4 Marketing Tips for Targeting Women via Social Networks

Social networks have become so popular these days, which the online marketing techniques had to redesign the whole concept around these aspects. There are many tips and tricks to use the social networks when it comes to reaching a targeted audience, when talking about a company, the only thing that a person needs to do is to pay attention to the details.

So, who is on Facebook? The most common answer is that everyone is there, from children to adults, from college students to professionals in any fields. This means that any company, of any profile, is interested in being in the social networks because of the fact that everyone is there (or at least a great part from their targeted audience).

Let’s take the example of a perfume company for women. How would they target this section on Facebook? There are some tips that can be applied here.

#1 Groups

This is a very subtle way of communication. There are millions of groups that are formed

3 Online Branding Mistakes You Need to Avoid

Branding properly can build your business at an alarming pace. You can gain your target market’s trust, improve your visibility and increase sales quite quickly if you brand yourself effectively. Unfortunately, many people take all the wrong steps during the branding process.

Many rush mindlessly ahead, desperate to generate sales, so they plaster their business link all over Facebook Groups, twitter and Google Plus. These practices are repelling, meaning that you scare away people who might otherwise be interested in your opportunity.

Check your energy. Do you feel confident, about yourself and your opportunity? If you don’t, take a step back. Either build up confidence in yourself and your business or select another opportunity, because you can’t build a successful, thriving brand while lacking confidence in yourself and the business you attempt to grow.

Lack of Clarity

Branding newbies usually have zero clarity around their campaign. The brand message

How Should Niche Businesses Use Social Media to Best Effect?

This article gives suggestions and best practice tips to niche businesses around capitalizing on the potential of social media.

Time to Socialise

The big mistake that many smaller niche businesses make is to forsake social media platforms completely. There is a prevailing attitude that, because only a few people will probably be seeking out a social media presence, that there isn’t any point in doing it.

Instead, these businesses should view social media in much the same way that they view search engine optimisation. Accept that yes, fewer people will be seeking you out, however take that opportunity to focus on the specific market that has an interest in you and make your social media content as relevant as possible.

How to Stand Out

If you are a niche business then it is not easy to stand out in a world where the biggest

5 Reasons Why Pinterest Drives Traffic To WordPress Sites

If you are looking to get your WordPress site ready for Summertime, Pinterest, and other similar social media networks, are user friendly and great for giving your site a fresher look. Whether you are researching new marketing techniques or you are launching a new business website, social networking deserves your attention.

It is no secret that social networking is a major component in ramping up your business’ marketing plans. After going to a site like best10webhosting to compare hosting companies, and then choosing an attractive web design, many businesses rely on sites likes Facebook and LinkedIn to connect to their customers. What might surprise you is the rapid growth that Pinterest has experienced this year. Mashable.com reported earlier

How to Promote Your Blog in Social Medias

You should use social media to increase the reputation and readership of your blog. If you are trying to increase its PageRank using social media, you will make the acquaintance of failure. The Google programmers are never going to put too much faith into social media because it is too easy to manipulate.

A person may start 100 new accounts today, and use them every day, then once a week they may comment on and link to a website. If Google were paying attention, the websites in question would rise high in the Google search engine results. Manipulating social media for search engine results improvement is too easy and hence unimportant unless Google decide to take note of social media mentions/likes.

Your job is to raise the reputation and prestige of your website through social media, so that people will wish to link to you of their own free will. So that people will comment positively on your blog and will follow it of his or her own free will.

Do not forget to put the little social media widgets/buttons on your blog somewhere, so that you blog readers may also follow your social media actions. It is not necessary but is a good idea if you run competitions, surveys or offers on your social media site.

Facebook

If you have a business page feed, you should enable the auto-share function. It will share

Is Your Brand Like-Worthy-Ways to Drive Engagement on Facebook

The results of a study released in January of 2012 by the Australian think tank Ehrenberg-Bass Institute say that less than 1 percent of the people who “like” a brand actually engage with it. When it comes down to it, the level of engagement is much more important than the number of likes you have. Beyond cultivating likes, you have to cultivate engagement. So how do you convince people to like your brand AND engage with it on Facebook? Here are some of the things that can be successful for driving engagement.

