Are your Tweets Ranking on Google? What is Your Twitter Marketing Strategy

The best bet is to combine your Twitter Marketing Strategy with your Twitter and SEO efforts. There are even some who believe that Twitter and any social media as a group are useless for search engine marketing.

Are they right or are they just sticking their head in the sand?

Twitter doesn’t have direct link juice. (The search engines are getting better at using the shortened URLs.) Because of Twitter’s high page rank, not only your tweets but even your Twitter profile page can get on the first page of Google. With just with a little backlink strategy this can be accomplished.

Being a SEO Consultant I can’t pigeon hole a process to cover just one single task with a process so…

Twitter (and more) Backlinking Strategy:

• Use a keyword research tool to to locate the keyword phrase/s you wish to rank on. I use Nichebot as my keyword research tool (a real time saver).
• It would be best if you create a blog post on your own site that goes into the subject in even more detail using your chosen keyword phrase/s (never pass up a chance to increase your own SERPs).
• Compose your Tweet using the keyword phrase you have chosen. It would be best if it would link to your blog post or some article of a similar topic.
• Write a 226+ word article on EzineArtlcles and use your keyword phrase as an anchor text to your Tweet.
• Write a second (and even a third) 226+ word article for posting HubPages and/or Squidoo with an anchor text backlink to your Tweet.
• Use a social bookmarking software like OnlyWire to bookmark all your articles (Your Blog, EzineArtlcle, HubPages and Squidoo).
• Make sure to ping everything, including the all the RSS feeds. (Pinging tools – Pingler, Ping-o-Matic!, PingSites…)

Wait for a few days and not only your Tweet but all of your articles including your blog post will rank for your keyword phrase on Google.

Even though this post is geared towards Twitter SEO and marketing in general is synergistic. This can not only be applied to other social media it should be applied with a wide brush. Everything feeds off of everything else.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Do You have a Twitter Marketing Strategy? is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Twitter Spends Time and Resources on a Face Lift

It looks like twitter is trying to compete with the cool slick twitter clients that are available today.

If I owned twitter I would spend more time trying to make the program more stable and try to eliminate the famous twitter down time.

This new design is interesting. They made everything smaller so they could get more information on the page and above the fold. They have taken real estate away from you personalization. They have even added a background to my profile photo that makes me look like I am wearing a cowboy hat. At least this doesn’t show up in my icon.

Here is what twitter is touting, some screenshots, a few comments, and even a video.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

 
The New design

You will now find @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above your timeline – creating a single, streamlined view on the left of the screen. On the right, you can see the features you’re familiar with, including whom you recently followed and who recently followed you, favorites, and Trending Topics.

Now you need a wide screen to see the background image you have so carefully chosen.

 
View photos, videos, and other media content

Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.

 
Discover related content

When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: @replies, other Tweets by that same user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more.

Everyone is using the geolocation function in twitter aren’t they?

 
Mini profiles

You can click a @username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets.

Does this remind you of the LinkedIn rollover to view a mini profile function? The difference – you have to click on the icon to view it and you have to close it too.

 
Rollout timing

These changes will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks. During the preview, you’ll be able to switch back and forth so you have time to grow accustomed to the way things work. Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com.

Old Twitter

New Twitter

They are also promising that their infrastructure and operations engineers are responding to the incident.

One more thing… I can’t find where you log out… ;-(
It’s in a dropdown under your name in the upper right hand corner.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

#NewTwitter – The NEW Twitter is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

We are in the B2B Social Media Era, Either Board the Social Media Train or Get Left at the Station

If you are in business today you need a social media strategy. You know like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter…

It is no longer possible to use the excuse that your business is business to business so you don’t need to participate in social media.

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, Blogs…, the B2B world has come of age. Regardless of whether your business is B2B or B2C social media is a viable marketing strategy today!

In a recently released B2B Social Media Benchmarking study the writing has been left on the station wall. Businesses are using social media and they are using it at a very high rate. If you don’t have your social media marketing strategy in place yet it is time to get on board.

The 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study from Business.com gives us some great insight into the use of social media for businesses today. For those of you who really like the numbers here are some that should get things rolling.

The top 5 social media resources as the most popular for business information:

• 69.1% – Attend webinars or listen to podcasts
• 62.2% – Read user ratings & reviews for business products or services
• 62.1% – Visit company or product profile pages on social media sites
• 55.1% – Visit company blogs
• 54.5% – Conduct searches for information on social media sites

This information can be broken down to company size and the comparison is very interesting.

Small Businesses less than 100 employees:

• 67% – Attend webinars or listen to podcasts
• 63% – Read user ratings & reviews for business products or services
• 61% – Visit company or product profile pages on social media sites
• 54% – Visit company blogs
• 54% – Conduct searches for information on social media sites
• 34% – Subscribe to RSS feeds of business-related news of information sites
• 28% – Use Twitter to find or request business-related information
• 27% – Save business-related links on social bookmarking sites

Medium to Large Businesses 100+ employees:

• 84% – Attend webinars or listen to podcasts
• 70% – Visit company or product profile pages on social media sites
• 70% – Read user ratings & reviews for business products or services
• 66% – Conduct searches for information on social media sites
• 64% – Visit company blogs
• 62.1% – Visit company or product profile pages on social media sites
• 48% – Subscribe to RSS feeds of business-related news of information sites
• 46% – Use Twitter to find or request business-related information
• 36% – Save business-related links on social bookmarking sites

In all but one case – reading user ratings and reviews for business products or services – a higher percentage of mid- to large-sized company respondents reported utilizing a given social media resource than did small business respondents. The fact that small business respondents show more active interest in business product/service ratings and reviews makes sense – small businesses typically lack the more formalized purchasing process found in mid- to large-sized companies, and these ratings and reviews provide additional, useful information to support the purchasing decision process.

When it comes to active participation on social media web sites, such as participating in online business communities or forums, or asking questions on Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers or LinkedIn Answers, there were no significant differences between small company and mid- to large-sized company respondents.

When it comes to online social community participation there seems to be very little difference when it comes to company size.

