3 Ways to Small Businesses Can Capitalize on the Pinterest Craze
Social media is increasingly used by businesses to promote products and serve customers on another level never before imagined. While today, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most popular networks for growing a brand, Pinterest is slowly but surely becoming a...
8 Greyhat Tactics SEOs Are Using, Use at Your Own Discretion!
Throughout my 5 years as a SEO and Internet Marketer, I have seen a number of tactics that were borderline unethical (depending on who you talk to in the industry). Even though people won’t admit it, SEO’s are using some or all of the tactics I am going...
ROI of Social Media: Thinking of the Bigger Picture
When things are tough, it’s understandable that businesses look to save money. Budgets are cut back, expenses are limited and in the worst cases staff are let go. In such a climate it comes as little surprise that many businesses are looking at every existing and new...
7 Ways to Get More Comments on Your Facebook Page
Facebook posts look stale without comments on them. Getting fans to comment on your Facebook pages requires time and effort. However, you can expedite the process by following a couple of proven tips. Getting comments on Facebook posts is all about encouraging your...
How to Use Paper.li – The Daily Twitter Newspaper
Paper.li is a service that pulls tweet links and compiles them into newspaper format. The benefit to using these is that it brings relevant content to your users, as well as mentioning 2 – 3 users in each paper. These papers can be a good way to keep up on the...
Get More Exposure for Your Blog Posts through Facebook Tagging
I am friends with almost 2,500 people on Facebook, and my Facebook page has around 340 fans. Yet today, I gave a guest post of mine exposure to an additional 90,000+ people by doing three simple things. 1. Look for brands mentioned in post on Facebook. If you happen...
To Follow or Not To Follow, That is the Question
Whenever I am trying to educate a social media client, I find that they all seem to ask the same question in regards to Twitter. How do I know who to follow and who not to follow? That is a great question and frankly there is no exact answer to that question. ...
A Twitter Exercise to Get More Followers
I’ll be the first too admit it, I started using Twitter as a one-way communication tool, so that I could help promote my content. However I quickly learned that by doing that, I would not be able to build the following and relationships that I wanted on...
At What Point Are You Wasting Your Time With Social Media?
In an online world filled with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, Foursquare, Gowalla, Skype, gChat, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, and the millions of Blogs/Foums…at what point are you wasting your time??? I often find these days forcing myself to shut down my...
The Right Way to Create Branded Content
Content marketing is growing by leaps and bounds. More and more reputed companies like Red Bull are using branded content to create more awareness about their products, without actually “selling” directly to their target audience. However, creating the right mix of...
Why You Should Monitor Your Brand
No matter who you are, you should be monitoring your brand. Your brand could be anything from your own name, your business or company name, your product, your blog, and so on. Brand monitoring isn’t just about reputation management issues – it’s...
Is Your Website at Odds With Your Social Media Presence?
If you are actively participating on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and yet your website telegraphs the opposite of transparent and interactive, you and your brand or business may be suffering from a split personality complex.
Digg: Gaming the System
I have been addicted to Digg for over three years…active for two… and in SEM for a little over one. Each phase of my relationship with the site has yielded a different return. I am just like every serious Digg user. I am a click-happy, instant-gratitude seeking...
Are Group Deal Sites Really Good for Business Owners?
I have no doubt in my mind that almost everyone reading this has bought at least 1 “Group” deal in the past. Sites like Groupon and Living Social are capitalizing on local businesses who are willing to heavily discount their products/services to get...
Important Social Media & ORM Questions, Answered By Community Manager of Radian6
Lauren Varges, Community Manager at Radian6, was nice enough to take time and lend her expertise and insights into questions regarding social media and online reputation management. For many businesses owners out there, I’m sure you have wondered how you can...
Defining Facebook Profiles, Pages, Groups, and Communities
I know when you are just starting out with Facebook things can be hard to figure out. You probably have a lot of questions about what is the most effective way to market yourself or company using Facebook. Whats the difference between a Facebook Page and Facebook...