Photos

Photos are the most shared type of content on Facebook. Brands that post different types of content often find that popular photographs also receive the highest number of comments. Photos are great because they’re content that can be consumed instantly. You don’t have to read anything or even click “play” to get the message. Especially if a photo is really funny, people will want to share it with their friends. If you can post photos that are really unique, hilarious, beautiful, or attention-grabbing, you will see more user engagement on that post.

Questions

This is perhaps the simplest and most obvious way to encourage engagement. Ask a question, and your fans will answer you. The best questions are touching on subjects that matter to them. One thing that matters to everyone is themselves, so try asking personal questions (not too personal), like about people’s preferences, opinions, or experiences. Try a fill-in-the-blank type of question, like, “Fill in the blank. This summer I’m most excited about (blank).” Asking questions about your brand is a good way to drive engagement and receive feedback.

Talking Back

The most important way to drive engagement is by engaging, too. When your fans make comments, write back – always respond when they answer a question or give feedback, and often respond to comments even when no response is required or asked for. Even simply “liking” a fan’s comment makes an impression. When you demonstrate that you’re a brand who wants to interact with its customers, more fans will initiate that interaction. Just be careful that your responses are always consistent with your brand’s image and values.

Valuable Content

Really valuable content will inspire engagement. People will feel compelled to comment on something that interests, impresses, or surprises them, and they’ll also feel compelled to share the valuable information with their friends. Valuable content can be anything from a demo video to a news article to a short tip, but it always helps your fans in some way. It might offer them new or useful information, and many times content can be valuable for the entertainment it provides, too.

Calls to Action

Never overlook the power of the call to action. A call to action will significantly increase engagement on any post as compared to the same post without a call to action. Something as simple as, “Share if you like this!” or “Check out this video!” or “Tell us what you think,” can do wonders for engagement on your Facebook page.

original: SociablWeb

Google Analytics Plugin For WordPress – Review

Having a website and seeing it grow in size and stature can be very reassuring for webmasters. In reality however that seldom happens; it is usually struggle and hard work most of the time. Often webmasters in spite of their concerted efforts fail in getting enough visitors to their site. The main reason why that happens is because enough information is not available to webmasters to determine their weakness. It can be with the content, a niche not widely patronized or plain ignorance of the webmaster.

The first step toward building a website with potential to bring in large traffic is, understanding statistics and comparing your site’s performance with those of others. But where do you get the statistics and other information about your site to begin with? Chances are that you are not aware of the various tools available in the internet for getting information. However, don’t despair, there is help and it is the form of Google Analytics. Google Analytics is in reality a piece of software that collects data about your site’s performance in the internet.

While Google Analytics is a generic piece of software, programmers across the world have developed plugins that can be put in the website to collect data, which can at a latter point of time be used for making analysis. For those who are not tech savvy, software writers have come up with special programs that can be used with their website for mining data. One of the more fortunate sites to have ready made plugins for data analysis is WordPress.

Here is what Google Analytics Plugins for WordPress can do. There are scores of plugins available in the internet; some free while others need to be paid for using them. However, in principle they have the same role to play – provide real time information pertaining to your users demography, number of visitors the website gets, how long a visitor spends in each page and more.

Another use for the Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress is they help you get sponsors and advertisement, especially if you are actively into PPC and CPA programs. The statistics you collect through the plugin can help provide your prospective advertisers the information they need to make an evaluation about your site’s performance and then decide on the course of action.

Selecting the right plugin is however not an easy task. For most part the right one is something that you alone can decide. It all depends on what kind of information you may want. However, there is information which is common to all Google Analytics Plugins.

-          Asynchronous Analytic Tracking: Which means that a code within your webpage will keep track and help your website load faster and give you more accurate data.

-          Event Tracking: Another special feature of Google Analytics; it helps track problem pages which you can then target for special attention and make changes.

Custom Variables: They help you track your visitor’s preference and gather Meta data. You can use this information to change the codes in your webpage for optimizing them to be search friendly.

How to Install Windows 8 In a Virtual Machine

What is a Virtual Machine VM?