Small Businesses less than 100 employees:

• 52% – Participate in online business communities or forums
• 50% – Ask questions on Q&A sites (e.g.LinkedIn, Yahoo Answers…)
• 29% – Participate in discussions on 3rd party sites

Medium to Large Businesses 100+ employees:

• 52% – Participate in online business communities or forums
• 46% – Ask questions on Q&A sites (e.g.LinkedIn, Yahoo Answers…)
• 32% – Participate in discussions on 3rd party sites

If you are in business are you active on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers? Do you have a blog? If not why not? We are in the digital age changes are only a click away. Just jump aboard this “social media train” it can be fun, informative, and rewarding. If you aren’t on any train yet try LinkedIn.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Businesses Are Using Social Media – What is Your Social Media Strategy? is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

This is a guest post from social media strategist Taylor Ellwood

Most of what’s discussed about social media is business and how social media can be used to help businesses engage in social media activities. But there’s more to social media than just business and how it can be used to promote business.

Social media is a social medium. It’s conversation between people, it’s jokes, and sometimes it’s sadness, and sometimes its other things altogether. When we treat social media as a tool to accomplish something, we still need to remember that it’s much more than that. Being social is sharing more than just information…it’s sharing personality, and people like to interact with other people.

So what can you do to make your time on social media social as well as business oriented?

1. Post updates about a hobby you enjoy doing.
   If you like bird watching or photography, or something else, share it. You might be surprised at the responses you get, because other people might share those same hobbies. And the beauty of it is you get to know people a bit better and share in something you mutually enjoy. You might even make some new in-person friends as a result to enjoy that hobby with.
2. Tell people about a fun activity you or something you enjoyed watching or reading.
   Telling people what you’ve watched or read can also create opportunities for engagement. For example, telling people about the latest episode of a show I watched created an opportunity to talk about that show and what people thought about it.
3. Tell a joke.
   Keep it tasteful, but it can be fun to tell an occasional joke and see what response you get. You can even make a game out of it, if you get enough people involved.
4. Ask questions.
   People like to be asked questions, so if you see an interesting post and want to know more ask questions. It can be a great way to get to know people better and it also shows them that you are interested in them.
5. Share a story with people or make one up.
   I once participated in an online twitter story, helping to come up with some of the writing. We had a lot of fun and it was a great way to be silly and be social on social media. Telling a story on a social media site can also be a great way to get the creative juices flowing, especially if you get other people helping you write the story. Make it a collaborative, learning project.

Remember that social media is social. It doesn’t always have to be about business. In fact making it fun can be a really great way to show people you’re connected with that you’re more than a business logo and that you want to get to know them as people. And really, in the end, don’t we all want to be treated as people first, and clients second?

What is social about social media? is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

This is a guest post by social media strategist Taylor Ellwood

There’s a lot of hype about Four Square and the geo location technology it offers. So much so that Twitter and Facebook, and other social media services are starting to integrate geo location technology into their interfaces. Geo location technology basically shows the exact location you are sending a status update from, and can sometimes involve telling people where you are. A lot of people are really into using this technology, especially because Four Square has made it into a game, where you can get virtual awards for showing up a place and telling people you are there. This allows you to compete with other people on Four Square.

However, in their rush to win virtual awards, what Four Square users seem to have forgotten or not thought through are the potential consequences for posting their exact location to other people. The danger in this technology is that people can use knowing your exact location against you. For example, one social media expert I know told me how she’d posted her latest location at a restaurant. While getting ready to eat, she was called by two men who told her that thanks to Four Square they knew exactly where she was. They told her they were breaking into her home to steal everything she had. Needless to say getting such a call understandably frightened her. She got a friend to escort her home, where she found out her place had not been broken into. She had just been pranked. But that experience opened her eyes and she stopped using Four Square.

In truth, she was lucky she only got pranked, but the reality is that Four Square’s geo location can be used for much worse. After all, she really could have been robbed. And if someone wanted to stalk her or rape her, or do something worse, it wouldn’t be very hard to use Four Square’s geo location technology to keep track of where she was and then make a move. And in the end, Four Square won’t recompense her for stolen goods or anything else for that matter.

The other problem however, is that there isn’t a very clear reason as to why geo location technology is actually useful. What function or purpose does it serve to announce to everyone exactly where you are? Sure you can tell friends who then might meet up with you, but you can also use the phone, email, text, or a direct message to do the same.

Four Square’s geo location technology ultimately presents less benefit than it provides. Just because people can use it, doesn’t mean they should use it. Without a clear benefit, beyond virtual awards, Four Square and other such similar services provide more opportunities for people to be stalked, robbed, or otherwise harmed. Of course, it’s not solely the technology’s fault. The lack of common sense displayed by people who use this technology without considering the consequences also is a problem. That people haven’t clearly thought out what could occur is evident when they use this technology indiscriminately and post it to all their social networking sites. in the end, no virtual award is worth the risks that this technology increases. While it’s true that any person could be robbed, stalked, etc., it’s also true that the less you do to open yourself up to it, the less chance it is that it will occur.

In the age of social media, while it is easier for us to tell each other where we are, it’s more important than ever to employ common sense and carefully consider what we tell people and what technology we use to tell people. While I do tell people what I’m doing, I keep the location information and time vague in my social media updates. I focus on informing people more about what I’m doing, as opposed to where I’m doing it.

Why social media geo-location technology isn’t as good as it seems is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Early Bird Rates End March 31st. Hey That’s Tomorrow! Don’t be Left out in the Cold

The Early Bird Rates will end Tomorrow! Be sure to Register Now and take advantage of the special pricing.

Here is some information on the new workshops I didn’t discuss in my earlier post on the Workshops.

“Communicating Ideas with Comics”

Twitter’s Kevin Cheng somehow missed the instructions to stop drawing after the first grade. Kevin now splits his time between Twitter, and finishing his book “See What I Mean: How to Communicate Ideas With Comics“.

Kevin has a history of mixing his many passions for games, comics, design and technology. He was the Director of User Experience for the gaming social network Raptr and the designer for Yahoo! Pipes. He co-founded the user experience web comic OK/Cancel, and the online comic publishing network Off Panel Productions. Through Off Panel, he recently co-created an iPhone augmented reality game called “ARGH”.

Everything You Need to Know about HTML5 and CSS3

Recent implementation of HTML5 and CSS3 features in today’s browsers allow for greater design control and creativity in our Web sites. HTML5 introduces a number of new elements and attributes that reflect typical usage on modern Web sites, which includes new functionality for audio and video elements. But is anything else new?

In their full-day workshop on “HTML5 and CSS3”, Kimberly Blessing and Christopher Schmitt will share what you need to know about the new markup, understand how to incorporate new HTML5 elements to embrace the new creative freedoms of of new Web typography and CSS3.

Map Scripting

Location based data is pervasive and whether is a business site or a personal blog, your can take advantage by adding informative, interactive maps.

