Anthony Robbins - #1 Skill Your Business Needs to Survive

Tony Robbins shares the #1 skill you need to succeed in business. He outlines the 7 forces that your business needs for  you to survive and succeed. I have found this very useful and have been applying this to my online businesses.
While  you are here, I am offering you 4 FREE books to help you explode your online income. Just enter your name and email at the top right hand corner and I will send these to you for FREE.

Enjoy and feel free to share this.

Warning: Tony uses some adult language at some point of the video to make his point

5 Tips for Using Google+ to Boost Your Marketing

Are you wondering how to best use Google+ to enhance your marketing? Google+ is quickly becoming an essential part of any business’s social media strategy. It boasts a cool 250 million users! And this number is sure to grow very quickly as Google is making a Google+ account mandatory for all Gmail users. It’s an audience marketers cannot ignore.

Google+ also plays a major role in search engine optimization (SEO) by making it easier for marketers to show up in search results—yet another reason to include Google+ in your social media strategy.

Here are five simple ways to give your business an almost immediate boost using Google+.

#1: Include Keywords and Relevant Links on Your About Page

The About page is a fantastic opportunity to give a quick overview of your business.

You can also link back to specific pages and services from this page, directing potential customers to the most important pages on your website.

It’s important to have a balance of marketing-savvy copy that’s also SEO-friendly. So make sure to include information that searchers will want to know about your company.

Take advantage of the fact that Google+ allows you to use bullets in your description, which makes it simple to create an easy-to-read list of your products and services.

You can also include links to specific pages and a contact form.

Test and track different variations to see what works best for your business.

#2: Connect With Your Whole Audience Using Google+ Events

Google recently announced the Events feature which allows Google+ users to send out customized invitations to anyone regardless of whether they are Google+ users. It syncs beautifully with Google Calendar and shows up automatically when a user confirms for an event.

In addition to sending out invites to webinars, work functions, parties, etc., Google Events can also send out invites for Google+ Hangouts.

This could be the catalyst to get your business on board with Hangouts or increase the awareness and attendance of the events you’re already hosting.

The “Party Mode” feature of Events allows everyone in attendance to instantly upload pictures into the same album using the Google+ mobile app, creating a living, real-time photo journal of a specific time and place. You can then show the photos off in chronological order as a slideshow, all within Google+.

#3: Post Often and Optimize for Best Search Results

Google’s Social Search results are more relevant when they take into account your social connections. That makes it important to include keywords within your posts so that they will show up in your followers’ search results.

Google’s search algorithm includes personalized search results specifically pulled from Google+ activity. The more relevant and content-based your Google+ posts are, the more search results you are likely to show up in.

For example, a search for “B2B marketing” shows activity from my connections as most relevant under Google’s Social Search personalized results.

#4: Set Up Google Authorship for SEO Benefits

Google is aggressively using SEO benefits to entice webmasters and bloggers to engage with Google+. Google Authorship is how Google authenticates and will increasingly begin to “trust” you as a quality source of content.

Setting up Google Authorship is simple and straightforward.

You identify yourself to Google through your Google+ profile and then link back to it from your content and vice versa.

Google Authorship is the easiest way to take advantage of the SEO benefits of Google+. Doing so will allow the author’s picture to show up next to his or her blog posts in Google search results, causing higher rankings and click-through rates.

The business benefits for setting up Google Authorship will:

Increase awareness of your overall Google+ profile page

Add a human element to your content and increase trustworthiness

Help your content stand out from the crowded search results page

Improve your chances of showing up in more personalized search results

Protect the original post’s ranking position as higher than a post that has scraped or syndicated the original content

Studies have shown that Google Authorship will increase click-through rates

Step 1: Add a link to your Google+ profile on each of your blog posts.

On each of your blog posts, add a link to your Google+ profile with “rel=author” attached to the end of the link URL.

Here’s an example: https://plus.google.com/111498947729292607681?rel=author. It doesn’t matter where on the page you put the link or what the anchor text is (the clickable words in the link). You can even link an image instead of text.

The end result would look like this: “By Jason Miller“.

