As of late, the Facebook gossip has really accelerated, and rumor has it, Facebook will be closing their doors after March; and everyone will be herded like sheep to the next “Big Thing”. Well… here’s the thing with rumors, they’re made up of a little truth and a bunch of lies.

Facebook is shutting down the old fanpage layout and making the switch to iframes, which should make things more robust. However, the recent change to Fanpages has the sweet smell of money brewing once more.

This is a email I received a few days ago:

After March 11th ALL FBML TABS will be staying put. Facebook WILL NOT take them away. I have confirmed this with my Facebook Ad Rep. But, all new pages will have to create the iframe tab. [Training for iframes coming soon!]

The message seems pretty harmless at a glance, and for marketers and business owners with the FBML tab in tack… Hooray!

However, for the folks building fanpages for business owners who mainly outsource the work, you may want to rethink your pricing depending of the complexity of setting-up iframes, and the cost of training your employee. Even if you intend to learn all about iframes, you may have to cough-up a few bucks or manufacture some extra time to learn the ins and outs.

And not having a Facebook Fanpage isn’t an option.

Nowadays, it seems as though everyone, including the grands, have a Facebook profile, and if you’re in the Internet Marketing community (bless your heart), not having a fan-page or business-page seems to be down right uncivilized.

The Facebook Gold-Rush

You see… the second half of 2010 should be deemed the Facebook Gold-Rush, because plenty of money was made in the online marketing niche — like always — selling the customization of Fanpages, and the “Rise ‘n Fall of Google” with Facebook advertising.

Marketers flocked to Facebook like ticks on a hound, only to find themselves jumping the same hurdles that appear in other marketing venues. Someone should have told them the money was being made selling picks and shovels, and in due time, those overpriced courses would appear on sites like Youtube and Viddler.

Mark Zuckerberg even created his on fancy name for HTML (hyper text mark-up language) and called it FBML. This took all the honest marketers for a wild ride, and proved to be an added bonus for the people selling snake oil. In my opinion, this was just another sneaky way for throwing average marketers off the scent of money.

You may be thinking this is Baloney, and the information sold was much needed. Which is true, I agree 100% that people should pay for knowledge, but to what degree. Social media isn’t rocket science. Social media means to be social; the real magic resides in being active in your community. This should not cost a fortune, if anything at all. If you think I’m pulling your leg, then ask your teenager who has thousands of friends.

So — not to get things twisted — the awesomeness of social media lies with the fact you can interact with friends, build relationships, and grow your network without depleting your ad budget.

Are there cost associated with the Fanpages? Yes…

You may need someone to build you a dynamic Fanpage, if you’re not familiar with html and iframes; or you may need someone to manage your account, if time is of the essence. Whatever area requires additional help get it, but remember the true power of Facebook resides in your involvement with your audience. If you are unable to interact on a consistent basis, then you may need to hire a social media manager. But, you don’t need an overpriced course that educates you on being social.

If you need a good game plan, but are unsure how this social media thing works, feel free to set-up a consultation.

The Original Post is Located Here: Facebook Fanpages Fanning Out

Twitter has established itself as a super-power in the social community, and it’s here to stay. However, there are two things you need to get right when initiating your twitter account to increase the likelihood of your account appearing in the search results, and establishing your presence amongst followers. Although, this may seem minute in nature; inserting a keyword rich user-name and properly completing your twitter profile will have a positive impact on your twitter account.

For starters, you need to incorporate your main keyword or business name into the twitter url. You do this by inserting your keyword into the user-name when signing up. The user-name is the primary method for being found. When twitter followers are looking for people in their market to follow, the general results return twitters by their user-names. This is one critical element people miss, and later regret.

Next, you need to complete your profile after your account is confirmed. To find your profile go to account settings, then click on the profile tab. You’ll fine the twitter profile to be small but powerful. If you want to maximize your twitter marketing efforts, then here’s your opportunity to stand out in the crowd.

First, upload a photo to your account. Many people like to upload images or logos, which work fine, if you have an established brand that people know and trust. However, from my experience, you’ll gain more followers by adding an image of yourself or someone in your company. People like to know they’re interacting and following real people — not an automated system who’s sole purpose is to make a profit.