Adam DuVander’s half-day workshop on “Hands-on Map Scripting”:

• Use Mapstraction to write code once that creates Google Maps, Yahoo, Bing, MapQuest—a dozen different providers
• Find your user’s location no matter what the browser—even a mobile phone
• Customize your map with your own markers and map imagery
• Convert addresses to latitude/longitude coordinates, so you can turn user input into data
• Find other sources of geographic data by connecting to APIs, like Twitter and local search

Just as all good things must come to an end so will the early bird rates for WebVisions so Register Today and save some cash.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

WebVisions Early Bird Rates End the Tomorrow – New Workshops Information is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Special WebVisions Rates for Search Engine Optimizician SEO Blog Readers

I have worked out a special deal with the folks at WebVisions for all the Search Engine Optimizician readers.

Join us at WebVisions for their 10th year. Register Now!

WebVisions explores the future of web design, technology, user experience and business strategy from May 19-21 at the Oregon Convention Center.

Visionary Workshops, Visionary Speakers

Immersive workshops with the web’s leading visionaries will explore topics in a small group setting.

All workshops will be held on Wednesday, May 19th from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

• Designing Social Interfaces – Christian Crumlish & Erin Malone
• Mix-n’-Match Web APIs – Tom Hughes-Croucher of Yahoo!
• iPhone Apps: Concept to Launch – Raven Zachary & James Keller
• Real World iPhone Development – Collin Donnell
• Photography Tips from the New School – Kris Krug
• Hands-On Map Scripting – Adam DuVander
• jQuery for Designers David McFarland
• Design Strategy in a Nutshell – Kate Rutter
• HTML5 and CSS3 – Chris Schmitt & Kimberly Blessing

Check out my earlier post on the Workshops.

Three Days, Over Forty Speakers

Early Bird rates end in nine days. Don’t miss out on great rates for conference passes and workshops!

Register today!

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

WebVisions – The Early Bird Rates End March 31st is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Does Social Influence have any Effect on Customer Service?

This is a guest blog post from social media strategist Taylor Ellwood

There’s a lot of hype made about social media and how it empowers the customer, especially when it comes to actually getting businesses to listen to what the customer has to say. But I’m a skeptic, and from everything I’ve observed, while social media is certainly a useful tool for connecting with people and building relationships and doing research on something you want, I don’t agree that it empowers the consumer as much as some other digital strategists argue that it does. And the reason for that is simple: Unless you have social influence, companies don’t care about your complaints.

That sounds harsh, but it’s also true. The news stories that get frequented about how people are using social media to embarrass companies and get them to actually perform real customer service occurs usually due to one overwhelming factor. That factor is how many followers a person has. For example, the president of Maytag recently called a blogger up and apologized for his company’s customer service and got her washer fixed, but only because that person had thousands of followers and had gotten those followers to support her, when Maytag’s customer service department refused to help her out. In another case, an artist’s work was ripped off by a company, and it was only when Neal Gaiman posted about it that the company even started to talk with her or offer some form of payment for her work.

My point is that while social media is a very public space, it does not guarantee that companies will provide better customer service or automatically care about what their customers think. Additionally with social media monitoring tools such as what Scout Lab provides, some companies can try to manage the negativity behind changing the rating toward them using some of the tools that social media monitoring companies provide. While this is a dubious practice at best, it is one that companies can use as a way of managing how they are perceived.

However, consumers can develop strategies of their own to get someone to listen. Finding someone who has a lot of social influence, and convincing that person of the worthiness of your cause can help to spread news about a company and its poor customer service. If enough people read and agree with the influencer then the company will have to respond, if only because the spike in negativity will embarrass them enough to make them listen to the original complaint and solve it.

However what ultimately would be ideal is if businesses simply learn to be proactive in their customer service, especially on social media sites. Social media provides consumers an opportunity to complain about a company very easily, but the company can choose to respond and try and solve the issue instead of just trying to avoid it or ignore it. Companies can also build on positive interactions by taking time to comment on a customer that mentions their brand. By building some positive social influence of their own companies can show that they actually care about their clients, and create customer service that actually serves the customer instead of trying to avoid the customer.

Social Influence and Customer Service is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEO for Firefox – SEO Tools of the Trade for Firefox Web Browsers

Next in the Firefox Browser plugin “Tools of the Trade” series is SEO for Firefox. SEO for Firefox is a great plugin that will allow you to see where a site is standing when it comes to visibility.

SEO for Firefox gives you a quick overview of just how visible a website is on the internet. It looks at Google, Yahoo, important directories, and social media.

I like to just be able to glance at something and see if it is worth doing or not. Over time in the SEO game you sorta learn a feel for estimating keywords and markets, but it is helpful to have a few additional data points, especially if you are new to the market.

This tool was designed to add more data to Google and Yahoo! to make it easier to evaluate the value and competitive nature of a market. SEO for Firefox pulls in many useful marketing data points to make it easy get a more holistic view of the competitive landscape of a market right from the search results. In addition to pulling in useful marketing data this tool also provides links to the data sources so you can dig deeper into the data.

SEO for Firefox is another one of the offerings from Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com that we have covered in this Firefox Plugin series.

The main tool in the SEO for Firefox plugin is the “Site Information” window.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
This window is launched either by right clicking and choosing SEO for Firefox > Lookup This Page or by using the Firefox toolbar Tools > SEO for Firefox > Lookup Tool.

The information available in the Lookup Tool is:

• PageRank
• Google Cashe Date
• Traffic Value
• Age
• del.icio.us
• del.icio.us Page Bookmarks
• Diggs
• Diggs Popular Stories
• Stumbleupon
• Twitter
• Yahoo! Links
• Yahoo! .edu Links
• Yahoo! .gov Links
• Yahoo! Page Links
• Yahoo! .edu Page Links
• Technorati
• Alexa
• Compete.com Rank
• Compete.com Uniques
• Cashed
• dmoz
• Bloglines
• Page blog links
• wikwpedia
• dir.yahoo.com
• Btow

By double-clicking on the service you open the page associated with that particular information comes from.

The SEO XRay function in SEO for Firefox will also give us some useful information.

It is launched by right clicking and choosing SEO for Firefox > SEO XRay or by using the Firefox toolbar Tools > SEO for Firefox > SEO XRay.

SEO XRay will give you access to the following information from the page:

• Heading tags
• Keyword Density
• Title
• META description
• META keywords
• External links
• Internal links

The Keyword density information is simple and easy to read.