If you want to insert this link into all of your blog posts automatically, then you can add it to your blog template; for example, in the footer or header (assuming your blog only has one author).

Step 2: Link from your Google+ profile back to your blog.

After you add a link to your Google+ profile on each one of your blog posts, the last step is to link from the opposite direction, from your Google+ profile to your blog. You do this by adding a link to your blog in the “Contributor to” section of your Google+ profile.

#5: Find Relevant Users and Conversations to Engage With

The number-one rule for success within a community or social platform is to engage in the relevant conversations that are taking place and add value when doing so. The success of your business within Google+ will be a direct result of how you engage from both your personal and business pages.

Here are two great places to find users and conversations to engage with.

Google+ shared circles directory: For your personal page, check out this Google+ shared circles database created by Chris Porter. It’s a fantastic list of Google+ circles based on industry.

With one click you can add these shared circles to your personal Google+ circles and have a lively stream of relevant posts and conversations to engage with.

Since your business page cannot circle someone until they circle you, it’s important to build relationships with your personal page and introduce your business page’s content where appropriate.

Take advantage of the rich search functionality of Google+: Search for mentions of your brand and industry-related keywords. Save your searches and they appear on your left sidebar for quick reference.

Monitor your saved searches daily and respond to mentions, comment on threads and re-share people’s posts.

Even if you have nothing to say, a +1 or a simple “thanks for the mention” or “great post” lets them know that you’re paying attention. Staying top of mind is terribly underrated and these simple gestures will make an impact over time.

Over to You

Following the five steps above will give you and your business a jump-start and a solid foundation to build your overall Google+ strategy upon.

Spending a few minutes a day nurturing your presence will not only boost your Google+ profile, but also increase your business’s overall online presence.

What do you think? Did you find these tips helpful? How many are you currently incorporating in your social plan? Please share your comments below.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-plus-to-boost-your-marketing/

Author:Jason Miller

Facebook and George Takei Show You How Photos Go Viral

Viral content holds the Internet together — that much is clear. But exactly how that content spreads isn’t so cut and dry.

Facebook teamed up with design firm Stamen and actor-turned-social-media-star George Takei to see, share by share, just how photos go viral.

Here’s how it worked: Takei shared a few photos on his Facebook page. Stamen took the shared data from his photos and converted it into a series of interactive graphics, which Facebook published this morning.

The graphics are two colors, one for each gender. Each streak, then, represents someone re-sharing an image. As each generation of shares ages, it fades to white to show the passage of time. Watch the video above to see it for yourself.

You can see each of the shared graphics in their entirety at FacebookStories.com.

What other types of data would you like to see visualized like this? Let us know in the comments.



Here's a video from George Takei which has over 880K views since march doing his happy dance :)
Great entertainment value and very memorable which what makes his videos and posts go viral



For nearly 50 years, George Takei has been famous for his portrayal of Hikaru Sulu on the original ’60s television show Star Trek. Takei appeared as Sulu for three seasons and six subsequent movies.

After Star Trek, Takei continued to act and perform voice-overs. Yet, like many members of the cast, his identity remained synonymous with Star Trek. It wasn’t until Takei started his Facebook page on March 23, 2011 that his fame took on a whole new dimension.

Takei posts funny photos, memes and other positive content to Facebook multiple times a day, and these posts see massive engagement.  Many of his posts are submitted by readers. With 1,624,780 likes on Facebook and 348,019 Twitter followers, Takei has reinvented himself as social media celebrity. (For the record, his Star Trek co-star William Shatner has roughly 145,000 Facebook likes.) While Takei has amassed a sizable following on social media, his rate of engagement might be his most impressive digital achievement.

It’s not uncommon for one of Takei’s posts to receive up to 50,000 likes and 30,000 shares. There are very few celebrities who regularly see engagement numbers as high as Takei’s. Even Rihanna, the most liked person on Facebook, doesn’t hold a clear advantage over Takei when it comes to engagement.

Rihanna boasts 54 million Facebook likes — roughly 53 million more than Takei — yet her posts attract similar engagement numbers. Takei’s Facebook fans are an extremely responsive group.

