Wordpress Plugins and the Power of Social Bookmarking Sites

admin    Adobe After Effects     Bookmarking, Plugins, Power, Sites, Social, WordPress

Wordpress Plugins and the Power of Social Bookmarking Sites

Blogger used to be a good blogging platform, especially for beginners. It was easy to use and setup, and not much technical know-how was required. There’s one major setback to using Blogger, though. You can’t take advantage of social bookmarking sites, at least not as effectively as you can with using Wordpress. There are numerous Wordpress Plugins, and some take advantage these sites.

These social sites act as a “vote” for your website. When people bookmark your blog posts or articles, they are sharing them with others. Other people pick up on your content, and they might bookmark them as well. The more votes the better. Google loves content, that’s no mystery. Google will reward your site for that content and the fact that high authority social bookmarking sites are linking to it. This means more traffic! A lot more in fact.

So how do we take advantage of these social sites when blogging? The answer is Wordpress Plugins. Blogger doesn’t give us any way to automatically bookmark every post we make. It has to be done manually. That’s very time consuming! Services like OnlyWire or SocialMarker can make this a lot easier, but you still have to take the time to use those services.

There is a much easier way to drive this traffic to your blog. You have to be using Wordpress to take advantage of this. Wordpress is probably the most popular blogging platform, and it’s no wonder why that is. It requires a little more technical knowledge, but don’t be scared away. The benefits are far greater!

Wordpress makes use of Plugins. Wordpress Plugins are basically little applications that perform a function or process. There are numerous Plugins that were made for Wordpress, and there will be many more no doubt. They all serve a different purpose.

Here are some Wordpress Plugins that you DON’T want to be without so that you can utilize the power of social bookmarking sites:

ShareThis – Allows users to share and bookmark your posts.

AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget – This allows your readers to bookmark your posts.

ShareThis and AddThis are pretty much the same thing. It doesn’t hurt to have both. You want to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to bookmark your posts.

OnlyWire Autosubmitter – This will automatically submit your posts to your OnlyWire account.

Sociable – Automatically adds links on your posts to popular social bookmarking sites.

Tweet My Blog – This will automatically post a tweet to your Twitter account when you make a new post, bringing more traffic to your blog. You can sign up for Tweet My Blog at my blog; there is a link in the resource box. You’re also going to need a Twitter account. So grab that and start getting followers, the more the better.

This is just a small example of the Wordpress Plugins that are available. You want to make sure you have these Plugins installed so you get traffic from the social bookmarking sites. The potential here is huge, and you don’t want to miss out. If you’re not yet using Wordpress to blog, I suggest you get on board.

How Social Media Is Changing The Way B2B Companies Communicate

admin    Adobe TV     Changing, Communicate, Companies, Media, Social

Nowadays, the question seems to be not who is on Twitter, but rather, who is not on Twitter. The world seems to be aflutter with the Twitter phenomenon. Even Bill Gates is tweeting.

The proliferation of Twitter and other Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs have drastically changed the way society socialises and communicates. And businesses are taking note.

Some of the world’s largest corporations are themselves changing the way they communicate and collaborate with their customers, stakeholders and employees. Conventional marketing such as advertisements and sending out mass e-mail are no longer enough. These days, companies are more inclined to engage directly with customers via online discussion forums or through blogs.  Marketing personnel are also equally at home typing out pitches using less than 140 characters on Twitter as they are writing out lengthy advertising copies.

Jumping on the social media bandwagon

According to an August 2009 survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 86% of companies from various industries said social media now forms part of their businesses. 61% have integrated social applications within their websites or other sites, while 40% have set up standalone online communities. 39% chose to embed third-party widgets into their sites.

Marketing was cited as the top reason for adopting social media tools (57%), followed by internal collaboration (39%).

In another survey done by McKinsey in 2009, 53% of business respondents said they plan to increase their investment in social media tools and technologies in the next three years.

