics) $147, Super package with more bonuses, Super package plus installation $297.

Any, or all, of those 3 themes are the only themes you’ll ever need again, that’s a fact. You can use any of them for anything whether it’s a marketing site, an affiliate site or ANY other kind of site. I guarantee you will come out with an awesome site perfectly customized to your needs and desires with a lot less aggravation and time.

Again, they do cost unless you go with the free FS theme which is REALLY good (but the pd theme really does give you a lot more) but it will be one of the best investments you make (and a very small investment at that) and it’s generally cheaper than having someone else do the design and customization for you.  Conversions and connections will almost certainly be much higher with these unique, professional looking themes. Show people that you’re invested in your business with a professional looking site and they’ll take you more seriously, that’s a fact.

Karen J.
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

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2. Building a Niche Site Step-by-Step Day 3 Woo hoo! Day 3 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain! On Day 1 and Day 2, I did insanely fast idea generation using only the places Michelle told me to use; uncovered my awesome new niche...

Here are some of my favorite and a couple of new (new for me) Web, Internet Marketing and Social Media resources.

Octane Interactive Facebook Page Wayne is THE BOMB and he’s my secret to a few web issues I have run into over the last few months. He knows his arena well and he shares really good resources on web design, development and Internet Marketing but more in the area of web design and development.

Michelle MacPhearson (yes I might be a bit bias here but she really is the bomb even so) Michelle is a true Guru in Internet Marketing and Social Media and she’s been very successful in their utilization. She shares tons of valuable information, tools, reports and marketing strategies. She’s the founder of Crowd Mountain, THE Internet Marketing Course to be a part of whether you’re new to the game or already established. You’ve heard me talk about it before, and yes many of you know I am part of CM management so I know first hand how valuable the course is….and not only the course but the tons of other things shared inside the members’ area (exclusive marketing tools, link building resources, and free niche starter packages among other things).

Search Engine Watch is in my reader because they share some really good search engine news and info.

PpcMom Jen is a sweet lady and if you’re into PPC, she shares a lot of good info on her site. She shares some other Internet Marketing stuff too.

Internet Marketing This Week Compromised of Michelle MacPhearson, Lynn Terry, Paul Colligan, and Ed Dale it’s a weekly show about Internet Marketing. They talk about a variety of things, share cool tools & resources, debate topics where they may not necessarily agree with one another one something/strategies/whatever, discuss strategies and sometimes even get a little ‘kooky’ LOL. It’s good because you have more than one opinion so you can hear different POVs and learn about new tools, sites, strategies, resources, etc. from different people…so it’s generally better than just hearing from 1 person.

Shari Weiss I just started checking her blog out and it looks like she shares some pretty good marketing resources. Because her site is new to me, I can’t go into details yet but I like the articles I’ve read thusfar and I just added her to my reader because I think her site is worth keeping up with.

If you have some good resources, or think YOU are a good resource for something, let me know and maybe I can put you/it on the next list! Just tell me where the site is and what’s it about. I love to share good resources!

So there you have it, 6 of my fav or new resources I’m watching. Check them out, I’m sure you’ll enjoy =)

Karen J.
@areak on Twitter
areak on Facebook

photo credit: eyeliam

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2. How Social Media Continues to Change the SEO Game There have been so many debates about social media, its place and longevity, its effectiveness, its ROI, etc. etc. etc. But with the experimental release of Google Social Search and real-time search results rolling out everywhere can you really deny that the reach of social media is expanding, creating new...
3. Are You Missing Out On the Benefits of Trends? For a long time now we’ve heard people say “Twitter’s a trend”, “Social Media Marketing is a trend”, etc. Let’s say for a moment that something is a trend – the real question is are you reaping the benefits of these trends while they are around?  Or are you letting...

There are endless tools out there for marketers of every kind but one there’s one that’s been around for a while that is still fairly underused, or underutilized feature-wise. It’s developed over the years into much more than just a basic insight into platforms. It offers an array of options for both Publishers and Marketers to help you identify and target your perfect audience and I’m going to show you exactly how to use it to find your money sites – sites you need to be on that your money is currently on. And if you are into ad placements that’s just one more reason you really need to be here (but even if you’re not you still def need to be here).

Yes, we have the Big 3 – Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn (and for almost everyone, these are definitely 3 places to be) but what if there’s another place, or places, out there that’s chock full of your targets holding your money in their pocket?

I’m going to show you exactly how to find these people and how to find exactly which places you should be targeting for advertising in front of your target audience without any painful work and in a pretty short period of time.

It’s a totally free tool, very easy to understand, great for finding your target audience, and the report is short, sweet & to the point…11 pages of how to find the sites you should consider a presence and/or advertising on, how to read the stats and how to make sure you look at the big picture instead of being deceived by a singular factor, and images to show you in detail what’s what.

I refer to it as the Enchanted Forest because there is literally a huge forest, even a jungle, of sites out there and without the proper guide you can get lost, be on sites that really don’t match your target or miss out on sites that DO match your target. It’s a great big forest, containing a maze of trees, but if you follow the breadcrumbs you WILL find your way and the forest can become quite magical!

Having a hard time seeing the trees for the forest?

Easily spot them now.

I was originally going to make this a blog post (since my last post was also about a new report) but once I got started I realized that the images were too large for you to see good on the blog (and I promised my Exclusive Members List some more good reports) so I made it into a report. (apologies for making 2 report posts in a row; I promise I didn’t plan it that way, it really just happened).

It’s already gone out to my mailing list, get on the list and you’ll receive it immediately along with my recent Visibility Factor Strategy. Both reports will be very complimentary to the next free report about social networks.

Just sign up on the right –> and you’ll receive both free reports and as well as future ones.

After you’ve reviewed it, I would love it if you came back here and shared your thoughts =)

Karen J., Visibility Specialist
@areak

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photo credit: davedehetre

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In Social Media, one big factor you have to conquer is The Visibility Factor. What’s that? It’s staying visible so that people become familiar with you and start paying attention to you…and ultimately, hopefully liking you.

So what’s it take? In a word, interaction. But the question is how to accomplish this, and how to accomplish this within a reasonable amount of time per day – because you have other things to do right?

The answer is a strategy. Put together a daily strategy (or even every other day if you can’t find time daily) that allows you to spend time on your social networks, but even more, a strategy that not only does that but tells you ‘exactly what to do every day’. You can friend all day long and still have no one notice you or care what you post. You have to dig into the nooks and crannies and you have to take it to the next level of interaction.

The more time you can dedicate to your social networks, the better because the more time you spend interacting but I realize it’s just not feasible for everyone to do this. Some people are working full-time jobs while finding their way online. Some people are working from home but have their plates full of work, research and other endeavors. And that’s okay, I’d say an hour per day is a minimum time to spend on your networks but if you have a plan, you can still effectively implement a strategy to get noticed in the social sphere and grow your connections.

I’ve created an hour per day Visibility Strategy for you. Of course you can tweak it to best fit your needs but it will help you create a personal strategy for yourself and help you ensure you cover the various facets of social networking – there’s more to it than just posting and friending and sometimes we lose our time doing this or getting caught up with our buddies on our networks. If you have a plan that keeps you focused for at least an hour a day, you’ll be surprised at how many new connections you can make and how many new people will start to notice you.

Get Your Free Visibility Strategy!

Karen J.
@areak

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1. The Trust Factor Part II & Social Media – The Outcome WARNING: You’ve heard this before! But read on anyways because I want to share the ‘outcome’ of the ‘why’ and share a real person’s story. I’ve talked about how to properly utilize social media before, Why Social Media is So Effective, Marketing on Twitter and I recently talked about the Trust...
2. The “Trust Factor” If you’re not incorporating The Trust Factor into your existence and your website, you’re missing connections and sales! Period, there’s no debate on this. You’d think this was a given these days but there are still companies and sites missing the boat…missing the ship, the yacht! It’s absolutely imperative that...

WARNING: You’ve heard this before! But read on anyways because I want to share the ‘outcome’ of the ‘why’ and share a real person’s story.

I’ve talked about how to properly utilize social media before, Why Social Media is So Effective, Marketing on Twitter and I recently talked about the Trust Factor but I wanted to follow up by my own recent success story.

Most of you know I’ve been around the social sphere for quite some time now. I don’t have tens of thousands of followers for a couple of reasons 1) I’ve never really sold much in the way of my ‘own’ products…which reaches a larger audience at times 2) I’m picky about my social circles 3) I spend a lot more time focusing on my clients’ social networks and marketing/visibility ventures than my own.

BUT let me tell you how valuable my social circle is…and I also talked about this briefly before too. I didn’t come into the social circle trying to sell things and I came into it to actually network, help people, be helped, and socialize. When I first started in the social networks, I honestly had no real intention of utilizing them this way (years ago).  Recently, I decided to grow my 1-woman business into a larger scale. I added a couple of team members and started training them on some things and started planning a dedicated site (have never had a dedicated site for my services either because I have always been successful in winning projects I set my sights on and in receiving word-of-mouth referrals), planning different back-end things, planning the development, etc.

Thusfar I have done no real marketing because I’m still planning things + working on my existing client projects. I threw up a very minimal amount of info on this site about the services and added my signature to a forum or two that I’m an active member of; made a couple of Tweets and Facebook posts…and that’s about it (and I do literally mean a couple-few).

With only the support of the people (& actually a very small amount of people that know what I’m up to) that I’m already connected to, and have developed a bit of a relationship with, who have grown to place at least a little bit of trust in me, my team has a steady amount of business already (it literally started coming in within a week) while I work on planning and setting everything up.

I think I started mentioning my expanded services and that now that I have a team we can manage more full-on campaigns more efficiently about a month or so ago. Within that month we’ve picked up several new projects and I’ve had several other people come to me and say they want to use us in the near future once they get some stuff moving on their end….and we got every bit of this from my social circle ALONE with almost zero marketing (just the few Tweets, etc. mentioned above).  I’d say that’s not a bad start at all! And I fully believe that when I actually get a dedicated site up and do some real marketing and when more people in my social circle see what we’re up to, business will be rolling in at the pace that I’ll have to bring on new contractors (well I’m already about there) but I suspect it will come in even quicker.

Why? Because, like I mentioned above, I DIDN’T come to the social sphere trying to push things. I just socialized, helped people when I saw they needed help, participated in convos, asked for help when I needed it and pretty much just mingled like I would at any other social event. I networked…but not in a ‘hey let me sell you something’ manner. So people started to trust me, to believe in my skills in my arena, and to like me because I am actually social and helpful. The key really IS that simple. And I didn’t even have to work hard at it (I wouldn’t call any of it work at all really…a few Tweets, FB posts and convos I’d participate in anyways)…I mainly did what I just enjoying doing anyway and what I was already doing before.

Someone coming in JUST to try to sell things will have to put in 10x the work to get a return. When I decided to grow, I had a feeling that my social circles would contribute some success but I had no idea just how much they would right off the bat…even with no dedicated site, etc.

And the word-of-mouth referrals have always sent me business and have recently sent my expanded business some projects; just picked up a new one yesterday as a matter of fact…and it’s a pretty big one and the guy said if all goes well (which I won’t let it do anything BUT go well) he has more he wants to move on to. He came from an existing client.

About a week before that, I picked up another small one and he said if it all went well, he’d have more too. We finished his first project and he’s now sending us more. He came from a forum I’m part of and I only have the info in my signature…I didn’t make a “sales” post at all, I simply participated in some other convos and apparently he noticed my convos and sig and decided to check me out.

Another one reached out from Facebook yesterday inquiring about what all we’re offering and said he’d probably want to work with us soon.

An ongoing one we have gave me a go because he saw that I had an idea of what I was talking about and saw that my reputation was great. We’ve been working with him from the beginning and are still continuing ongoing work with him.

Others have said “get the site up and I’ll refer people to you”…because they know me, they know my quality and they trust me enough to send people my way.

I’m very excited to see what happens when I actually get the site up and let people know!

In my previous post on Relationships on Twitter, I touched on some valuable relationships I was developing there a while back. Those relationships have continued to flourish and benefit both ends on an ongoing basis.

So I just wanted to share, again, that it’s all in your

• intention
• approach
• trust factor building

…and it REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE.

If people get to know who you are, clearly see that your intentions are good, aren’t turned off by your pushy approach, and start to trust you because you’ve stuck around and been helpful…you can’t help but to succeed (well taking into consideration you do really offer something valuable). They WILL WANT to do business with you, you won’t have to try to push them into it.

It’s important that you’re constantly building your social connections…in the right way. You can go around randomly friending people all month and see very little return because you’re not doing anything valuable. It’s important that you stay visible and stay helping and contributing to your network. It’s important that you even ask for help if you need it, let someone else help you if they can (I’ve gained some valuable relationships that started by someone else helping me with something).

I know this is all info that you’ve seen and read a hundred times by now but I thought it was important to share some of the success I’ve seen from doing these exact things and not just preaching that these are the things you need to do. I wanted to share ‘why’ these are the things you need to do and the outcome of doing things the right way.

When I decided to grow these services to a larger scale, I was confident that my social networks would contribute to the business but I honestly didn’t realize just how fast they would contribute from the very start before I even had everything set up and in place. I’m grateful to my social circles, to those from my social circles who have given me their business and their referrals, to my existing clients who have boosted me with word-of-mouth marketing and for those who are ready for me to get the site going so they can send more business my way.

Even without tens of thousands of followers, you can have a very dedicated (and maybe even more dedicated than having tens of thousands of ‘empty’ followers) social circle. 2010 will rock for me all because I always had good intentions, I’ve always been eager to help, I stay focused on my specialties and dedicated to learning more and getting better, I love to share with others and there’s never anything shady about anything I do. I’m totally transparent and everything I do, every convo I participate in, every action I take, every help I offer…I do because I WANT TO not because I have a sneaky intention behind it.  And it’s all rapidly equaling success…and the type of success I want, not the type of success that causes you to have to hide behind some other identity or rip people off (however, people often use pen names, pseudonyms, etc. for very legit reasons).

If only 1 person is inspired by my movement towards success because of these reasons, then I’m satisfied by the half hour I just spent writing this up =)

Social Media Maniac,
Karen J.
@areaK

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Earlier this summer I wrote about a computer disaster story most of us are familiar with – crashed computer and NO backed up files and the backup service I started using, Mozy.

Many of you who are connected to me on Twitter and Facebook have probably heard my moaning and groaning over my recent computer failure – computer started acting funny, running sluggish, crashing, etc. and I thought maybe it could be cured with a good clean-up and maybe a repair install of Windows.  Took it to my trusty computer guys and got the dreaded call, “Sorry K but your hard drive failed, we’re going to have to put a new one in.” Ugh.