Rihanna recently posted a clip from her new movie Battleship, which received roughly 20,000 likes and 1,800 shares. By comparison, a recent video from Takei doing a “Happy Dance” received 30,000 likes and 10,000 shares.


How Did George Takei Become a Social Media Superstar?



The simple answer is: Takei knows his audience very well.  While he has expanded his following through strong involvement in the gay rights movement (his It’s Ok to be Takei initiative, for instance) and Asian American groups (he is on the board of the Japanese American National Museum), his core fan-base consists of Star Trek fans who appreciate Takei for his self-aware humor.  Takei gives his audience exactly what they want, which regularly includes Star Trek jokes and other references from geek culture.

It has been established that positive posts are far more popular on Facebook than negative ones.  Takei seems to understand this. He puts a cheerful spin on his Facebook posts and tweets — and his audience is clearly responding.

Take a look at some of the best posts from George Takei.


Bad Touch
"From a fan. Oh, myyy!"


Bob Ross and 300
"And a happy Spartan here, another one here..."


Cee Lo
"Cee Lo, Sweet Chariot..."


Duck Dog Mask
"This has been dogging me."


Geek Life
"It gets better.


Image courtesy of Joy of Tech.


Imperial Walker
"Redefines Imperial Walker."



Jersey Peeps
"Where Peeps go after Easter."


Kid Toilet
"As they say, 'Fail."'


Kitty Nip
"From a fan. Addiction comes in all forms."


PittsBorg
"They fire chipped ham torpedoes and have Klondike shields."


Spock
"From a fan. Like and share when you get it. (I needed it explained to me...)"


Tupac Hologram
"Kanye handle this?

(Someone asked if I'd see the Tupac hologram. I thought he was talking about the Vulcan security officer on Voyager...)"


Watch Your Sodium
"Watch your sodium."


You Shall Not Pass
"Drive, you fools!

(This phrase is correct, if you know the books.)"


DiGorno
"From a fan. Lemme give you a pizza advice."




http://mashable.com/2012/10/11/george-takai/
http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/george-takei-social-media/
Image courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore.

Twitter Study Reveals the Secret to Getting More Followers

After analyzing the Twitter profiles of 36 million users who have generated more than 28 billion tweets (that’s 794 tweets per person in three years on average), Beevolve’s social analytics research reveals user follower bases directly correlate with how much they tweet.

A Twitter user who has written 1 to 1000 tweets has an average of 51 to 100 followers, whereas users who have tweeted more than 10,000 times tend to be followed by 1,001 to 5000 individuals. It’s estimated that a person with more than 15,000 tweets has between 100,001 to 1 million followers.

Beevolve’s report, called “An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Around the World,” takes a look at users’ demographics, follower stats, gender preferences, favorite keywords and smartphone/app preferences.

It turns out the average Twitter user is an English-speaking 28-year-old woman with about 208 followers. The typical user uses these popular keywords in their social media bio: “family,” “technology,” “entertainment,” “education” and “publishing.” The global audience on the microblogging platform is relatively young — about 73.7% Twitter users who have self-disclosed their age are 15 to 25 years old.

What’s the most surprising thing this study reveals? Tell us in the comments.



source: http://mashable.com/2012/10/11/twitter-users-study/
author: Joann Pan

10 Supercharged Attention Grabbing Headlines for Your Website

This week I came across this great topic of writing great headlines for your websites. Writing attention grabbing headlines is one of the first things you will need to learn fast if you have a business to promote be it an online business or an off line business.
Here is the article I came across. Great tips.
---




Have you ever struggled thinking of a catchy headline for your blog post? I know I have. Whether it’s your own post or a guest post you are writing, the content can sometimes be easier than writing the title. For me, I often change the title numerous times before I actually publish the article.

It’s important to try and get the title right because it can be the deciding factor between a visitor to your site reading your post or clicking the back button. The content might be fantastic but if the title doesn’t grab them and draw them in, then they are never going to read all that fantastic content that you have spent hours writing.

Plus, when someone has searched for a topic in Google, and your post is sitting on page 1 in the midst of all the other posts, what is it that is going to make your article stand out from all the others?  Well,  it’s the attention grabbing title that is going to entice readers to come to your site?

