Blogging doesn’t involve just writing: it involves promoting your content and making it rank for relevant search terms, too. Don’t worry if you’re not a technical expert or SEO rock star: like in most areas of Internet marketing, there are tons of ways to improve your performance in SEO-focused blogging, and it sounds a lot easier than it actually is. If you’re not quite convinced that you should have anything to do with SEO when blogging, just remember that getting people to your site who are already interested is much easier than the kind of cold, hard sell tactic used by most traditional outbound marketers. So drive those visitors to your site. Here are 4 tips to improve your inbound Internet marketing tactics with a blog: Write Creative Headlines Write blog headlines that will drive clicks on Twitter. Think from a user perspective; there are 60 million tweets sent out each day. Getting people to click on your URL from – Read the full article
Social media marketing can be very effective in driving traffic to your blog and website, as well as in enhancing the visibility of your brand and business. But if you’re looking to improve your results, here are some great tips and tricks you can follow: Target the right sites There are literally hundreds of social media sites you can use. However, no one has the time to effectively use all of them. The first thing you need to do is locate a few sites which will fit well with you and your audience. Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Digg are some of the obvious popular choices since they send generally large traffic volumes, but to find sites that can send you high-quality, highly targeted traffic, look out for niche-specific and geo-relevant social media sites. Targeting general news and social bookmarking websites like Reddit or Digg can also be useful; once you have established a prominent profile, you can promote all manner – Read the full article
Did you know that 20 percent of all searches on the Internet are for specific locations or businesses? Search giant Google did, and that’s why they changed Google Local to Google Places and began to display – for every search query that may be locally or geographically influenced – the local information for businesses, maps, and directions in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Right now, Google displays seven Places results for every search, as well as a map on the right side of the SERP that shows exactly where these seven places are. Obviously, Google Places pages help customers search these maps for local information while finding businesses within their area that are relevant to their search. Meanwhile, for small businesses, mom-and-pops, stores, offices, and other organizations with a physical address, Google Places is a unique local search tool that can drive and direct those who are searching to those who have something to offer or sell. Leverage this – Read the full article
A number of the world’s biggest businesses and brands are using Twitter. Chances are, they’re also using Facebook. And their employees are using LinkedIn, to connect with other professionals. How do you, as a small business owner, set yourself apart from the competition? Obviously you’ll have to be more creative with leveraging social media, and with finding alternative platforms where you can engage with customers. You’ll have to seize overlooked opportunities for marketing, or create these opportunities where none exist. Start by knowing there are other social networking tools in town. Like Flickr, for example. Okay, so we can almost hear you say it. Flickr? Really? How do you use that for marketing? Um, isn’t Flickr a picture community for hobbyists and photographers and artists? Just like Vimeo is a video community? And doesn’t Flickr explicitly say that you can’t use the site for commercial purposes? All of the questions above have a point, but that doesn’t mean you can’t – Read the full article
The Internet should be fast. At least that’s what Google says. In line with an announcement the search engine made last year, the speed of a website is now officially a ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm. While the new ranking factor impacts very few queries, the change is still a significant development. We here at Lakeshore Branding are all for it. Indeed, the Internet should be fast. It should snap, show, and respond quickly. Whether you’re a small business owner, an Internet marketer, or an e-Commerce retailer, it’s important to understand that the speed at which your site loads can affect the level of engagement that you will have with your audience. Create a page that loads at a snail’s pace, and chances are that you’re shooing visitors and potential clients away. After all, no one wants to wait for a website or a page to load forever. So here’s a list of simple formatting tips to keep your – Read the full article
The social networking / microblogging site, Twitter, is so popular right now that it’s not a bad move to think you should use it for your business – as part of your social media strategy. In fact, you may go so far as to say it’s a necessary move. Sure, it’s cool to be able to follow the tweets of Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry on a daily basis and join in on casual conversations. But it’s so much cooler that Twitter offers you, through these conversations, new opportunities to expand your business and your brand. Before you dive in and start twittering, make sure you consider a few important things first. You don’t want to start out on a bad note, after all. Ask yourself how you want to use your Twitter Sure, you can’t use Twitter yet as a direct revenue channel, but you can use it as a way to continue to enhance your brand and image. – Read the full article
Facebook’s photo sharing feature has become increasingly popular among Web users. This feature has enabled people to share their special moments with their family and friends all over the world. Besides individuals, businesses have also taken advantage of Facebook photo sharing as a social media marketing tool to promote their products and services. The following are some guidelines that will help you use Facebook’s photo sharing feature more effectively. Name your albums Facebook automatically stores uploaded photos into an ‘untitled album’ (usually with the date of upload). You can change or arrange such albums easily according to your personal needs. When creating an album, the first thing to do is to appropriately name the album. Facebook automatically names albums according to the date when they were uploaded. However, a name such as ‘August 8, 2011’ is not likely to grab anyone’s interest. Therefore, select titles which are catchy and relevant to the photos contained in the album. Customize the album – Read the full article
Deadlines are a part of every freelancer’s daily grind. But not everyone can honor timelines graciously. Most freelance writers, bloggers, Internet marketers, and SEO professionals hustle up to meet deadlines and end up botching their assignments. This can cause you to make mistakes and also gets you mentally exhausted. In addition, the work churned out is often low in quality. If you are having hard time meeting your timelines, here are a few tricks that can help you set things right. 1. Create a time table This is the most important part of getting an assignment done on time. Break up the work into specific tasks and mete out time for each activity. You can create a detailed timetable with hourly tasks or just make a rough weekly sketch. Create a checklist of all tasks and tick each one when you complete it. Thus, you will know how much work is done and what is still pending. 2. Understand your – Read the full article