Why the interest in social media amongst companies? It is considered a word-of-mouth marketing phenomenon that commands a higher level of consumer engagement, and in some cases, better return on investment (ROI), than conventional advertisements.

Power of social media

If there are any doubts as to the power of social media as a marketing tool, look no further than Dell. The computer maker made headlines last year when it reported that it had generated USD6.5 million in revenue from sales alerts on its DellOutlet (http://twitter.com/delloutlet) Twitter account. Granted, that is a tiny percentage compared to Dell’s total revenue of USD60 billion in 2008. However, considering that it cost the company next to nothing to set up the Twitter account, the ROI is pretty significant.

Another good example of the power of social media is Intuit’s use of online discussion forums. The financial and accounting software company’s “Live Community” forum allows customers to ask other customers questions, including those that the company isn’t allowed to answer because of regulatory restrictions. Through word-of-mouth and consumer feedback, Intuit has seen sales increase by more than 30% each year.

Technologically-savvy

Dell and Intuit are two examples of technology companies that are socially savvy in an industry that is by far the most comfortable when it comes to embracing Web 2.0

Tech companies already utilise podcasts, webcasts and video to market their products and service offerings, while online discussion forums and the blogosphere are used to solicit free feedback and suggestions for their products.

They have also started to engage bloggers to create awareness of new products by inviting them to do trial runs and pre-launch product reviews. This can work both ways though. A bad review may hurt a brand, but an endorsement from an established blogger can be powerful marketing.

Financial institutions – still on the sidelines

On the other hand, financial institutions in general, are still contented to be wallflowers in the realm of social media. They don’t engage much at all. This is not surprising as strict industry regulations and compliance issues prevent many banks from embracing the ‘open transparency’ that social media requires.

The only platform most of them seem to be in is LinkedIn. Although some banks have a Facebook page, most of the accounts seem to be opened by fans, rather than the lenders themselves.

Still, there are signs that some financial institutions are beginning to experiment with social media. Banks like Citibank and HSBC have discussion forums on their websites to get feedbacks from customers. While Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong has its own Standard Chartered TV (http://www.youtube.com/user/scbtv09) on YouTube.

Management consultancies – some are greater converts than others

Management consultants probably have the most to gain from engaging in social media, especially in promoting their thought leaders. Many partners from these firms already have their articles posted on the company’s website. These thought leadership pieces could potentially reach out to a wider base if they also have their own blogs or twitter accounts, or if they are linked to bookmarking and news sharing sites like Delicious, Digg and Reddit.

Deloitte Consulting and McKinsey are two of the best examples of management consultancies that are fully exploiting social media to promote their thought leaders. They use platforms such as Delicious and Digg to draw more people to their websites. By starting a discussion forum on their articles, they are able to provide links back to their corporate website showcasing more of their services. This, in turn, generates more traffic hits and eyeballs, and potentially, new clients.

Unfortunately, aside from Deloitte, McKinsey and Accenture, most management consultancies have yet to jump on the social media bandwagon.

LinkedIn

The only social media channel that all companies across the three industries seem to be on is LinkedIn. This is to be expected. Unlike other social networking sites, the approximate 50 million registered users on LinkedIn are professionals looking to connect with like-minded peers, or to create their own business connections.

The site’s large treasure trove of professional contacts has become a popular “go-to” place for human resources personnel. Because it also has different groups for any number of organisations or special interest groups, companies also find LinkedIn especially useful when looking for candidates with a specific set of skills.

Bookmark it and share and share alike

While blogs, Twitter and Facebook are the more popular social media channels being utilised by businesses, B2B companies should also look into exploring bookmarking services like Delicious and news sharing sites such as Digg and Reddit to generate greater awareness.

Adobe Systems maintains a list of interesting company related news and conversations on Delicious. For instance, the software company used Delicious to store and share a link that gives a tutorial on how to apply the Bokeh, or hazy effect, in web design. By bookmarking this link, Adobe ensures it gets more eyeballs, and potential customers, than it would have had had it only featured the link on its website. It also uses Delicious to advertise its eSeminars.