Let’s put it this way, which of the following articles would you be more likely to read?

The Disadvantages of Drinking Coffee
OR
Warning…Coffee May Be Dangerous to Your Health

Or what about this one?

Ideas for Making Money Online
OR
7 Surefire Ways to Make Money Online Fast

And this one?

Cordless Drill Review
OR
Read Why this is Rated the #1 Cordless Drill


The 3 Golden Rules for Writing Blog Post Headlines

Okay, maybe they aren’t golden rules but I just wanted to get another catchy headline in this post. Still, these are important to remember when writing blog post titles:

Keep the title short but simple – You really want to try and keep it under 10 words but if it makes sense to go longer then go for it.
Ensure the title matches the content – It’s all very well trying to write a catchy title but if the content has nothing to do with the title then your visitors aren’t going to bother reading anything else on your site.
Keywords – Yes, keywords are still important so try and get a keyword or two in the title if possible. Just don’t overdo. Personally I prefer to write the title first without even thinking of keywords and only then do I think about trying to get a keyword in, but only if it sounds completely natural.


10 Attention Grabbing Headlines

Let’s take a look at some blog post titles that will grab your readers attention. This is a list of 10 which we have taken from our latest ebook – Guest Blogging Essentials, but there are over 60 of them in the book.

1. The Secrets of…

Starting a headline with the words “The Secrets of…” can’t help but grab someones attention.

Eg. Secrets of Making Money Fast
Eg. The 7 Secrets of Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee


2. Did you know…?

Getting your readers curiosity peaked can entice them to read further, although you have to be careful that you don’t give away too much in the title.

Eg. Did You Know that Coffee is Actually Good for Your Health?
Eg. Did You Know that 70 People Die Each Year from Shark Attacks?


3. Warning signs…

This one is always a good one for health articles but it can work for just about any niche.

Eg. 5 Warnings Signs That You Might Be Going Deaf
Eg. 10 Warnings Signs That You Might Be Addicted to Coffee


4. How to instantly transform…

This sort of headline implies to the reader that if they read on, their problem (whatever that might be) will be solved quickly, and who doesn’t want that?

Eg. How to Instantly Transform Your Blog into an Authority Site
Eg. How to Instantly Transform Your Life in 52 Easy Steps


5. Is it worth it?…

This headline can often work well for review sites. People don’t want to have to do the research and this sort of title implies that you have done the research for them.

Eg. Is Signing Up to Google Plus Worth it?
Eg. Is Buying a $600 Coffee Maker Worth the Price?


6. Five minutes, 24 hours, 30 days…

This type of title just about always works. It lets the reader know that their problem can be solved in whatever time period you set.

Eg. 30 Days to a Healthier You
Eg. The 5 Minute Plan to Changing Your Life


7. Should you be worried…?

Using fear and uncertainty can be a good way to grab your readers.

Eg. Should You Be Worried about 2012?
Eg. Should You Be Worried about Drinking Too Much Coffee?


8. The World’s Best…

This can work well for a review site. I mean, who doesn’t want to know which is the best of the best.

Eg. The World’s Best Sports Cars and Where to Find Them
Eg. The World’s Best Travel Destinations


9. Complete guide to…

This one is  definitely a winner, however you have to back it up with good solid content. You really can’t write a complete guide to anything in under 500 words.

Eg. The Complete Guide to Making the Ultimate Cup of Coffee
Eg. The Complete Step-by-Step Plan to Building a Better Blog


10. Sure-fire Ways to…

This is a favorite of mine. It implies certainty to the reader and works really well for any niche.

Eg. 10 Sure Fire Ways to Meet a Movie Star
Eg. 7 Sure Fire Ways to Get a Girlfriend
Eg. 5 Sure Fire Ways to Choose a Cordless Drill

source:http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2012/09/24/10-supercharged-attention-grabbing-headlines-for-your-blog-posts/
Hope you found this useful.
Please comment below.

23 Sure Fire Ways To Increase Your Traffic

I came across this great blog article about interesting ways to increase traffic to your site which I am sure you will find useful.

