7 Easy Steps For Creating Buzzworthy Content
Posted by AKZMeDesigns in 
From: www.openforum.com by Erica Swallow Associate Editor, Partner Content, Mashable
7 Easy Steps For Creating Buzzworthy Content
We’ve heard for years now that “content is king”—yet so few marketers seem to understand how to create useful content that isn’t overly promotional for the brands supporting it.
Even for those who understand the importance of rich content, though, it can be costly to get a content strategy up and running. Michael Durwin, director of user experience at Boston Technologies, has nailed down a simple step-by-step process for creating buzzworthy content on a shoestring budget. Durwin spoke about the importance of creating shareable content during his presentation at Geekend Roadshow, a technology-focused portion of the DMA2011 conference, presented by BFG Communications.
Here are his seven essential steps for creating buzzworthy content.
1. Leverage your resources
Leverage your resources on your staff, coworkers, customers and fans,” says Durwin. “If you can find the people in your company that love to do things like tweet, update Facebook and take pictures around the office, grab those people and deputize them. Empower them to publish more content about your brand.”
2. Assign tasks around existing interests
Once you’ve found the individuals within your organization that are already participating in or are very excited about creating content, assign tasks to those people based on what they are interested in and would like to contribute.
Common tasks could including taking pictures, shooting video, tweeting, updating Facebook, blogging and updating the company’s website.
Durwin offered up an example of a woman at his company who loves to take candid photos around the office. He talked to her about being the official office photographer, and every now and then she sends him entertaining photos to post to the company’s social sites. He also identified a Twitter-loving co-worker and put him in charge of tweeting on behalf of the company.
How Flash can kill the traffic to your Website
I always warn new clients who say they want Flash intros and Flash site, and just this weekend I went to 3 small business and local candidate sites on my Ipad2 and got NOTHING!!!!!!
This made me wonder are web designers out there letting their clients know that Flash is not compatible with a host of mobile devices including Apple and Blackberry products? Or are clients ignoring or just not sure on how this could impact the amount of visitors to their websites. If your website is Flash or even if just your intro page is flash, when visitors attempt go on to your site from a mobile device they will see nothing but a download Flash link. This devices include all Apple mobile product, IPad, Iphone, Itouch, most Blackberry phones (including the new OS7 devices), other smart phones. On the bright side flash does work pretty well on Droid phones and tablets, although I had some issues scrolling down using the Droid X
So now I’m sure you are wondering how many people really use these mobile devices? Is it that bad if I only miss a few users? Well, in 2010 TechCrunch.com reported in that US Mobile users grew 110% from the year before, and 65% of that growth Apple devices (IPad, IPhone, ITouch). And GeekWire recently reported by 2015 about 40% of the world population will be accessing the web on a mobile device. So if your site is all flash or has flash components you are losing a much larger share of your web traffic than you though, simply because they can’t view your site.
To further prove the point I did a little test on my I Pad2 and Blackberry Storm 2
Flash site on Blackberry Storm 2
Flash site on IPad2
Flash site after clicking the “Click the Download” link
The Flash error up close
Now don’t get me wrong I love Flash and 4-5 years ago I was all all for developing the best and brightest Flash sites, but after seeing these pictures it further stressed to me why in today’s day and age sites should not use Flash, until it is compatible with more mobile platforms.
But all is not a lost there are some cases where Flash can still be utilized; such as small areas on pages (banner, video clip,etc.) On these pages visitors will not be able to see the Flash video but at least they can still access the page. And you can still use flash in cases where your business has enough capital to get both a regular www. site and a m. mobile site (separate site the automatically loads on mobile devices instead of your regular website). For example, I visited www.Wix.com (the leading provider of free Flash websites) on my Ipdad and found that even they have a non-Flash site specifically for mobile devises m.wix.com. That tells you something when even a sites who’s business is Flash are giving into the non-Flash movement.
Related articles:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
http://www.bnet.com….8-simple-tips-to-make-your-website-mobile-friendly
How to Increase Online Visibility for Your Business [video interview]
From http://denisewakeman.com AUGUST 26, 2011 BY DENISE WAKEMAN
Recently I was interviewed by Torrey McGraw about increasing online visibility for your business. Torrey hosts video interviews on his blog Grind & Thrive, where he features articles and interviews with successful entrepreneurs to help others thrive in their own businesses.
Torrey McGraw and I spent about 30 minutes discussing the ins and outs of boosting visibility on the web for your business. With Torrey’s permission, here’s the interview…
Client Site: Website ReDesign- Donna T. Darrien Foundation
Our latest design projects took a basic home made website a turned it into professional modern site packed with functionality including online photo gallery, down loadable forms, and upcoming events calendar.
The client recognized that their current site was very basic, outdated, and did not portray the professionalism of the foundation. Their new site continues with the name same bright color scheme and is now packed with more content and resources to attract and retain visitors
SEO obstacle course is tough on a 59 yr. old traveler
This is a great read is you are trying to wade through the water of Search Engine Optimization.
Excerpt from SEO obstacle course is tough on a 59 yr. old traveler
SEO the same thing. I am getting a better handle on it. Plugins from wordpress have helped, though I did have to sort through them and find what I was comfortable with.
I settled on those that help me track traffic, tell me whether my site is SEO friendly, makes it easier to follow me and, of course, everything gets submitted to google analytics!