The External links and Internal links can be exported in .csv format.

As you can see you get the URL information as well as the anchor text and whether the link is internal of external.

Can you think of any uses for this csv export?

Here is a short video on SEO for Firefox.

I find SEO for Firefox very useful all the time.

I can get some insight into a potential client’s website or even get up to date information on a current client’s website quickly and easily. I also use the Google Cashe Date information daily. I find being able to find out when Google last cashed a site very valuable information.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Firefox Web Browsers, SEO Tools of the Trade for SEO Information is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

The Webvisions event is being held May 19th thru the 21st

This year WebVisions has a fantastic lineup of workshops scheduled.

Workshops at this time are being scheduled all day on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010.

I have worked out a special deal for my SEO blog readers with WebVisions.

Check it out and Register Today!

The WebVisions Workshops come in 3 flavors:

• Morning
• Afternoon
• All Day

Morning Workshops

Designing Social Interfaces
Wed May 19, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Christian Crumlish & Erin Malone

Designing social websites and applications, or adding a social dimension to an existing project, entails unique challenges way beyond those involved in creating experiences for interacting alone with an interface.

How to Mix-n’-Match Web APIs
Wed May 19, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Tom Hughes-Croucher

Web APIs, the building blocks of powerful social applications, and sites like Flickr and Twitter have created a real demand for them. We all enjoy being social and want to bring that social experience to our sites, the real power behind APIs is their ability to combine to create something new.

iPhone Apps: From Concept to Launch
Wed May 19, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
James Kelle & Raven Zachary

Do you have a great idea for an iPhone app with no idea how to make it a reality?

In this half-day workshop, Small Society’s iPhone experts Raven Zachary and James Keller will walk you through the process of bringing your iPhone application to market—from the initial concept all the way through launch.

Photography Tips from the New School
Wed May 19, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kris Krug

The world of photography is changing at a rapid pace. Our traditional skills are no longer making the most sense because our format has begun to shift from print to online. In this half day workshop, Kris Krüg will give your some practical insight on how to navigate in this online landscape.

Afternoon Workshops

Hands-On Map Scripting
Wed May 19, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Adam DuVander

Your users are somewhere. Find them and put your website on the map.

Location data is pervasive and whether you have a business or a personal blog, your site can take advantage by incorporating informative, interactive maps. Add some “where” to your website with this mapping APIs workshop.

iPhone Development
Wed May 19, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Ever wanted to develop an iPhone application but were unsure how to get started?
Discover the secrets of programming iPhone applications in a half-day workshop that covers programming techniques, app creation and more.

jQuery for Designers
Wed May 19, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
David McFarland

Creating dynamic, interactive user interfaces used to require extensive JavaScript programming experience. But now, thanks to jQuery—the most popular JavaScript library—adding useful, accessible, and powerful features to a web site is well within the reach of web designers.

Design Strategy in a Nutshell – 5 Tools to Connect Design with Business Value
No date and time scheduled at this time
Kate Rutter

Good design alone isn’t enough to get great experiences out into the world. You need to be smart about how you start and finish as well. That’s where design strategy comes into play…

All Day Workshops

HTML5 and CSS3
Wed May 19, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Kimberly Blessing & Christopher Schmitt

Recent implementation of HTML5 and CSS3 features in modern browsers allow for greater design control and creativity in our Web sites.

In this full-day workshop, presented by Kimberly Blessing and Christopher Schmitt, attendees will re-learn what they thought about markup, learn how to incorporate new HTML5 elements and embrace the new creative freedoms of of new Web typography and CSS3.

Don’t forget the Special Search Engine Optimizician Readers Price!

More about WebVisions.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

The Webvisions Workshops Focus on the iPhone and Social Media is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How to Create Your Own Facebook Fan Page Step by Step

We are going to go through the steps to create a Facebook Fan Page.

The first thing you are going to need is a Facebook account. If you don’t have one yet you will need to sign up for one first.

Now that you have signed up… Just sign in and…

According to the Facebook Overview

A Facebook Page is a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users. The Page focuses on the stream of content posted by the Page administrators.

By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become brand advocates. Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a stronger voice to reach their Fans.

In addition, Pages now have the flexibility of multiple customizable tabs previously exclusive to user profiles.

What you will need before you begin:

• A Fan Page Profile Picture
• A Name for your Fan Page
• Some Engaging Information for your Fan Page

Profile Picture
Profile pictures on Facebook and Facebook Fan Pages can have a maximum size of 200×600 pixels. Facebook Pages do not allow background images like Twitter, Myspace, and other social media sites. You can take advantage of the full 200×600 allotted space to get your brand in front of your fans.

Name your Page
The name you give your Page is permanent, so make sure it’s the one your fans and customers will recognize and that it is one you are willing to live with.

Useful and engaging
You will need some info that will turn your Facebook fans into paying customers, and vice versa. Restaurants and bars can use detailed info like addresses and store hours. Bands can use songs and videos. Photos of what you are offering and hyperlinks to independent reviews will work well. Get what you’ve got, you can always add more later.

Now it’s time to get started.

Step 1: Pick a category and name.
This is probably your most important part of creating a Facebook Fan Page. Once you have chosen your category and name you will not be able to change either one of them. Choose carefully and wisely. Using your company name is not a bad idea.

Click “Create Page.”

Once you have chosen your category and name you will get a chance to link your Fan Page updates to your twitter account. This is not a bad idea. It will automatically post your Fan Page updates without any extra work on your part.

Step 2: Add a profile picture
Click “upload a picture” near the top and upload the graphic or photo that best represents your product. Make sure that your brand is clear even as a “thumbnail.”

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
Next you will want to Install the Static FBML App and Add a Custom Tab.

Do a search for “static FBML” on Facebook (or just click this link), and click “Add to my Page” in the upper-left. A dialog pop-over will appear with a list of Pages you administer. Select the Page you want to customize by clicking the “Add to Page” button next to the Page, and when you click the button it will disappear from the list. Now click “Close”.

If you go view your Page now, you’ll notice when you click the “>>” tab there is now an “FBML” option in the drop-down. If you click on it, that tab appears in the list of tabs at the top, and you can drag it around. You’ll notice the tab is completely blank. You can now add some content to it.

To add content, click on “Edit Page” again on the left below your Page image. Go to the “FBML” subsection again, but this time click the “Edit” link. Now you’ll be taken to a very simple form with a “Box Title” field and an “FBML” field. This is your Canvas.