He asked me if I had all of my files backed up….YES, I DO! Woo hoo, at least I can say that much this time! Learned my lesson on that one!  So he replaced the hard drive, it’s 2 1/2 times the size of my last one so I have more than double the space (it’s own little blessing in disguise…or so I convince myself at least!) and it’s all cleaned up like a brand new computer when I get home & running like lightning.

So, on to the true test…using Mozy to actually restore my files. It was actually pretty easy, all you do is go on to the site and download Mozy to your new comp/refreshed comp; it’ll ask you if you want to replace your old comp, yes you do. Then you request, with the click of a button, your backup files. It takes several hours for the request to be fulfilled, but as I remember it was less than 6 hrs, or around that time, which gave me time to start reinstalling all of my other programs anyways.

Once your request is complete, you get an email telling you that your files are ready. They will come in the form of compressed files, the number depends on how much info you had backed up. You click the download links and DL the compressed files to your computer and then extract them. Once they’re extracted, you’ll need to go in and put them all back in their respective places (which I’m still working on but at least I have access to the files while I work on putting them all back in their places…and this gives me a chance to re-organize everything because it had all gotten to be a bit of a mess after a while and needed cleaning up anyways). I also plan to make a backup disk of the restored files just to have on hand as an in-case measure because your backup files from the old comp are only available from Mozy for 30 days and after you initially DL them, you will need to request the list from support if for some reason you need them again…but you still only have 30 days to my knowledge. I will probably never need the backup CD but I prefer to be safe than sorry. You can alternatively request a copy of your backup files on disk via FedEx but it costs and using the web DL is free.

So the $5/mo was totally worth it and at least I had peace of mind that everything was backed up. I’m still sorting through the files so I don’t know if anything’s missing or whatever just yet but it ‘looks’ to be in place…and I know my client files which are of THE MOST importance (even though I have a lot of other important stuff too) are there and it looks like all my pics made it so I think we’re all good…and if I find something gone, trust me the entire world will be the first to hear! So far it has been pretty painless.

The one thing I DIDN’T like was that they have no type of virus/adware/spyware scanner on their end to scan and clean infected files before they save them. So if you have some infected files, once you get your new/cleaned up computer, you’ll be putting the infected files right back on your computer and that’s exactly what happened to me. After DLing the files, I ran a virus scan and had a bunch of infestations (my comp was running bad for a while and would crash when running a virus scan there at the end before I finally took it in so I’m sure it was vulnerable toward the end when I was refusing to let it go because I have issues with stalking my own computer LOL) and all of the viruses were located in the DL files so I know that’s where they came from.

I emailed Mozy about this and here’s the convo:

(initial inquiry from me)

I have a question – do you guys not have a system in place to scan files for viruses as they are backed up? It looks like some of the files may have had viruses/adware and when they DLed to my comp, they brought the viruses/adware with them? This is the type of service that should protect your data and if they are infected, you’re just putting infected data back on your comp after cleaning it up. Is this something that you guys don’t have in place?

Thanks.

Karen J.

(first response from Mozy Support)

Hi,

Please be informed that what ever you backup on the Mozy server you exactly get the same thing .In case if you have uploaded a file on the Mozy server which consists of virus while restoring you will exactly get the same thing and we donot have any thing which scans your document .

Thanks,
**name removed**
Mozy Support

(my response)

Well yeah I figured that out since finding viruses in the files that I replaced on my computer with backup files. Is there some reason that you don’t implement safeguards to prevent this type of thing? No one wants to put infected files back on their computer and I had no idea that’s what I would end up with. Obviously most people are going to back up their entire computer and potentially unknowingly end up with infested files in the backup files, but if you guys had a scanning system in place that cleaned out files as they are backed up, everyone would end up with clean files and not replace infested files on their computer.

Please forward this to management if you are not sure why there is no system in place for this and I would like to know if there are any plans to implement such.

(their reply)

Hi Karen,

I will certainly forward this suggestion to our management team.I am sure they would think of a workaround for this and you shall be updated about the same if there are any such update launched by Mozy Team.

Please let us know if we can be of any other help at the moment or we shall close the ticket ?

Thanks
**name removed**
Mozy Support

(my response)

I appreciate it and I’d actually like them to respond to my inquiries about this personally because I would like to hear their thoughts on this.  I.e., I don’t only want it forwarded to them but I’d also like them to email me about it within the next couple of days for further discussion…it’s a pretty important topic and I don’t want the suggestion just passed along and then forgotten about.

Thanks **name removed** =)

Karen J.

(response from management)

Hi Karen

I appreciate your concern. I would like to inform you that the Mozy development team is continuously working day on day to make the Mozy product more efficient and more user friendly.
There are plans in the pipeline and I am sure that will be implemented in the future. However, at this time this is all we can say.

Thanks
**name removed**
Mozy Support

(my reply)

I would hope the development team might consider pushing this to the front of the priority list since it’s a rather urgent and important issue. People often have to take their computer to be repaired from viruses and when they get back home they don’t want to download infected files right back to their computer from your, and especially a paid, service.

Karen J.

I haven’t gotten another reply as of yet, that last reply from me was about 12 hours ago. To me, it’s a common sense move but we’ll see what happens.

I was chatting with a buddy from Twitter and he suggested scanning the archive online before DLing but the way it’s set up I’ll have to figure out if you can do that…and how. Because they are zipped files, I’m not sure if you have to extract them first to actually remove the viruses, etc. but def something to think about; however, I think the ideal solution, and the sensible thing for them to do, is install this process on their backend so that any threat is cleaned out as they back it up. –especially since they specifically reference viruses attacking your computer on their site so giving the virus right back to us is pretty retroactive to the whole point of backing up and protecting your files.

Nevertheless Mozy did secure my files so that I didn’t lose everything so that much I’m thankful for. And aside from securing my files:

• I like that it auto backs up everything at the time interval I set it at so I don’t have to worry about remembering to backup (currently set at every 12 hours because I’m always working on my computer).
• It’s off-site so if my house burns down (goodness forbid) my data is still safe.
• The pricing is good.
• You need zero tech knowledge, everything happens with the click of a button or two (except for the auto-backups which require NO clicks or actions from you whatsoever).
• Customer service was fast at responding to my inquiries and helpful (I had to re-request the links of my files after the original download).

The only improvements I suggest at this time:

• Virus scanning as the files are backed up to their system – I think this is the VERY NEXT thing they should be working on RIGHT NOW (i.e., do not pass go, do not collect $200, implement a system immediately). We don’t want to immediately re-infest our computer with viruses after getting it all cleaned up so Mozy, let’s do better than “I’m sure it will be implemented in the future, that’s all we can say right now.”  This is a BIG DEAL.
• Monitor their social networks (Twitter) a little more closely. This is a big player for all businesses these days.

Other than that, I like Mozy.  I noticed that a competitor is offering remote access to your backed up files anytime, anyplace – without having to DL all of the backup files, you can just pull up a doc that you need, etc. This is cool and something Mozy should also consider.

Thoughts? Do you use an off-site backup system or onsite? Experiences, tips?

Karen J,
@areaK

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If you’re not incorporating The Trust Factor into your existence and your website, you’re missing connections and sales! Period, there’s no debate on this.

You’d think this was a given these days but there are still companies and sites missing the boat…missing the ship, the yacht! It’s absolutely imperative that you offer up everything about yourself, be visible and be accessible.

You MUST have:

• Some sort of social presence – preferably on the Big 3 (Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn) but this may be adjustable, depending
• Access to your social sites via your website
• An “About Us/Me” on your site; tell us who you are/who your company is, what you offer and what your guarantee is (guarantee can be somewhere else visible but if it’s not somewhere, be here)
• An easily accessible “Contact Me/Us”
• A “Testimonials” page or section if applicable – it makes people feel better (but please do abide by the new laws)
• personal pictures are a plus

Further you MUST up your game on Social Monitoring – even if it’s on a small scale like Twitter and Google Alerts.  You’ve really go to be listening because we are completely spoiled and attached to quick support response on social avenues when we complain or call for help. This is quickly becoming less and less negotiable.

In the past few days I’ve passed up on 2 services that I was very interested in largely due to lack of social presence or social monitoring & response; in whole because they didn’t have The Trust Factor.

This is the thing – people NEED to interact with you or your company/brand reps in the social sphere now to feel comfortable buying from you; to believe that you’re legit and accessible if there’s an issue; and to be comfortable that they’re not getting scammed. Period.  Case closed. It’s the current belief that if you are engaging with consumers, there’s a higher probability that you’re legit and safe to do business with.

No visible social presence + no social monitoring and engagement = lost business.

I can guarantee you that if those 2 sites/services I passed up in the last couple of days had a grip on that, I would have done business with them. Now I’m continuing my search for similar services who have integrated The Trust Factor.

Are you integrating The Trust Factor into your brand/business? How or why not? Do each of your sites and social profiles all link back to the others?

Karen J

@areak

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I have been planning an SEO campaign for a client and yesterday I Tweeted about spinning articles (I hand-spin them, which can take a LONG time to generate high quality spins).  Someone Tweeted me and mentioned that it’s been proven that duplicate content is a myth, so why would I bother spinning articles.

Good question. And I am very aware of the studies that have, thusfar, evidenced that duplicate content doesn’t kill your rankings. But here are my concerns:

1. I am still digging around to find out just how long-term any of these studies are because what if your site isn’t penalized right now but you find it is later down the road because of the duplicate content?

2. What if we see a Duplicate Content Google (or other SE) Slap eventually? We’ve seen Squidoo slaps and Social Media slaps and we see issues with not having the proper link mix applied to sites so whose to say that with Google and competing search engines (primarily Bing) focusing more and more on the user-experience, providing more relevant and less-spammy results, and competing to be “decision engines” (Bing’s claim) that we won’t see a Dup Content Slap at some point, even in the not so far future?  I don’t know that we will or we won’t but I certainly see it as a possibility.

I’ve learned much from my long-term work relationship with, and mentorship from, Michelle MacPhearson and one of the things I’ve taken away from her is to always be prepared for ANYTHING! Mix your links up, don’t rely on just one or two strategies, etc. – be prepared!

I currently continue to spin my personal articles as well as those of clients who I am working on SEO, link building, etc. strategies and campaigns for because I don’t want to wake up one day and find that one of my sites, or my client’s sites, have been penalized because I took a shortcut and wasn’t prepared for what ‘could’ happen with the use of duplicate content.  No one wants to lose rankings, I surely don’t; and I’m very dedicated to my clients so I’d die if they had spent a lot of time and money with me to find one day that all of our hard work, and their money, has seen a huge amount of waste because I decided to take a shortcut.

We’ve recently seen Google announce that they are now taking site load time into consideration when it comes to ranking to “improve the user experience” (really important words these days).

Here’s what Google says about duplicate content:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.

in some cases, content is deliberately duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or win more traffic. Deceptive practices like this can result in a poor user experience, when a visitor sees substantially the same content repeated within a set of search results.

In the rare cases in which Google perceives that duplicate content may be shown with intent to manipulate our rankings and deceive our users, we’ll also make appropriate adjustments in the indexing and ranking of the sites involved. As a result, the ranking of the site may suffer, or the site might be removed entirely from the Google index, in which case it will no longer appear in search results.

Mind you, there is more to the guidelines excerpted here; some of which would indicate that you ‘might’ be safe in many circumstances from dup content but “might” isn’t good enough for me.

Read the entire guidelines here

So while we can look at Google’s statements as a “myth”, at least for right now, can we be certain that, particularly with Google’s focus on “user experience” and competition with other SEs to be the most relevant and provide the best user experience that they won’t ever hold us responsible for duplicate content? Should we feel safe that many people are reporting no penalty for this content right now and go ahead and take shortcuts? Or should we be prepared for the chance that we’ll see a Dup Content Slap and continue with our efforts in not using duplicate content?

Now, let me not leave out the fact that duplicate content is often “filtered” vs. “penalized” (meaning a SE may filter out some of the results and only show one) but that’s not the primary focus of this conversation – the main focus here is:

• Will Google (or other engines) eventually penalize us for dup content spread around the web pointing back to our sites?
• Will they put the smack down on the lazy link building with duplicate content strategy to improve user experience and attempt to deliver the sites they deem as most relevant and appropriate for the user?

On Google’s Blog, they have a post that discusses a situation where people are trying to sucking people into scams (not all link building is meant to sucker people into a scam, it’s often just trying to keep up with, and ahead of, other competition even if the product is legit) but Google says: “If you come across many sites with duplicate content or common templates intended to direct users to the same product or scheme, please let us know with a spam report,” which would indicate that they don’t want duplicate content all over the web pointing back to the same thing.

Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines say:

It’s not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn’t included on this page, Google approves of it. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit.

It also states:

“The spam reports we receive are used to create scalable algorithms that recognize and block future spam attempts.”  (so I ask, could duplicate content spread for link building be a “future spam attempt” they try to recognize and block?

Other explicit statements they make include:

–> Examples of link schemes can include: Links intended to manipulate PageRank (duplicate content that points to the same link could be plain evidence of this in my opinion)

–> Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

–> Doorway pages

Doorway pages are typically large sets of poor-quality pages where each page is optimized for a specific keyword or phrase. In many cases, doorway pages are written to rank for a particular phrase and then funnel users to a single destination.

Whether deployed across many domains or established within one domain, doorway pages tend to frustrate users, and are in violation of our webmaster guidelines.

(So while “doorway pages” could even be considered as those pages with unique content built for the purpose of pointing people back to a primary domain…it seems it screams it much louder if that content is duplicate content.)

Google aim is to give our users the most valuable and relevant search results. Therefore, we frown on practices that are designed to manipulate search engines and deceive users by directing them to sites other than the ones they selected, and that provide content solely for the benefit of search engines. Google may take action on doorway sites and other sites making use of these deceptive practice, including removing these sites from the Google index.

If your site has been removed from our search results, review our webmaster guidelines for more information. Once you’ve made your changes and are confident that your site no longer violates our guidelines, submit your site for reconsideration.

Another site (which I’m not terribly familiar with so I can’t speak on their authority, legitimacy, etc.) makes a point similar to my thoughts:

“Distribution of Articles – If you publish an article, and it gets copied and put all over the Internet, this is good, right? Not necessarily for all the sites that feature the same article. This type of duplicate content can be tricky, because even though Yahoo and MSN determine the source of the original article and deems it most relevant in search results, other search engines like Google may not, according to some experts.

Wikipedia defines Malicious Duplicate Content as:

Malicious duplicate content refers to intentionally generated search spam in an effort to manipulate search results and gain more traffic. Users do not like to see the same content listed multiple times.