In the computing environment VM is defined as a software tool or an instrument allowing a user to install and run an Operating System (OS) or a computer program. It is because of the process of virtualization that the concept of cloud computing is possible.  Many media observers, analysis and researchers argue that virtualization and VM is meant for hobbyists and experiments. However, there are plenty of applications and advantages virtualization and VM offer.

The Windows 8 platform

To put it in a nut shell, Windows 8 is smooth and polished platforms that has outsmarted its predecessors hands down. One of the outstanding features of Windows 8 is its ability to allow creation of VM on its platform.

Requirements to create a Windows 8 Virtual Machine

    Firstly to begin with, the most important requirement is that you will need is a PC that supports virtualization.

    You can download a copy of Windows 8. 32-bit or a 62-bit should serve the purpose.

    The additional requirements are not many. You will need about 1 to 2 GB of RAM.

    You will also need around 20 to 30 GB of storage allocation space dedicated to Windows 8 VM.

    Finally you will require virtualization software, VirtualBox, form Oracle should be good enough. This software is available for free.

How to create a Virtual Machine VM with Windows 8

You can follow the step by step process in creating a VM with Windows 8

Create a Virtual Machine

The first step is to create a VM. To do so, you can install and run the VirtualBox. Then click on ‘New’ button. The VM is now created. You can assign a common name to the VM, say Windows 8 PC or Windows 8 VM. From the drop down menu that appears, you will have to select the Operating System as Windows Microsoft 8 or Windows 8 (64 bit) depending on the OS your using.

Selection of specifications

You will have to define the kind of memory space your virtual system has. Ideally, it is recommended that you opt for 2048 MB. However, if you are short of RAM you can opt for the minimum memory requirement of 1 GB for 32-bit. Then click on ‘Next’.

Drive image creation

It is best that you stick to default settings to create a new hard disk drive. The VDI drive image is VirtualBox’s file format.

Virtual Disk size

You can change the size and the location of your virtual disk if required. However, it is best to stick to the default size of 20 GB. You can check if the summary is appropriate. Click on ‘Create’ button to proceed to the next step.

Virtual optical

The next thing that you have to do is to right click on windows 8 PC. Form the options select ‘Settings’ and click on ‘Storage’. From the list select CD icon from the IDE Controller. Then you have to locate the Windows 8 ISO. To do so you must click on CD icon to the right of the controller. Next you will have to select a virtual CD/DVD disk file. The file must be pointed at the Windows 8 ISO and select ‘Open’.

Installing Windows 8 on your VM

You can do a custom installation of Windows 8 on your VM. Select the virtual PC and then click on ‘Start’ button. The installation of Windows 8 is simple and hassle free. Once the installation on the VM is done, you can log into your account.

Installing guest additions

You can install guest additions in the Safe Mode. Follow the steps to install guest additions

• On the desktop view press ‘Windows tab + R’
• Launch MSConfig
• Select Boot option
• Also select safe boot and base video
• Once you have saved the changes click on ‘Ok’

The final step in installing Guest Additions is to reboot your device into Safe Mode.

Launch VM

Make sure that you enable 3D support while installing the Guest Additions from VirtualBox Devices Menu. You can increase the video memory to 128 MB in the Display Settings. Next you must enable 2D and 3D acceleration. Launch the VM.

These are the simple steps involved in creating a Virtual Machine with the Windows 8 platform.


original: SociablWeb

How to Get People to Share Your Content Without Tricking Them

Every SEO copywriter knows that shared and viral content is the most valuable kind of content, but without artificially creating that buzz (which is difficult) there’s really only two ways to get people to pay attention to content that’s available out there.  Trick them into sharing, or offer them a reason to.

Tricking Them Doesn’t Work

The problem with tricking people to share content, in my experience as an SEO copywriter at least, is that they don’t like it.  No one likes to be tricked – and many people will not only avoid sites and content that does and tell their friends.  Which means you’ll be generating all the wrong kinds of feedback, which, in turn will make you unhappy.

It’s important too, to remember that anything like that will seem odd if you’re not careful – there’s nothing worse than setting up a viral campaign that everyone ignores, or people can see have been set up to create artificial buzz.  The campaigns that get ‘caught’ doing this, even with the best content, are often hijacked and derided, and often small brands don’t recover from that.