You can change the title of the tab. By default this tab gets called “FBML” when you add it. You’ll probably want to change the title of the tab depending on your purpose!

Now enter enter some content. The “FBML” field will take most basic HTML. You don’t need to include any , , or tags, as the HTML you enter will only take the place of that whitespace you just saw. All the header stuff is taken care of for you. Play with it and see what you can do.

(FMBL information courtesy of post by Jesse Stay, founder & CEO SocialToo.com)

Step 3: Add information
Click “Add information to this Page” underneath the profile picture and enter your basic and detailed information. The fields available will depend on your Page type. The more details you add the more successful you will be.

Step 4: Make it rich and engaging
Just like your user profile, Pages have multiple tabs. The default tabs are a Wall tab, an Info tab, and a Boxes tab for application modules. You can devote entire tabs to several Facebook applications, like Photos, Reviews, and Discussion Board.

Step 5: Publish
Click the “publish this Page” link to share your Page the with world.

Step 6: Update Regularly
Updating your Page regularly with fresh photos, upcoming events, and the latest promotions means your Page will not only look like a profile, it will feel like one, and that will keep your fans returning.

Step 7: Stir and Repeat (Repeat Step 6)
You can also send some or all of your fans messages by clicking “Send an Update to Fans” in the upper-left of your Page (under the profile picture).

There you go step by step instructions to create a Facebook Fan Page.

Become a fan of Search Engine Optimization Portland.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Facebook Fan Page – Step by Step is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Guest video blog post by social media strategist Taylor Ellwood

In the video below I discuss why I video blog, and why I think video is an underused resource. Video should be incorporated into your social media presence. The advantage of doing so, is that it allows you to show people you and what you are doing, as opposed to just telling them.

Social Media Coach: Why I video Blog

Why I Video Blog is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

This is a guest post by social media strategist Taylor Ellwood.

What is Social bookmarking?

Social bookmarking allows you to bookmark a website or blog on the web, instead of on your browser. This is useful, because if you lose your computer or it dies, you also lose all the bookmarked websites on your browser. By having them on the web, you can always retrieve the websites that interest you.

But social bookmarking does more than just that. When your website or blog is bookmarked on a social bookmarking site, a backlink is generated, which can help with the SEO for your site or blog. Additionally people can tag, share, and rate your website or blog, and even leave commentary. This can be very useful for sharing information about your website with other people, and consequently makes social bookmarking a form of passive marketing. You put a social bookmarking button on your website and let other people bookmark it and share it other people, which means they are marketing your website or blog for you.

Is Social Bookmarking important for raising visibility?

Social bookmarking is increasingly more important especially for bloggers. Bloggers use social bookmarking to draw more readers to them, by creatively using tags and notes to tell people about articles they’ve written. Also readers will sometimes tag articles they’ve come across when they really like the article. Additionally readers can, and will, rate the articles which can improve traffic to the blog, if its rated high enough.

Social bookmarking can also be applied to regular websites and it’s useful to utilize it as a way of drawing more traffic to your site. By tagging your site, you are informing people about what it is, what it offers, and at the same time drawing more traffic to it. Social bookmarking will become more important for businesses because it provides another way for people to find those businesses and even rate them.

How do I get started with social bookmarking?

There are a number of different sites that do social bookmarking. Some of those sites are focused on bookmarking specific types of information. Bibliomancy for instance focuses on scholarly sites and blogs, while newsvine tends to focus news articles and blogs. Obviously not just any social bookmarking site will work. So which ones should you look into and what should you use them for?

Google: You can bookmark sites on google. Enter some tags, and notes about the website.

Delicious: this is an excellent social bookmarking site, which adds some buttons to your browser, which makes it easier to tag sites or articles you find.

Digg It: Another useful site for social bookmarking. It does seem to be more focused on blog articles, but I’ve used it to tage all of my business websites. Unfortunately you have to go to the digg it site to actually tag a relevent site.

Stumbleupon: This is probably the most popular social bookmarking tool. Not only can you tag a site but you can also indicate if you like it or not and even email the site to friends.

When you tag an article or website, include relevant phrases, names, and other information that will help people learn more about the article or site, as well as of course be searchable for people looking for something specific.

The notes section allows you to add relevant notes about what you are bookmarking. Enter a short description about the article or about the websites and services/products offered on it.

Why do I want to use social bookmarking?

It allows you to bookmark relevant pages, rate them, and draw more traffic to your articles and/or websites. It’s also a useful way of categorizing interesting sites or articles you find and sharing them with other people. It can help you raise your visibility and grab people’s attention in regards to your products and services. Since using social bookmarking, I’ve noticed a slow but steady increase in traffic to my blogs. When I check the google anlaytics for my websites, I believe I will see a similar trend. While more traffic doesn’t automatically guarantee more business, social bookmarking does provide another way for you to reach out and connect with people interested in your services and products

How Social Bookmarking can raise your visibility is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Internet Marketing Conference at Portland State University – The Phases of Social Media Integration & Adoption

I will be blogging almost live from the floor of the Internet Marketing Conference at Portland State University. The pre-keynote from Bryan Rhoads of Intel is about to begin.

Bryan’s talk is titled “The Phases of Social Media Integration & Adoption”

With over five years of integrating social media into the marketing mix, Bryan Rhoads with the Intel Social Media Center of Excellence shares Intel’s learnings, pitfalls, and journey into social media adoption and integration as one of the world’s top brands. Rhoads moves beyond the “kool-aid” of social media rhetoric and looks at the business drivers of why corporations like Intel are making significant investments in social and digital marketing programs.

Here is a shot of the group eating their lunch before the keynote began.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

The keynote is from Renny Gleeeson the Global Director of Interactive Strategies at Wieden+Kenedy. This keynote is actually on video from Helsinki. The room next door has already seen this while we were engaged by Bryan Rhoads’ presentation.
“Fail smarter and more often”

Live question and answer session via video feed.

Todays’ Schedule

I plan on attending the “On the Edge” Track 3 today. I will be posting on each as close to live as possible.

Late,
Gary Pool

Internet Marketing Conference – Live from the Floor is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Learn SEO, Social Networking Marketing, PPC, Google Analytics, and More

This year the Internet Marketing Conference at Portland State is being held December 7th 2009 from 11:30am to 8:00pm, this includes a networking event, at Portland State University, 1515 SW Fifth Avenue on the 10th Floor.