(The other type of duplicate content they define is “Non Malicious  duplicate content may include multiple views of the same page, such as normal HTML and a version for mobile devices, printer-only versions of a page, or store items that can be shown via multiple distinct URLs.”)

Wouldn’t duplicate articles posted around the web to increase rankings be considered “intentionally generated search spam in an effort to manipulate search results and gain more traffic”?

Now I realize that some of you may say “technically, spinning articles IS duplicate content, therefore deception, therefore intentionally generated search spam, therefore malicious, so it’s not as above-board as I seem to make it here”. Well, my response is that we all know competition is building links like crazy and we have to do what we have to do to rank and be successful with our sites so while spun articles may not be a freshly written article, that’s not really the point here.  The point is many of us are going to use articles, etc. to build links and the big question is whether or not we should be prepared for the Dup Content Slap or not.

Call me crazy, that’s not really debatable anyway! But I just feel more comfortable being prepared than being lazy and knowing that if search engines do put the slap down, it’s a beating I’ll avoid.  Sure, it takes me a lot longer to spin quality articles and if it’s campaign work for a client, it may cost them a little more to pay me for the time it takes but, again, I think they’d rather pay that cost and be sure they’re safe , now AND later, than pay me a bit less and take the risk that they could lose all the hard work we put in later.  I could outsource the spinning to someone a little cheaper, or hand it off to one of my team members that helps implement these campaigns, but anyone who has worked with me knows that I’m very particular about the quality of my work and at this time, I choose to continue to do that part myself as part of the strategy preparation.

Remember, the point here is not whether or not sites are currently being penalized for duplicate content; we can find several site studies that indicate they are successfully ranking with duplicate content (although I didn’t dig around to see if there are sites who have been penalized for this, there may be).  The question is since we’re seeing these studies report success with duplicate content, should we feel comfortable using it or should we stick a little closer within Google’s guidelines and try to avoid any future penalties duplicate content might bring.

And, again, my sights are set on the fact that Google and Bing are trying to deliver the best user experiences so whose to say what moves they’ll make? If Google has decided that how fast, or slow, your site loads will affect rank because it affects user experience and since Google deems duplicate content as affecting user experience, is it that far fetched to think they might slap dup content down at some point?

So, am I a dummy for not taking the short cuts in lieu of the “myth” or am I smart for being prepared?

Please share your thoughts.  I’d love to know what others think.  Do you use duplicate content or original content? Do you think there’s a chance that, even though we’re not seeing penalties right now (or at least a lot of people aren’t), that we’ll never see a penalty for it? Is it worth it to put in the extra work or better to take a short cut with duplicate content?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

photo credit: michperu

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Just a quick Facebook PAGE tip to help you draw a bigger crowd:

If you’ve been into Twitter for at least a little while now, you probably know that one best Twitter practice is to “mix it up”.  Don’t just post links to ‘your’ stuff or your blog posts; post information and links from various sources in your area of interest so that you’re not just trying to shove your stuff down people’s throat.  A lot of people are already doing this with Facebook PROFILES but I’m not seeing it done as much on Facebook PAGES.

With many Facebook pages, the old ‘post just your stuff’ tactic is being taken (which in some cases is okay).  Recently I gave a business page the Twitter angle of “mixing it up” on their Facebook page.  Instead of only posting updates that pertain to that specific company’s stuff, I angled them to be an expert in their field by also posting updates that include info and resources from across the web that are related to the company’s focus (small business and entrepreneurs).  No more primarily posting just blog updates and news from the company itself.  Now there are articles, research, news, tips, and other information on their areas of expertise from all across the web…and that page has picked up much more traction than their previous page that was focused solely on their company.

It further goes to evidence that people are drawn to sources that feed them a variety of relevant information…it’s not just a Twitter tactic, it works anywhere and it might be a healthy dose for your Facebook PAGE.

People will see you as someone who delivers a ton of value and as someone who wants to educate and share with them rather than someone who just wants to make sure you stay updated about ‘them’.  This takes the “they have to be greatly interested in your company/brand to become a fan, stay a fan, and actually pay attention” angle out of the equation and allows you to draw in a bigger crowd that has an interest in your area of expertise.  Of course you’ll still point them to your things too, but you’ll probably have a bigger crowd to point your things to because you’ll draw in a bigger crowd of people by making your page a ‘share all’ rather than a ‘just share me’ source.

The page that I implemented this strategy on recently has a much bigger crowd than their old page already and their old page was promoted longer than the new page.  We’ve drawn in their target audience by baiting them (and I say that in a very valid way, not a ‘tricky’ way) by becoming a news source of sorts in their arena.  Now people are getting much more value out of that page but the company can still be in the limelight as the expert who delivers and they can ultimately reach a larger crowd.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

photo credit: Robyn Gallagher

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It’s been a while since I did a “What They Said” post but after listening to Epidose 26 of IMTW, here we are =)

What I liked about this week’s episode was the diversity in thinking when it comes to social networks, friending & following people, and ultimate utilization.

You have Mari who does friend a lot of people (although from the pow-wow it sounds like she has changed her strategy slightly in recent months) and you have Ed who doesn’t friend anyone he doesn’t know.

Both of these people are successful internet people but one difference I notice in them is that Mari is much more “socially” successful and Ed is not (meaning it seems Mari got her fame from utilizing Facebook, a social network, whereas Ed got his from other marketing avenues).  Ed seems to be more old school (not so much into the social networking aspect) which I think has an impact on how they approach their networks.

One of Ed’s fears about friending people was the expectations those people might hold. If he friends someone, will they:

• expect him to see everything they say
• expect him to actively interact & respond to things they say
• expect that he actually has a real interest in them

Mari on the other hand (and I think Lynn too) says that while she has her inner circle, she does take some time to scan updates from other people and comment or interact.

I think Ed’s fears are reasonable but I don’t think that everyone necessarily expects that every single person who they are connected to on social networks will hang on to their every word.  I believe most people know that’s just not possible even though we all ‘hope’ that people will take some interest in us.  And I think that in cases with people like Ed, who is a successful person, people want to connect so that they can keep in touch with what that person (Ed in this example) are saying and doing…not so much for Ed to focus on their posts (although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt their feelings if he did).

Me – I’m picky about who I connect with and friend to an extent.  Unlike Ed, I don’t have to know them, but I do need to see that we have something in common.  If they are into marketing, whether it be social or not, I may very well connect with them; if they want to be in my Mafia Wars family, I may very well connect with them (LOL, I know, I know but I can have fun too right?); if they are into bowling gear, I probably won’t connect with them because it’s of no interest to me…but if they message me and want to connect with me because they want to consider marketing their bowling gear, well then I might go ahead and connect.

I take most things on a case-by-case basis.  I don’t connect with absolutely everyone, but I do connect with many people that I don’t know.  I can always remove them later if need be.  I love making new connections for many reasons.

Michelle made a good point about her Facebook profile though.  She chooses to keep her FB profile connected to people she actually knows and connect with others via her FB page instead.  Her angle is that she has family and friends that may not want their stuff to be publicized as much as she is…which is very valid.  She also points out that she and her circle can be a little “off the cuff” as she calls it and doesn’t know if it’s always appropriate for everyone else, i.e. they might be offended, might get upset, may take it wrong.  Also very valid. I don’t have any family on FB and only a few offline friends there so that’s not a angle I have to concern myself with, but you might.

So it’s very interesting to hear the different trains of thought when it comes to our social networks and understand that everyone has to evaluate their own situations, desires and goals, and make their own decisions that work for them.  Some of us want to be more connected and others don’t.  Some of us may be more active with friends and family on networks and others aren’t.

You also have to know where you fall.  If you’re like Mari and you got your name from a social platform, well you kind of have to be more social.  If you’re like Ed and you didn’t get your name from a social arena, you may not be as deep into it. If you’re a brand like Dell, you got your name way before social media, so you can still utilize it to keep visibility up but you probably don’t have as much of a need to worry about ‘friending’ people or interacting as deeply.

While Ed and Mari are on different ends of the social spectrum, it seems that their individual ways of handling things works for them and that’s what matters.

The new FTC Guidelines were also discussed in this week’s episode.

How do you approach your social networks – do you friend any and everyone, only people you know, only people you have a common ground with; or if the connection is via FB do you prefer they connect with your FB page if you have one instead of your personal profile?

Are you offended if someone who accepts your friend request doesn’t hang on to your every word or see/comment on a lot of your stuff or are  you cool with that?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Obviously there are a number of ways to market and network on Twitter.  To extend your network with targeted connections, you can do an array of things including:

• connect with a friend’s, whose network is focused, friends
• utilize Twitter search to find people talking about certain things
• search Twitter directories like “Twellow”, etc.

But with Twitter Lists, you now have another great way to make targeted connections.  People all over Twitter are making targeted lists for you. They are creating an organized address book for you.

For example, let’s say you target an audience in the U.S. who is interested in celebrity news.  People who are interested in this topic may not always talk about it (making Twitter search only partially effective in seeking convos from people other than the sources of the news themselves); and they may not list their interest in this topic in Twitter Directories (rendering these only partially useful to find people who want to hear your celebrity news).

Now you still have the option of following the followers of existing Celebrity News publishers but you also have another option of killing 2 birds with 1 stone.  Now you can review lists that people have compiled of Twitter Celebrity News sources (or gardening or dog obedience, or whatever you are into) to stay updated and have access to a huge pool of people interested in this topic by checking out the people following the list and the friends of the sources listed in the list.

But now you also have access to an aggregated list of sources that provide news and information on this topic.  So you can easily scan what tons of people are publishing and saying to get ideas for your next story or product, find stories that you want to follow the developments of, see what’s working for competitors and much more.  These lists can put targeted connections at your fingertips and they can provide you with an easy way to watch your market and competitors.

Check the Twitter lists you’ve been listed in.  Many times, you’ll likely be listed in a group of whatever your niche is.  I’m listed in Social Media Twitter Lists.  So now I can:

1) easily watch what others who are in Social Media are saying giving me one more ‘in’ to keeping up with the rapid changes and discussions.

2) check out others who are following this list (since they obviously have an interest in the topic)  and possibly connect with them

3) check out others in Social Media who have been added as sources and connect with them

4) have the opportunity to have more people interested in this topic see my Tweets (because I’m included in the list); and,

5) continue to build on my reputation as a social media specialist

Another example is someone who is seeking a very targeted audience:

I assist with marketing for a client who markets primarily to people in Mexico, and particularly targets people who have an interest in Mexico Celebrity News and Immigration News & Resources (targets in the same areas but further divided into specific markets).

In this case, they have been added to several lists that are on these same topics.  So they can now click on the other sources added to these lists, as well as the people following the list itself,  and check out the people who are following those sources – making it super easy to find and connect with crowds  of people who are definitely interested in this topic.  Targeted connections aggregated into a resource literally at your fingertips.

Your social networks provide many doors to targeted connections, are you opening them? We posed the question before about ‘if Twitter lists are a trend, how long will they last?’ and we decided it doesn’t matter, what matters is whether or not you benefit from the trend while it’s at its peak.

So dig in and utilize these avenues for making targeted connections!  Are you utilizing your lists for anything other than organizing your connections yet? What other potential uses do you see in these ‘trends’ within social networks aside from the obvious of organizing connections into folders?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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For a long time now we’ve heard people say “Twitter’s a trend”, “Social Media Marketing is a trend”, etc. Let’s say for a moment that something is a trend – the real question is are you reaping the benefits of these trends while they are around?  Or are you letting everyone else reap the benefits, and the profits, instead?

If you stay on top of the trends, you will consistently reap the benefits; if you don’t, you won’t.  Marketing has always been about trends, and it remains the same today, online.

Being ahead of the curve allows you to maintain visibilty and not be hidden by everyone else who is riding the wave.

And let’s say you are actively utilizing social media and utilizing networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; are you benefiting from the trends within?

Within these networks are trends, new resources, new potential – are you reaping the benefits or are you missing out because you don’t keep up with these trends and juice them when they’re the juiciest.

Yes, things change rapidly online and in social media; things literally change everyday, and because it’s so, are you missing out?

Can you spot a trend when it appears?  Is your ear to the ground so that you know when something is going to make some big waves…or even some little ones that are still worth riding? Are you able to think outside of the box to see the benefits of these trends when they happen instead of seeing just another ‘new feature/tool’?

In today’s web era, these are 3 extremely important questions.  Actually, in marketing, they’ve always been important questions but today, where millions have access to market their services online, are you a front-runner or are you at the back of the pack trying to keep the dust out of your eyes?

Let’s look at a new addition to Twitter – Twitter Lists.  I talked about Twitter Lists several days ago.  In that article, I was very excited and rattled off some of the benefits I saw in these lists (and I can think of more).  I’ve been watching some of the chatter on Twitter about these lists and the feelings about these lists are starting to change; and more and more lists are popping up.

Some people went from thinking ‘whatever’, to ‘oh, I like this’.  The benefit gained from them will vary from person to person, there are often variables that will determine the type of use or benefit one person can gain vs. another but as I thought more about the lists and their various benefits and uses, I wondered about their longevity.  Will they be something that people continue to utilize, grow, refer to, etc. for a long time to come or will they be forgotten about in the near future?

So what’s the answer?  It doesn’t matter.

Why?  Because, regardless of if it’s a short-lived ‘trend’ or a long-term resource, if you utilize it now, while it’s hot, you can still reap the benefits until it’s time to move on to the next ‘trend’ (again I am referring more to trends within social networks more than anything right now but this can be applied to social media in general as well).

Again, I pose these 3 questions:

1. Can you spot a trend when it appears?
2. Is your ear to the ground so that you know when something is going to make some big waves…or even some little ones that are still worth riding?
3. Are you able to think outside of the box to see the benefits of these trends when they happen instead of seeing just another ‘new feature/tool’?

It’s a full-time job to stay in the loop of the fast-paced web and social media.  If it’s not your full-time job, you may not be able to give a strong ‘yes’ to all, or any, of these.

If you can’t give a strong ‘yes’ to at least 2 out of 3 of these questions, you need to find a way to stay connected.  There is a reason that people who are successful online (no matter the type of business or service) are successful – and it’s not because they fell behind the changes and missed the trends.

Hiring someone is a good idea.  There are reasons people do this as a “full-time” job, because again, it takes that to stay on top of the changes (definitely make sure they are genuine and experienced).

But other ways you can at least stay reasonably in the loop are:

• Sign up to a blog reader (like Google reader) and subscribe to good blogs on these topics. READ THEM! Don’t just sign up and never come back to it.  Carve some time into your day to scan over them; you don’t have to read each one in full if it doesn’t catch your interest or appear directly on target for the info you seek.

