I ran across an article posted on another social media site/blog and I was a little perplexed. The whole of the article came down to "I just do not understand - should I connect with everyone who comes my way?" Although this may be an innocent question, is it really or does it bring up an excellent talking point?
I have seen and heard the countless stores of people with 1000s of contacts in their online “Social Media Rolodex” (SMR) and have often wondered ---- "WHY?".
Side bar - if you have not read "The Tipping Point" I would suggest you pick a copy up and read it cover to cover.
Back to the question at hand - "WHY?" Well there are obvious reasons 1. It is a game to see who can get the most 2. People think it will make them look popular and 3. People just do not know what they are doing on Social Media sites. Now before we move on, I want to state something - "If you are a business and have 1000s of contacts/customers this is different" BUT you still need to be careful as you will need to have a well defined strategy on how to “individually” connect with your customers. As individually connecting is what Social media is about. Remember it is not Mass Media On-line Marketing.
What this all leads to is - setting goals which include why you are doing what you are doing. You cannot be all over the map and expect to be successful. Example – let us say we have over 1000 contacts in our account. Now realistically you do not have enough time to communicate with all of them (which includes reading their posts and responding to their post). If you tried to, you would not get anything else done in your life. You would become a pasty (from lack of sun light) looking individual. This would in a since make you a prisoner in your own home. You would have become a slave to your computer which is connected to others afraid to experience freedom. Shoot people in China would be considered freer!
Remember freedom comes in many forms and when that freedom is compromised we need to ask ourselves – “is it worth it anymore?”
The whole point is, make sure you have well defined realistic goals that will allow you to be a productive human being. Not a computer controlled drone.
As the old adage goes – “don’t bite off more than you can handle!”
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Be number 1 in web searches!
I am sure the first question on everyone’s mind about search engine optimization (SEO ) is: “how long will it take me to see results? “ Well this depends on a number of things like, how much effort you put into getting set-up, what you are selling, who your audience is etc. etc. etc.. A rough answer is anywhere from 3-9months. Wow- 9 months!!! That’s right. Do it half (well you know) and it could take 9 months. But if you plan and prepare properly you could very well see results in much less time.
To get started in helping you get yourself noticed we need to define what search engine optimization (SEO ) is. SEO (let us also throw in Search Engine Marketing – SEM) is about all the techniques at your fingertips used to optimize your web pages, videos, photos, etc. to maximize your search engine ranking. The higher you are in the rankings, the more likely you will be found by those searching the web.
Really quick, SEO and SEM are very similar in nature, but SEM is more about paying for customers to find you by utilizing services such as Keyword Sponsored Link Advertising Programs.
Our purpose today is to provide you a quick (Cliff Note) lesson to help you at least be dangerous enough to prepare properly. The first thing to know is, Search Engines “LOVE” social media sites. This is great, but how do you get noticed? Well there are a few easy steps and let us begin with the following:
1. You need to create (or utilize existing) meta-keywords already in your site/s. These can be single words or short phases (3-5 words).
2. Pick a SEM provider such as Google Adwords, Microsoft AdCenter etc. to find out how much someone would pay for your meta-keywords if someone clicked on them.
3. Make sure to use your keywords across all of your sites. Especially in your URL as Search Engines really like these.
4. Title Tags– are less than 70 characters and utilize keywords which are also found in your site content.
5. Meta-Descriptions –are descriptions for “each page” within your site. Search Engines use meta-descriptions to describe a page in the list of search results that are compiled. If a description is not present or is wrong, you may not end up in the right searches or customers may skip over your listing because they do not believe you have what they need. Your descriptions should be no longer than 150 characters.
6. Make sure to use your meta-keywords as often as possible across all of your sites, blogs, posts, discussions etc.
7. For appropriate product pages, link your meta-keywords to them as well.
Now what? Well….get your pencil and paper out and start brainstorming for your meta-keywords, title tags and meta-descriptions. Once you have them all figures out - go forth and reel in the folks out there on the World Wide Web!
If you really want to dive deep into SEO, click on this link http://searchenginewatch.com/ and you will have at your finger tips more information about SEO then you really need to, to get started.
To get started in helping you get yourself noticed we need to define what search engine optimization (SEO ) is. SEO (let us also throw in Search Engine Marketing – SEM) is about all the techniques at your fingertips used to optimize your web pages, videos, photos, etc. to maximize your search engine ranking. The higher you are in the rankings, the more likely you will be found by those searching the web.
Really quick, SEO and SEM are very similar in nature, but SEM is more about paying for customers to find you by utilizing services such as Keyword Sponsored Link Advertising Programs.
Our purpose today is to provide you a quick (Cliff Note) lesson to help you at least be dangerous enough to prepare properly. The first thing to know is, Search Engines “LOVE” social media sites. This is great, but how do you get noticed? Well there are a few easy steps and let us begin with the following:
1. You need to create (or utilize existing) meta-keywords already in your site/s. These can be single words or short phases (3-5 words).
2. Pick a SEM provider such as Google Adwords, Microsoft AdCenter etc. to find out how much someone would pay for your meta-keywords if someone clicked on them.
3. Make sure to use your keywords across all of your sites. Especially in your URL as Search Engines really like these.
4. Title Tags– are less than 70 characters and utilize keywords which are also found in your site content.
5. Meta-Descriptions –are descriptions for “each page” within your site. Search Engines use meta-descriptions to describe a page in the list of search results that are compiled. If a description is not present or is wrong, you may not end up in the right searches or customers may skip over your listing because they do not believe you have what they need. Your descriptions should be no longer than 150 characters.
6. Make sure to use your meta-keywords as often as possible across all of your sites, blogs, posts, discussions etc.
7. For appropriate product pages, link your meta-keywords to them as well.
Now what? Well….get your pencil and paper out and start brainstorming for your meta-keywords, title tags and meta-descriptions. Once you have them all figures out - go forth and reel in the folks out there on the World Wide Web!
If you really want to dive deep into SEO, click on this link http://searchenginewatch.com/ and you will have at your finger tips more information about SEO then you really need to, to get started.
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