Everyone is talking about social networking, and many claim social networking to be the panacea for all of your marketing ills. Marketing on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can help you boost the size of your email list and help you grow your business. The key to success with this strategy is making sure that members of your target market are in your network.

Facebook is very strict and very particular about how its participants contact each other. Facebook limits the number of new invitations that can be sent in a given day or week. The exact number is a Facebook secret and unknown to the public, but if you exceed this secret amount you can get booted from Facebook. However, I think if you stick with no more than 10 per day, you will probably stay within their limits. Secondly, you are permitted only 5000 friends in Facebook, so if you're successful in this strategy, you may ultimately need to create a waiting list of friends.

How do you find your target market in Facebook? Whether you're an experienced social networker or just a newbie, here are 10 secrets to growing your target market network in Facebook:

1. Update-to-date profile and/or Fan page: Before you begin a "friending" (i.e. request to become another's friend), be sure that your profile is up-to-date with an accurate description of what you do, your interests, and your contact info, including your web site URLs. If you have multiple businesses, invite people in your appropriate target market to become fans of your niche-specific fan page.

2. Follow the gurus. Follow leaders in your field/industry and "friend" them. Anytime you make a friend request, include a personal note, as that will improve the likelihood that they will accept your request. Say something like, "I'm a big fan and have been on your ezine/blog list for several years. I'd love to have you in my network in Facebook." Once they have accepted your invitation, make comments about their status updates to help you get on their radar and in front of their networks.

3. Friends of friends. Take a look at the people in the network of your industry leaders, as they are probably part of your target market as well, and send friend requests to those of interest to you. When you friend someone that you only know by association, send a personal note as well, like "I discovered your profile in <name here>'s network and would like to get to know you better by adding you to my network."

4. Use groups. Look for groups that may contain your target market. In your search for groups, use keywords that describe your niche, your industry, your geographic area, the interests of your target market, or whatever other terms you might use to find members of your target market. Join and begin to participate in the group so that they begin to get to know you. Then peruse the member lists for good prospects, sic as the members you've connected with or have gotten to know. Since you won't be able to view the profiles of the group members because they aren't in your network, much of your decision-making about whom to friend may be based upon appearance or how you might be connected to them via other friends in your network.

5. Check your lists. Friend people that you already know from your high school, college, alumni associations, and places of employment if they fall within your target market definition.

6. Facebook-recommended friends. Facebook typically recommends friends based on your current friends list when you log into your profile. I've found these recommendations to be pretty solid. Take them up on their recommendation and add those folks to your network.

7. Add by interest or industry. Do a people search by job title, industry, geographic location, or interest. Those people with those terms in their profile will show up in your search, and you can request to add them based on common interests.

8. Build the relationship. Once you friend someone, you need to begin to get to know them and start them on the like, know and trust journey so that you become their top-of-mind expert in a particular area. Begin building the relationship by posting a quick "thank you" note on their wall, as well as a comment about something on their profile that interests you or in which you have in common. Watch for their status updates, as well, and comment on these when appropriate.

9. Create a group. Once you've got about 500 followers, create a group for your target market. Provide the group with useful content and ask questions to stimulate discussion and get the members to return to participate in the group. You can post articles, links to blog posts, or videos you have created. Invite group members to any free virtual or face-to-face events you're hosting.

10. Integrate into your plan. No marketing strategy works unless you consistently implement it over time. As a newbie to Facebook, you might want to spend as much as 60 minutes per day researching friends and participating in groups. As your network grows, you many spend only 15 minutes 3 times per week on Facebook. The key to success is to put this strategy on your calendar and make it a routine part of your ongoing Internet marketing tasks.

While social networking is an inexpensive marketing tool and can be effective in helping you grow your business, maintain your other marketing strategies, as well, and simply add this strategy to your marketing mix. A well-rounded Internet marketing plan that includes social networking and is implemented consistently will mean that your prospect well won't ever run dry.

 

By Donna Gunter, OnlineBizU.com

        

How to Collect Money Online

PayPal, merchant accounts, shopping cart software -- what should a new online retailer choose to use?

As buyers, we are all too familiar with those little shopping cart icons on our favorite shopping sites. But, not all shopping carts are the same. It may seem that way for the person making the purchase. For the company on the other end of the transaction, the story is much different.

When a customer makes a credit card purchase in a bricks and mortar store, he or she swipes their card to initiate a secure electronic transaction. This is called a point of sale system. In the online world, a payment gateway is the equivalent of that. The solutions available to facilitate those transactions range from one-click simplicity to the Byzantine. It all depends less on the payment gateway itself and more on which gatekeeper (merchant account provider) is chosen.