PSU’s IMC is one of the most important events for those business leaders and marketing professionals looking to stay up to speed on the latest in online development. It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or a seasoned professional there are tracks that will allow you to learn at your own pace.

PSU’s Internet Marketing Conference is the single best opportunity for Portland-area digital marketing professionals,” say Dennis Hahn, CEO ID Branding. “You’re going to have to go to San Francisco or New York to get anything like this.

I have included a special discount code for my readers at the bottom of this post.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
Sessions Include:

• Diverging Analytics Solution Landscape
• Media in a Convergence Culture, Understanding Marketing in the YouTube Age
• Managing Your Message in the Digital Realm: Content Strategy Fundamentals
• Digital Marketing Trends
• Creating Meaningful Experiences in the Mobile Space
• The Phases of Social Media Integration & Adoption
• Social Search
• Link Building for Search Engine Rankings
• Digital Marketing Trends: Turning “Blah, Blah, Blahs” into “Aha!s”
• Content Strategy: The Missing Link to True Usability and an Effective Website

The special discount I worked out with Portland State is for a $35 discount off the regular price of $125 or $90. If you have a group of 5 or more you can use the discounted rate of $65 each.

To use the individual discount rate use the code LINKED90 here.

To use the group discount rate use the code Group65 but you must use this code by phone 503 725-4832.

Last years event was great and it looks like this one is going to be even better.

See you there. Be sure to introduce your self to me.

Late,
Gary Pool

Internet Marketing Conference at Portland State University is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Everyone is all astir over Linkedin finally connecting its status updates to twitter, but in my opinion, this recent update is not as wonderful as it first seems. In fact, in the few days since it’s been started, I’ve already seen the quality of status updates on Linkedin degrade because people aren’t using #in for sending tweets, but instead are sending all of their tweets over to Linkedin. I’ve learned more about cats, sports teams, and other equally irrelevant information (for Linkedin) in the past few days because people haven’t exercised the proper awareness of how to use the new Linkedin Twitter connection effectively.

A good example of the right way to use the twitter-linkedin connection and the wrong way to use it can be seen in the screenshot below. The top post is the wrong way to use the linkedin-Twitter connection. The person has responded to someone on twitter, but that post has also been sent to Linkedin. In fact, every time this person posts a tweet, it will show up in Linkedin. The result is that we’ll see a message, which isn’t relevant on Linkedin, because even if it’s a professional message, it’s a reply to someone else on Twitter, as opposed to Linkedin. And of course we could also get more mundane and non-appropriate posts, such as the post about a sports team. It’s not remotely relevant to Linkedin, because it’s not a professional update. It’s actually rather unprofessional and is a good example of how to use a social network inappropriately.

The post from the person in the middle is appropriate to Linkedin, at least in terms of describing something professional. He’s also chosen the option where the post from Twitter will only appear if he uses #in. That hashtag indicates that the message should get posted on both Twitter and Linkedin. Without that hashtag, his post will only go to Twitter (and other services he’s connected to Twitter).

What’s happened with the Twitter and Linkedin connection is that most people have simply connected Twitter to Linkedin without using the #in tag. The result is that a lot of non-professional tweets and responses to people in twitter are showing up on Linkedin, but the material isn’t really relevant to Linkedin as a social networking site. This diminishes the usefulness of Linkedin, in terms of status updates, because many of the status updates aren’t relevant to the purpose for using Linkedin.

To set-up your Linkedin and twitter connection, click on the blue Twitter icon. A new window will appear, asking you to authorize the connection. You’ll need to enter your twitter handle and password, in order to authorize the connection.

After you’ve authorized the connection, the window will display the settings for the Twitter-Linkedin connection. Make the Twitter account visible to everyone, unless you don’t want people to see it on your profile. On your profile page, people will see a link to your twitter account, which will allow them to connect with you on Twitter if they choose.

Under share your Tweets in your LinkedIn status DO NOT select all tweets. If you do people, will see all your tweets, including ones which aren’t relevant to Linkedin. Instead select “Only tweets that contain #in.” This way the only time your Linkedin status will update to your twitter account is if you’ve actually included the hashtag in your message. Yes, this means you will need to include the hastag, but this will also help you determine if the update you’re about to post is really relevant to your audience on Linkedin.

If you need to change your twitter settings at any time, simply click the blue twitter icon again and select Twitter Settings. You’ll then be able to change any settings you’ve made to your Twitter-Linkedin connection.

Remember that as tempting as it might be to send all your tweets to Linkedin, it defeats the purpose of the status update feature in Linkedin, if any of those tweets aren’t relevant to your professional activities. Also, when it’s a response to someone on Twitter, it won’t really make sense because the context of the conversation is missing. Restrict your tweets to Linkedin by using the hashtag #in and you’ll not only be using the connection properly for professional activities, but you’ll be showing a sophisticated awareness of how to use social media properly. Remember Linkedin is not Twitter and should not be treated as such!

Taylor Ellwood
Business, Writing, & Social Media Coach

How to use the new Twitter Linkedin connection properly is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Twitter lists is twitter’s version of groups

It’s similar to a group you might create on Tweetdeck or Seesmic, but there are several advantages to creating a list on twitter. The list feature allows you to organize the people you’re following on Twitter, or find new people to follow. When you look at the list you can get an overview of what those people are up to. So far that sounds like what Tweetdeck and Seesmic offer with their group feature, BUT the lists feature also allows you to add someone to your list that you aren’t following. So, for example, if you know someone who tweets a bit too often for your taste, but you’d still like to keep an eye on them, you can add them to a twitter list and then check up on them, without having to actually follow them.

Still, you might wonder at the wisdom of creating a list on twitter, as opposed to creating a group on Tweetdeck or Seesmic. In my opinion, you can and should create both. While you’ll likely be using Tweetdeck or Seemic more to monitor and manage your conversations, creating a list on Twitter allows you to also add the group functionality on the site. Additionally, because you can add people to the list that you don’t follow, you can keep up with what they are doing, by checking your list on twitter. Finally, because lists are public (unless you choose to make them private), other people can actually see your list, and you can also see who has added you to a list. This is a functionality that isn’t offered by other platforms, and it can be useful for determining what kinds of lists you appear on.

