Ideas for Business

WebProNews wrote an article in April where Chris Crum interviewed a few SEO/Internet marketing types and asked them how social media and SEO relate. The answers were diverse with a few saying social media is great for link building and some saying it has little to no SEO benefit. Some say that social media is best used as a branding tool. Then there were the specific social media site mentions such as Facebook is not good for SEO and Twitter is, etc. So what’s the answer?

Internet marketers have a tendency to disagree on just about everything. Ask any question and you’ll get ten answers from as many Internet marketers working the Web. SEOs, in particular, have vehement disagreement. One thing they can all agree on, however, is that both SEO and social media are important for Internet marketers.

Personally, I believe social media has all the benefits mentioned - link building, branding, off site marketing, and driving traffic - but it often depends on which social media site you are discussing as to which benefit is most prevalent. Also, how you approach marketing through those sites makes a difference.

To make the most of your social media campaigns, you should first identify what you hope to gain from the campaign and identify which social media sites will deliver those benefits to you. Then you can intelligently choose how to approach your marketing efforts through those media to make the most of the benefits you are seeking. Strategize then monetize.

With the blogosphere churning out nearly 1 million posts every 24 hours, an unstoppable river of content flows over the web daily. It’s daunting, especially if you’re new to online publishing.  The good news is it’s still very possible to succeed, even if you’re just starting out today.

Developing affinity with a group of readers who will actually take the time to link, comment and share your material requires a commitment of both resources and creativity - this is common knowledge.

But all other things being equal, you can and should give yourself an extra advantage by developing a unique brand for your blog. This is beyond being organized and having a plan, this is about standing out in a world of infinite choice.

With that in mind, here are 7 ways to help develop a unique brand for that shiny new blog you’ve just built, or give fresh life to your current site. Ideally, you could incorporate all of these:

1. Develop a post archetype

Develop a compelling post archetype that people respond favorably to and continue to feed your content into it. It can be something as simple as using a certain type of image, post heading, graphic, etc. - just something which makes your posts stand out on their own in an RSS reader as content a-la-carte. Your posts looking nice here is a key factor to getting them to spread between RSS users/early adopters who may never visit your actual blog, but are happy to do things like share content in Google Reader. You want everyone using tools like Reader to click the share button with every post, and they’re likely to do so with posts that stand out format-wise, as long as the content tells the same story of quality.

2. Create a simple or unique design

Most bloggers tend to over-complicate their blog designs. Complexity in web design is standard and expected. Simplicity is a thing of beauty. If you’re more daring, develop a unique design that takes a chance and pushes the limits, it’s a good way to get noticed. Breaking expectation with design/presentation of content is a huge strategy in and of itself.

3. Refine your writing quality and style

The single best way to create a blog with a unique brand is to have writing quality and style which is distinctive, emotive or in some way compelling. Writing is the heart of your blog’s brand, and has the power to transcend all other factors - the importance of this can’t be overstated. This is a long-term process of refinement and as you delve deeply into themes, concepts and topics it will become more defined and known. Some bloggers have become so good at this, loyal readers could pick their writing out of a lineup.

4. Find a way to view your topic from a fresh angle or different lens

As long as there is interest in a niche, it can never be too crowded for fresh thinking. Even within the most popular topics, the ways established sites cover ideas is relatively predictable. New sites can use this to their advantage simply by not covering ideas in the same way. A fresh angle or different viewpoint on a familiar topic may prove the most compelling choice of all. Remember, while there are many fans of popular sites, there are also plenty of dissenters just waiting to give voice to something different. Speak to them and they will spread your content more aggressively than even the biggest fans of the established players.

5. Focus on a unique topic, or intersection of topics

There’s really no topic that’s too specific or unique, in fact, the more offbeat, the better. There’s an audience for it, and if not you can make one (bearing you don’t go off the deep end and it’s too esoteric). The key is simply that you can deliver on the thesis consistently and with quality. If you can’t develop a truly unique topic don’t worry, this may not be possible. Another approach is to find a intersection of complementary topics. Music and inspiration, marketing and sociology, personal development and fitness, search and social media - you get the idea. This is compelling because in time it will form a unique community, and the content genres and mixing of audiences will play off each other to make something more interesting than the separate pieces.

6. Create a better signal to noise ratio

It’s common to publish frequently for the sake of publishing - but the real opportunity is to make your site known for signal and kill the noise. Becoming known as a site with a high degree of signal is how you will build up a silent army of users active in the social web who share your content every time. If you deliver on this long enough, the world will become conditioned to anticipate quality from you, and your content will be shared each time you hit publish.