We all want more traffic to our websites and blogs, and it can be hard to get it, especially for a newer site. Traffic is so important to an online business. If you double traffic then you can double your earnings, assuming the quality of the traffic is the same. Here are some simple ways to help you increase the traffic to your site.




 Write a humorous post

You can be as clever and as useful as you want, but nothing is more appealing on the internet than a little humour (well expect porn maybe!). At the time of writing, my eighth most popular post on this blog is a humorous look at bad jobs. Posts such as this share well on social network sites, and get eyes on your site. Lots of pictures and a quick punchy style often work. Also make sure you remember to share it at various social networks.

Of course it may not be the most targeted traffic in the world, but sometimes it’s good to get a load of people on your site. A certain percentage will be interested in other things you have to say, especially if your funny content is at least vaguely related to your niche.

Write a huge post
If you write a huge informational post (like this one), then you are likely to attract some natural links to it – hint, hint! Good blog owners know the value of pointing their visitors to great content. They didn’t need to spend ages writing it, yet they have provided it for their visitors, who will be extremely grateful. It is good practice in the blogosphere to link out to great content. If you give your visitors a good experience, then you are going to be more popular yourself. Also some people believe that search engines rewards sites that link out to quality content. Google want their users to be satisfied with their search results. A site that has its own great content AND links to other great content is a real asset, and the search engines probably recognise this and rank them higher.

People also like to share huge informational posts on social networks. You can find that one really great post with loads of work and info can really get the visitors in, who will hopefully also take the time to look at your other content, and perhaps even sign up as a regular visitor.

Facebook fanpage
Here is a great little tip. Create a Facebook fan page, but not strictly about your site or product. Make it related to your niche, and something that a lot of people will click on. For example if you have a site about cars then you might have a fan page called ”I love Ferrari”.

Submit to blog carnivals
I have written a post exclusively on blog carnivals which will provide more information than I possibly can here. In a nutshell, blog carnivals are a collection of links about a certain topic, that are published on someone else’s blog. You just need to submit the link to your blog post with a brief description. If you are accepted you get a one way link to your post, and sometimes to your home page as well. Best of all its free! Click here for more information on blog carnivals, and where to find them.

Hold a competition
Holding a competition with a decent prize can really get the visitors in. $50 is often enough to get people interested. You can even contact other bloggers in your niche who might share the details of your comp with their visitors. The competition might be asking them to do something, such as “like” your Facebook page and Tweet your homepage. A winner can then be drawn out of those who email you with proof they have acted. You can then gain traffic from all the people who have socially bookmarked you, plus the attention from other bloggers. Also visitors might tell their friends to enter as well, although some might be reluctant as it reduces their chances of winning!

Build links to your blog
Getting other sites to link to you is still the best way to rank high in the search engines. Also you benefit from traffic that click through these links directly. There are many ways to attract backlinks. Check out my post Link Building Strategies for more information.

Reduce the amount of adverts and products you sell
Many people are put off by excessive advertising and selling. Of course you’ve got to make some cash, but think about whether you are overdoing it. Other blog owners are far more likely to link to a blog post that isn’t full of adverts and products.

Get A New Banner
Updating and improving your banner is probably the quickest way to give your blog a better look and feel. This does help get the people in as they see your content and opinion as being more trustworthy and professional. Unless you are particularly talented in graphic design, it is usually better to outsource this to someone who does know what they are doing. Sites such as Odesk contain loads of banner designers who will work for a very fair price.

Add a share button
Many novice bloggers and site owners reason that if someone wants to share your content, then they will do so whether there is a share button or not. This is true to some extent, but certainly not entirely. The easier you make it to do something on the internet, the more likely it is that people will do it. Visitors are usually on some sort of time budget, even if it is just psychologically self imposed. They do not like to waste time. If say 100 people click on your great article without a share button, then maybe 1 person will share it. With a share button, that one person will still share it, plus a few more because it is so much easier to do. Then you might also enjoy the knock on effects of when people pass this on again.

Also if a person has to go on a social network to share your content, they could very well get distracted whilst there, and not return to your site.