I would suggest creating the following types of lists:

• Industry: Create a list following people in your industry and related industries. This could also be a list where you keep  track of your competition and anything new they are doing. I’d suggest making this list private, if you don’t want to tip people off that you are keeping track of them.
• Co-worker/Employee: A company or employee may want to create an employee or co-worker list to keep track of what employees or co-workers are saying. This can have its advantages and disadvantages in terms of how people may respond to that. On the one hand, it’s useful for monitoring what is being said by representatives of the company, and on the other hand it can come across as big brotherish. If you do create this list, you may want to keep it private.
• Networking/Referral/mentors: If you do a lot of networking, you may want to create list for people who you network with on a regular basis. It can help you see what they are up to and also help you think of them. I’d also include mentors in this list because these are people you want to network with and learn from.
• Local: It can be useful to create a list of local people, to keep up with what they are doing, or what’s happening in your city or hometown.
• Media: Keep track of editors of magazines, radio shows, or TV people you want to stay in touch with or work with. This list allows you to focus exclusively on those people.

These are just a few examples of lists you can create. You can create up to twenty lists, with a maximum of 500 followers per list, though this number will likely change as times goes on. I do recommend creating lists and logging into twitter to check them, especially to see what the people you aren’t following are saying.

You can also see what lists you are on by selecting the listed link. You can even choose to follow someone else’s list, by clicking on the name of list, and then on the list page selecting the Follow this list button.

There are also several third party sites that provide information on lists. Listorious is maintains a categorized directory of Twitter lists that you can search or browse through. TweetMeme Lists is another tools, which focused on the most popular lists, the ones that have been tweeted about the most. Using either of these sites can help you find more lists, if you want to follow the lists other people create. Personally, I’ve opted to just create my own lists and keep track of them. I might look at another person’s list occasionally for people I’d like to add to my lists, but I’d prefer to only keep track of my own.

How to create a twitter list

Creating a new list is easy to do. Login to twitter and click on the new List link. After you’ve done that a new window will appear asking you to name the list and indicate if it is a public or private list. Choose a name for it that is descriptive for you. I chose the name of example, but you can obviously pick a more descriptive name than that.

After you’ve created the list you’ll be taken to a page where you can start to find people to add them to your list. You’ll also have the option of going to your follow page to add someone there.

Once you’re on the follow page, select the lists icon and then select the checkbox next to the list(s) you want to add a person to. Remember you don’t need to follow the person to have him/her on the list.

If you ever want to edit or delete a list, select view lists and then select the link to the list you want to edit or delete. Delete gets rid of the list, while edit allows you to edit the name and the privacy settings of the list. You can also get off of someone else’s list, by blocking them, which will then remove you from their list.

Taylor Ellwood
Business, Writing, & Social Media Coach

How to use Twitter Lists to monitor topics of interest is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

One of the features I like on Twitter is the search engine

Recently they’ve even improved it, so that you can do a search on twitter for a specific topic while logged in. You can search for industry specific topics, keywords, and phrases to see what people are tweeting about, in relationship to what you offer.

For example, if you’re a business owner who creates wedding invitations, a search phrase to use would be wedding invites or wedding invitations. You would enter the information into the twitter search box, and press search.

Twitter will then display real time results for the phrase you searched for. Thos results will show you what people are saying about that specific subject, and can sometimes be useful as a way of determining what someone needs. Below are search results I got when I typed the phrase wedding invites and searched for it.

As you can see there’s some definite conversation around wedding invites, but not all of them will be ones that a business would send a reply to. However, LisaWeddingGirl, Fastpitch, and maxturner are a few people that someone who does wedding invites could make a response to. To make a response you simply hover your mouse to the right of the message by the person and click on the arrow (see picture below). Then an @ symbol and the name of the person will be displayed and you can write your response.

When making a reply, I don’t recommend replying with a link. Reply, instead, with a helpful suggestion, and if you get a response, follow-up with another one, and then follow up with a link. Remember, you need to build rapport, and a relationship with this person, before trying to direct that person to your website. Also, there’s no guarantee that the person will go to your website, but in general, if someone feels you are being helpful, they’ll at least check it out.

The search engine on twitter is pretty powerful and useful. I recommend logging onto the twitter site directly a couple times a week, at least and doing a search on what people are commenting on that relates to your industry. If you’re feeling really adventurous and want to take you social media marketing up a notch, do a search on twitter a couple of times a day on words or phrases that are associated with your industry and start making some responses to people.

Taylor Ellwood
Business, Writing, & Social Media Coach

How to use Search on Twitter is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

So What’s a Business to do that Wants to Create an Informative Video and Share it with People?

I’ve been doing some research the last couple of days on videos, as you might’ve been able to tell on my previous post on this blog. There are a couple of different video services out there, including Youtube and Vimeo. The following search stats (provided by Gary Pool) show some related keyword phrases and their estimated daily searches.

youtube – 427,165
funny videos – 39,069
youtube videos – 25,855
homemade videos – 13,379
better than youtube – 5,576
you tube videos – 4,481
home made videos – 4,430
similar to youtube – 4,151
other sites like youtube – 1,877

Those are pretty decent stats and they show a lot of usage centered around amateur videos and comedy. This isn’t surprising because for the most part Vimeo and Youtube are intended to be video sites that aren’t commercial in basis. Vimeo even discourages informational videos, viewing them as infomercials.

So what is a business to do that wants to create an informative video and share it with people?

You can upload such videos to Youtube. You do need to avoid being overly promotional in these videos. Promotional in this case means creating a video that pushes your products or services on people. An informational video should inform people about a topic they find interesting. At the same time, it doesn’t hurt to mention that people can find more videos on your website. In fact, that’s where the marketing comes into play. Provide some free videos that show people some information about a topic they want to learn about, and let them know they can find more videos. You need to be subtle about it, so when you make a video, make sure it starts on your website, and moves from that to the topic you’ll be focusing on. People see the website, or see your logo, and then learn some free information and if they want more they can go to your website.

Video, at this point, in social media strategy is under incorporated into marketing. Part of that is because both Youtube and Vimeo discourage the use of video in that way, preferring that it primarily be a consumer phenomenon, but some of it also is simply that people have not looked at utilizing it effectively to create video testimonials, information videos, or other helpful videos that people will want. This will change as people get more comfortable using video and either learn how to host some video on their own site, or if a video site is created that is priced reasonably and enables people to post commercial videos. Below is a link to a video, created by yours truly, which discusses what social media is. The focus of the video is to present information. At the very end people can also go to my website to view more videos. I’m not pushing a product, but I am providing information and an opportunity to view more videos. It works really well as a funnel to my website, and what people do, once there, is of course their own choice (Note the picture of the video is just a picture).