• Follow some good resources in these areas on Twitter and check in on their updates at least once every day or two and scan what they’re talking about.

• Utilize the new Twitter lists and follow lists that cover these topics so that you can scan the lists every day or two and see what’s being discussed.

• Don’t just say, “I’ll come back to it later” because you probably won’t and by the time it crosses your mind again, you will have missed out on something that could have been of some benefit to your business.  Ride the trends.

• TAKE ACTION! This is the most important step! Without ACTION, there is NO satisfACTION!

The more of an effort you put in, the more benefit you will see but you have to keep your eyes open.  There are opportunities everywhere but you have to seize them and consistently develop and improvise your strategies.

Are you missing out? Why do you think you are, or do you still believe social media and social networking ‘doesn’t work’? Are you benefiting from the trends?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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There’s a new 1-way backlinking method in town.  Well they aren’t entirely new methods but they have their own unique service offering another way for you to get backlinks, good backlinks.

Each backlink created is permanent, and you get a 21 day free trial with 25 free permanent backlinks to start.

Methods include:

• linking your URL to keywords already established within blogs
• linking to sidebar links in either homepages or internal pages
• linking to footer links in either homepage or internal pages
• within article posts, in articles that you submit for publishing on blogs

It’s a very simple program.  Watch my YouTube walk-through video to see how it works.

How simple is that?  It takes less than 20 minutes to get your 25 free backlinks.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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So much is happening so fast in the social sphere! It’s exciting and the opportunities are multiplying FAST.

Among the many other social opportunities, we now have Google Social Search, Social Media Game Changers, and now Twitter Lists (it’s more than what you think).

Jump on and brace yourself for a wild ride.

Twitter is introducing “Twitter Lists”.  If you’ve been using a Twitter client like Seesmic, Tweetdeck, etc. this new Twitter list may not sound like a new thing to you…but they are.

Now people can assign others to specific lists they create.  Still sounds familiar eh?  The difference is these lists won’t be contained within your private Twitter client world, these lists will be publicly available.

What does this mean?  It means that you get another chance for exposure if you’re on particular lists.  Let’s look at these lists for a moment and then discuss more:

You can name a list whatever you like and it will look like this (pay attention to the URL):

Twitter lists aren’t public YET but watch for them soon…but Twitter’s team list is public already so let’s look at that:

By looking at these screen shots, the picture is probably coming together.

People will be able to:

• visit lists, see updates & dig further (i.e., clicking on your profile and/or a link you published)
• subscribe to lists (and if you’re on them that means they’ll essentially be subscribing to your updates),
• find you and follow you,
• associate you with the list (contributing to your expert status); i.e. Social Media Gurus, Top Gardeners, etc.

It’s your Twitter feed being fed into another feed, a targeted feed that will get targeted visitors.

Other benefits:

• more exposure to your links
• the URLS are/can be keyword targeted
• credit for your link on the page
• if you’re a list creator, people will associate you with the list and there’s a link to your profile at the top of the list so they can check you out and follow you if they like
• if you’re a list creator, credit for link on the page showing you as the creator

(*I wonder if Google Social Search will start picking up on these lists…it would make sense…and if list results will show up in Twitter search results (we’ll see as soon as they go public)*)  If the answers to these 2 questions become “yes” which I’m guessing they will, that’s 2 more benefits.

TIP: If you Tweet about a list, it will be automatically linked to the list.

If you’ve read my last few posts, you’ve noticed a pattern – SOCIAL MEDIA IS CHANGING THE GAME in profound ways.

What are your thoughts on the new Twitter lists  (if you can’t see them on your profile yet, be patient, they are coming) and on the advancement of social media for ‘searchers’ and ‘marketers’?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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3. My Top 3 Social Media Pet Peeves I absolutely adore Social Media.  I find it to be a very effective way to network, increase visibility, establish familiarity & expertise, and open up doors of opportunity of various kinds. With the great opportunities if used properly, some people misuse and abuse their social privileges.  Here are 3 of...

There have been so many debates about social media, its place and longevity, its effectiveness, its ROI, etc. etc. etc.

But with the experimental release of Google Social Search and real-time search results rolling out everywhere can you really deny that the reach of social media is expanding, creating new opportunities, and changing the game?

One important angle to consider is:  How will real-time results and social search results change the SEO game?  We’re seeing that every day it’s becoming more and more important to balance our link building methods with our social networking strategies.  This has been a change coming, and foreseen, for some time now but the recent rapid release of game changers in search results (all over the place including Google, Bing, Facebook, etc.) should be a real eye-opener and a real reason to think about your social networking strategies.

People are going to get another chance to make it in top Google results with Social Search and they’re already getting chances to get in via other real-time search results options and moves like Facebook opening up searches to the web.

Social networking is the core of social media.  Your connections are becoming more and more valuable every day.  Social results are having a larger and larger impact on search engine results.   Social results have a much bigger impact on gaining clicks with many people because the results are coming from people they are connected to in one way or the other.  Real-time search results also yield bigger impact on clicks because 1) they may also be coming from connections but 2) they are exactly that, “real time” search results, the latest and greatest about whatever is being searched for; conversations being had at that very moment about it.

SEO is shifting.  Online word-of-mouth marketing is taking different forms and expanding into every crack and crevice of the web.

Many businesses have been unsure of the importance of social media and social networking to them, but now more than ever it’s time for businesses to take a good, hard look at their social presence, connections and strategies.

The Internet changes at a rapid pace.  The more you keep up, the farther you’ll be ahead.  The farther you fall behind, the harder you may have to work to catch up (to your oompetitors).

If you’ve been thinking “social media is a trend, how much or how little I participate isn’t really going to have much of an impact”, it’s time for you to reconsider.

Do these changes and insights have an impact on how much value you place on social networking and social media and whether or not you’ll up your game on social networks?

Update: Read The Impact of New Twitter Lists published immediately after this post for another ‘up’ in the Social Media and Social Networking anti.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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With the release of Google Social Search (experiment but certainly a next step in social media), the stock in Social Media just increased (metaphorically speaking).  Now when you search for something there will be an additional results section that shows results from your friends…and their friends?!

results snapshot via GoogleBlog

If you utilize social media marketing, this is carries some punch!

Within the social sphere, we connect and ‘share’. Google Social Search really kicks the sharing up a notch by opening up another opportunity to appear in Google search results!

Watch this video on how it works (and try to keep the drool off your keyboard) and then keep reading.

This is powerful.  Matt explains how not only will you see results from ‘friends’ within your social circle but from their friends too.  Reverse this. Someone in your network searches for something you’re related to…you could show up in their search results.  Or, if one of your friends’ friends search for something you’re related to, you could show up in their search results when they perform the search = traffic.

And think about the POWER behind the social search results.  Whose recommendations, reviews, products are we going to look at first? Some random results or our FRIENDS’ results?  We tend to lean toward seeing what our friends recommend or have to say about something…or offer.  Even if we’ve never met them in person, we’ve likely either gained some familiarity with them or may tend to still give them preference because they’re in our social circle one way or the other.

And if  you’re a ‘local’ business – the potential for you is kicked up a notch too.  If you’ve been participating in social networks, and you should be, here’s your chance to up the anti.  If you’ve been connecting with people in your local area on social networks, you’re going to get an ‘in’ when they search for your local product, business or service.  If you haven’t been connecting with them, bump that up on your priorities.

This is how Google Social Search would return search results:

What are your thoughts on Google Social Search and how you think it will affect traffic? What do you think about this step forward in Social Media and the direction we’re heading? Are you an entrepreneur or business owner who is seeing success with Social Media or struggling with it?

Update: just read a post on Rick Butts’ blog that addresses a viewpoint on whether there ‘s any reason in joining your friends’ social networks  if you’re already on Facebook and Twitter and are invited to another.  As I commented over there, there are points on both sides (why you may or may not) but with Google Social Search in play, some additional thought may need to go into whether you accept that invite and connect with friends on various networks.

We all want to get into the top Google search results and, again, this is one more opportunity to do so. And it’s a further extension of word-of-mouth marketing – a friend’s POV or recommendation or even a friend-of-a-friend.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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I absolutely adore Social Media.  I find it to be a very effective way to network, increase visibility, establish familiarity & expertise, and open up doors of opportunity of various kinds.

With the great opportunities if used properly, some people misuse and abuse their social privileges.  Here are 3 of my Social Media Pet Peeves.

Cold ‘Calling’. Cold calling (in all of its forms, not necessarily via telephone) simply doesn’t work in the social sphere.  Why? Because we didn’t become a part of the social sphere for you to sell to us.  It’s simply a perk you’ll earn as we become familiar with you. You’re going to have to warm people up with your interaction, help, knowledge, expertise and general involvement before they start listening to you.  Cold calling will deliver the cold shoulder (we avoid telemarketers, what makes you think your cold tactics will yield different results?).

Am I saying you need to get to know every single person on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.?  No. But if I have no idea who you are and you send out a Tweet specifically to me that says “Earn more money with this! *insert link here*” I’m NOT clicking on it.  Who the hell are you? Why are you sending me this? …oh yeah because you think you can cold call on me and get a sale LMFAO, joke’s on YOU!

Email Theft. Don’t steal someone’s email address from a LinkedIn connection or other social involvement and then start emailing them crap without their approval.

That has happened to me recently and I’m pretty pissed about it… TOTALLY ignoring everything the guy sends, and marking him as spam.  And guess what, he might have something pretty good (from a glance it looked like he might) but I’m so mad he invaded my email without my invitation or approval that he could be giving away money and I’d never know because I  now refuse to deal with him.  Instead of seeing him as an expert, I see him as spam.  If he would have handled this differently, I may have given him a try, now there’s ZERO chance.  Trying to force yourself on someone will only cause the opposite – rejection.

Having a private profile & not telling me why you want to be friends, or at least who you are, when sending a request. It really annoys me to get a friend request with no message and then when I click on your profile to see who you are, if we have anything in common, what you ‘do’, or learn something about you only to find your profile is private (or lacks any info about you).

If you want to have a private profile, fine (although I don’t really recommend it if you’re in the social sphere for more than staying in touch with family because you could lose a lot of people who aren’t going to go through requesting to be your friend, or accepting, just so that they can see what you’re about) but if you have a private profile and send a friend request you need to say something about ‘why’ since no one can see anything about you (but you will increase your chances with many if you say something in your request…and reduce the chances of getting ‘the button’ pushed on you).

And for goodness sakes, say something about yourself, your business, what you do…something, anything, on your profile! It never fails that I get friend requests (this happens a lot on Facebook) only to click on their profile and either I can’t see a thing (open up your profile if you want exposure people) or I see the info box that says nothing but your relationship status and your birthday. (*ignore*).

EXAMPLES:

This person’s profile is private.  I can’t see or learn anything about them and there is no message with their friend request.  Why would I accept?

This person says absolutely nothing about himself and there’s no message with the friend request.  Again, why would I accept?

Now this person says something about himself which allows me to decide if I want to be friends, if we have anything in common, or if he offers something I might be interested in. ACCEPTED!

So those are 3 of my top Social Media Pet Peeves.  What are yours?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Facebook groups have quietly sat outside of the mainstream of Facebook activity like the lone child watching everyone else play in the sandbox.  Group activity was not published anywhere except for inside the group  but that’s all changed!

Now groups look a lot more like fan pages – they have their own wall and tabs like fan pages do.

…looks like a fan page eh?  I like it!

And that’s not all, now each time one of your friends posts or takes some action in a group it will be delivered to your newsfeed so that you can easily see what’s going on and even comment on it right from your feed.

Personally, I love the new change!  I love the new group look, it’s much more social, and this will allow for greater use and interaction.  Prior to this change, you had to work hard to keep groups visible; these changes seem promising for increasing group visibility and attracting attention.

Welcome to the social world Facebook groups, we’re happy you finally decided to join us!

What do you think about the changes?  Like ‘em, hate ‘em?  Any changes you would have liked to have seen in addition to these?

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It’s football game day for my oldest so I’m on my way to go help feed the team their pre-game meal but I wanted to give you a quick update on my progress of building my new niche site using the Crowd Mountain systematic training.

My accomplishments are getting kind of long so for a recap of Days 1, 2 and 3, check out Day 4 which will give you a run down of the previous days’ accomplishments and details about Day 4.  Remember, you can read each day of the series using the series’ links underneath the signature of these posts.

What I accomplished today:

I built a week’s worth of content on my new website so that I don’t have to worry about logging in every single day to post new content, it’s already done and each day my ‘Google loving’ content will be published.

Now that may not seem like a huge accomplishment but it is.  Staying on top of consistent content development can be a chore, especially if that is not the only thing you have to do each day.  And that content contains the structure and other stuff that Google will love me for and that falls in line with exactly what they’re looking for on a website…and it’s consistent content, which they also love.  Plus it’s content specifically created for targeted traffic. 

Crowd Mountain gives you every little detail about what you need to do where content creation is concerned to ensure that Google understands exactly what your site is about and so that Google gives you traffic because they appreciate your structure.  So this is actually a big accomplishment because it will contribute to the ‘money in the bank’!

I used the steps Michelle outlined to discover what my niche wants and what their problems are so that I can solve them…and reap the benefits for solving them.  I used the exclusive CM Bookmarker tool to start dripping some links out to the social bookmarking sites and I used the exclusive CM RSS Blaster tool to start dripping out my RSS feeds – hello linkbuilding!

While I’m waiting for my site to be indexed, I’ll start working on some other ‘off site’ types of content to help me get some love (and remember I don’t have to worry about content creation for my site for a week because I have everything in place and ready to go).  And I know exactly what types of content I need and exactly where to place this content because Michelle tells you exactly how to study your competition and figure this out.  I promise you I’ll outrank my competition in no time!  I know exactly what, and how, to jump to the spots ahead of them and I’m coming for them!

Something I mentioned in the CM members’ only forum yesterday was the fact that even if you’re knee deep in Internet Marketing/Niche Marketing, the CM system ensures you don’t miss anything.  It’s a well-laid-out plan that covers all of the tricks and techniques you need to use so you can easily follow through it for each new niche site to make sure you don’t forget to do anything, or forget about any of the tricks out there (plus you get to use all of the exclusive tools for each new niche). And even if you’re seasoned, there’s sure to be some stuff inside that you haven’t thought of or have forgotten about.

And CM Current delivers new techniques and avenues to pursue as they hit the market so you always stay up-to-date without having to do the actual research yourself.  Oh  yeah, and if something doesn’t work anymore or isn’t worth fooling with/becomes outdated, it’s automatically removed from your task list so that you don’t waste your time with it.

