Kathryn Lively

It’s not uncommon to see how many businesses have an official Facebook page in addition their main website. As this social network grows in popularity, so people are likely to first come upon your Facebook presence before they realize you are set elsewhere on the Web. The more you socialize with friends and fans on the network increases the likelihood of traffic, and conversion of visitors to customers/clients. But can it be done without looking like you are using your profile to spam others?

A client once remarked on the limited capability of the Facebook fan page – one can only customize it so much. If you look at a standard fan page, there are options for sharing photos and links, and one can import an RSS feed for content and maintain a message board for people to chat. Certain applications may be used on a page – a weather gadget for travel related sites, YouTube plugins to display offsite videos – yet page owners run the risk of applications throwing fatal errors or not working correctly. The best method for winning fans to your page remains being social.

Like other social networks, Facebook promotes a viral method of connecting like-minded people. If you have fifty people committed as fans to your page or profile, it’s through these fifty people that you must attract more. Engaging fans in conversation, and sharing informative links and notes with corresponding commentary may ignite the interest you need to compel fans to share your page with others. Note, too, that users of Facebook enjoy the release of entertainment options the network provides. How often do you log on to find friends have taken a multitude of quizzes? You just may be able to use that sort of thing to you advantage.

Say you operate a retail shop or other business. Use the create a quiz application to manage one about your company – pose questions about when you were established, what products or services you provide, how many locations you have, and so forth. Invite friends to take the quiz and watch for a viral reaction.

Do you have friends who like to collect “flair” for their Pieces of Flair board? Create buttons with your logo and URL and send them to friends. Perhaps they will do the same and generate interest in your site. For every application or game making the rounds of Facebook, there just may be a way to incorporate your brand and get noticed. Give it a try and see far your name can go through the social channels.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on search engine optimization and professional SEO writing services.

An author friend once noted this advice on promotion via social networks from a book marketing professional: follow and you will be followed. Essentially this means one should set up a Facebook or Twitter account, then seek to follow and friend anybody with similar interests – an author, other authors and readers; a musician, others in the field.

While it may appear to be a good idea in theory, let’s look at the result: if you were to blindly select a thousand people on Twitter to follow, chances are a good-sized percentage will follow back. Sounds good, huh? In theory, you might think you can convert all these followers into customers or clients, but consider why many people are on Twitter in the first place: to market their own products. What is more likely to happen is that a thousand people will follow you with the intent of converting you to purchase their goods. A top turn-off for some who choose to follow Twitter users is receiving that initial automated greeting message – you know the one, there’s usually a URL and a pitch. You haven’t read one of the person’s “tweets” yet and already they’re on the hard sell.

In order to get the most out of social networks as a means of promotion, a few things you’ll want to bear in mind are:

It isn’t necessary to follow everybody who follows you. If you follow too many Twitter folks the chain of messages received becomes diluted. Posts from people you truly want to follow may get lost in the shuffle of numerous advertisements. True, you want people to follow you, so it’s important to set your profile up as one that contains pertinent content, yet doesn’t appear to constantly hustle readers. If, however, you are set on using Twitter to promote your business, set up a separate account for personal use.

To become attractive to Twitter users, be an expert. “Socialization” is the key to succeeding in any social media network. Not only should you use your Facebook and Twitter accounts to relay information on your favorite subjects, but you should interact with users as well. If you sell sporting goods, ask followers and friends what brand baseball bat or glove is the best, or who they think will win the Series this year. Put a personality behind the avatar and you may find people will recommend their friends to follow you.

Don’t be afraid to promote other things. If you see a news item related to your line of business, share it. Never feel as though you are helping “the competition” in any way. In fact, sharing this information could help you in a way, as it might inspire followers to “re-tweet” your findings and credit you. This in turn could lead to more followers, and perhaps more business.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design.

While waiting to speak at a regional science fiction and fantasy convention this past weekend, I sat in on the panel preceding mine. The topic, using social media in promotion, is one that always holds my interest, as social media optimization is more a part of my job than ever before. I took away from the discussion a better sense of using networks like Facebook and Twitter with regards to promoting products and services. What I learned at this panel could be applied to anybody new to SMO who is not sure how to use these networks to their advantage.

Avoiding the Hustle

So let’s say you set up a Twitter account, and slowly but surely people are following what you have to say. That’s great, that’s what you want to happen. Once you establish this captive audience, however, you want to keep them in place and perhaps get them to “re-tweet” your posts and spread the love. It’s important to do this in a way that doesn’t lead followers to think you are constantly trying to sell to them. If every tweet you post implores people to buy this or buy that or hire me, you risk losing followers. The point of social media networks like Twitter and Facebooks is the social aspect of them. To keep people tuned into you, you must engage them directly.

So what does this mean? Well, if you’re an author and readers follow your social profiles, talk to them via the medium. If you receive a note complimenting your work, return with a thank you but don’t feel pressured to deliver a hard sell of your other works. You would be amazed with how your name or brand can stick in someone’s mind just by being yourself. In talking to some authors this past weekend, I discovered how well this tactic could work. One author trading tweets with a reader found that person bought his entire backlist, while another author noted that hits to her website spike when she posts about a new book cover or pictures from a con, not necessarily a new book release. You may think this is not productive, but visitors come to the site. They just might return to buy.