Types of merchant account providers

“For any small business starting up, the easiest way to go is PayPal. They’ve been around a long time and most likely your customers already have a PayPal account, which is a huge advantage.” says Michael Miller, author of Choosing an Online Payment Service: Google Checkout vs. PayPal (Pearson Education, 2007).

Turn key solutions like PayPal or Google Checkout may seem like the obvious choice for the new online seller. But there’s another alternative: dealing directly with a credit card processor. Most credit card processing companies typically offer bundled in services like back end integration with your website and the shopping cart navigation. However, the costs charged back to the merchant can vary wildly; sometimes cheaper than the turn key providers, sometimes much more.

Brenda Mize, owner of Beacon’s Glow, an online collectibles store and her newer ecommerce venture, The Toy Bench, skipped right over turn key merchant account services like PayPal and Google Checkout and started out with a credit card processor. In the five years that she’s been in business, she’s never looked back.

“We’ve never had one bad transaction. Our Web designer picked out the credit card processor, who waived all the up front fees. Customer service has been great. We’ve even been able to negotiate lower percentage rates. We never even considered PayPal. Their fees were astronomical when we started,” says Mize.

Miller would consider Mize an exception to the rule who cautions smaller businesses, especially those just starting out, to avoid credit card processors. “It’s very complex. With a credit card processor, fees can vary. Make sure you shop around,” says Miller.

Clearly opinions are divided when it comes to weighing all options. Here’s a look at some of the more popular solutions and the advantages and disadvantages therein.

Turn key merchant account providers

PayPal charges 2.9 percent of the sale price, plus 30 cents per transaction. It used to be much higher in their earlier days. PayPal has more than 60 million customers worldwide, operating in 190 countries. A major part of its customer base comes from its parent company, eBay. However, it’s not just the merchant account provider of choice for small businesses. Delta Airlines, CompUSA, and Overstock.com are just some of the large companies that use PayPal. “Five years ago, there was a stigma that PayPal didn’t look professional. Now it’s so popular, it’s ubiquitous,” says Miller.

• Advantages: PayPal can be as simple as embedding one click from your site to theirs to complete the sale. However, it’s scaleable too. Merchants can integrate the entire shopping cart process within their own site. It only takes about a week to set up an account and get it up and running.
• Disadvantages: Although distribution of funds back to the merchant is immediate, it is also manual. Meaning, it doesn’t happen until the merchant clears his account. PayPal then takes its cut and transfers the rest to the merchant. Miller cautions businesses to clear their accounts on a daily basis. “PayPal, especially, is very consumer friendly. So, if there’s a dispute, they tend to take the customer’s side. It doesn’t happen often, but PayPal has been known to freeze accounts until a dispute is resolved and that means everything in the account. You don’t want to risk money from other sales getting tied up in the event of a customer dispute,” warns Miller.

Google Checkout charges 2 percent of the sale, plus 20 cents per transaction. It’s a much younger service than PayPal, less than two years old and only been operating abroad for about a year. Because it’s Google, one can expect its growth to make quick gains on Pay Pal’s market share.

• Advantages: “Google Checkout is pretty much the same system as PayPal,” says Miller. However, its percentages and fees are slightly lower. Additionally if a business is already using Google Adwords, those fees are reduced, if not waived altogether. “They’re clearly using Google Checkout to drive business to Adwords,” says Miller.
• Disadvantages:  Fewer people are using it than PayPal, so there’s the risk of more lost sales from first time buyers who don’t want to bother opening a new account. Though not measurable, there is also plenty of anecdotal information from former merchant account holders online complaining of technical glitches ranging from incomplete sales, funds collected by Google and then not distributed back to the merchant, poor communication notifying merchants of a sale, etc. Whether the complaints are valid or significant, perception is reality and a dicey reputation online is reason enough for merchants to think twice before they bite on that lower rate.

Volusion is a much smaller (and newer) player in this market, with only 10,000 accounts to date. Percentage rates per transaction start at 2.17 percent of the sale   with no additional  transaction fees. This is a company to watch. Here’s why:

• Advantages:  It’s the only ecommerce solution that integrates with MySpace and Facebook, to date. Instead of that 20 to 30 cent transaction fee per sale, Volusion offers a flat monthly fee based on the number of products for sale on your site, ranging from $20 to $100 a month.
• Disadvantages: No one’s heard of it. That 2.17 percent taken out for the credit card companies is a teaser rate. No word on how high that rate can go.