What is Social Media

What’s nice about Youtube is that the videos are non-intrusive. The view chooses to view the video as opposed to having to watch the video once s/he goes to a website. That non-intrusiveness is what we should shoot for with any videos we create that people will view on our websites.

Taylor Ellwood
Business, Writing, & Social Media Coach

How to use Youtube to Promote your Business is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

The Ins and Outs of Using Video Effectively on Your Website by Taylor Ellwood

Something I’ve noticed a lot when I’ve visited different business websites is how they do or don’t incorporate video into their website, and if they do incorporate, whether they do it in a way that is respectful of the visitor, or ends up coming off as potentially invasive.

The screenshot below is an example of a video I would consider invasive to someone visiting the website where the video starts. As soon as you as visit the website, the video starts up, and you’re immediately getting a pitch from the owner of the business about his services and products. You can turn it off, but you first have to find the button that turns it off.

Now, it might seem from a marketing standpoint like a good idea to start out with a video. You show what it is you offer and how it helps someone out. But the key issue here is whether or not you’re providing your website visitor a proactive or reactive choice in viewing that video. A reactive choice is going to be turning the video off, because s/he isn’t ready to see it yet. A proactive choice involves the website viewer choosing to turn the video on, because s/he is intrigued and wants to know more. So what’s the difference then, when it comes to marketing to a potential client?

If a video automatically starts up, you are forcing your potential client to make a reactionary choice, and that reaction is being done from a place of negativity: “I don’t want to be spammed or advertised to”. You aren’t letting that person make a proactive choice from a positive place, such as “I’m intrigued and want to see more.” The difference is essentially this: You either take the choice away from the person right as they come into the site and potentially come off as a spammer, or you empower the person visiting the site, and let them choose to see the video. Personally I opt for letting the person make a choice. It provides them a feeling of control and from a marketing perspective, allows you to draw them instead of just starting off right from the beginning with a sales pitch. People like to explore websites at their own pace and we need to remember when we create for those websites.

Taylor Ellwood
Business, Writing, & Social Media Coach

How to Use Video Effectively on Your Website is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

The Criminal Portion of the Chargers’ Shawne Merriman – Tia Taquilla Case is Over and So it is “Lights Out” for this Series

As the lights get turned off on this criminal case I will wrap up this series on keyword and social media monitoring and the value of research.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ruled on Friday there was not insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the San Diego Chargers’ Merriman had even committed a crime.

Tila Tequila lashes out at the San Diego District Attorney’s decision to dismiss her allegation she was battered by Shawne Merriman- accusing authorities of “unconscionable negligence”.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

Keyword research results.

Here are the numbers.

09/13/2009

09/10/2009

09/07/2009
Keyword research numbers via Nichebot.

Over all increases:

• Predicted daily searches on “shawne merriman” have risen from 38 to 225
• Predicted daily searches on “merriman chokes taquila” have risen from 0 to 108
• Predicted daily searches on “shawn merriman” have risen from 64 to 100
• Predicted daily searches on “merriman” have risen from 20 to 38
• Predicted daily searches on “sean merriman” have risen from 0 to 15

Social Media Monitoring Results

Social Media Monitoring numbers via SEOmoz.

merriman (all words):

• Last 24 Hours – 28 posts
• Last 7 Days – 2071 posts
• Last 30 Days – 3523 posts
• tweets (last 7 days) – more than 1500

“merriman “reached a high of 961 news/blog posts on September 7th

shawne merriman (all words):

• Last 24 Hours – 16 posts
• Last 7 Days – 1381 posts
• Last 30 Days – 2105 posts
• tweets (last 7 days) – more than 1500

“shawne merriman” reached a high of 801 news/blog posts on September 7th

shawn merriman (all words):

• Last 24 Hours – 2 posts
• Last 7 Days – 271 posts
• Last 30 Days – 374 posts
• tweets (last 7 days) – 1266

“shawn merriman” reached a high of 184 news/blog posts on September 8th

merriman chokes taquila (all words):

• Last 24 Hours – 0 posts
• Last 7 Days – 0 posts
• Last 30 Days – 0 posts
• tweets (last 7 days) – 5

I hope this series has given you some insight on the value of monitoring just what is going and the usefulness of the tools available.
Be sure to check out the other posts in the series on Shawn Merriman, Tia Taquilla, Keyword Research, and Social Media Monitoring.

Late,
Gary Pool

Shawne Merriman and Tia Taquila The Research Is Complete is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Shawn Merriman, Tia Taquila, and Social Media Search

Using the new “Social Media Monitoring” tool from SEOmoz. [ Social Media Monitoring Prototype (PRO Only) New social media monitoring prototype - powered by Blogscape! ] I ran the search terms merriman, shawne merriman, shawn merriman, and merriman chokes taquilla, to find out its popularity in the social sphere.

If you aren’t familiar with SEOmoz. I would suggest you check them out. SEOmoz is one of the best resources I have found to help with internet marketing. A day does not pass that I have been on my computer that I haven’t visited their site at least once.

The search is for all of the words in the phrase in any order.

The results:

merriman chokes tequila

• last 24 hours – 0 posts
• last 7 days – 19 posts
• last 30 days – 19 posts
• last 7 days – 137 tweets

shawn merriman

• last 24 hours – 0 posts
• last 7 days – 117 posts
• last 30 days – 168 posts
• last 7 days – >1500 tweets

shawne merriman

• last 24 hours – 1 posts
• last 7 days – 1368 posts
• last 30 days – 1661 posts
• last 7 days – >1500 tweets

merriman

• last 24 hours – 1 posts
• last 7 days – 1829 posts
• last 30 days – 2666 posts
• last 7 days – >1500 tweets

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

So how do we use these statistics?

When coupled with the keyword research statistics we talked about in the post “The Continuing Saga of Shawne Merriman and Tia Taquila” where we found out there were.

• predicted searches on “shawne merriman” were – 113 daily
• predicted searches on “shawn merriman” were – 83 daily
• predicted searches on “merriman chokes tequila” were – 40 daily
• predicted searches on “merriman” were – 25 daily

We can see which searches were up and which posts and tweets were down. We can then adjust our social campaigns to give the freshest information on the most popular – least used phrases.

All the information is based on past information there is no actual “real time” information available.

Just don’t let the topic go stale where you will be discussing something no one is searching on any more.

We will visit the stats some time next week and see what the statistics tell us then.

Late,
Gary Pool

Merriman Chokes Taquila – Social Media Says… is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician