Social Media and Social Bookmarking Sites You Need to Know
By Sujan Patel with No Comments
Tapping into social media and social bookmarking is quickly becoming a critical element to any site promotion plan. But when it comes to using these sites, how do you know which ones are worth using – and which ones are just a waste of time?
Today, I’ll dissect the major players and give you a quick recap of how to make the most of them… Read More
Guide To Video Search Optimization
By Sujan Patel with 2 Comments
Videos are an important part of web 2.0 and videos, if optimized properly, will show up in the SERPs (and this is what you want). So, where do you start? We have some suggestions:
Research First
There are two areas that in need be researched and compared.
- The keywords and keyword phrases- determine which apply to you and create an easy to read list for step 2.
- Analyze videos currently doing well and also review some of the videos that have done the best in the last few months. Determine how many of top videos include keywords/keyword phrases that relate to your keywords and video. Search for videos with your keywords and notice the number of views. If not many people are looking the keywords may not be right. If you see that videos with certain keywords do very well, or have done well in the past, you can reduce your keyword list and use the keywords that will increase your video’s visibility. Read More
12 Tips To Be A Digg Rockstar
By Sujan Patel with 1 Comment
1. Create a Memorable Profile – Your name, and picture, are very important. Think of how many avatars you remember well and why…they stick out and are memorable.
2. Submit Valuable Content – Don’t just submit from your own site. Provide something others will consider valuable. Adding nice comments is helpful. Also look at those that have power accounts, those that do well on Digg and bookmark their sites and the sites they Digg. If you Digg from these sites you are automatically connecting and networking.
3. Do Not Make Friends with Everyone – This strategy does not look good and does not benefit you.
4. Do Not Review A Story and Digg It – If you discuss another news story and then Digg your own story it could be considered blog spam. However, you can discuss why you disagree with an article or news story and Digg it.
5. Digg Your Blogging Buddies, Work Associates and Writers You Respect – If you Digg their stories they will most likely Digg yours. You want to create a Digg network of non-spammers.
6. Create a Resource of Articles – Review Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Reddit, NetScape, RSS feeds, industry web sites and any other place you find valuable articles. Digg them and get your name out there.
7. Befriend Those That Digg You – You can see who Dugg your stories and you should befriend them. Remember, networking is important. If you befriend someone their network of friends my befriend you.
8. Review the Stories That Do Well on Digg – What are the topics? Who is submitting the stories? There are trends; pay attention and mimic the behaviors that work. Also, comment on the big stories, but make sure the comment is a good one. “Good Article†is not enough.
9. Create an Exciting Title and Description – If you want people to read and Digg, the title and description need to draw readers in.
10. Use Effective Keywords – When you choose keywords or tags you do not want to spam and you want to choose words that will bring in a lot of readers. “SEO Tips will not being in as many readers as “SEOâ€.
11. Be an Active Participant – If you are active in the community you have a better chance of building a trustworthy reputation.
12. Pay Attention to Your Diggs – Check and see how the stories you Dugg are doing. Which did well? Which did not do well? Where any buried? Keep a record of the topics that do well and those that don’t. Use this record as a guide.
Using Social Media To Assist Your SEO
By Sujan Patel with No Comments
If you are new to the industry and business of marketing web sites, harnessing the power of social media optimization seems like a no brainer. For the experienced veterans in the search marketing industry, social media has created a new set of rules to follow.
Today, we will take a look into how you can adapt an aging site optimization plan to better utilize the opportunities that social media has given us.
Understanding What “Social Media” Is…
As the name implies, there’s a social or community aspect to social media web sites and services. Sites that use social media as their primary means of content share some common traits. They are sites that are rich in user generated content. In other words – if you were to own a social media web site, you would not be creating the content… Your users would.
Why Social Media Assists SEO Efforts
Most social media sites are really social bookmarking sites, or sites where links and summaries or opinions are shared. Let’s say you write an article on a topic that relates to your business. You can submit that article to various social media sites like Digg, Reddit and even former big time players in the aging search industry like Netscape.
Once submitted, other users can comment on the story and help to raise it’s value on the bookmarking system. That alone generates more attention and increased visitor flow – but there’s another major factor in play – free inbound links.
Wait, Aren’t the Links Using NOFOLLOWs?
In some cases they are, and in others – they are not. Regardless of that, there has been evidence that engines are still seeing and considering the hyperlink using a NOFOLLOW in context to the rest of the page.
Even if all of the spiders and bots out there ignored the backlinks, you’re sure to raise some eyebrows and instigate others to comment, trackback to your article from their own sources, etc.
In the end, you’re generating backlinks to your unique content… and that’s the name of the game when it comes to SEO.
Connecting With Readers Through Social Networking
By Sujan Patel with 3 Comments
Think about this, a salesman and a friend both hand you the same piece of literature, which one are you most likely to read? Most would answer, the one that came from their friend. That is why social networking plays such an important role when marketing your site.
Lets face it. Ninety percent of people that start a blog or web site, have done so to make money. Regardless of how they may choose to monetize their site, the end result is the same. So why wouldn’t you want to take the high road and give yourself the best chance of success, right out of the gate. Remember the question above? Friends are more likely to buy from friends than strangers. They are also more likely to stick around and read everything you have written, raising your monthly page views and essentially making your site more appealing to advertisers. It works better all the way around.
Now that you know what you need to be successful, how do you add that to your marketing plans? Social Networking. Social networking is the fastest and easiest way to turn complete strangers into friends and of course loyal readers, in a very short amount of time. With so many sites like MyBlogLog and Facebook it can be difficult to choose a good starting point. Many people turn their efforts directly to MySpace.com, I am not one of them. MySpace is a great place for marketing if your a rockstar or an actor, but not for the average blog or web site.
MyBlogLog, as mentioned above, is an excellent community to get started with. I see more and more sites popping up with their MyBlogLog friends list in the sidebar, some of these sites are in the Technorati Top 100 list. MyBlogLog has a large following of community members and making friends typically comes very easily. You can add your blog, build your own neighborhood and let others join.
Facebook is one of the largest and fastest growing social networking sites on the internet. Sign-up, create a profile and add people to your friends list, your network and get involved. Share your thoughts, interests and most importantly your blog with all of your friends. Take the time to look at other peoples blogs and add comments, this will often return a reciprocal visit to your site.
Digg, well known for the Digg effect, crashing servers worldwide. Many reports have been made of traffic spikes in 20,000 to 40,000 people range within hours of hitting the Digg homepage. My suggestion for getting dugg. Sign-up for the site and start digging others articles. This adds you to the list allowing people to see what you have recently dugg. And of course the most recent thing you dugg is your own post, wink wink. This is a great way build additional interest to your articles. Another tip, digg other bloggers posts that have links to you. If they were to hit the homepage on that particular article, you would receive some overflow traffic from the link in the post.
Never overlook an opportunity to market your site. Always keep an open mind when you are developing your marketing strategies. There is a million plus opportunities on the web today and social networking is one of the best. Business has thrived around communities since the very beginning. Business on the web is no different, a strong community builds a strong presence and that is your ticket to success.