Credit card processors

There are too many companies out there to mention. However merchants basically have two ways to go: dealing with the financial institutions itself or hiring a company to do it for them negotiating the best rates and using its own economy of scale to do so.

“Your bank is probably the worst place to go. You will always get the worst rate there,” says Miller.

Miller, whose wife works for a credit card processor (in the spirit of full disclosure), offers the following advantages and disadvantages to going this route:

• Advantages: There’s the potential of negotiating a lower rate, especially as the business grows selling in higher volume. Many sellers, like Mize, simply feel it looks more professional to have a customized cart than a PayPal or Google Checkout button on a site. “We also have a SSL certificate button on our site. I think it helps give our customers peace of mind,” says Mize.
• Disadvantages: Rates vary and can go up without warning, depending on the contract. There are often up front costs and monthly fees. No two merchant account providers are alike. Business owners really have to shop around for the best deal. “It’s very complex,” says Miller.

One last piece of advice for online merchants shopping around for a credit card processor, some of the likely places to get the best deals include: trade organizations, co-ops, buying groups, even Costco or Sam’s Warehouse.

By Renee Oricchio 

Inc.com article

        

You have no doubt noticed the abundance of PPC ads when you're online. And when you perform a search on most search engines, there are tons of links at the top or side of the results list that are different from the rest.

What differentiates these ads from each other? What costs more? What offers the best results? The answers are in the testing of your particular ad. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't let anyone else fool you.

You bid to have your site link displayed on the results page for that particular keyword search. Depending on the search engine you use, either the highest bid or the best performing link will be displayed first on the page.

You pay the amount of your bid every time someone is directed to your website by clicking on the advertised link. It doesn't get any more straightforward than that.

The cost of Pay per Click advertising

Depending on the search engine you use, you may have an initial deposit when you open your Pay per Click account of around $50, and a minimum monthly spend of around $20. Your bid amounts will depend on your chosen keywords.

The bidding system means that the more popular keywords will end up being very expensive. Keep a careful record of what you are spending on PPC advertising as the costs can quickly mount up and you can end up paying more than you are making.

The following simple calculation will help you decide what you can afford to pay for Pay per Click advertising.

PPC Revenue
------------------- = Revenue
PPC Visitors

To get the most out of Pay per Click advertising, bid on as many keyword phrases as you want to afford. Consider less popular keywords that are more targeted to your potential members, and which will command a lower price per click-through.

Monitor and analyze your Pay per Click results carefully. Look both at which keywords are getting you visitors and which of these visitors are actually signing up to your membership site, or buying a product from you. Focus on the keywords that are getting you the most sales rather than the most visitors.

If you are using PPC advertising extensively it may be worth using a bid management system, or even employing a bid management company to manage your advertising campaign. This will ensure you are not spending more than you are making, and will help you to focus on the keywords that are generating valuable, targeted traffic to your site.

Researching Your Keywords

Do this correctly and you'll be able to drive hoards of very targeted visitors to your sites instantly.

Here's a method you could use to discover the ads that are working and where to put your ads.

Type in one of your best keywords into Google.com search and look at both the natural results that come up as well as the paid results that appear.

Visit the top 10 - 20 sites that come up in the natural results and see if they also have google ads on them. If so - you should copy and paste those urls in a notepad or doc for your natural search research, I'll explain why shortly. Only write down the urls that also have google ads on them.

Then take a look at the top and right side paid results and either take a screen shot or just copy and paste the ads into a notepad. This will be your paid ad research notes.

Do the above for as many keywords are you want to use yourself for your ppc campaigns.

Now, come back the next day and do the same process on the same keywords. Do this daily or maybe every couple of days if you like over a period of several weeks.

What are you looking for? You are looking for consistencies.

First of all, keep your eye on the natural search results if those same top 10-20 website urls keep appearing everytime in the same order or if they are changing. Reason is sometimes a site can get ranked #1 or #2 for a keyword right away but then dropped down after a few days or weeks.

What you want to find are the sites that have good page rank and are consistent with natural search results for your keywords. Now what you want to do is go into your Google Adwords account and set up a campaign - simple yes? But here's the key, instead of just setting up a campaign in niche market categories you are going to set up campaigns where you control the exact url your ad will be shown on.

Following me where this is going? Remember that list of natural search result that also display Google ads you have? Now is the time to use it. You simply use the Google Adword options to set up specific urls for your ad. Not just the domain but the exact url which could be an inner page with content directly related to your keyword.