Meanwhile, Intel’s blog network allows readers to ‘digg’ or recommend the blogs that they have read on Digg. For example, a blog written by an employee on the power of Intel’s 3D streaming technology was recommended by almost one thousand registered Digg users and generated over 100 comments. As a result of this employee’s blog entry, the company was able to review independent feedback, gauge the popularity of the subject and generate some buzz through a third-party site.

So, what’s next?

While some companies, such as Intuit, Intel, Accenture and Deloitte, are taking full advantage of, and reaping the benefits, from Web 2.0 technologies, most business-to-business companies are not very socially engaged.

It would not be long before social technologies become a norm within the B2B space. After all, it aligns with what B2B marketing is all about – and that is to build ongoing relationships with one’s stakeholder communities.

So go ahead and:

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It is no longer a one-to-many business environment, but rather a many-to-many world. B2B companies can no longer afford to stay on the sidelines if they want to get ahead of the competition.  So, is your company socially engaged?

SEO Reseller Provider Endless Rise rolls out additional Social Media Optimization through Video

admin    SEO Video     Additional, Endless, Media, Optimization, provider, Reseller, Rise, rolls, Social, Through, Video

The most inexpensive, high quality Video Optimization packages have hit the Search Engine Marketing market in a big way. Endless Rise, the renowned SEO Reseller Provider, has added another high value service to their SEO reseller plan, leveling the playing field for small and medium size businesses who bring new products to market.  This innovative SEO reseller plan allows for a video optimization package that is turnkey and easily marketed.Included in these video  SEO Reseller PlansVideo Landing Page creation – Endless Rise will create a landing page in the appropriate spot for those “hands-off” clients who are too busy running their business to hire a programmer to add the page for their new product or service. Google Analytics – This Endless Rise SEO Reseller Plan installs this great service for the new product/service which will allow the client to specifically track the progress of their marketing.  This is critical to the projects effectiveness.  Tracking how long the viewer stays on the page and how they arrived at the page ensures the success of future marketing efforts.On Page Optimization –In this SEO Reseller plan, the page offering the video will be fully optimized on with meta-data, content, and code ensuring ranking ability in the Search Engines and almost immediate indexing.  This is critical in pushing the target page to its ranking potential.Social Bookmarking – Endless Rise gets this video started off on the right foot by giving you different levels of Social Bookmarks with their video optimization packages.  This function is a great way to start the viral buzz of a great video!Video link Submission-The video SEO Reseller plan also includes placing link structure for the video.  Once the page and video are optimized, this helps with page indexing speed and allows the video to get recognized in video search.  Google, yahoo and Bing are all included in these submissions.Video Sharing – Endless Rise submits the video to sites requested by the client in this SEO Reseller Plan.  Pick your favorite Video website and we will submit there.  With the smallest package starting with 5 different video website submissions, you cannot go wrong with this package.Video Optimization Package prices start at $55 for Endless Rise SEO Resellers.In addition, this and other Endless Rise SEO Reseller plans, allow client’s who aren’t ready to put all of their marketing eggs into one basket the option to “test the waters” with your SEO Firm.  These packages last for 1 month and show your client’s the value proposition you promise them and high ranking results on just a small portion of their products.  This will wet their pallet and help them understand the vast opportunity in Online Marketing.