Creating Means of Sharing Content Using SEO Copywriting

SEO copywriting and content created using those services should be enticing enough that people choose to share it when they’re working with you anyway – if it’s not, you’ll need to look at why and work on fixing that first.  Your copywriter should be able to edit your content so that it’s better if there’s anything wrong with it, and then, there’s two ways you can handle getting interaction and feedback.

• Share it with your readers via newsletter, or social networking site and specifically invite comment on the article – often people will respond to ‘what do you think?’ or ‘share if you agree’ or similar.  Even generating conversation on your social networking sites should be good enough in most cases to get the ball rolling.  And remember too, some people will share anything their friends see, so it’s a question of getting the right people interacting and involved, which is why viral marketing has an unpredictable element.

•  Add comment bonuses and other items that encourage people to tweet etc. – or hold a competition.  Some companies hold competitions using Rafflecopter, which tracks social media sharing (should you so choose) – it’s a valid marketing method for many industries and can cost little to nothing at all in many cases – all you need is a viable product to give away.

And Afterwards?

Many companies wonder what to do with the momentum they build with social networking – while it’s true it opens up more points of contact to those around the articles, and sometimes this can lead to an extra work, but the increased value from SEO articles and copywriting that this brings makes it all worth it.  SEO copywriting content cannot fail to bring new leads in via social media and while things settle down with Google’s updates, it’s important to leverage content in any way you can.

While it’s true that it’s often difficult to build a truly viral campaign in this way, working with social media allowances and blending it with your copywriting needs and leads can bring powerful traffic and support to your business – creating new customers, new connections and new relationships, for a tiny fraction of additional work.  And once you’ve built momentum, and created a trusted brand for yourself in social media it will become easier still – so ensuring your copywriting is up to par is the best way to move forward.  That way, your readers and clients will hit retweet and share almost automatically.

Your SEO Copywriter is one of the most valuable social networking tools you can use, so working with them is of utmost importance.

original - SociableBlog

Guest Posting Etiquette – Some Must Follow Tips

Guest blogging is picking up buzz. Mainly because guest posting is best way of link building and provides instant result. However, as in every process some etiquette should be followed. This post deals with etiquettes that are required in guest blogging.

Many believe that guest posting etiquettes should be followed by guest bloggers leaving out publishers. Guest bloggers are equally important as publishers (provided the content is of high quality). Content are not tapped from thin air. It requires effort and the effort is put by the guest blogger. Therefore, publishers should follow some etiquette too.

Etiquette for Guest Bloggers:

Read the Publishers’ requirement:

The crucial step in guest blogging is to know the requirements of publishers. Every publisher will have different needs. A certain publisher might demand for specific topic while other might be open to ideas. It is guest blogger’s duty to meet all the requirements of the publishers. If publisher demands for 700+ word article provide the same.

Contacting publishers:

Not all accept guest post right away. Some prefer to be contacted and pitched regarding the post. Even if you are sending post to a community member like My Blog Guest it is crucial to know the publisher. Of course, if the publisher had invited to send guest posts then its okay.

Provide Unique Content:

The most common complaint from publishers is that guest bloggers provide either spin content or copied content. It is understood that for guest posting purposes unique content is mandatory. I would like to emphasize that not only the content should be unique but also the whole idea.

Responding to comments:

After a publisher has published a post, it is the duty of guest blogger to respond to comments. A guest blogger might not be available all time. However, a guest blogger should ensure that he visits the post regularly and stays abreast with the discussion. The best way to do this is by signing up for comments notification/updates.

Etiquette for Publisher:

Here are some etiquette for publishers

Respond to email:

Many publishers will fret and fume at this topic. Their argument is that ‘it is hard to reply to every email’. Yes, it is hard to reply to every email but reply should be made. Have you ever sent a guest post to Problogger? Staffs of Problogger, without fail, reply to every email. As a publisher, you should respect the time put in by Guest Bloggers.

Intimate of changes:

Publishers should inform regular contributors of the changes. For instance, if you had promised to provide 2 links and later decided to cut into 1 link, do not forget to notify your contributors.