Now your ads will only be shown on highly targeted content pages that you control. Meaning you now have highly targeted ads set up and if they are on very popular sites such as say CNN, Entrepreneur.com, or the New York Times etc you could instantly send hundreds or even thousands of visitors to your sites.

Now, part 2, back to those paid ad research results you have jotted down in your notepad. Again, you are looking for consistent ads which keep appearing all the time for your keywords. Most likely those ads are profitable (unless the owner just likes losing money or something) so you could model your own ads after those that seem to be working well.

Just change the niche words around and more than likely you can use very similar phrases in your ads. By doing this you are setting your ads up for potentially higher click thrus.

Doing this along with the targeted ad campaigns and you can be sure to expect some heavy traffic to your sites.

by Jeremy Gislason

        

Whenever we access the Internet, our browser displays two types of content on the world wide web — text content and graphics content. Text content downloads quickly and your web page usually fills up with text content in a matter of seconds. If the page is inundated with graphic images, the story can be entirely different.

The Graphics Bottleneck

Downloading images from hosting servers takes time and slows down your system. So while it looks nice to a designer, your site visitors and potential customers may get irritated. Flash animations, for instance, generally require a Flash player which the software company, Adobe, makes available to all as a free and regularly updated download. If you don’t have the Adobe Flash Player on your system, you will have to download it. Newbie designers tend to use a substantial number of images when they design a website. Images are important but it is the overall import of the page which matters ultimately.

The Image Adages

Most major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves and others cannot process and index images that easily. What they may do is process the caption below the image which is in text format and index it. You can use keywords within the text of captions so that search engines index the captions. This would be a smart way of drawing attention if the image loads fast and is attractive to view.

Image File Formats on the Internet

There are two popular formats to store graphics. These are the Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) and the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG). The GIF format is good for minor animation while the JPEG format is used for static images.

For web applications, the GIF files are best saved around 72 dots per inch or DPI. If you save them at 144 DPI, then some systems will not reproduce them well. Similarly, JPEG files are best saved at around 600 x800 DPI. Saving them at higher resolutions may result in poor reproduction in some systems.

Editing and Cropping your Web Images

If you have created a CD with multiple images, it is possible that you would have used a very high resolution to generate your graphics. You should not transfer it to your website without editing it. You should edit the images to reduce the resolution or the visual quality of the images transferred to the web may be very poor.

The Balancing Act with Images

When you are creating a page with images, remember to ‘balance’ the page. This is in terms of placement of images and your color scheme. Careful creation of images on your website will have two benefits. Firstly, the download speeds will improve. Secondly, the images and overall page will appear more attractive.

The Alternate Tag or Alt Tag

There is yet another innovative method to improve the search engine ranking of your website. The Alt tag description is used to describe images. All you have to do is add the keyword as part of the file name of the graphic file and create a special statement which describes the image. This helps greatly with web accessibility issues and improves search engine ranking and positioning because screen readers used by visually disabled site visitors are able to audibly vocalize the descriptions of graphic images.

Note on Flash

Flash animations can look lovely. You can have Flash elements embedded in a website or the entire website can be Flash enabled. However, there are negatives about using Flash.

1. An all Flash website takes long to download even on broadband. Your potential customers may go for a coffee break while the site is downloading! Splitting the file into smaller parts does not solve the problem. Instead of waiting for 10 minutes at the start, you will have to wait for 4 minutes, 4 minutes and 2 minutes.

2. Quite often, you will tend to concentrate so much on the Flash elements that you don’t load in enough content. Unless your Flash elements by themselves are the complete presentation, you will need content. As mentioned above, search engines look for content not graphics.

3. Search engines don’t like Flash since they can’t read the file.  The only way to partially remedy the situation is by inserting text describing the Flash animation.

4. Flash websites sometimes have the header portion and navigations buttons displayed on the website using Flash. Search engines won’t be able to read the Flash navigation and won’t know there are any other pages to index. To avoid this situation, you have to have text links in place.

by Anthony Dayal

        

Experts say it won't apply to the majority of entrepreneurs.

Despite concern over the impact of proposed tax increases on entrepreneurs, experts say the changes are unlikely to affect most small business owners. But others say the heavier burden discourages reinvestment and ambition among entrepreneurs.

The Obama administration has proposed higher tax rates for individuals making over $250,000 per year. Those currently paying 33 percent would see their taxes rise to 36 percent, and those at 35 percent to 39.6 percent. But many are concerned about the possible ramifications for entrepreneurs whose profits, because of their businesses' structures, flow through to their personal tax returns.