Maybe you operate a business catering to local markets - talk about the weather, what is going on in the city. Reply to a follower’s remarks about favorite television shows and music…let people know there is an actual human being behind the social avatars, lest anyone suspect the profiles are there merely to regurgitate sales copy. If a follower enjoys your content enough to click through to your site, your profile has served its purpose and may just attract new followers through word of mouth.

Give it a try. You just might find you can build trust among your online following…and customers.

If you Twitter, or use some other form of microblogging, you’re aware that URL shorteners are seen sometimes as a blessing. If you need to get out a message and find the URL link is too long to accommodate everything you have to say, the use of a URL shortening service allows you the wiggle room. It’s not uncommon to see the same URL root spread out among dozens of the Twitter accounts you follow - in this respect the shorteners are convenient and quick and, depending on the type of microblogging service you use, automatic.

Users of Twitterfox, a handy Firefox extension that lets you track folks from a pop-up screen on your browser, will note that URLs too long to appear in posts are cut using TinyURL, perhaps the best known of the shortening services. What TinyURL does is take a long URL like this:

http://www.highsearchranking.com/index.php/2009/05/01/are-url-shorte…s-good-for-seoare-url-shorteners-good-for-seo/

and make it shorter through its own root and a random extension, like this:

http://tinyurl.com/djvfvq

Some services, like TinyURL, have recently allowed users to customize the URLs, so the first string above could be also marketed like this:

http://tinyurl.com/urlshortshsr

The downside to this, for one, is that more popular names may be taken. “url-shorteners”, for example, was.

Good to use on the go if you Twitter constantly, but are shortened URLs good for your site’s SEO? In observing recent trends in Twitter, it isn’t difficult to see spam accounts are on the rise, and the inclusion of such a URL, however innocuous the preceding text may appear, could lead to a phishing link. It stands to reason one should look on shortened links carefully, clicking through only if you are certain the source can be trusted. The use of another company’s URL root in your posts, aside from your own domain, might also set back marketing efforts. The more people see your name, the more apt they are to remember your URL. Long strings cut short risk the dilution of your brand as you micro-blog.

This is not to say you should never use a shortening service. One suggestion, if you must promote long URLs for specific pages on your site, would be to use a service that lets you customize their link name. Make a spreadsheet and record all the customizations - using your brand in every way possible - and drawing from that list as you Twitter. With many services the shortened URL is permanent, so you can reuse them as needed.

Another suggestion for marketing via Twitter is to create alternative pages on your site with short file names that best describe the content. This way, you can provide good text before your link and get everything in under the character limit.

URL shortening services are handy in a pinch, but ultimately it is important to promote your own domain in Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks.

The best of Atlanta is yours to explore, at a great price! As thoughts on vacations turn to worry with finances in flux, rest assured you can enjoy a day of fun in this classic southern city for fifty dollars. You can absorb the city’s history and experience global cultural phenomena which originated right here. A day in Atlanta provides not only a learning opportunity, but the chance to have some fun.

How can see Atlanta on $50 a day? Here is our suggested itinerary for exploring the cultural icons synonymous with Georgia’s state capital.

Early Morning – Visit the Gone With the Wind Museum.

After seventy years, the image of Scarlett and Rhett locked in a passionate embrace amid the chaos of the Civil War is still one of the most recognizable in cinema. Though the movie was not filmed on location, Atlanta nonetheless plays a significant role in the film’s conception. You’ll see original props and costumes from the sets, and personal memoirs from the film’s actors and the author of the book, Margaret Mitchell. A must for movie buffs. Price: $7; Total: $7

Lunch – The Varsity

“What’ll you have? What’ll you have?” asks the cashier. For over eighty years this Atlanta institution has served up hot dogs, burger, and the best onion rings in the South. No visit to the city is complete without lunch at The Varsity. Most combo meals, like two chili dogs with fries or rings and a soda ($6.99) go for seven dollars and under. Price: $6.99; Total: $13.99

Late Afternoon – Visit the World of Coca-Cola

Pop quiz: where was the most famous soft drink in the world invented? Atlanta! A century later, the city remains the headquarters of the Coca-Cola Company, and you can experience the history and flavor of this and other soda created by the beverage king at the World of Coca-Cola. This interactive museum is one of the most popular attractions in the city, and a great place to sample Coke and other exotic soft drinks for free. Price: $15; Total: $28.99

Dinner – Williamson Brothers BBQ

What’s a day in the South without a succulent barbecue dinner? Williamson Brothers is known for serving up the juiciest cuts of pork, chicken, and beef in their signature sauce. It’s a favorite among local celebrities, and it can get busy so be sure to budget your time in Atlanta well so you can enjoy dinner. A pork plate with two sides, iced tea, and a slice of homemade pecan pie for dessert will fill your stomach and keep you within your spending limit. Price: $20.97; Total: $49.96

For just fifty dollars, you can have a wonderful time in Atlanta, embrace the local culture and savor the taste of the South. A vacation here is more affordable than you think.