On this blog I use the pluggin called Add This.

Write Intriguing Headlines
You can go through your old posts and change your headings to make them more intriguing. The secret is to compel people to click on your articles because the title makes them curious. There are several tried and tested techniques that will help you achieve this at my article about writing better headlines.

Link to your own posts
If you have an article or two that is getting a lot, or even some, traffic for a particular keyphrase, then take advantage of this. Do a Google search and if it ranks anywhere less then number one, then it is worth linking to it contextually from some of your other posts with the anchor text of that keyphrase. Hopefully this will move you up a notch or two and give you even more traffic.

Get to know other bloggers in your niche
Visit their blogs regularly and make valuable comments on their articles. You will find that some will eventually visit your blog and also comment. After a while they are far more likely to link trade or link to some of your blog posts, or do other deals with you. You may also attract some of their traffic to your blog if these targeted readers like your thoughts and opinions.

There are also forums and social networks where you can meet other bloggers. This can also help with trading advice and ideas to help each others blogs.

Write a guest post
Find a very popular blog in your niche that is accepting guest posts and write as good an article as you can and submit it. It is better to get published on 1 or 2 top blogs than it is several small ones. A big popular blog will usually be more picky about what they will publish, but you can get far better SEO benefits and direct visitors from the link in your bio. Go for quality over quantity.

Don’t have loud audio or video automatically play
I have talked to many people about this and nearly everyone agrees that when they click on a site and loud audio kicks in, they quickly hit the back button and never return. If you have this on your site, then remove it, or give them the option of pressing play when they are ready. Test this for a week or 2 and I bet your visitor time increases quite a bit.

Pay per click
If you have some great content then you could take a risk and spend some cash on a pay per click campaign. If people like your content enough, they might become regular visitors.

Encourage regular visitors
Encourage visitors to subscribe to you. This may be RSS feeds, newsletters, or email updates. Regular visitors are the lifeblood of a successful blog. Regulars are more likely to comment, contribute, buy products, and recommend you to others. As well as offering ways for people to follow you, also keep reminding them in places such as at the end of a blog post and in your side bar. Of course great content is the key for success here, but making it easier and providing a reminder here and there can really help.

Write about something in the news
There are always hot topics in the news, and a great way to get some traffic is to write about it. With some creative thought, even if it is nothing to do with your niche, you can make it relevant to your blog. A classic example is comparing something with something else. This doesn’t make sense I know! I’ll clarify. During a Presidential election, you could compare running for President with blogging. You could discuss issues such as marketing yourself, mission statements, image etc. The article could be called something like “Why Running For President Is Like Blogging”. This would take advantage of increased searches for the topic round a popular time, plus the headline would arouse curiosity. Many people would want to know why this is so.

Another idea is say Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in the news for some reason, and you run a blog about investment. You can write about all his investments and what you would advise him to invest in, given his circumstances, and why.

Pay for hosting
If you use free hosting, then many people will never take you seriously. It is well worth paying a little bit for your own hosting. It also outs you in control of your business, rather than being at the mercy of these free providers who may change terms and conditions in the future,

Be controversial
You don’t have to criticise people or things needlessly, but a bit of controversy can get eyes pointing your way. Since I advocate ethical affiliate marketing I prefer the approach of holding a view that flies in the face of “conventional wisdom”. So a good weight loss title might be “Why Eating Breakfast Hampers Your Weight Loss”, since it is generally accepted that eating breakfast actually helps with weight loss. If you do want to go down the line of criticising someone who is known and popular, then at least be constructive with it. Give your reasons why they don’t agree with them, rather than just calling them an ass face for no reason!

Sort out tags and keywords
Spend a day going through your past posts and check for popular keyphrases on Google’s keyword tool. You can then update your tags and sprinkle the phrase 2 or 3 times within your article body. This should help your individual posts rise in the search rankings for more popular search terms, and gain more visitors.

Offer freebies
Freebies can create a nice goodwill feeling on your blog, and can attract natural links when people tell other people about them. Also your free gifts can often contain reminders about your website. For instance I give away free hypnotherapy audios, and at the start of each one I remind them of my web address. If you give away a free e book, then there’s nothing to stop you from mentioning and linking to some of your online resources.