Giovanni Cortolo, VP of small business policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, worries that the higher tax burden will hit the most successful companies the hardest.

"It's penalizing success," he said. "A shift of this magnitude is not something that provides us with the meritocracy and successful environment we need for small business."

The changes may also threaten owners' ability to reinvest in the business, by diminishing the amount of money they're left with after taxes.

"If I'm a small business owner and my personal income tax increases, it limits my ability to grow my business," Cortolo said.

But Discover's March small business watch, which surveyed 1,000 firms with 5 or fewer employees, found 85 percent of respondents did not expect to earn enough to qualify for higher taxes.

"We asked about the tax increase because there was this perception it would kill the entrepreneurial spirit, that these people were earning more and that's the American dream," said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. "But the majority doesn't earn over $250,000 and won't be impacted."

According to Benjamin Harris, a senior research fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban and Brookings Institutes, only a small portion of the sector will see rate hikes, because few companies both make a quarter of a million dollars and pass their profits on to the employer's tax return.

"We estimate that, all in all, only about 2.2 percent of small business units will see a tax increase, and that's just because so few people fall into this category," he said.

According to Harris, "Someone who wants to put money back [into the business] and lives on a low proportion of their taxable income—that's the type of person with a legitimate complaint.

The tax changes wouldn't take effect until 2010, at the earliest.

 

By: Kelly Faircloth, Inc.com

         

 

        

Keywords are ground zero. They are essential to your online success. You must get your keywords right or its game over before you even get started. Mainly because keywords are the most important element of your online marketing.
It can't be emphasized enough, especially to beginning online webmasters or marketers, choosing the right profitable keywords will largely determine whether or not you succeed with your online endeavors. You simply must get this element right or your marketing will be in big trouble.

What are Keywords?

Let’s start at the very beginning; keywords are the exact words someone types into a search engine to find what they're looking for on the web. Some keywords are valuable/profitable, while others are virtually worthless.
Profitable keywords are the ones that convert into a sale, a lead or potential client/customer for your company or product. These are the words someone is searching in order to buy a product or hire a service. Someone searching for "honeymoon vacation packages" is probably in the market to book a honeymoon vacation and could turn out to be very profitable for the right website or business.
Profitable keywords are the ones where the searcher is in the right "mind-set" or frame of mind to buy what they're searching for on the web. Tailor your online marketing to target these profitable keywords and it can spell success.
So what's the whole process for finding or choosing profitable keywords to use in your marketing? Let’s look at some ways to proceed...

Number of Keyword Searches

You need to find out how many searches are made for your chosen keywords each month. Simply use WordTracker or a site like SEOBook. These will give you a preliminary number of searches made each month for your keyword. Highly popular, well-searched keywords with hundreds of thousands of searches each month will be extremely hard to rank for because you will have stiff competition from major companies with limitless resources.
I like to pick less popular keywords that get only a couple of hundred of searches each day because my chances of getting on the first page greatly increases. But don't get fixated on the number of searches, some keyword phrases that only get four or five searches daily, can still be very profitable.
For serious keyword research in a particular niche market I like to use Brad Callen's Keyword Elite which is professionally designed software that makes all your keyword research so much easier. But there are plenty of free keyword tools you can use. One handy keyword tool is Google Adwords external suggestion tool which will help you find valuable keywords.

Commercial Intent of Keywords

But how do you know if a keyword is profitable? Well, one convenient tool is from MSN which helps you with "Detecting Online Commercial Intention" of keywords. Just type in a keyword and it will give you a percentage or probability your keyword query has commercial benefit or intent.

Conversion Rate of Keywords

Once you have your chosen keywords in place, next you want to have a landing page that converts those keywords or traffic from those keywords into buyers or leads for your online business. This is another crucial element of your online marketing - you must have a landing page or content/site that converts into a sale or you obviously won't make any revenue.
Keep in mind, if you're into affiliate marketing, you main goal is not to sell but to "pre-sell" your products or services. One effective way I have found to do this is to give potential customers/clients valuable information they can use in making their final purchasing choice. Comparison sites do well, as do review sites, top ten sites... potential customers use the Internet and keywords to not only find products but more so, to find information on those products. Your goal should be to provide this valuable information to make their task a little bit easier for them and they will reward you with a sale.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-Tail keywords are simply that: long three or four word phrases that searchers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Because they are highly specific, long-tail keywords have proven to have better conversion rates than general keywords. This is also just common sense, someone searching for a "2005 ford mustang convertible" may just be in the right mind-set to buy such a vehicle; as compared to someone searching for a more general keyword phrase such as "sports cars."
Study your website traffic logs religiously to find long-tail keywords that turn into a sale. Target these long-tail keywords in your marketing. Even buy PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in the three major search engines - Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter - for these valuable/profitable keywords. And build higher rankings in organic search for these long-tail keyword phrases. It's really not that difficult for long phrases, especially if they're related to your site; many times you can reach the top spot in a matter of days, especially in Google.