Five Rules For Social Video Optimization

admin    SEO Video     Five, Optimization, Rules, Social, Video

The popularity of social video sites like YouTube, Yahoo Video, iFilm, blinkx is undeniable. YouTube alone receives more than 65,000 video uploads and plays 100 million clips every day. By 2010, video enthusiasts will consume 44 billion user generated video clips. This represents 55% of all the video content viewed by US consumers. In the future, user generated videos may even end up on your television screen through the cables and satellites. YouTube has already announced incorporating the revenue sharing possibility with the creators of these video streams. Other sites may follow soon. You will be able to monetize your video contents and allow others to discover your skills and talents for better jobs or other lucrative offerings. To maximize the impact of your creativity, you need to know the kind of contents you have to produce and effectively present those contents in the video sharing sites.
The social video optimization is not about optimizing your videos for high search engine ranking (SEO). It is about making your videos for others to enjoy and learn from (providing benefits to people) and publishing those videos in social video and social media websites for viewers to easily discover, bookmark, and share for a viral effect.
1. Provide benefits. Offer something that will benefit others. It may be funny video clips, a series of “how-to” videos, an unusual moment, etc. Don’t upload any violent clips. Though these clips are popular in video sharing sites, most of the time they don’t provide any real value to the society. Unless the violence has journalistic value, don’t embrace it for amusement. Funny clips are popular. Kids and pets provide plenty of opportunities to capture hilarious moments. If you have plumbing skills, offer a series of short “how to” videos on fixing things around the house. A computer geek can channel her skills in developing short videos on how to setup a home network. Plenty of opportunities are available. Find your niches and work in those areas. If you are comedian, create short stand-up comedy routine videos. The bottom line is to create themes and produce a series of videos based on each theme.
2. Provide enhanced viewing experience. People do not want to watch a full-length movie in a video-sharing site. A clip should not be more than 10 minutes long. Buy a cell phone with a good quality camera for capturing those unexpected moments. Otherwise, use a digital video camera for making your clips. Use a free online video editing sites like http://cuts.com for cutting video scenes, inserting title and sound effects, etc.
3. Create your brand. Companies spend millions to establish and promote brands. Why should not you? Brand recognition is very powerful and it may set you apart from others. Insert a few frames at the start and end of every video you create to introduce yourself, your skills and talents. People like to associate with real persons rather than some unknown entities. Tell them what this video is all about. Make it short. Setup a blog and provide your blog URL in the introductory and conclusionary frames. Make the blog URL short for people to remember it easily.
4. Make it discoverable. This is like marketing your video on the video sharing sites. If you don’t do it properly, your contribution will be lost in the sea of video clips. Provide a short and catchy title with keywords related to your video. Relevant keywords will help locate your clips when people do a search. A catchy title in the search results will draw viewers’ attention. Learn from the titles others are using by doing a search using your keywords in YouTube and other similar sites. The same goes for the description. Use relevant keywords but make it interesting to arouse curiosity. Write in the natural language and avoid adjectives. Let the users decide the quality of your presentation.
Tags are everywhere now a day. It is a keyword, not a keyword phrase. You should provide tags for your uploaded contents. If your titles and descriptions are relevant to your videos, you already have a few tags. Besides the tags you have already collected from your title and description use one or more tags to closely identify your content to the categories available in the site. For example, on YouTube you have categories like “autos and vehicles”, “comedy”, “howto” etc. If your video is about how to fix a flat tire, use additional tags like “tire”, “car”, etc. Add a few additional tags to describe the least important thing in your video. In the “fix a flat tire” video example, you can add tags like “stems”, “valve”, etc. Use as many tags as you can accommodate in the tag text box.
5. Relax and enjoy. You may be wondering why this is a rule. This is a rule because you do not want to feel the burnout. Enjoy what you are doing. Have a passion for your creative works. Don’t think about how much money you are going to make by producing these videos. This is not going to make you rich overnight or within a very short time span. What is important is that you are pursuing something that you like. If the society is benefiting from your creative works, you will get adequate monetary rewards.

What Does Social Bookmarking Got to Do With Seo?

admin    SEO Video     Bookmarking, Social

Social bookmarking is on the rise and it is sometimes mentioned in the same sentences as SEO like this one. However what is social bookmarking and what does it have to do with SEO? In this article I will give a brief description of what social bookmarking is and how it affects your SEO. Social bookmarking refers to user generated content and as the name suggests it is content that is added by a community that registers to a particular website. There are many different kinds of social bookmarking websites below I will mention some of the most popular. Wikipedia Wikipedia is a very popular user created encyclopaedia and is an excellent source of information on about every subject possible. Just do a search on anything and a Wikipedia enter will almost certainly appear near the top. However with Wikipedia being added by any source there is no guarantees that the information that it supplies is accurate. Digg Digg is a website that displays news articles that has been supplied by the general public that they think may be of interest. Digg has news stories on all different types of subjects imaginable and display a short piece of information about the news story and a link to the website where it is displayed. Stumbleupon My personal favourite stumbleupon works slightly different from the above social bookmarking websites. Stumbleupon allows you to download a toolbar that when you visit an interesting webpage you can click on the thumbs up button and submit a review. This then goes onto your profile for everyone in your network to see. You can submit videos and even images to stumbleupon. You can the click on the stumble button to see random websites that other stumblers have found interesting. Many SEO companies offer social bookmarking for your website design you should visit here to see if social bookmarking is right for you. So what does social bookmarking got to do with SEO? Well nothing really, however adding your webpage’s to these kind of websites can help get exposure for your website however a lot of these sites use the no follow rules to prevent spamming. The thing to remember with social bookmarking websites is don’t try to force your content onto them as if this is not the kind of content that is in favour by the community then it will just be ignored. A tip here is to do your research and see what content is popular and if this fits your website then by all means add your content.

What is Social Media Optimization | Affordable SEO Services | SEO Traffic Spider

admin    SEO Video     Affordable, Media, Optimization, Services, Social, Spider, Traffic

Social media optimization or SMO is yet another method for search engine optimization of your site. As the name implies, you optimize your site by advertising it through the social media sites, online communities and community websites such as blog sites, message boards, podcasts, wikis and vlogs.

The methods for social media optimization involve the use of RSS feeds, social bookmarking, video and photo sharing, social news buttons and blogging etc. The basic idea is to drive traffic to your site without spending money on search engine advertising.

The concept of social media optimization was introduced by Rohit Bhargawa of Ogilivy Public Relations. Originally, he enunciated five rules for social media optimization, but the list was expanded by other contributors.

According to Rohit Bhargawa, “The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.”

In actual practice, social media optimization seeks to create links to the site by making it more visible through the social networking sites like Squidoo, Blogger, Hubpages, Face Book, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, My Space or search engines like Technorati.

How does one go about social media optimization?

Getting links for your website

The number of links your site manages to pull through decides its popularity with the search engines. It is like deciding the popularity of the leader through the votes he gets. In case of a website its popularity index is the number of links it gets from other websites.

Tagging and bookmarking

Tagging and bookmarking can be made easier by inducting content features such as buttons like “add to delicious” and other bookmarking sites. In addition to this, you can also include relevant tags to your pages besides the home page for the popular social bookmarking sites.

Create inbound links

Inbound links are considered important for the popularity of the site and its content in searching engine ranking. You should create links to the blogs or sites that contain back links to your site and increase its visibility.

Make your content travel

Make some changes in your site to enable your content to travel far and wide in your niche area. This can be done by including portable content such as PDFs, video and audio files and submitting them to your list members as well as sites related to your niche. This will help you to create back links for your site.

Allow others to use your content

A glaring example of this practice is YouTube. You can download its videos to your sites to illustrate your content and make it more interesting. Another example is to use RSS feeds to syndicate your content so that others can use it for their benefit. This can help you to drive traffic to your website.

Pros and cons of social media optimization

As with other methods of driving traffic, social media optimization has become victim of spamming or link farming. While the noble idea behind social bookmarking is to include links to informative, useful and interesting sites, people bookmark – syndicate – their own sites in numerous bookmarking sites unmindful of the quality of their content which can be pirated, duplicate and cheap. It simply eats into the web space of the bookmarking site and creates a kind of content garbage making it difficult to sift grains from the chaff.