SEO Smartlinks: links to other pages in my blog that relate to the new post I am putting up. Supposedly, the google “secret robots” like the looks of this. A good example of a website that does this a lot is Wikipedia – they interlink everything. If you do not believe that the robots like this stuff, just do a search of something. Wikipedia will be in the top 10.
SEO Pressor: This keeps track of the key word on your post. It then tells you right out of the starting gate whether your post stays on subject. For example, this post is about SEO. So, the SEO pressor will tell me how well that word’s mentioned in the post to get me a good ranking. Right now I am at 78% – the key is to get above 90%. I do not have a picture and I do not have internal links.
Problem is it costs $47 for 1 site, $97 for multiple sites. I hate paying for these things, but this one seemed worth it. I’ve been pleased with the SEO Pressor so far.
WebNinja GA plugin allows me to keep track of traffic throughout the day. I do not do that often. When I have a lot of things to do that keeps me glued to the computer, it is a nice plugin to have.
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Branding YOU – Should You Put Your Photo on Your Business Card?
I was at a networking event this week having a pleasant conversation with a nice fellow about Branding and how to set yourself apart in the marketplace. We were discussing the benefits of using a professional designer to create a brand for your business. Upon handing him my business card he said “I see that you have your photo on your business card. I’ve been told that it’s not a good idea to do that. What do you think?”
4 Reasons Google+ Brand Pages Will Be Better Than Facebook’s
From: Mashable.com by Zeny Huang122
Zeny Huang is an Emerging Media Strategist at JWT New York where she helps brands connect with fans in innovative and meaningful ways using social media. You can follow her on Twitter @Zenidala.
Converting Facebook’s 750 million active users to Google+ will be a long, difficult battle for the search giant. But converting brands to Google+ will be much easier if Google+ is able to solve advertisers’ biggest problems with Facebook — such as post-click engagement tracking, paid search inefficiencies and limited customization.
Advertisers drive paid media to their Facebook Pages because they want to be where their audience is, but there’s a major flaw in this strategy. Advertisers can’t track post-click engagement of non-Facebook ads driving to Facebook, and that’s a huge disadvantage in qualifying traffic and uncovering valuable user insights. Without such information, we can only guess whether media dollars are being well spent.
In a month or two, Google+ will launch its highly anticipated brand pages. Here are four reasons why marketers are right to be excited and why Google+ brand pages will provide a better branded experience than Facebook.
1. Better Search Opportunites
A major challenge with driving paid search ads to a Facebook page is that the Facebook.com domain generates a lower click-through rate (CTR), most likely due to people finding the domain irrelevant to their query. The low CTR makes for a low quality score in Google’s auction-model, which typically increases cost per click for paid search ads driving to Facebook versus a unique brand domain. The loss in cost efficiency of driving to a Facebook page has been an ongoing struggle for advertisers, particularly on Google, which has over 60% of the search market.
It would be crazy for search giant Google not to have search benefits for Google+ brand pages, whether it is a “certified check mark” callout (like on Twitter), a colored box around the listing, or possibly page-rank priority. Search benefits would likely be the strongest reason for brands to adopt a Google+ brand page. The only flaw in this theory is that giving brand pages’ extra benefits in search could raise the specter of anti-trust action and legal challenges.
2. More Customization
Facebook ad types are limited to just ads, sometimes with a video or poll, allowing for few branding or creative opportunities. Looking at the design of Google+ personal pages, I predict the two skyscraper-sized white spaces on each side of the profile will be opportunities for custom skinning of your brand page and for display or rich media ads.
Google+ users are probably cursing me for suggesting the placement of ads on the currently clean design of Google+, but I am speaking specifically about allowing brands to advertise and skin their own pages as seen on branded YouTube channels such as Old Spice and Miracle Whip. These are great examples of how Google+ brand pages can deliver stronger brand experiences and help brands raise awareness of special promotions, as well as letting them drive qualified traffic to pages outside of Google+.
I would not be surprised if advertising opportunities were immediately available after the launch of Google+ brand pages, since Google is fully prepared to support it with its Google Display Network, AdWords and DoubleClick advertising products.
4 Winning Online Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today
4 Winning Online Marketing Tips You Can Implement Today
I recently caught up withMichael Mothner, a serial entrepreneur and Internet pioneer who founded his first software company at the age of fourteen (yup, he’s an Upstart!). In 2001, out of his dorm room at Dartmouth College, Mothner founded the online marketing company,Wpromote, where he is currently CEO. The company has been recognized four times by Inc. Magazine on its annual Inc. 500|5000 list, which recognizes the fastest growing companies in America. Mothner offered to share some great online marketing tips with his fellow entrepreneurs. Here they are:
1. Local Search. Search engine optimization is all about widening the online profile of your business and your brand in a really effective and responsible way, and there is really no simpler way to do this than to maximize your local search profiles. All one has to do is manage a places listing, and Google local search takes care of the rest. Don’t neglect your Facebook geographic profile either; you want to cover all the bases. Citysearch.com is a great resource to take a look at as well.
2. Importance of blogging. Every website owner, brand and company has got stories or case studies that are relevant to their product. A blog is the single best way to carpet bomb the Internet with content and potentially rank for keywords that might not have otherwise been canonical on your web pages. Each blog post has the potential to rake in traffic via a new set of keywords; each blog post can attract an entirely new set of customers that you never even knew existed, and each blog post is a golden opportunity to introduce something new. Use the opportunity that a blog can provide to humanize your company and put a face to the brand. Something to keep in mind: make sure you talk WITH them and not AT them.
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