How to Rank High for Your Chosen Profitable Keywords

Of course, the million dollar question is: HOW do you rank in the top spot for your chosen keywords? I believe the key to ranking high in the search engines (especially Google) is to be persistent in building your rankings for your keywords. Take a long-term view or approach; sometimes it may take months, even years, to rank in the top Five for your highly competitive keywords.
The best strategy is to "stick to it" and keep building relevant links to your keyword landing page. Create related blogs with valuable content linking back to your keywords. Write keyword related articles and distribute them all over the web. Create Google Alerts for your keywords and then place comments/links in the newly formed pages on the web that Google is indexing.

Be pro-active, download the SEOQuake toolbar and find your main keyword competitors. Check out their links and then go out and get the same links. Write better, higher quality content than your main competitors because Google always rewards great content. Plus, use the free Addthis.com button and let your visitors bookmark your great content in all the social bookmark sites and build your keyword links for you. Do keyworded Press Releases with your embedded links and spread them all over the web. Get these Press Releases into Google news and other important places on the web. PRWeb.com is really a great place for your press releases since you can embed your keywords in your links.

If you can, try to get your most important keywords in your domain name. Many SEO experts argue the merits of this but from my own experience and marketing - it is much easier to rank high for your keywords if you have them in the domain name. Again, it is just common sense, if you have your main keyword in the domain, this keyword is obviously telling the search engines this is what your site is all about. I have even bought domains and created sites specifically around certain keywords just to rank high.
Always remember, you have to be persistent, I have been fighting some keyword battles for over four or five years! For really profitable keywords, it can be a constant struggle to remain on the first page, but the trick is not to give up, just keep fighting away at your competitors. Persistence usually pays off in the end and those profitable keywords will have your links in the top spot. Make ranking high for those profitable keywords your number one marketing strategy. Concentrate all your marketing efforts towards getting plenty of quality traffic for those keywords and you will succeed online.
 
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009

        

Effective websites should include the following:

 

1. Your website needs to focus on a specific niche.

2. You need to do keyword research and although Google no longer gives weight to Meta keywords some of the other major search engines still do.

3. Your website should have the main keyword used throughout and each page should be written around 5-10 keywords that are tightly focused on that particular page's topic.

4. Content is still King. Well written, focused content is crucial.

5. Meta titles need to include your keywords.

6. Organization of content should include headings and subtitles to make it easy for readers to scan the pages. Be sure to include your keywords in these headings as well.

7. Most people on the web are looking for information. If you don't give them anything of value or entertain them, they will be gone, probably for good.

8. Use keywords in links wherever possible.

 

9. Include a call to action and, if possible, provide a free trial. You have to build trust before you can make a sale.

10. Check your website in various browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) to make sure it displays equally well in all.

11. Your personality is what attracts people to you, so why would you create a generic website with all of the excitement of a flat glass of pop. Keep the content fresh so that it has fizz!

12. Most importantly, have realistic expectations of what you want to achieve with your website. With all the hype about overnight successes on the internet it's difficult to put your results into perspective. If you expect instant success and it isn't happening, it's easy to become demoralized and quit before you reach your goal.

        

Twitter is an incredible forum for listening, learning, and sharing. It's also a rapid and immersive education in meaningful, two-way micro messaging that helps both parties walk away with a new form of value.

While there are no shortage of posts that offer tips and tricks to help you boost your Twitter followers, it is by no means a popularity contest. The ploys, friending races, theatrics, and contests to tempt those into following individuals can be fun, but short-sighted, when in fact the true technique for building relationships, regardless of volume, is the genuine act of earning and investing in them. It's rooted in selflessness and rewarded with a rich stream of relevance and a network of valuable contacts that can also help you in the real world.

Twitter is a unique and vibrant community that thrives because of your participation and interaction. The Twitter culture evolves and matures though the greater collective of those who invest in the caliber and meaningful dynamic of the micro exchanges and relationships that we earn and forge every day.

Our experience is defined by what we share, learn, and discover, what and who we follow and spotlight, and how we give back to those who help us and others.