Yahoo Answers
You can answer some questions on Yahoo Answers and if relevant, you can point them to some of your resources for further information. Please don’t be spammy with this method. It won’t do you or anyone else any good.

Ask your readers to share
At the end of each post, you could add something that asks if your readers liked the article, they would share on Facebook, Twitter etc. By giving a reminder, you greatly increase your chances of people doing so, which could help drive more traffic your way. So, hint hint, please consider sharing this article if you found it of use!

Do you have any quick and simple tips you can add that will help increase traffic to a blog? If you have, please share them in the comments bellow.

http://www.affiliatehelp.info/2012/10/01/23-sure-fire-ways-to-increase-your-traffic/
author:Jon Rhodes

Tony Robbins- The difference Between a Winner and a Loser

Video by Tony Robbins who I have the privilege to meet over the weekend.
He inspired me and gave me some valuable lessons on how I can apply it in my own life to drive my online business forward. Hope you will enjoy this.

Get your Free tips on how to start your own online business by leaving your email at the top right corner.
Please share this.

Sorry, Marketers, You’re Doing Facebook Wrong

If you’re looking to take a day off from posting on Facebook, choose Wednesday, but don’t rest on Sunday or you’ll miss the best opportunity of the week.

That’s the advice from Buddy Media‘s “Strategies for Effective Wall Posts: A Timeline Analysis,” a report based on activity from 1,800 of the world’s biggest brand pages from April 1 to May 31.

As with previous Buddy Media reports on the subject, the analysis found that marketers are still posting too little on weekends and at night and when they do post, they’re way too verbose.

Weekends, when brands post too little, the audience appears primed for interaction, though it varies by industry. For “advertising and consulting,” for example, weekend posts get 69% higher interaction, but only 11% of posts are published on Saturday and Sunday. Not every industry has the same pattern, though: Thursday is the biggest day of the week for “clothing and fashion” while Monday is the biggest for “general retail.”

In general, though, Hump Day is the worst day to post; interactions on Wednesday are 7.4% lower than average.



Once again, the study also found that off-hours are the best time to post. Brand posts between 8 pm and 7 am got 14% higher interaction than those published between 8 am and 7 pm.




Meanwhile, when it comes to posts, less is more. Brands that post one or two times a day see 19% higher interaction rates than those that publish three or more posts. “The key is not to bombard fans with too many posts, as Facebook News Feed optimization often penalizes for this,” the report cautions.

And while Twitter has a 140-character limit, Buddy Media suggests a self-imposed 80-character wall for Facebook posts. Such posts get a 23% higher interaction than longer posts. However, 75% of posts are beyond that limit. It’s also a good idea to run photos — photo posts get 39% higher interaction rates than average. Text-only posts aren’t a bad option either, though: They get a 12% higher-than-average rate. Video and link posts appear to be the worst option: They have lower-than-average interaction rates.

Among the other recommendations:

• Use links with a recognizable URL, like “www.shop.com/umbrellas” where users have an idea of what to expect.
• Asking a question is a good idea, but ask it at the end of your comment, not at the beginning. Posts with a question at the end have a 15% higher overall interaction rate and a 2X higher comment rate than those with a question asked in the middle of the post.
• Ask fans to caption a picture. Posts that ask readers to “caption this” get 5.5X higher comment rates than average. Such posts also increase the overall interaction rate by more than 100%.
• “Fill in the blank” is another good option. Such posts garner 4X more comments than average.
• Use emoticons: Posts that contain emoticons receive 52% higher interaction rates. Posts that employ them have a 57% higher like rate,a 33% higher comment rate and 33% higher share rate.
• The best emoticons to use: “:D” and “:P.” Such emoticons have a 2.4X and 2X higher response rate, respectively than other emoticons.
• Use a call to action. Posts with commands like “Like,” “Caption This,” “Share,” “Yes or No” and “True or False” get interaction rates that are 48% higher than average.