Attending a recent keynote address at a writers convention, an author friend was impressed by the advice of the marketing expert chosen to speak. MySpace, this speaker stressed, didn’t have the clout other social network and media sites have - in her opinion.

From an SEO standpoint, this does make a bit sense, considering how MySpace toys with outbound links to make it difficult to track inbound referrals. This speaker recommended alternatives: Squidoo, a helpful tool if one uses it constantly, and bookmarking sites like Digg. By conference’s end, my friend and others had set up several lens and created account to “dig” blog posts about their books.

Thinking about these sites from the perspective of an SEO agent working for various clients, I considered the effectiveness of these tools for the purpose of building rank relevancy. Is it worth the time and effort to post your site and blog links to a multitude of bookmarking sites, given the chance the links will simply languish under the weight of more popular entertainment and news blogs? If you choose the bookmarking route, which sites do you use? To look at the names of these sites: Digg, Diigo, Reddit, Sphinn, Yigg, Mixx, and so forth, one might think he’s stepped into a bizarre spelling bee. What can these sites do to help your SEO progress?

Depending on the purpose of your site, using news bookmarking networks may be useful in attracting local and regional interest. Many of these social media sites track top stories in entertainment, technology, and sports, so very likely you’re going to see the same players at the top - national and global sites like CNN and Reuters and Yahoo! News. If by some stroke of luck you are able to create something viral - a crazy video for Youtube, for example - you may be able to bring in traffic.

To look at Digg, you’ll realize you have a lot of competition for the top spot. Whether you are writing about new technologies or opining on college sport regulations, there are certain to be hundreds of articles similar to yours jockeying for attention. Attracting attention via Digg and similar sites could be helpful if you befriend other Digg users and arrange some schedule of mutual “digging” - scratch a few backs, get scratched in return. With enough persistence, you may be able to produce a submission that catches fire. Depending on how often Diggs user take advantage of the search function, if you make your submissions keyword specific you could gain viewers that way.

If you are unsure whether or not such a site would be helpful to your main site rankings, try an experiment. If your site doesn’t feature a blog, choose a page and create an article relevant to your site. Include embedded video or audio if applicable, then submit it to Digg. Establish friendships with like-minded people on the site, or recruit friends to register and help “dig” you story - one can argue whether or not this is “gray hat” SEO, but word of mouth remains the strongest form of marketing. Friends and family have mouths, or in this case, mouse buttons.

Pay close attention to your stats. Do you see many views for that particular page? Are people entering your site there? If you find the traffic is valuable enough to continue, then “dig” away. If not, don’t worry. Given the climate of SEO and social media optimization, another site is bound to come along that can help.

In creating a website for the purpose of selling products or services, content is the key to high search rankings. Your text must be concise and precise as far as keywords and phrases go, and with clear links to supplemental information and a working contact form. When using social media to promote your site and encourage click-through traffic, you are allowed to be more verbose, as you must create searchable content that encourages third-party sites to use your content – and in turn display the obligatory links to your main site. The rise of social media as a means of promotion can help establish relevance for your website.

As you create content to point to your site, you will find several options for promotion, many of which interlink to create a steady routine one should follow. It is said the best way to sell products or advertise services is to be an expert on said subject. As you write, it is necessary to become an expert on social networks and social bookmarking, so you will know the best avenues for distributing your information.

What do you plan to achieve with your website? Do you sell clothing, promote real estate for sale, or offer accounting services? Think of an article you could write that is relevant to your site’s content – 250 to 300 words on average is a good length, but be careful not to overload on one particular keyword as that may trigger spam filters of some sites where you plan to submit. Once your article is written and the necessary keywords and links to your site are in place, here is a suggested plan of attack. As this schedule of submissions becomes routine, take note to check your site’s stats and referral links as they relate to your SMO efforts.

Submit the article to an article bank – Hosts of content-driven websites tend to look for supplement writings to their sites in order to draw traffic. When a site owner uses such content, they are obliged to link back to the author. As you write articles, find a reputable online article database and submit your content. As others use your work, you gain the opportunity to have your site links from several third-party sources.

Blog your articles – Create a weblog for the purpose of archiving your expert articles. Because Google and other engines hold blog content with high relevance in search, you increase the chances of click-throughs to your main site. Set up a simple blog account through Blogger or Wordpress or another source, and link your articles to your main site. If the blog has an RSS feed, take advantage of it. Apply the RSS feed to any social networks that allow implementation. Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter are just three networks that can feed such content into their respective profiles.

Bookmark your articles – Once your articles are live, use social bookmark sites to promote your work. Sites like Digg and Delicious are constructed to collect links of relevant content. As you create accounts, save the various blog links and article links to these sites, and as people search the social bookmarks for this content they just may find you.

The more content you create and distribute, the better the opportunity for exposure. Considering the millions of people who use the Internet daily, the more sources available to you for placing content can help bring more awareness to your main website, and in turn drive traffic directly to you.

New article written for High Search Ranking: Social Media Networks: Are You Spreading Yourself Too Thin?