Ways to Market your Business Post Penguin and Panda
At the end of April, Google’s latest algorithm update Penguin changed the way we market our websites forever. Combating over-optimized websites, the algorithm hit thousands of websites and slashed the rankings of hundreds of web pages. Even if you’re an innocent...
Social Media and Post-Purchase Referrals
A part, but a severely overlooked one, of running a business is motivating your customers to brag about your products to their friends and connections. In the past, this task was accomplished only through word-of-mouth referrals. But with the help of social media,...
Why a WordPress Based Website is a Social Media Trend for 2011
The world of social media is witnessing a lot of changes in the year 2011 including location-based marketing, review websites, text campaigns, plugins etc. If you are planning your new social media strategy, it is important to make sure that you leverage all of these...
Do “Like” Buttons Influence Search Engines?
With the rise of social media marketing, the notion of collaboration, integration and disseminating information with a click of a button has become an evident norm. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and recently Google have all found multiple innovative ways to make it...
The Powerful Convergence Between QR Codes and Internet Video
Quick Response Codes better known as QR Codes are frequently used in the physical world to drive individuals to check out websites, social media platforms, articles, music releases and of course videos. However, many marketers have actually been daring to take QR...
5 Social Media Faux Pas Affecting Your SEO
Are these social media faux pas affecting your SEO? Guest blogger Kaila Strong from Vertical Measures shares 5 social media faux pas that may just be affecting your search engine optimization.
HootSuite Goes Freemium – Paid Plans and Free Alternatives
My favorite Twitter management tool HootSuite has made the announcement that they are going to start offering different plans for using their service. New users from now on will have to choose a plan (with the option of a 30 day free trial), and current users will...
How To Assemble the All-Star Content Promotion Team
Content promotion is getting to be as important as creating the actual content. I think what people are starting to realize is that just creating great content will only take you so far. This is one of the reasons Social Media and SEO are blending together. You...
Panda and the New Google
Google is a great example of how powerful the Internet really is. With more users than all the other search engines combined, and by a crazy wide margin, Google is a powerhouse the likes of which the business community hasn’t seen for a long while. No More...![Making Sense of Social Media Analytics – With Adam Covati [Podcast]](https://www.stayonsearch.com/httpdocs/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/argyle_logo.gif){kind=logo}
Making Sense of Social Media Analytics – With Adam Covati [Podcast]
Yesterday I had the opportunity of speaking with Adam Covati (@covati), the Founder and CTO of Argyle Social. I asked him a number of questions that talked about Social Media Analytics. The podcast is about 35 minutes long and it is jam packed with a lot of great...
Beyond Facebook: Diversifying Social Media
Internet marketing is rapidly becoming the most powerful tool utilized by companies and individuals to bring attention to themselves and generate an income online. A wide variety of websites have come and gone in the past, due to public interest waning and the overuse...
Top Facebook Application Development Companies
Recently I have noticed some killer Facebook applications designed to give your Fan Page more flair. I thought I would feature some of the companies that built these applications, along with links to these custom applications that you can try out on your own Facebook...
Can You Really Outsource A Social Media Strategy?
The foundation of social media involves the interaction, engagement, and discussion with people using user-generated video, audio, and text through blogs, wikis, social content sharing sites, and video hosting sites. With that being said I ask…Is it possible to...
OneUpWeb: A Kick Ass Facebook Fan Page
A Facebook Fan Page is more than just a way for fans of your business to keep up with your status updates. It has turned into your company’s secondary website that can be used as a traffic and lead generating machine. Recently I came across the OneUpWeb...
Facebook Deals: How to Setup Your First Facebook Deal
We all know that location-based marketing is becoming a huge hit with Internet Marketers. Services like Gowalla and Foursquare have been the front-runners in the space and have proven that users LOVE to check-in to tell their friends where they are hanging out and to...
Ways to Use Facebook Video Chat
When somebody else decides to start something revolutionary, or at least nifty (let’s use this word) most people either don’t hear about it or it can’t be used properly due to small circle of people using the service. On the other hand, when Facebook releases...