Brevity speaks volumes.

So, to give back to the Twitter community and invest in building more mutually beneficial relationships, here are the top tips to pay back and pay it forward on Twitter:

- Twitter asks what you are doing. Instead answer the question, What do you think we are better off knowing right now? Other questions to consider...What/who inspires you? What just happened? What am I missing? What did you learn today? What's out on the Web worth sharing on Twitter?

- Curate and share helpful and applicable content on the stream and apply relevance and/or context. Offer perspective. You are unique and your ideas, opinions, and experience can help or offer value to those who are learning.

- The public should feel included in almost everything you share.

- Think about your tweets in aggregate and assess the picture you're painting through your last 20 updates. To get a picture of how you're perceived, visit www.twitter.com/yourusername and take a moment to see your tweets through the eyes of a visitor.

- Build a brand theme that complements who you are and what you do.

- Consider establishing a username that people can connect with and remember. Many either use their name or are currently changing their ID to reflect their personal or corporate brand. The Twitter culture is much different than the culture associated with IM (where aliases are much more common).

- Earn a reputation and authority based on the niche you establish for yourself, reinforced by the tweets your post and share.

- Engage with individuals in the public timeline around a given topic. But, draw a line between a public @message and a DM. Not everyone needs to follow your 1:1 dialog in the public timeline, especially as the volume increases every day. Some things are just better left for the backchannel. If it's an A and B conversation, your followers may "C" their way out of it.

- Try to thank or acknowledge, in some way, those who RT your updates or promote your outside activity. Personally, this is an area where I'm working on devoting more time. Everyone who takes the time out of their busy day to share something you posted deserves recognition.

- Ask questions and share the results. Twitter is a magnificent forum for sparking conversations that pull responses from your friends as well as from friends of friends. Most vanish without closure or results. Share highlights and observations.

- Pay it forward. This is important.

- Don't just follow the Twitterati. Find and follow everyone who can help you learn and improve your skills as well as the value of your overall network. TweepSearch, is the first search engine that allows anyone to search and discover relevant Twitter bios and location information using keywords. It's ideal for learning more about those following any given username as well. Mr. Tweet is your personal networking assistant on Twitter. It helps you easily build meaningful relationships by looking through your network and tweets. Mr. Tweet will then suggest new and relevant tweeps and existing followers you should also follow.

- 120 is the new 140. Retweeting is one of the most valuable currencies in the Twitter economy. Leave room in your tweets to make it easier for someone to RT and also add a short reaction or endorsement. The magic number seems to hover around 120 characters.

- Listen AND respond to those who offer insight tied to keywords that are important to you, not just those who send messages in public with your @username. Follow conversations related to the keywords that are important to your ecosystem. Make new friends. Offer value and insight to those conversations related to your industry. Give back to those seeking guidance.

- Don't share anything you wouldn't want a co-worker, your boss, friends, or family to see.

- Learn from your tweets by analyzing the statistics associated with your activity. The criteria associated with defining Influence and authority on Twitter are still debatable. However, your numbers of associated followers, RTs, and unfollowers, are undeniable. Tools such as TwitterCounter provides an interactive chart that chronicles the quantity of Twitter followers for any given username. TwitterFriends is one of the most compelling analytical tools for identifying relevant conversationalists, revealing conversation patterns, and visualizing material conversation networks, by Twitter ID. On the other side of the equation, Qwitter is a humbling and instantaneous solution for honing your updates to better match what your friends and followers hope to see or not see. Qwitter will send an email to you when someone unfollows you and will link the action to the most recent tweet that you posted.

- Host or attend tweetups, conferences, events, etc., where your Twitter friends and contacts are participating. It's important to remember, as it's easy to forget, that relationships count online and in the real world. Investing in meaningful relationships requires in-person engagement over time.

- Share visuals that capture your attention or better help you tell a story, as long as it will appeal to your community. You can use Twitpic or BrightKite.

- Respond to negative criticism as well as the accolades. There may be points worth considering to embrace and visualize a broader perspective. Those who respectfully push back, contribute to what we learn, while also push things forward. But, sometimes there's also a point of diminishing return. Certain individuals are steadfast in their views and it's their right to maintain an opposing viewpoint. Beware: Don't feed the trolls.

- Be helpful.

- Make this about conversations, sharing, and learning. Tweetcasters and self-promoters are eventually tuned out.

- Ensure that your bio is representative of the brand you wish to convey. In addition to your bio, consider strategically branding your Twitter background as well.

- If you witness a series of RT's regarding a post that sings to you, consider following the source.