Author:Todd Wasserman

source:http://mashable.com/2012/09/28/marketers-facebook-wrong/

Why You Should Use Social Media Marketing To Boost SEO Performance

In the past few years, more and more businesses have started using social media campaigns to develop and improve their online SEO (Search Engine Optimization) performance.  The main aim of this is to drive more traffic to their website, which in turn helps to increase profit and revenue.

This may sound complicated, but in fact it is quite straight forward.  You just need to learn how to maximize your social media efforts.

The Growing Popularity of Social Media

It may not seem like it, but social media is becoming even more popular!  I’m sure many of you reading this will already be active on at least one social media site, but many people are only just being introduced to it.

It had long been though that social media was only for the young, but more older people are using it to connect with their friends and family across the world.  There are also many developing countries like China, India and Brazil who are only just connecting millions of its population online for the first time.

This is why social media is still gaining popularity and is set to continue for some time yet.  This, of course, is great for business as the world becomes a smaller place as more and more people connect with one another.

Social Media Is Good For Business

The growing popularity of social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. has resulted in a huge amount of people linking to websites every day.  People are sharing their favorite videos, images, recipes, offers, information, etc. from across the internet with their friends and family.

This vast sharing of information is great for business as you have easier access to a large amount of people.  All it takes is one potentially good idea and you can have the world talking about it!  Of course the hard bit is coming up with that idea!

This is why there are so many benefits to using social media and SEO techniques together to maximize brand awareness of a business.  The aim of using social media and SEO process together seems to be the future of online marketing, with many companies having already made this leap.  It makes sense when you think about it.  Instead of just relying on each method separately, you are using both in conjunction with one another to make them work more effectively.

For example, instead of using social media to just talk with customers, you can use it to identify certain keywords that they tend to use.  With this information, you can then use these targeted keywords to improve your SEO rankings and drive more traffic to your site.  Again, this is easier than you might think.  You can use Twitter, for example, to find common hash tag’s that your followers are using.

Utilize social media to maximize the use of keywords to improve search traffic, while at the same time preserve the quality of the content for the benefit of the user.

Establishing a Community with your Brand




For your business to become successful online, you need to think about trying to build a community around you.  When I say this, I mean building a community of visitors, customers, regular readers, consumers, etc. who are interested in your business.

An example of this could be a website that focuses on fashion.  They could build a community of people around them that are interested in their latest clothes, designs, fashion shows, deals, etc.  This way, that community will independently talk about and share your content with their friends, on social media sites.

But, in order for you to establish a community around your brand, you need to spend time trying to identifying who your target audience is!  After all, these are the people who you are aiming to sell to.  A good starting point would be to look at what type of people are currently visiting your site, who is sharing your content, on what social media sites are they sharing it, etc.

You can find out this type of information by using things like Google Analytics or social media sites own software, such as Facebook Insights.

Social Media Goals & Objectives

Social media can be the perfect way to promote your business to the right demographic, as almost always, those that take part in your social media pages are there because they are interested in what you are offering.

Social media can also be a great way for you to reach out and establish a dialogue with your customers. Receiving feedback from them and getting new ideas from your existing customers can only help you improve your business in order to reach more potential customers.

Thus, social media campaigns today act as vehicles to improve search in the different social communities themselves. The content that is linked to via social media serves to improve your SEO ranking, as the more links you have pointing to your content the better!

Of course, when using social media in this targeted way, it can be a good thing to set your own goals and objectives to aim for.  It should be noted, however, that when you define your social media goals and objectives, the parameters for success differ greatly from those of traditional direct marketing.  Marketing specialists have to use specific measuring techniques in order for them to measure the impact that their social media efforts have had across search engines.

Remember that social media can spread like wild fire; if someone notices that your accounts have a big following and an active community, they will probably jump on board and their friends and followers will jump on board as well.

If the right amount of knowledge and effort is put into social media marketing, it can bring great success to your business or website.

What do you think? Do you make an effort to use social media marketing to promote your business?  Do you use it together with SEO techniques to help boost your traffic?  Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Author: Stephen Craig
source: http://onlineincometeacher.com/socialmedia/use-social-media-marketing-to-boost-seo/