Marketing With QR Codes – Learn How They Work
You may have seen them around town: odd black-and-white squares on signs, brochures, and product packaging. QR codes (Quick Response codes) function similarly to UPC codes, which most of us are familiar with. Two major differences between a QR code and UPC code are...
How To Measure Social Media ROI
Measure the ROI from a social media campaign, is much different than measuring a Pay-Per-Click or Banner Placement campaign. The reason is because there are many qualitative factors and other moving pieces that are hard to measure. Things like branding, company...
My Review on “The Social Network” Movie
On Saturday, I decided to go see The Social Network with some friends. I had heard a few reviews of the movie prior to going, but really didn’t know much about it besides that it was based on the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. I must say...
How to Find the Most Influential People on Twitter in Your Niche
Have you ever wanted to see who is the most influential Twitter user intersted in a particular topic, niche, or industry? There are several ways to do this, many benefits, and ways to interact with them as well. Finding Influential Twitterers So first off, how do you...
Facebook’s Growing List of Worldwide Affiliates
Facebook has recently implemented a few revisions to their policy with regards to the way they handle your data, and this came into effect after a vote by the social network giant’s users. One of the biggest changes is that Facebook is now entitled to share your...
Are You Really Building Your Influence on Twitter?
Well, almost every business is jumping onto the social media bandwagon. But, the inside story may not be as interesting as it appears from outside. If you are a social media junkie, you must be aware that Twitter celebrated its 5th birthday last week. Since the number...
Interview with Social Media Expert Michael Fraietta, Chief Listener at Filtrbox
With social media having a huge impact on brand marketing and online reputation, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask Michael Fraiette, the Community Manager and Chieft Listener at Filterbox, a few questions that I’m sure are on the minds of anyone...How Online Press Releases Can Benefit Your Business
Most of today’s business professionals are well aware of the benefits of marketing on sites like Facebook and Twitter. But with the rise of social media and blogging, the power of the press release seems to have gotten the cold shoulder. If you’re looking to boost...
How to Use Instagram to Build Your Business
You’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest… what’s next? If you’d like to continue to diversify your social media efforts, read on. Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram is proof of the company’s promise. You might not consider Instagram a top source for...
Karmin Music – Social Media Case Study
A few months, I happen to stumble across a HOT new music duo when I was wasting away my day on YouTube. The band “Karmin” are two up and coming artists that have been using YouTube to jump-start their music careers. Like thousands of other musicians, they...
How Do I Know My Web Content is Good Enough?
I love when readers, clients and social media connections ask questions; the answers make great fuel for articles, so please keep them coming! Recently, a reader asked, “How do I know my web content is good enough or SEO’d well?” Thus, the topic of today’s blog. So...
The Ultimate Social Bookmarking Content Creation Guide (Part 3: Reddit)
This is part 3 of a 5 part series that covers creating content for the following social bookmarking sites. The other parts will be released over the next few weeks so keep checking back. Part 1: Digg Part 2: StumbleUpon Part 3: Reddit Part 4: Mixx Part 5: Delicious...
6 Resources to Help You Design a Twitter Background
Microblogging super service Twitter has revolutionized the social media world. You have even finally jumped onto the band wagon and started following and collecting followers. You might not have over 6 million followers like Ashton Kutcher (of course, who does?), but...
Managing Agency and Client Responsibilities
Recently I wrote a post on how much knowledge a client should have, but along with knowledge also comes responsibility. For any internet marketing agency to work well with their clients, there must be a mutual understanding of the overall strategy, and most...
Google+ Working for Your Business
As anyone can tell from Google’s stock on the trade market, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Google+ is a testament to the new technology in search engine features, which Google continues to improve upon. This awesome Google software enables social...
Traditional SEO to Social, What Matters?
Have you ever wondered how Twitter links and updates play into search results? A recent study by Michael Stelzner on small business social media use reported, 88% of all marketers found social media helps get them increase exposure. But where is this exposure coming...