If you want to have a look inside Crowd Mountain, you can do so for $1.  C’mon over to the other side and say Hi to me when you get there!  You can find me poking around the site or inside the members’ only forum every day!

Alright, I’m off to feed the team and get ready to rumble!  I hope you’ll join me for my next accomplishments, I love having people to share my journey with!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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1. Building a Niche Site Step-by-Step Day 4 I’m so into my new niche venture that right after I finished Day 3 last night, I continued on to what had been planned as Day 4, I just couldn’t wait (technically it was after midnight so I suppose it was Day 4 after all LOL)! Crowd Mountain is just...
2. Building a Niche Site Step-by-Step Day 3 Woo hoo! Day 3 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain! On Day 1 and Day 2, I did insanely fast idea generation using only the places Michelle told me to use; uncovered my awesome new niche...

I’m so into my new niche venture that right after I finished Day 3 last night, I continued on to what had been planned as Day 4, I just couldn’t wait (technically it was after midnight so I suppose it was Day 4 after all LOL)! Crowd Mountain is just so clear and detailed that you can’t wait to move on to the next part of your site building and monetization!

Quick recap of previous days’ accomplishments – I created a ‘super’ list of niche ideas using the tips Michelle outlined; narrowed that list down to my favs based on specific criteria; started my keyword research to find the new niche I’d pursue and found a great one; selected my domain using the techniques Mich recommends and got a great domain perfect for my niche market (if you’re signed up to Niche Marketing, you got a tip last night on how to save a few bucks when purchasing your domains, if you’re not sign up now and I’ll give it, and others, again later); I installed WP and optimized my site for the search engines; chose my LSI keywords and did some optimization for those; DLed the SEO optimized themes Michelle provides and chose one; DLed the plugins Mich provides (must haves); optimized my site to look fab on cell phones; and a few more things. You can get all of the details by reading the other posts in this series (found at the bottom below my signature).

What I accomplished today:

So Day 4 was Module 3 which is Content Architecture. Content architecture is where you start to get into the nitty gritty. Michelle teaches you great ways to learn your niche and generate content ideas.

So using the techniques and avenues Michelle described (one which I really liked and hadn’t thought of before for niche marketing ) I poked around and learned some more about my new niche and what kinds of content I need to be putting together and publishing. I also figured out the places I need to target to secure my spot on Google’s front page of search results =)  I already had an idea of this from the competition analysis I did during the keyword research phase but this was a reminder and a little more insight into what actions I need to take and where my first targeted places will be.

I figured out what my niche market is looking for and exactly how to give them what they want using the content analysis tips Mich gave.

I systematically mined long-tail keywords to start building my initial content around and developed a plan for how I will attack my secondary keywords in terms of long-tail phrases and best approach to start getting my initial traffic…and money. It’s all coming together and gelling so nicely.

In this module, Michelle even turns you on to a few more AMAZING plugins that any marketer should be using. These plugins will help you develop  your content and rank, and they give you content that is a Google magnet in more ways than one! I can’t wait to start using them to simplify and enhance my content development!

Using another technique Michelle covers (remember in this site build, I’m only using the steps Mich gives – after it’s all rolling, I’ll probably implement some other techniques but for now, I’m strictly sticking to her process so that you can see how amazing it is), I created another avenue of quickly and easily publishing content that Google will give me some favor points for so it’s totally ready to go and now all I have to do is start using it (which literally takes just a few clicks).

Module 3 is completed and I’m ready to start publishing some content and move on to Module 4 which is the Monetization Station where I’m going to start installing the money!

You can start working on your own niche (new or existing) in Crowd Mountain for $1.  I keep saying this because I can’t stress it enough – whether you’re a new marketer or an experienced one, there’s TONS of value inside.  Not only is the value just ridiculous, but the ‘system’ just makes it that much easier and organized, ensuring that you don’t miss one single step, tool or tip! (If you missed some of the tools included, be sure to check out Day 3′s post or the original “The Most Complete Internet Marketing Course”.)

Please come back for Day 5.  I’m excited to report what fab accomplishments I make next and I want to share them with you!!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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1. Building a Niche Site Step-by-Step Day 3 Woo hoo! Day 3 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain! On Day 1 and Day 2, I did insanely fast idea generation using only the places Michelle told me to use; uncovered my awesome new niche...

Woo hoo! Day 3 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain!

On Day 1 and Day 2, I did insanely fast idea generation using only the places Michelle told me to use; uncovered my awesome new niche and targeted my primary and some secondary keywords; selected my domain using each of the tools Mich recommended (which idea generation led me to another great long-tail keyword I want to use) and purchased my domain.

What I accomplished today:

Today, I actually started and completed the entire Module 2 which is Optimize for Size.  It didn’t take a lot of time to complete but you get more and more stoked as you go and you just don’t want to quit!

Module 2, and my accomplishments for today are:

–> Installing WordPress and customizing the settings to the specifics Michelle gave which will optimize my site for superb keyword optimization and site ranking.

–> Optimizing my ‘on page’ factors to ensure the search engines clearly understand what my site is about and gravitate toward it.

–> Chose some LSI keywords and optimized my site for those.

–> Downloaded the SEO Optimized WordPress Themes Michelle provides and installed a few, chose the one I liked and listened while she explained what an SEO optimized WP theme should contain.

–> Set up my widgets according to Michelle’s specifications (that was super fun and exciting because you can just feel the success as you do this!)

–> Downloaded the huge plugin pack Michelle put together, installed them all and set them all according to the specifications Mich provided. These are seriously plugins you MUST HAVE and setting them up the way Mich directs, yet again, gives you that feeling of success as you do it!

–> Set up my site to look good on mobile phones since more and more people are now searching for information and viewing sites on mobile phones.  I hadn’t thought of this before and it’s really fab advice!  She tells you exactly how to ‘floss’ on a mobile phone!

Now I’m going to move on to Module 3 which is Content Architecture…and once I’ve completed Module 3, I’m halfway through Boot Camp and well on my way to raking in the dough with my new niche site!

If you’re brand new to niche marketing, there’s no possible way you can go wrong with these step-by-step, from scratch to money-making, video instructions.  If you’re already knee deep in niche marketing, I’d still be willing to bet that you can benefit greatly from this course, learn a lot of new things, and pick up some fantastic new tricks along the way…nevermind have access to the exclusive tools like:

• the Snooper (tells you exactly what sites Google is favoring on any given day so that you can link build there);
• the CM Social Bookmarker that automatically bookmarks your URL to assist you with linkbuilding
• the CM RSS Blaster that drips your RSS feed across the web
• the Task Manager which is automatically filled with steps you need to take in building and monetizing your site (you can also add your own tasks and have task managers for all of your sites)
• …and more!

You can join me in Crowd Mountain for $1 and see what I’m fussing about and build your own new niche site, or crank up your existing ones. Come back and see what I accomplish tomorrow!  I’m on a money-making mission and having a lot of fun!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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I was reading the Question/Answer area of LinkedIn earlier and I read a discussion about asking people on LinkedIn to connect with you that you don’t know. Someone on there inferred that they got ‘slapped on the wrist’ by LI for getting too many “I don’t know this person” buttons being pushed on them by sending invites to people they didn’t really know (LinkedIn puts some restrictions on you if too many people that you invite to connect respond that they don’t know you). Now they’re afraid to send invitations to people they really don’t know.

Well, I can tell you the problem….’why’ people are pushing the ‘button‘ on you – because you’re not being social. You sent them the ‘ol generic, canned “I want to add you to my LinkedIn network” message that is automatically inserted when you send an invite.  That’s why you got the “button“.

Understand this, people don’t want to be another number for you.

If you spend just a few extra seconds personalizing your message and telling the person why you want to connect with them, I’ll bet a lot less people push the “I don’t know this person” button.

Let’s face it, most of the people we ‘add’ on any network, we don’t know (except for those of you who seriously only use it for family). That’s the point for many of us – to get to know new people. But, if you ‘warm up’ your potential new buddy, they’ll probably be open to connecting with you. Flattery will get you everywhere. And I’m not talking super kiss-ass flattery necessarily, but flattery by letting them know that you know something about them.  Telling them you share a common interest, telling them you liked their website and why, telling them SOMETHING that lets them know you spent a minute checking them out will usually get your foot in the door.

The whole point of using social networks is to connect with others, for whatever reason, but if you don’t make them feel some sort of connection, you’re likely to get the ‘button‘!

Not everyone is in a race to get as many numbers as possible, and if they feel you’re in that race, they won’t have any interest in you.

I sent a couple of handfuls of connection requests on an account I manage this week.  I believe they’ve ALL connected with me. All I did was tell them ‘why’ I wanted to connect with them. And I didn’t send messages that were paragraphs long, I think the message was maybe 2 or 3 sentences long…but that’s all it takes.

Another perk to taking the social approach to inviting people to connect with you is that when you ‘speak’ to a person, you’ve taken the first step in familiarizing this person with you…and that’s a VERY important step. That step is your first moment of recognition. When you speak to a person, they take notice of you and speak back. And when a person interacts with you, by speaking back or other interactions, they’re much more likely to remember you next time they see you.  Interaction rules.

A few years ago when I was working a 9-5, I worked downtown at a law firm as a paralegal. On my birthday, I got SO many gifts from people at various hotels, restaurants, Starbucks, and shops downtown that I had to have a big box and help to get it all to my car. I don’t say that to brag, I say that to say the reason is because I’m a social person, even offline. I frequented these various places that I got gifts from and I interacted with the people there every time I went in.  I didn’t just go in and do my business and leave. I talked to people, I laughed with them, I complimented them, I asked what was wrong when they were having a bad day.  On my birthday that year, I realized just how much those people appreciated my few minutes of time that I dedicated to them when I saw them. My very basic interactions with them left a huge impression.  It works the same way online.

These days I think more people online wish me a Happy Birthday than offline!

Whether we’re online or off, we’re still people with the same basic needs and the same appreciation of someone’s time and attention.

If you keep that in mind at all times, through all of your ‘social‘ actions, you’re sure to get the attention and recognition you seek.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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It’s a waste of time and the ROI is zero. It’s a passing fad and there’s just nothing there.

I’m on Twitter all of the time, literally. It’s always running in Seesmic in my toolbar, I chat and post throughout the day and night.  I check it first thing in the morning and last thing before I go to bed.

It just drives me crazy when people say there’s no value in Twitter.  YES, people are STILL saying that.  Are you serious? No, sorry buddy, you just don’t know HOW to use it!

Or they say you can’t really build relationships via Twitter. I just have to wonder if they have any relationships in the offline world? If they did, could they possibly still feel this way?

IDK, I guess I’m just at a point where I look at people like they’re from ANOTHER PLANET when they say something like that instead of them looking at me like I’m from another planet because they don’t know what Twitter is (that used to be the case because no one had heard of it but now it’s all over the news, etc. so ppl have heard of it but still don’t ‘get it’…and I have to looked at them in a puzzled manner now, like “really? I’m sorry, what language are you speaking?”)

It’s amazing the many things going on inside Twitter. And I’m not even talking about the breaking news, the ability to order food, the ability to get many different services, or the ability to search for things in real time.

I’m talking about good ‘ol fashioned relationships.

A few minutes ago, my buddy @TerranceCharles hit me up about a fun blog post he had (he does this because I love to comment on Social Media and the like and he knows it so since we’re friends, he knows he can Tweet me and tell me to go read his blog post and I will happily do so because I like what he writes about, it’s all relative to me, and I get visits back from commenting on his site!… and I can, and have, asked for the same attention and ‘partnering’ (win-win situation) for the same reasons.)

We chit chat sometimes, share personal experiences, read and comment on each other’s blogs, discuss products, ask a question of the other, etc. fairly frequently and have been for a while.  We’ve developed a relationship via Twitter.

My buddy @cgw3 hit me up on Twitter earlier to show me a cool new real estate app that one of my previous clients might like.  He frequently stops by to see what I’m Tweeting, chats with me, gives me help, etc. We’ve talked about business, kids, life, illnesses and more.  He was listed in my “Twitter Angel” series because of his generosity in his time and knowledge toward me, which was the way we met on Twitter.  We’ve developed a relationship via Twitter.

@Octane, another referenced in  “Twitter Angel” series, hit me up not too long ago to see how everything was going and find out if I still needed help with something he knew I might need help with previously. We’ve started developing a relationship via Twitter.

@jonharules asked me for my advice on a marketing program the other day.  Not too long before that, she asked me to vote on her blog.  She’s complimented my stuff, just says ‘hey’ sometimes and is a fun lady.  We’ve started developing a relationship via Twitter.

@crobertdillon and I have become buddies via Twitter. We’ve chatted, shared experiences and knowledge, talk about kids and zodiac signs, and are now working on a project together (Yes Mr. Dillon, I know, I haven’t gotten much done this week…I’m getting there!) We’ve developed a relationship via Twitter.

...I also get a lot of references via Twitter.

The list goes on and on. I could sit here and type all night about the various relationships I’ve built, and am building on Twitter.

All of these relationships are valuable in one way or another.

They’re great for:

• getting and giving help with something
• establishing yourself as an authority
• getting traffic
• joint ventures
• various opportunities to get involved with interviews, get talked about or thanked on someone’s blog (hello visibility) and more
• and, in the end, even sales. People who know and like you will likely buy something from you before they will someone else. People who like you will also share your stuff with others just because they like you, whether they personally end up buying from you or not

If you’re on Twitter and not building relationships, you’re just doing in wrong.

If you haven’t, read my Twitter Relationship Tips – Marketing on Twitter article.

Also read Why Social Media is So Effective.

Have any arguments you’d like to present on this or relationship stories you can share?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Okay, Day 2 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain!

You’ll recall, yesterday I did massive, quick, idea generation with the avenues Mich told me to use to uncover my new niche; keyword selection using Michelle’s specific instructions on how to find the “gems”; and found my primary keyword that looks promising for some comfortable money and my secondary keywords.

What I accomplished today:

Okay, so I came with my “gem keyword” in hand. I watched the video Michelle made showing how to do domain selection.  Now, you might think, “Hey, I know how to choose a domain.”  Well, so do I. But Michelle gives some great extra tips and thoughts on how to choose a domain and why.

No matter your level of marketing, you’re SURE to get some good tips, extra things to consider and analyze, etc. on the things you already know.

Whether you’re brand new to making money online and building sites, niche and otherwise; or you’re seasoned, there’s crazy value everywhere around.

I went through every single step Michelle told me to go through since this is about following her teaching step-by-step to build a new niche site. I followed the various steps she demonstrated and came out with a domain I love, it’s simple and to the point, but a perfect match for traffic!