Changing the links:

Some publishers consider themselves as smart. They promise dofollow links and after a month change dofollow into nofollow. Such practices are unethical and indicate disrespect towards guest bloggers. Moreover, it is the duty of the guest bloggers to check regularly and ensure that the links are unhampered.

These were some of the simple rules for guest bloggers and publishers. If you have something to add either as a guest blogger or publisher then you are welcome.

original:SociablWeb

Common SEO Mistakes That Can Make Your Website ‘DEAD’

Effective Search Engine Optimization definitely helps in finding your website. While there are certain guidelines, if followed can help your website rank high among the top websites in the search engine and also gives an outstanding rank ahead of all your competitors. On the other hand, there are certain mistakes which can kill your website, hence leading to the path of failure. Since SEO is a long term process, so any mistake if made may take months to reverse and get back your SEO back on the right track. So, SE Optimizers should be alert enough before committing these mistakes.

Here are some of the silly seo mistakes you must circumvent in order to prevent your SEO campaign from being executed.

SEO Mistake #1 Aiming Keywords based on Search Volume

This is the most common mistake a SE Optimizer can easily make. When choosing keywords which suits best for your website’s content, it is important to remember that search volume is alone not the most important thing you should always think of. Other factors also need to be taken care of before targeting your keywords such as keywords must be relative to the content. Secondly, the intention of the visitors must be taken care of.

SEO Mistake #2 Fails in understanding the SEO guidelines properly

This mistake is often committed by amateurs who want to think something creative and in order to think something out of the box, they mostly turns up with ideas which violates the guidelines offered by most of the search engines. Therefore, it is essential to know that violating the guidelines might results your website being banned from a search engine.

SEO Mistake #3 Focusing mainly on quantity over quality in link building

Links are just like the bread and butter of SEO, but having more and more links would not help you much if they aren’t good quality. While the Google Penguin update which was unleashed on April mainly encourages websites with clean and natural links and therefore it has become more important than ever. So, it is highly recommendable for the se optimizers to stay away from unrelated sites, link exchanges and other low-quality sources and should focus on building quality links from related sources. It is better to be alert while exchanging links as link exchanges with banned websites is definitely frowned upon. It is more valuable to get twenty great links in the long run rather than making hundred spammy links which would definitely get your site in snagging condition.

SEO Mistake #4 Creating Web Page without a Title

Title reflects the content of a webpage. A webpage lacking a title is just like a body without a face. It makes your content unclear and hazy. Therefore, it is always advisable to add proper titles to your content as it is definitely beneficial for your search engine optimization.

SEO Mistake #5 Using Duplicate Content or Poorly Written Content

Many SEO companies offer a large number of articles on various topics which have been copied from other sources. This can have a serious effect on your website. Readers as well as search engines do encourage fresh and unique content. Search engines also doesn’t like content with keyword stuffed in it. So, it must be kept in mind while writing. Many of the search engines take serious actions against such sites, which provides poorly written content and also not well-optimized at the same time.

SEO Mistake #6 Using too many Images and Flash Animations

This is true that images and animation do make your website look catchy to the eyes of visitors. However, using splash pages with flash animations and big size images would increase the load time of your site, resulting in the evasion of all your visitors and increasing the page load time. So, it is always better to use relevant images and flash animation that describe the content without much overdoing it.

SEO Mistake #7 Unsuccessful in updating your Social Media sites with Innovative Posts

With the evolution of social networking sites, it has gained a lot of importance among people and also in the eyes of search engines. Creating unique content is the foremost step you need to promote in your social media sites. As social media marketing is a great way to interact with your visitors, so make sure that every time you are updating your profile, you start it with fresh and exclusive post.

SEO Mistake #8 Making Use of Page Cloaking

This is a frequent tactic which is often being used by optimizers. It is meant to separate the pages which people will see and which will be crawled by spiders. However, we must avoid in making use of Page Cloaking as it can be one of the reason which can kill your website. A common practice of many is to cloak pages which are rich in keywords to attract search engines spiders while it is being hidden from visitors. However, it must be keep in mind that search engine spiders would want to index and reference the same pages which web users can see. But if cloaking is detected, then your website may have a chance of being banned altogether.