- This one is a bit of a controversial subject. Do you follow everyone who follows you back? Some say yes, some say no. It's a personal choice and a topic that usually ignites a passionate discussion. I treasure the tweets of those I follow and every day, I follow new people whom I believe to add value to my Twitter stream. It's important to listen to those you follow and regard and by amplifying the quantity of people simply to return the favor of a follow, makes it incredibly difficult to actually hear anyone. There are those who follow everyone and that may work for them. There are also those who create an alternative account to simply listen to those individuals whom they appreciate and respect. PeopleBrowsr is an incredible Twitter service that allows you to follow everyone back, but also create a column for "VIPs" to see only their tweets on your visual dashboard. In the end, do what's right for you and your network of friends, followers, and mentors. This is something that I'm thinking about quite a bit these days.

- Relationships, whether they're on Twitter, facebook, or any other social network, are held to the same guiding and ethical principles of those we cherish in the real world. Think of them as investments where the ROI is intelligence, social capital, respect, trust, and friendship. Individuals on both sides must realize mutual benefits and advantages for cultivating short-term or long-term relationships. You are equally responsible for contributing ongoing value.

        

Environmental responsibility is everyone’s responsibility and it's not hard to implement changes in our day-to-day lives.  Start with baby steps if you have to! 

Support locally-owned, Earth-friendly businesses:  Find restaurants, recycling, alternative transportation options, events and more near you at GenGreen Life

Learn about new and easy things you, your family and your business can do to help the environment: EPA - Earth Day tips
A ton of fun information and additional resources: National Geograhic's Green Guide for Everyday Living

        

Visit our website to learn more about the corporate identity and marketing collateral services that PresenceMaker can provide your business: Blender @ PresenceMaker

What colors have you chosen for your marketing materials? What were your reasons for making that particular choice? Was it because you liked those particular colors, or did you have a particular marketing message in mind? While visual appeal is an important consideration, your color choices send a specific message to the people who view them. Are you sure you know what that message is?

You'd be wise to consider the psychology of color when designing your marketing materials. Be it business cards, brochures, a web site, posters or other material, you'll be making color choices. Colors not only enhance the appearance of the item -- they also influence our behavior. You will want to consider the impact that the colors you use will have on your target audience.

However, the effects of color differ among different cultures, so the attitudes and preferences of your target audience should be a consideration when you plan your design of any promotional materials.

In North American mainstream culture, the following colors are associated with certain qualities or emotions:

Red                 Excitement, Strength, Sex, Passion, Speed, Danger.
Blue                Trust, Reliability, Belonging, Coolness.
Yellow             Warmth, Sunshine, Cheer, Happiness
Orange           Playfulness, Warmth, Vibrant
Green             Nature, Fresh, Cool, Growth, Abundance
Purple             Royal, Spirituality, Dignity
Pink                Soft, Sweet, Nurture, Security
White              Pure, Virginal, Clean, Youthful, Mild.
Black              Sophistication, Elegant, Seductive, Mystery
Gold                Prestige, Expensive
Silver              Prestige, Cold, Scientific

Market researchers have also determined that color affects shopping habits. Impulse shoppers respond best to red-orange, black and royal blue. Budget shoppers respond best to pink, teal, light blue and navy. Traditionalists respond to pastels - pink, rose, sky blue.

So how do you use this information in your business?

First, think about your target demographics. Let's say that you are selling books for young children, but you are marketing to grandparents. You'd probably design the books in bright, primary colors (reds, blues, yellows) to appeal to the children who will use them. However, the marketing materials (web site, brochures, etc.) would be designed with grandparents in mind. You might decide to go with blues (trust, reliability), pinks (nurture, sweet, security) and yellow (happy, playful).

Of course, you should test your ads and colors on a small market segment before rolling out a large scale campaign. Give some thoughts to the message you want to send and to the psychology of the recipient. Then choose your colors accordingly.

        

More great places to connect!  Be sure to include a link to your website.

Top 10 Social Networks

        

Have you been using facebook to get the word out?  If so, you should take the time to read this article!  It's a little old (Dec. 2007) but the information is still tremendously pertinent....

The Facebook Marketing Bible: 24 Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook

        

This article may be beneficial to those of you who understand the value of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as one of the surest and cheapest way for long-term business promotion.  Business owners often aren't very knowledgeable about SEO and lots of consultants are being less than honest about their services! 

How To Detect Fake SEO Consultants

        

Welcome to PresenceMaker's new blog. Please check back soon for fresh entries.