Well, there was actually another phrase – had 1 extra word from my original keyphrase and I liked it! When I thought of that, I went back and got a little more key word market info from it.  But, it just so happens that when I went to register the domain…it was gone! Grrr.  But that’s okay I chose a synonymous action word and figured I’ll still build a page around that phrase later even though the competition is a little sticky.

So I got my domain name; found another phrase I want to focus on later and learned a little more about my market from the keyword research I’d done.

I’m armed and dangerous now! Ready to start building my site and monetizing it!

So, ho hum, I’m waiting for my domain to be set up so I can use it! Otherwise I would have been here with a few more steps to cover.  After I do a little bit of other work, who knows, I might be back tonight!

I’m excited and I’m confident this is going to be a success!

You can  join me in Crowd Mountain which is what I’m using to build (you can try it for $1).  Come see what steps I accomplish tomorrow, I’m stoked and ready to rumble!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Okay, so you know what this series is all about – me building a niche site, from scratch, using the No Marketer Left Behind Internet Marketing Membership site that I’d bet my kids on to be the best around!

For this project, I’m building something OUTSIDE of the Internet Marketing Niche.

So here we go, Day 1 of building my new niche site!

I printed out my Module 1 Worksheet that I will use as I work through each video in the first Bootcamp Module which is “Niche the Niche“.

In this module, we learn how to generate niche ideas, find the “keyword gems”, drill down in keyword research to find the perfect keywords to build a site around and the keywords we’ll use, and select our domain.

What I accomplished today:

1.  I created an insane list of great niche ideas. These are just the ‘scratch the surface ideas – the ones I’ll drill down on to find where the money is. Michelle gives you some great, super easy, avenues to generate ideas from. (You can also use these avenues to generate ideas on creating informational products – which you can give away for free to build your rep and your list; and/or sell to make money on; or both!)

I used the avenues she told me to use and quickly generated PAGES of niches and sub-niches that I can dig deeper into and investigate to find the money. It took me maybe 20-30 minutes to generate several pages of ideas (from which, as we go through the steps, I’ll find the first niche I’m going to build on and then still have tons to pursue as well as some great ideas for information products I can create along the way to help me build).  This is seriously idea generation at its best (you can do SO MUCH with this list!)

I used the 5 top places recommended (one is SO FREAKING SIMPLE and I never thought about it before, it’s totally that ‘duh’ moment) and really I could have generated thousands, literally, of ideas but I limited it to a few pages for now.

2. I narrowed my list down to the top ones I had an interest in pursuing the most at this time.

3.  I narrowed my list down even further to the best choices to start with out of that list using the rating system Michelle provided.  This rating system helps you determine which of those ideas you should start with (the top 2 or 3 to start investigating).

4. From that list, I started my keyword research using the idea that had the highest rating on my worksheet. I know, I know, keyword research – not usually our favorite thing to do but it must be done to find the money and with the keyword research tool we use, it’s almost fun because the results are SO detailed and there are so many ways you can utilize it. I said almost! I’m not going to pretend it’s now my favorite thing to do, but it didn’t seem quite as painful because this is keyword research at its best. And, again it’s a vital step in finding the money – which is the entire point of niche marketing!

I used the video instructions and the keyword tool to drill down into my top level keyword and find other keywords as well as an even better keyword to build the site around.

I discovered the MONEY MAKING words to build my site around and the other keywords I’m going to use within by using the keyword tool to analyze:

• how many times my potential keywords are searched in a day
• the SEO Traffic (the amount of clicks a #1 site for this keyword might achieve)
• the percentage of phrase-match searches out of broad-match searched for my potential keywords
• my SEO competition (how much or how little there is)
• the SEO Title competition (how many ppl using my prospective keywords are using them in the title of their page)
• monthly trends for my potential keywords
• stats on the chances that someone searching for my potential keywords are looking to actually buy vs. just looking for information
• the Adwords value = the dollar value that a #1 Google Adwords advertiser could expect to achieve for this keyword(s)
• the SEO value = the dollar figure value that a #1 ranked site would be for that keyword  (i.e., could expect to make $300/day or $700/day or whatever)

• analysis of my potential would-be top ranked competition for this keyword(s) such as: how old, or new, their site is; what their pagerank is; how many backlinks they have to the main domain; how many backlinks they have to the particular page that is targeting my prospective keywords; whether their sites are listed in particular directories; if ‘our’ keyword is in their page title, URL, description, header; and the number of days since Google last indexed the page.  All of this information gives me great insight to even more details about how competitive a keyword is and how easy or hard it will be to rank highly fairly quickly and start raking in some cash!  It even shows me everything color coded using green, yellow and red so that I can quickly see whether it’s a “go” or “no go” for me.

Here are 2 screenshots from my keyword research that show WHY I’ve chosen this primary keyword to build my site around (showing the stats outlined in the bulleted list above):

This first screenshot shows the keywords I’m looking into (with the orange field being the one I’ve decided to roll with).

Searches = searches per day (higher is better)

SEOT = approximate hits a number 1 listed page could expect (higher is better)

PBR = percentage of phrase match searches out of broad matched searches (higher is better)

SEOC = SEO Competion (Lower is better)

SECTC = SEO Title Competition (Lower is better)

Search = Monthly traffic trends

OCI = Percentage of chance that someone is looking to buy (Higher is better but should be taken into consideration w/other factors)

AWV = daily traffic value, and cost, adwords advertiser in #1 spot might expect

SEOV = daily traffic value #1 spot might expect

So, taking all of these values into consideration, I chose to go with the keyword in the orange field because it has stats that I like, particularly when taken into consideration with the next screenshot which shows my current top competitors.

This next screenshot shows the Top 10 Google search results (my soon-to-be-competitors) and their stats.

DA= Domain Age

PR = Page Rank

BLP = Backlinks to “Page”

BLD = Backlinks to “Domain”

BLEG = Total links pointing to from .gov or .edu

DMZ and YAH = Whether or not site is listed in these directories

Title / URL / Description / Head = whether or not page is ‘on page’ optimized in these areas

CA= How many days ago since Google reindexed the page

Colors: Green is good for ME, Yellow is so-so, Red is not good for ME

You’ll notice there’s a lot of green = good for me; a slight bit of yellow I feel I can overcome; and very little red for me to worry about.  The big yellow caution area- the backlinks to the primary domain isn’t a HUGE concern for me because I can beat them out in the green areas…and get my site listed on some of the sites contained in the actual ‘domain’ part.  The backlinks to the pages (that focus on my actual keyword) I can certainly beat out without an extreme amount of effort.

Using the various keyword stats and taking everything into consideration, I now have the main keyword I’m going to build my new niche site around.  Let’s see how it goes!

So, recap summary – I created a list of tons of niche ideas (containing many others I’ll be looking into in the future too), filtered it down to the best ideas I wanted to check into now, narrowed it down some more using a rating system to pick the top 2-3 I wanted to dig into, chose 1 and started finding the money-making keywords in my first choice niche using DEEP stats that yield results FAR superior to the Google Adwords or Wordtracker keyword tools (I’ve always loved those tools but they can’t give you these kind of results – and you can use the keyword tool we use for free even though there’s  paid version that I recommend purchasing when you can).

As you wrap up this research, you can’t help but to be super stoked about what’s to come!  You know you’ve found the money and you know you’re on your way to achieving success in this newfound niche!

You’re probably wondering about my keywords I’ve found? Can’t tell you just yet, but I promise it will all be revealed as the building continues!

The next thing I’m going to do is choose my domain name according to the steps in the video.

If you want to build with me, you can, just join me in the Internet Marketing Membership Site I’m using to build (you can jump in for $1). We can go through new niches together and even chat in the members only forum!

Or you can continue to watch my progress.  Subscribe to my RSS feed and subscribe via email so you won’t miss a step.  I’d be delighted to share my new niche journey with you!!

I’m excited!  I’ll report back shortly with the next steps I accomplish, the first being choosing my domain name for this niche.

See ya then!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Okay, if you read my post “The MOST Complete Internet Marketing Course” you saw that I doted all over this insanely cheap membership site that literally holds your hand as you find and build a niche site, step-by-step, and the exclusive tools you get access to inside and more.  (Just added a members only forum too so members can “socialize”, get help from each other, share resources and more…we have fun in there!)

Now, what I’m going to do is build a niche site, from scratch, using the steps outlined via video and worksheets inside that membership site AND I’m going to update  you as I go.

1. because I want to make money on a new niche site!
2. because I want to document the success that is TOTALLY achievable by using this blueprint to literally do everything – from finding the money-making niche, to setting up the website, to monetizing it, marketing it and more – ALL ONLY USING THIS INTERNET MEMBERSHIP MARKETING SITE!

So, you can expect to see blog posts that document what steps and achievements I made that day on my way towards building, and making money, from a brand new niche site.  Stay tuned if you want to follow me as I go through it and see just how easy using this site makes it (of course I can’t give you any top secrets, sorry, but my progress will show you that your search for the answer to your Internet Marketing goals is over!)

If you want to make sure you don’t miss a thing, subscribe via RSS and subscribe via email by clicking this link or using the form below where you’ll be notified of my progress and receive other Niche Marketing info, tips and resources (remember, this list is ONLY Niche Marketing specific – if you want all IM & Social Media Connections updates sign up to the main list on the right as well):

I’m excited, so let’s go!!! The next post in this series will be what I accomplished today (the first day I start using step 1)!  I hope you’ll join me as I build a niche site…see you in the next post!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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2. Building a Niche Site Step-by-Step Day 3 Woo hoo! Day 3 of building my new niche site, from idea generation to making the money using only the steps in Crowd Mountain! On Day 1 and Day 2, I did insanely fast idea generation using only the places Michelle told me to use; uncovered my awesome new niche...

I LOVE this new option!

You probably already know this option allows you to automatically have whatever you publish to your Facebook ‘page’ (not profile) to be posted to Twitter for you (*heart, heart, heart*).  But what if you’re posting your blog posts to your Facebook page and you already have something like Twitter Tools installed to publish your blog posts to your Twitter feed?

So.

Let me make something clear.  If your followers are following more than a handful or two of people and you’re not in some sort of “favorites” list where they literally hang on to your every Tweet, it’s probable that many of your Tweets are missed by them. Use this handy FB feature as a “follow-up” Tweet.

Have your blog publish the original Tweet the way you normally do.  Then later in the day, go to Facebook and post the blog post there – which will feed it into your Twitter stream one more time.  (Note, if ALL you feed to Twitter are your blog posts and there’s nothing in between, you might want to skip this but many of us make many posts in between our “Twittered” blog posts…but if you’re doing this, you should reevaluate your Twitter marketing.)

(Additional note: if you’re feeding your FB page with imported blog posts, this will post them too closely together in your Twitter feed so don’t do it this way. This works best for manual FB page posting – might seem like one extra step but I’ve found it works nicely for a little extra exposure in your Twitter feed.)

You’ve now given your post 1 more chance to be seen by your Twitter followers.  (*hint, if you use something like bit.ly to track links, use the same bit.ly link in FB to help you ‘mesh’ link tracking).

OR, if you have more than one Twitter account, do this:

Have your blog automatically publish your blog posts to your primary Twitter account; set up your FB page to import blog posts from your blog; set up your FB page to Tweet posts to your other Twitter account.

For instance, I have a client who has her own personal Twitter page and several other Twitter accounts that represent her various business endeavors. She automatically has blog posts Tweeted to her primary personal account.  I have her FB page set up to import her blog posts and then have them automatically Tweeted to the company Twitter profile that page is related to. Now her blog posts are going to both her primary personal Twitter feed and to her related company feed.  …all with zero extra steps or effort. Now she gets views to her blog posts from both Twitter feeds, automatically.

How  you utilize this feature will depend on your setup and your goals. Everyone has to evaluate their position and various avenues before they decide how to best use this feature (use #1 above works fabulously for my client’s standalone company but use #2 above works best for the multiple accounts stance).  But I would certainly consider determining how it will best benefit you and adding it into your mix; there are a few ways you can tie this in, figure out what will work best for your set up and goals but don’t miss out on this nice little tool.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Yes, I said it and you can hold me to it.  THE most complete Internet Marketing Course.

I’ve been on the block for a while and I’ve seen TOO many junk IM courses, packages, ebooks, whatever and I’ve seen decent courses that just weren’t complete, were missing something, just worked for a moment, just worked if you were focusing on a particular thing, or simply cost way too much for most people to afford.

What I’m about to show you is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before and it’s by an authority in Internet Marketing who makes the big bucks.  It’s by an Internet Marketer who really does want to see people succeed, rather than just wanting to make money off of people.  I’ve never met a person like this in my life.  An absolutely amazing person, genius marketer who really just loves to find out what makes the web tick.  She loves the little behind-the-scenes stuff that most people would really rather not fool with.  She’s very humble and even low-key compared to most other big money-making Internet Marketers.  The lady could afford a fleet of Phantom’s but drives a Ford truck – because it’s not so much the riches she cares about as much as just being comfortable and having a real love for what she does.

Okay, on to what you really want to know about, the course.

This course is literally a step-by-step, hold-your-hand, babysit you ‘class’ on EVERYTHING you need to know to build your website, optimize it, market it, make money and duplicate the process a billion times over whatever your niche and in as many niches as you like.

But there’s a TON more, more than I can really cover here without literally writing a novel about it, but I’ll go farther.

I’m not talking ‘here’s an ebook with the steps you need to take’.  I’m talking a video (although each section does come with a printable workbook) to walk you through every step from exactly how to build your website and optimize it, how to find targeted keywords, how AND where to linkbuild, how to drive targeted traffic, market your site, build on social networks and to break it down even further, let me just list a FEW of the steps and EXCLUSIVE tools you’ll have access to:

• how to find worthwhile ($$$) niches (but can be used for whatever niche you’re currently in too)
• how to find the keywords you can really make money on
• exactly how to do keyword research (in minutes, and I’m not talking with the Google Adwords or Wordtracker tools we all know and love)
• how to select domain names
• how to optimize on-page
• how to implement and analyze stats
• deep linking
• how to optimize for long-tail keywords

….nope, I’m not done.  There’s also:

• how to generate content, get content for insanely cheap, and how and when to use, and not use, PLR content
• monetizing
• finding affiliate partners
• selling your own products
• list building
• utilizing RSS feeds
• leveraging data feeds to make money
• getting media attention
• social marketing

AND you get access to EXCLUSIVE tools NO ONE ANYWHERE has access to like:

• the Snooper tool which tells you which sites Google is currently favoring so you can utilize them (and it updates every time Google does)
• the site’s personal automatic RSS blaster
• the site’s personal automatic bookmarker
• your own personal task manager for managing every single task you need to complete (and for every site you have) – AND if there’s something that doesn’t work anymore, it will automatically be removed from your task list!  And if something new comes along that you need to be doing, it will automatically be added to your task list!
• AND more…AND more…AND more! And I’m NOT exaggerating not one tiny bit.  In fact, I’m still not giving you the entire scoop and that’s a damn long list for it not to cover everything you get inside.