SEO Mistake #9 Lacks in Updating Data

Creating a Website is not the final thing, when it comes to search engine optimization. If the content used in your website is not updated, then it won’t help you much in getting a higher rank on search engine. Staying up to date on the content is certainly imperative to give your site an advantage over others.

SEO Mistake #10 Abortive of Using CSS

CSS is a tool which helps you to reduce the size of your pages, thus reducing the time it normally takes to load. However, it helps you to concentrate on the text which search engine spiders normally feeds on. Therefore, CSS definitely plays a vital role for your website and should not be unnoticed in the optimization process, as it enhances the visibility of your web pages.

Thus, if you have been commending any of the above mistakes and were just naive about the impact that you had on your website. Going through this post would surely help you a lot in implementing the required changes and correcting your website as needed through the search engine optimization process and it would also definitely help to make your website visitor-friendly and search-engine friendly at the same time.

original:SociablWeb

7 Old-School Ways To Build Your Brand Rep In Your Community

Branding is essentially, aligning your company’s internal activities with what it produces for the outside world. It’s not a communications strategy, but rather a business strategy; a long term, sustainable product or service that is consistent, clear, and delivers time and again.

Whether it’s with clients embarking on a new campaign or on your own trying to define your personal brand, the term “branding” seems to be the popular buzzword these days. “Branding” is often misunderstood and is frequently misused. Yet, a business’s brand represents the company’s reputation externally and reflects how employees feel about the company internally.

Currently, we are in a climate where small and medium-sized enterprises are being squeezed and forced to create a clear point of difference. Small businesses especially, need to find a way to compete.

The following are 7 old-school ways to build your brand rep in your community.

1. In a Nutshell

Ask yourself what you want the customer to feel when interacting with your business. Then, find one word or phrase that most accurately sums up what you stand for.

Continue on to your website, your offices, and other extensions of your business and ensure that they convey a similar theme. Think of ways to conjure up that feeling in customers without saying it explicitly.

Once you determine your strategy, run it through all of your activity including the logo, tone of voice, and dress code. Remember that dissatisfaction is what drives customers. Develop and communicate a relevant brand promise and deliver.

2. Get it right the First Time

Deliver on your promises. Competitive markets have and will always punish companies that are unreliable.

A relationship of trust is an integral part of growing a strong brand. Reaching the point where customers trust you allows clients to feel at ease, even if you do get it wrong on occasion.

Any advertising expense spent in a small business is better focused towards “performance marketing.” Focus on delivering an augmented product that is continuously improving.

3. Build from Within

All big business brand icons have distinctive company cultures or “value systems” that give the brands definition. A company brand should permeate the organization and drive decisions.

Involve your employees in building the brand from Day 1. Allowing them to help shape the values makes it easier to convey them to customers. Spend time on developing a message that resonates throughout your staff.

Remain flexible enough to occasionally evaluate and tweak your brand message’s effectiveness and make sure to communicate it internally. Beware of becoming too formal or risk losing engagement. The best way to get customers to trust you is to start trusting your employees.

4. Consistency is Key

Be absolutely transparent to your audience about your brand values from the outset. Your products and services are likely to evolve as you grow, but your brand values should remain consistent.

Keep in mind that for many, your marketing message is the first impression they will have of your company. Resist the urge to tweak established values.

5. Customers Contact

To some extent, your brand takes care of itself if your product is good. On the other hand, involving customers in product development has become somewhat of a trend that provides customers with a sense of co-creating products.

Customers love to feel close to the creative process, and you can build reciprocal respect, by featuring them as case studies.

6. Social Media

Stay on top of what’s out there to build a brand. Social media is just as important as a communications tactic and something that could be applied internally.

It’s a great strategy for small businesses to provide customer service and support, while getting their name in front of people.

7. Create a Community

Social media has hastened an importance of community in brand building by sharing knowledge and extending the network online. It’s important that information about the business doesn’t just come from the marketing division.

Whatever your means of communicating, show your personality. Focus on where your customers are, be that on YouTube, eBay, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, but use each medium appropriately.

Differentiate yourself by what you stand for and let the personality and values formulate organically. Innovate beyond the familiar and keep these 7 old-school tips in mind when developing a brand rep in your community.

original:SociableBlog