7. Focus on achieving consistency

Quite possibly one of the most difficult hurtles to get over for developing a successful, unique blog is being consistent. Blogs that deliver high quality material on a consistent basis get noticed. Out of more than 133 million blogs created since 2002, only 76,000 of them (less than 1%!) have a Technorati ranking of 50 or higher - something that is a result of consistency. In other words, being consistent is a unique element of your blog’s brand in and of itself as most fail to achieve this basic, yet essential quality.

Conclusion

The popularity of web publishing is something which only continues to increase, and with it the battle for attention of readers daily heats up. Becoming an outlier in some regard is the element that will put you on the path with the best chance at large-scale success. This is actually not just important for those new to web publishing. In crowded marketplaces with many choices, a strong brand is more than a way to gain a following, it’s protection against unpredictable externalities. Finding a way to develop a unique brand for your blog is worth spending as much time on as anything else in your blogging roadmap.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 7 Ways To Develop A Unique Brand For Your Blog | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

When it comes to building links for your small business, I can think of two surefire ways to build great links over a long period of time. And that’s really how you should do it - gradually over a period of time.

Why are links important? Because the search engines analyze links for value. They rank web pages based on a number of factors, but one very important factor is the quantity and quality of your inbound links. Of course, I’d say that on-page ranking factors are more important. But link building shouldn’t be discounted.

As a local small business, you don’t have to put out as much effort or expense as other businesses. Your pool of competition is likely smaller. That’s why you need to be careful about how you go about performing your search engine optimization. Nevertheless, there are three sound link building methods that I’d recommend for most small businesses at the local level:

1. Blogging - Blogging is all the rage. But there’s more to blogging than what the hype suggests. Blogs build links. And you can have as many blogs as you want. You can use those blogs to build links back to your main website. Those links will be figured into the search engines’ formulas for ranking web pages.
2. Article Marketing - Yes, articles are very important. Even for a local business. You can write articles and distribute them online to promote your business. You should. Use links in your author resource box to build inbound links to your important pages. That’s how you use article marketing for link building.
3. Directory Submissions - Some people say directory submissions are not important any more. I disagree. I think you need quite a few directory submissions. But I wouldn’t rely on directory submissions alone. People who say directory submissions aren’t important any more haven’t learned the value of link diversity. They’re beneficial, but not all by themselves.

There are lots of ways to go about link building, but if you stick to these three methods, you can’t go wrong.

Small businesses today have many more options for web hosting than we used to. Of course, you have to make the decision about what is best for your situation, but here are a few alternatives to consider.

Shared Hosting - This is basic web hosting. The downside to shared hosting is that it is the least secure and least expensive kind of hosting. Most small businesses will do fine with shared hosting, but it isn’t for every one. If you feel that you may need more space or tighter security then you should discuss your options with a hosting expert.

Dedicated Hosting - Dedicated hosting is more secure. You can opt for managed or unmanaged hosting. If you go with unmanaged hosting you’ll have to provide the resources to manage the servers. That will save you money, but if you don’t have an IT department, network administrator, or access to personnel to manage your servers for you then you should go with a managed hosting service.

Dedicated hosting is more expensive than shared hosting. Managed is more expensive than unmanaged hosting. But the security is much, much tighter.

Cloud Computing - Many companies are now starting to use cloud computing, which is essentially a decentralized way of storing data. Small businesses can benefit from this type of computing, but it too has its disadvantages.

One of the main advantages to cloud computing is that it opens up opportunities for small businesses to take advantage of some of the same resources that large companies have enjoyed for a long time with minimal cost. You pay as you go for the services that you use. This way you don’t have to pay for huge packages of services that you have no need of. It can be less expensive than dedicated hosting or more expensive depending on the services you need. Security is often not as tight as it is with a dedicated server, but if you shop around you can find an adequate service provider with excellent security on its servers.

There are other options as well, but I’ll leave a discussion of cluster server environments for another time. These are perhaps the best options for most small businesses. If you think you may need more options beyond your basic shared hosting plan then call an expert and get a professional opinion.

Extremely interesting presentation by Frederic Colas, Fullsix’s CSO at OMExpo in Lisbon. One of the key notes that grabbed my attention was the way Fullsix approached ClubMeds campaign, by engaging the visitors in a very curious and creative way. Check it out, it will be worth your time. P.s. big thanks for MarketingDirecto TV for making [...]