I told you you’ve never seen anything like this before.  You will literally build a site as you work through the program – and you can build site after site after site after site on anything and everything you want…and profit.

On top of the course, you’ll get updated marketing news, tools and resources as things happen.  And you’ll get more and more exclusive tools as they’re built (and there are some more being built right now).  There are also monthly live Q&A sessions to answer all of your questions and they are all recorded and you have access to them all of the time, anytime.

Oh, and you get 10 search engine optimized WordPress themes every month and there are already 5 months worth inside that you get access to.  Nothing on the site goes away (unless it doesn’t work anymore) so you have access to months and months of stuff already.

I made my first marketing money by following this woman’s methods.

And this course is made so that anyone can afford it, it’s not one of those $3000. courses … although it could easily be one (my kids could afford it with their monthly allowance).

So who is it, what is it?  You have to go and find out for yourself.

(and follow me on Twitter to get updates from the site as I’ll publish new stuff to my feed as it becomes available @areaK)…

—> Click here to visit THE system made so simple I plan to introduce my teenager to it. <—

See ya on the other side!  Go now!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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This is  something that really bugs me and it just happened to me, again, so I ran over here to write about it real quick!

Don’t clutter your blog or website with so much information that you overwhelm your reader.

I just left a website that was so cluttered with different information that I quickly ran off screaming and waving my arms in the air (okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but the little person in my head did just that!)  And it might have actually been a decent site! It looked like there may have been some good information there but there was just way too much different content all over the place that I had no idea what was going on and I don’t have the patience to sit down and try to figure it out!  (I’m sure many of us are the same in that we are a bit A.D.D. and if we have to battle to figure out what is what, we’ll just leave instead – which means you potentially lose a reader, a buyer, an evangelist and more)

I’m not going to reference the site because that would just be a total insult.  But, they had 3 columns (and I’m actually a big fan of 3 columns because you can include more information and even have space to include your social stuff, which is important) but it was such an unorganized mess and they had SO MUCH various information in each column that I literally wasn’t even sure the overall purpose/point of the blog.  This is called information overload and it’s NOT a good thing!

Sometimes it’s hard for us to be objective because we know exactly what the purpose is and we know what’s what because we put it all together, but that doesn’t mean that your reader will feel the same way.  Ask a few people to take a look at it for you and give you their thoughts – you’ll be surprised at how much people like to help!  If you’re on Twitter, send out a Tweet asking for opinions,  you’ll likely get some responses.

I understand wanting to have all of your products, ebooks, links, etc. right on the front page in the hopes of getting more sales, readers, downloads and clicks but you’re actually probably reducing those chances when you enter the realm of information overload.  If you have a lot of stuff, try picking a few that you most want clicks on and put them on the front page.  Then spread the other stuff about or add tabs at the top for different products/sections so that people can navigate there and have a very clear view of what’s there.

Be organized, you can get everything you want on your site without it being a total mess (and nightmare for your potential reader).  You don’t have to have it all on one page – and you reduce effectiveness if you try.

Make your pages clean looking, not cluttered like a house that you would walk in and trip and break your neck! Let your readers be focused on whatever the main content is rather than forcing their brain to go in so many directions that they run like hell to get out because it hurts!

Okay, off to continue what I was doing (searching for specific types of blogs – they won’t be on my list because I suffered IO (information overload) during my visit!).

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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YoTwits makes it really easy to add various RSS feeds to your Twitter feed.  Yes, you can use other tools to feed your blog posts into Twitter but this is different.

YoTwits allows you to add many feeds, from many sources, including custom feeds you set up.  You can add feeds from ebay (hello affiliate marketing) or other sites including news, auctions, stocks and more (so you can feed your readers info and products within your niche).

If you have various sites/blogs/profiles that you want to feed RSS from, add them all!  If you post job listings for people, feed them from the sites you use.  If you’re into affiliate marketing, feed products to your Twitter by adding the feeds.  The uses can go on!

The only thing I don’t like is that each post is followed by “via @yotwits”.  Obviously this is for marketing purposes, which makes sense, but is still a little less than desirable because it makes it appear as if ‘they’ are the ones providing the info (which they aren’t, they’re only providing the way to implement the feeds) although not a total deal-breaker. (but maybe they should reconsider an alternative to marketing themselves while allowing you the total credit for the finds since you are the one finding the ‘finds’ and adding them to your feeds)

Here’s their walk-through video of how it works and how the posts appear:

So, if you want to feed different RSS sources to your Twitter profile, here’s a great way to do it.

Til later!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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When I first started getting interested in Internet Marketing, I tried to build my first website in something like Microsoft Front Page I think.  While it was pretty easy to figure out, I just didn’t love it and I wanted to do so much more than what I was able to figure out in there.

My next attempt was Dreamweaver which is a great website builder but there was a lot to learn! So, I decided to try a blog and set up a blogger blog.  It worked decent enough but still not enough flexibility.

Then I found WordPress…nice! I went with wordpress.com at first which is hosted by WordPress.  It had nice functionality and was pretty easy to navigate.  But then I wanted my own domain name! And I wanted even more functionality!

So I switched to wordpress.org which is hosted on your own server.  I bought a domain name for about 10 bucks and started with free hosting  (then I noticed those UGLY ads at the top of my site and switched to paid hosting!).

OMG, once I realized all of the options and flexibility that WordPress gave me, it was GAME OVER!  I was quite convinced that I would never go with any other type of website again!

WordPress is MUCH MORE than just a blog!

It can be utilized as a blog, as a fully functional website, or both!

I can install my choice of thousands of themes, manipulate my site any way I like, manipulate pages, install plugins that do AWESOME things (including helping with SEO, automatic email responses to commenters, and a billion other things), add widgets (like you see on the right side for my social networks, etc.), add forms for a mailing list, and literally anything and everything else I could possibly want to do with my site.  Oh, and I found out how much Google loves wordpress sites! Yessss! Jackpot!!! And it’s all SO easy once you know how to do it.

I couldn’t afford to go hiring website designers, etc. so I needed to know how to do it all myself and WordPress makes it ridiculously simple!

So I spent a bunch of time learning about WordPress and how to set stuff up, manipulate pages/looks/actions, best settings,  etc. I had to do a ton of searches and a lot of it was still learn-as-I-go.  There was nothing out there that just gave it ALL to me in one place.

As time went, I learned more and more by trial and error and by a lot of research.

A couple of years later, I’m totally addicted to WordPress and wouldn’t create a site with anything else if my life depended on it! No freakin’ way!  Too complicated in comparison!

You can make any type of website or blog you want; you can make affiliate sites with it; small business websites; big business websites; your own freelance website; and every other kind of website you want!

And then, @IAC_Heather comes out with an eBook that teaches you everything it took me so long to learn on my own! Thanks Heather, couldn’t ya have been 2 years earlier! (j/k, ya know I love ya!)

No, seriously.  It teaches you everything you need to know from start to finish, to maintaining and marketing it, including:

• how to create your wordpress website
• how to edit and manipulate pages and functions to do exactly what you want
• how to design your website; be your own website designer
• how to be your own webmaster
• how to launch and market your website
• tips and tricks for all kinds of stuff
• and more!

It’s very straightforward and clear-cut.  And with the book you get 6 months of free hosting and a ton of other bonuses like:

• Free consulting with @benkepes (who is awesome! he’s a fab guy and editor of CloudAve.com!)

• 10 free hours of Virtual Assistance from IAC Professionals (who can’t use some free assistance?!)

• 3 month free subscription to IAC-EZ online small business bookkeeping software (THE most amazing bookkeeping software for us number-haters…and even those of you who like numbers!)

• A Sales Funnel Analysis and a Blog Publishing Plan by @aaronhoos (who is also AMAZING.  Aaron is extremely smart, well-rounded and a really cool guy!)

• The Daughter-In-Law Rules eBook – I don’t know much about this one but it looks like a really good read!

• Free Marketing Consulting with @karenswim – who I don’t know personally but I’ve heard a lot of great things about her and her talents!

(I’m not sure if those are all of the bonuses but let me tell you, that’s a WHOPPING amount of valuable bonuses right there – and they will tremendously help you with your website and marketing venture.  You’d have to pay a helluva lot more for any ONE of those services! …and I’d even go so far to say even if you’re a WP wizard, you might wanna get the book JUST for the bonuses!)

Go grab your copy while it’s still half the price it’s going to be! How to Generate More Business from a WordPress Website: A Must Have Resource for Do-It-Yourself Websites

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Okay, today I have been introduced to some great blogs and I must share them!  It’s not everyday that I fall in love with so many things in the same day (or week even)!  And let me tell you, my RSS reader is very SACRED – just as sacred as my inbox, so if you make it to either, then you’ve done something WAY right!  I’m one of those picky people who refuses to let a bunch of clutter fill up my inbox or my reader (I have BS email addresses for BS stuff!).

So, here we go, things you should run, not walk to:

• Tremendous News by @tremendousnews – OMFG, you wanna talk about HILARIOUS! This guy is off the charts.  I have NEVER laughed and laughed and laughed post after post after post…and I’ve seen some funny stuff in my life! This guy should SO be a high-paid comedian (is he?) He talks about all kinds of stuff so ya just have to go check it out! Thanks to @mobileman1 for this find!

• Info Marketing Well, it’s about Info Marketing and it’s EXTREMELY good, fantastic info! I will read this faithfully every day as it pops up in my reader. (not sure if he’s on Twitter, don’t see a “follow me” offhand – but author, if you read this & you’re on Twitter, get that blog socialized!!! – oh yeah, you can hire me haha, oh but that wasn’t a joke) Thanks to @justinbrooke for this jewel.

• Site Fling Blog by @justinbrooke Yep, it’s about flinging (flipping) sites (and also site related stuff like copywriting, etc.) – AKA making money, along with other money-making stuff including affiliate marketing, email marketing, traffic generation…and it’s fab stuff! Keep in mind, I’m very marketing and site savvy and I know junk and BS from NOT junk and BS; you can bank on the fact that I won’t point you to some garbage.  If I says it’s good, then it’s damn good!  Again, I’m picky! (and if it’s garbage, I’ll say it’s garbage, I’m also very direct and outspoken!)

So those are my treasured, value-packed, finds for the day!

Go ahead, check them out!

Anybody got anything to say?

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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I read an article today that I couldn’t agree with more, and raises points that I recently addressed with a client so I wanted to talk about it a bit more.

To start, my story w/recent client:

Client hires me to set up his social networks (there is more to it than just registering and putting up a profile). He provides me with a list of sites he wants a presence on; I make suggestions on his presence and start gathering & requesting information and content (including website location).  Client says he is having the site built and asks for any feedback/suggestions on site info he presented.  I learn that the site is actually a ‘page’ where only a signup form for a newsletter will live.

I quickly started discussing with him why he needs to have an actual website/blog and not just a signup page.  For one, you have to give visitors an f’in good reason to sign up – people are extremely protective of their inbox and don’t just sign up to any and everything just because you want them to.  You need to be delivering value and you can’t very well do that with nothing more than a signup page.

For two, where are you going to send your visitors via these social networks – just to another social network where you can only provide a certain amount of value and information about yourself/services/etc.?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg on why you need a site/blog.

He did take my advice and decide to set up a website rather than just a ‘page’.  I believe his success will be far greater since he has done so and the options for his business are multiplied.

You can be on social networks all day but you need to have a place for visitors to really see what you’re about and what you deliver, and engage them via various resources and content.  It doesn’t have to compete with giants like Microsoft or anything; it just needs to be a place for your visitors to “visit” you.

Social networks are an avenue for you to connect with people and vice-versa, you can create awareness and drive traffic through them, but you need to have a place to drive it!

As a sidenote to that: it’s as simple as just setting up a WP blog.  [oh yeah, I'm for hire for that, I don't do just 'social networks/media', blogs are social too =)]

Now, take a look at the article that prompted this post which discusses 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business.  (errr, but don’t forget all about my little post here after you venture over there!)

If you’re not yet utilizing Social Media for your business, what are you waiting for?  Would love to hear why you haven’t made the implementation yet?

I would also love to hear the successes those of you using it have had, big or small – no matter the size, all success is SUCCESS!  Are you getting more traffic; are you  making more sales; has  your reputation grown; are you making connections; gaining partners?  What’s your success?

TTYS!

Social Media Maniac,
@areak

P.S. -  my “Why Social Media is So Effective” post talks about why people are connected to SM the way they/we are.

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I forget about this sometimes too, and I am realizing a lot of people either aren’t aware of the change or forget like I do.

A couple of months ago Twitter removed a function it felt was confusing (I disagree. Hell many people are confused by Twitter period and they just need to learn it.). Before, when you typed something like:

@phillymac you rock! (and he really does!)

users that follow me but don’t follow @phillymac would still see my @reply to him. Now they won’t.

I personally think this sucks. While I see one side of freeing up what could be considered “clutter” in your Twitter stream, it also takes away a very valuable aspect of being able to join in conversations and follow new people that your fellow Twitterers might be conversing with.  This is how I ended up following a number of people and engaging with them. I would see one of my ‘friends’ replying to someone and if it peaked my interest I would go check that person (and oftentimes their side of the convo) out. Now I can’t =(

It was also cool because by gaining interest in others this way, it allowed for more people to connect within a circle.  For instance, if @nichelady (such an energetic, sweet, young lady that simply radiates personality right through your screen) was @replying someone and I decided to check that person out, follow them, and get in the conversation, then there becomes a group of us all connected.  And the wack thing is that you could turn this option on and off – eerrr, hello, confused people just turn it off.

Twitter called it an “undesirable feature”. Um, undesirable to who? Oh yeah, the confused people who don’t really understand Twitter in its entirety anyways. Not undesirable to those of us who understand the many ways to utilize various features, guess we don’t count because we account for a lower percentage than the former.

Anyways, this means that certain things lose some of their value.  For instance, #followfriday was a nice way to recommend people to be followed to users not following them. Well, if you start your Tweet with @username, it’s almost a waste now.

SO REMEMBER, IF YOU WANT OTHER PEOPLE TO SEE YOUR @REPLY TWEET, DO NOT START IT WITH @USERNAME

For something like #followfriday, you could start that Tweet with #followfriday instead of an @username like many people still do. Hell, for that matter, I might start preceding some of my @reply Tweets with a “.”! Why, because I might be having a convo with someone that another person might be interested in or have a comment on. If I want to only converse with a particular person, yeah, hello Direct Message.

@Twitter I’m going to need you to get it together and I don’t want to hear about how you’re a “free service”.  Don’t even get me started, please. You’re too big to do things like have the crappy customer service you have. Seriously. I haven’t been showing up in Twitter search for MONTHS and I’ve been asking for help for MONTHS and I keep getting the same STUPID boilerplate email response even though I specify that I’ve already gotten that dumb response 50 times, don’t fit into any of the criteria it mentions and beg for human help. *End rant of such a huge company having the poorest customer service on the planet*

Back to the point, so remember that Twitter has taken away this valuable, desirable, feature and craft your Tweets with that in mind.

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Man, it’s been a long time since I did a “What They Said” post! And I think a couple of them had something to do with Alejandro Reyes and Michelle MacPhearson LOL. But hey, if you’ve got something good, you’ve got something good!

So anyways, Alejandro did an interview with Michelle and she talks about:

(quote from Alejandro’s blog)

- How to bounce back from a major setback
- Michelle talking about the “Lifestyle” that she has been able to create
- How you can still do what you’re passionate about even when you’re not excited about a certain niche (this was the “Aha” moment for me – 25:01)
- How to use Social Media from an SEO standpoint (gives a GREAT how-to)
- If the corn removal market is a good niche to get in
- What 2 things kept Michelle going as an entrepreneur

It’s a good interview with, as always, valuable information from Michelle.  Michelle is my mentor and good friend and was my ‘proof in the pudding’ years ago of what could be accomplished utilizing Social Media.

One of the great points she addresses is about managing a social presence. She mentions that you should only choose 2 or 3 to be active on while still having a presence on other networks.

This makes everything manageable because there’s no way, unless you have a team that’s doing a lot of it for you, that you can be active on 10, 15 or more but you certainly should be able to be found there.  Consider those sites as ‘hub pages’ of sorts, to be utilized to drive people to your website (if they were searching for something you offer) or to drive them to the networks you’re more active on (and to give your links some juice).

Check out the podcast here: Michelle MacPhearson Interview with Alejandro Reyes on Social Media.

You can follow Michelle (highly recommended) at @michellem and Alejandro (also recommended) at @successfool

Enjoy!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Okay, so I just saw something I really liked.  First, the run down of how I came across this.

I needed a second opinion on something I was working on for a client so I sent out a Tweet saying:

could a website PRO spare a few minutes for me please? Got an issue I need to quickly discuss. =)

I didn’t get an immediate response so 2 days later I sent out another Tweet,

Still need to chat a moment with a website pro please?! Few questions? I’ll do something nice for you =) Anyone?

(Mind you, I could have pursued my need more aggressively but it wasn’t dire at that second to get an answer)

@cgw3 quickly responded offering his web consulting help.  Thanks so much Carl (a Twitter Angel)! We chatted, I got the help I needed, and he referred me to @octane for further website assistance and for following on Twitter.  So I followed him, and went to check out his site by clicking the link in his Twitter profile.

I was pleasantly greeted by a page specifically created for visitors coming from Twitter! He immediately introduces himself to you and breaks down his Twitter name, his follow policy, and his thoughts on Twitter = fan-freakin-tastic! I love it!  (matter of fact @Octane, I’m probably going to jack you for this!)

It’s a great idea.  You should always have a link to your website or a social profile in your Twitter profile but this is even better!  You personally invite your Twitter visitors, give them a quick rundown about yourself and invite them in!

And this gives me yet another time to harp on Twitter! I’ve met yet another fantastic guy, who I had never spoken to before who offered up his help to me – @cgw3 and am in the process of meeting someone else who looks to be fabulous and who I must commend for his personal Twitter intro – @octane !

I have met some awesome people via Twitter for every venture, personal and business.  …nevermind the insane resources I’ve found there …or the website visitors I get from there …need I go on? Yay Twitter!

Twitter visitors want to know who you are.  Tell them!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Here’s a tip to help people in the Twitterverse know a little about who you are/what you do just from your Tweets – consistently, and not from the words you typed in the Tweet.

In the “real name” field under “settings”, use a descriptive phrase (must be short because you are only allowed 20 characters.  Then when you Tweet, people will see this phrase/tag.

_

For example, mine is “Karen J-Social Media”.  I have included my real name because I do want people to know my name, but I’ve also included “Social Media” because that’s what I’m into.  So, my Tweets look like this to other people:

Now, if you’re already using your real name as your Twitter name (which is a good idea, I was already all over the social sphere as “areaK” so I kept it consistent) you could even consider omitting your real name from that field altogether and use those 20 characters for your slogan, tagline, or description.

When you initially Tweet someone who is not already familiar with you, they will instantly know something about you and your field; and, others will always be reminded when they see your Tweets.  Someone may not need something you offer today, but they might tomorrow, and if you are consistently reminding people of what you do, you might better your chances of them calling on you when they do need your service.

Use this little Twitter tip to consistently market yourself =)

Happy Tweeting!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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OMG, I have found my saving grace in backing up my hard drive!

How many times do you tell yourself “I need to backup my computer”? I know I used to tell myself that ALL OF THE TIME.  Then about a year and a half ago, disaster struck! I was on the computer and all of the sudden it shut down and smoke, yes smoke, started coming out the side of my computer =(  Talk about heartbroken and frantic!

Mind you, I work from home.  I work with clients, I am a member of various affiliate programs, I have several blogs, I have a lot going on and a lot of info stored on my computer.  My client files, my personal files, my affiliate and blog info and notes, my irreplaceable pictures, and a whole helluva lot more.

Lucky for me, my computer guys ROCK and were able to recover some of my data, but not all of it.  I had to rebuild most everything and it was a nightmare.

So since then, I kept telling myself to buy an external hard drive and frequently back everything up.  Welllll, all I did was kept telling myself that. I kept meaning to but I just never got around to it.

Last month, my computer was struggling to boot up.  OMG, PANIC  MODE! I was praying…PLEASE don’t let this happen to me again; and kicking my self in the ass – girl you KNEW better, you’ve been through this before.  SO MUCH work on the computer, all of my stuff for my upcoming site and social media program, everything, please NO.

I got the computer to boot up (thank you God) and quickly started looking for ways to save my files in case it crashed.  Because I wasn’t sure how much time I had on the computer, I even started dumping stuff on my server to save it in the meantime.

Then I remembered a company from Twitter, yeahhhh Twitter (man, I heart you so much Twitter, you’ve hooked me up so many times!). Mozy.

Mozy is an online backup system. And you don’t even have to remember to back up – exactly what I need. It truly is set-it-and-forget-it. My files are autmatically backed up every 12 hours.  The initial backup takes a while but after that it detects new and edited files, and only backs them up so it’s quick and I never even notice it backing up in the background.

And it’s cheap – my favorite.  Home users get unlimited storage for $4.95/mo.  Businesses with multi-users pay a little more but it’s still very inexpensive and totally worth it.  Now I don’t worry about losing anything or having to remember to back up.  Mozy has my back.  You never know when something can happen to your computer causing you to lose years of valuable data and files.  They say 1 in every 10 hard drives crash every year, you don’t know when you’ll be that 1 in 10.  I was that 1 in 10 not that long ago.

A little more about Mozy:

• Awarded the prestigious PC Magazine Editors Choice Award for online backup
• Open and locked file support
• 448-bit blowfish encryption with private key support
• Automatic or scheduled backups
• Block-level incremental backups
• Mac Client
• Everything is stored offsite so you’re secure if a natural disaster or something crazy happens that could affect your external hard drive

Run, don’t walk, over to Mozy and have peace of mind knowing that you  never have to worry about your files again!

You rock Mozy!

Update: I have been using Mozy for a couple of months now and let me tell you, every time I see that little box that pops up to tell me my files have just been backed up (I have it set for every 12 hrs because I do a lot of work/create-edit & lot of files daily), I just feel this wave of satisfaction and relief! (I have lost everything before & that’s a sick feeling so this really puts my mind at ease!) It’s the best $5/mo I spend!!!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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I saw via my search stats that a couple of people visited my blog from the search terms “twitter contest ideas” and I briefly touched on this in one of my previous blog posts but not in a ton of detail so let’s talk about it!

Contests rule.  People love free stuff! I have entered a number of Twitter contests, and won a Starbucks (YUMMY) card from @TheWizardOfOne’s Twitter contest a month or so ago (thanks again, you rock!)

So the fab thing about Twitter contests is that you always have to follow the host and RT their Tweet about the contest – which means the host gets more exposure and new followers.  I’ve seen people gain MASSIVE amounts of new followers due to Twitter contests.  And, again, I enter them frequently.  Why not, I love free stuff too!

So what should you give away?  The possibilities are endless.  Of course, you have to take into consideration what you can afford.

Here are some ideas.  Some of them are obvious, some of them are high-end, and some of them are cheap (and that’s okay! people love free stuff whether it’s $10 worth of free stuff or $1k worth of free stuff)

• Money
• TV, Digital Camera, Digital Video Recorder
• A book – a GOOD book, a real book or an extremely valuable ebook (no junk please).  Ebooks should be avoided unless they just totally rock per the rest of the world, and not just you.
• A gift card – Starbucks is popular, WalMart, Amazon, ITunes, an online store, etc. It can be for $10 or $1000…anywhere in between, or more
• A free service – free subscription to your online service or program;  or xxx amount of free hours of your service (virtual assistant services, social media services,  website or blog services, whatever you do) – just something that’s normally paid for
• Free gifts – i.e., if you hand-make some sort of crafts or jewelry, etc.
• An ipod, MP3 player, cell phone, game system
• A computer, laptop or netbook
• A trip
• Pay for a service for them even if it’s not your service, i.e. buy them 6 months or a year’s worth of an online data backup service or something

The possibilities are endless.  It can be most anything that has some sort of value.  Grab a prize or get creative.

The contestants will have fun, the winner will love you, you’ll get more followers and more exposure and everyone’s happy!

Please share your Twitter contest ideas and let us know of any rocking Twitter contests that are currently going on!

@JohnChow and @Clickbooth are currently running a $5000 contest. (hell yes I entered it!

Social Media Maniac,
@areaK

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Yesterday I tweeted,

“Social Networking Tip: Don’t join EVERY group on the planet! Be selective and actually utilize the ones you are part of,”

and a few people took interest so I thought I would talk a bit more about it.

I noticed this before, but yesterday I was just like “seriously?” I know someone who joins practically every group they get an invite or recommendation for.  Groups in different languages, groups they cannot possibly have an interest in; any and every group, doesn’t matter.  FAIL WHALE!

For what? What’s the purpose? How can you possibly effectively participate and/or market in all of those hundreds of irrelevant groups?

Just because a group exists doesn’t mean you have to be a member. Be selective and join groups that you really do have an interest in and/or groups that would be prime for you to network in considering your business; and utilize those groups.

Instead of spending your time joining every group on the planet, UTILIZE the relevant groups that you’re part of. Just BEING a member does nothing for you.  People aren’t going to come looking for you (well, a few might; or they might friend you if they find you in the group so they can increase their friend count) but you have to put yourself out there and BE SOCIAL.

You have to:

• spend time in your groups
• join in discussions
• introduce yourself to people
• start your own discussions
• comment in various areas of the groups with your 2 cents
• BE SEEN and HEARD!

EXISTING IS NOT ENOUGH!

Social Networks are very valuable but you must:

• be social
• strategize – how can you get people to notice you and interact with you?
• realize that relationships rule over numbers in this game

Your results will be much better.

So stop joining every single thing that’s put in front of you and “Just Say No” if it’s not relative to you. Thinking that if you are part of 5k groups, you’ll have massive attention is just all wrong; you’ll be so lost in the shuffle.

Sure, join plenty of groups, don’t get me wrong; just, again, make sure they are relative, preferably in your language, and keep them manageable so that you can effectively utilize them. …and don’t spam groups with messages that don’t fit the group – no one cares and you just wasted your time when you could have spent that time doing something effective.

Be picky!!!

Social Media Maniac,

@areaK

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Many of you have probably noticed the new Twitter User Interface released a couple of days ago with changes to ‘following’ and ‘followers’.  It’s pretty cool, I love that they are working toward making things better.

It looks like this:

I’ve heard a couple of moans and groans saying that they wish Twitter would have spent that time fixing their servers and capacity issues.  Let’s just look at it as the glass being half-full okay?  They’re working on a lot of things, let them be and enjoy what you have right now.  It’s not that bad.  Frankly, I use a Twitter client and it seems to make me not notice many of those issues or be affected by them.  Don’t ask me why, I haven’t bothered to ask why or check, I’m content.  I can tell the difference in a lot of things when I use the web vs. a client.

Anyways, that was my mini-violin playing in the background for a second.

So, the changes.  Twitter now offers a bit more information about a user so that you can glance over your pages and know where someone is located, what their last tweet said and how long ago it was, and even gives you the options to mention and direct message the person (in addition to the other pre-existing features.

What I would like to see is their bio on that screen.  Because while the changes are ‘nifty’ and moving in the right direction, you still have to visit their page to see ‘who’ they are (by checking out their bio).

This would allow us to know how relative a person is to us – because as you all know from reading my Twitter Relationship Tips, I’m a “selective follower”.  I don’t just auto-follow everyone back that follows me.  It’s just my personal preference and my way of putting the people in my Twitter stream that I am interested in, or who are really interested in me and have shown some type of engagement (even if it’s just to say hi), who share my fields, etc; and, my way of not filling up my stream with the people who really don’t care a thing about me, don’t care what I do or say, and only followed me to get me to follow them so they could sell me something and probably not even provide any interesting Tweets or info, etc.

I’m NOT complaining, I know I just played my violin for someone else, but this is just something I would like to see and hope they will consider in the future.

Then you could basically get a full glimpse of a person right on that screen.

That would make it fab for me to be able to just go to my ‘followers’ page and glance over it so that I can quickly choose the ones that may not have yet engaged with me but that look like they would deliver Tweets that I would be interested in, or people that I may want to talk to about something in particular (network with someone that is in my field, etc.).

But by seeing people’s last Tweet, you might catch a few spammers earlier! Like those ones that only send out @username @nextusername @anotherusername @anotherrandomusername Tweets – yeah you can block them real quick!

And I have already caught a few ‘last Tweets’ that prompted me to visit a particular user’s page.

So, that might be a hint to be mindful of what your last Tweet is! Keep it good and interesting folks!

Anyways, just my thoughts on the changes.  I *heart* you Twitter and while I would like to see some specific changes, I know you’re working on becoming bigger and better so I’ll just hold my half-full glass and keep getting my Tweet on in the meantime!

Signed,

Social Media Addict

@areak on Twitter

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