Secondly, provide a location to which you reside. This allows people in your local market to find you, plus connections are made nationally and internationally based on location. You’ll find that companies build relationships on twitter to identify potential business partners for future expansion. Also, job opportunities and mastermind groups often present themselves based on location. Remember, this could be your chance to meet like-minded people in your area.

Thirdly, if you have a working website, then leave a link. However, don’t shorten your link with a service like bit.ly or tinyurl.com, because your domain is a representation of you. It allows others to identify and resonate with you or your business before making a connection. Furthermore, this your opportunity to get a quality link pointing to your site from a reputable authority site like Twitter.

Finally, create a bio that incorporates what you’re about, and what type of people you want to connect with. A good bio shares your personal experience, builds your credibility within your market, and makes a lasting first impression. Having a great Twitter bio is important as it can make or break a person’s decision whether to follow you or not. Additionally, a bio gives you the opportunity to squeeze in a couple focused keywords that you want to be associated with. This alone could prove to be golden.

To wrap it up, twitter is here to stay, and you need to incorporate it into your marketing plans. By doing a little extra work, you will find yourself standing on the competition’s shoulders, looking down only to help them up. Seriously, if you take the time to implement the small stuff, then maximizing social media will happen effortlessly as you spread your wings and begin to soar.

The Original Post is Located Here: The Power of a Twitter Profile

Every business hits a brick wall at some point — whether big or small — and to eliminate distractions and increase productivity you may need to change day-to-day operations to burst through. Often times, the business is not the problem, it’s the actions taken by the business owner that has brought the company to a screeching halt. In other words, you can be… your worst enemy.

With social media on the rise, and the web going mobile; it’s very hard to stay task oriented do to all the technological distractions. This is even more evident with small business owners who aren’t able to outsource some of the workload.

So, what can you do to stay productive, and get your business moving in the right direction?

Unfortunately, the answer to your problems aren’t easily identifiable, and often go unnoticed. Speaking from experience, it’s the little things that chip away at your day, and cause production to decrease. You see… without proper planning and scheduling of task you could literally spend hours of unproductive man-hours surfing the net, checking messages, and hanging out.

Now… let’s look at what you can do to burst through that brick wall, and gain control of your business.

Eliminate Distractions

Prioritize for Productivity

Of course, no situation is identical, but everyone hits that brick wall in their business and needs to put their actions under the microscope. If you feel as though simple distractions aren’t your problem, but you need help in taking your business to the next level. Go ahead and sign up for a consultation today.

Good luck, and make this year your “Best Year”!

The Original Post is Located Here: Eliminate Distractions and Prioritize for Productivity

Recently, there was a big change in the local search market that some marketers saw coming a mile away. You see… when Google introduced Google Places it was the first sign that something new was in the boiling pot for local businesses, and perhaps something better. From that point forward, the market waited patiently, for no one knew exactly what to expect, but everyone prepared for the worst.

Shortly after, marketers began to receive stats in their email about ad views and CTR (click-through-rates). Something that Google had never done in the past. This is when people really began to take notice as anticipation warmed the market.

Then it happened… ” The Google Slap for Local Search”.

At first, things were discombobulated — not with Google, with marketers — but when the dust settled the “Knock Out” punch delivered by Google opened the doors to opportunity like never before. All the black-hat techniques that were letting anyone rank easily were completely obliterated.

The days of stuffing keywords in the title of your listing had finally aligned with the world of universal search. Things like buying fake reviews to show activity and creating bogus categories would be no more. The world of “Local Search” would be reconstructed for the best.

Finally, the garbage was being disposed, and the doors were re-opening for real marketers to make their stand.

Now… let’s fast forward to the days of Google Places.

If you made it through the storm — the change of the local algorithm — then good for you. That means you were doing things right from the start, and if you continue to operate with white-hat techniques you’ll never have to fear “The Google Slap”. On the hand, if you recently lost your rankings and your account is temporarily suspended, then here’s what you should do.

Read the Google Places editorial guidelines. This will cover any mishaps within your listing.

Make sure your Business Name in the title of your listing is the actual name of your business.

Check the information across the internet and in other local directories to make sure it’s constant with your Google Places listing.

Make sure you are using a real local number (no toll-free #s, redirect #s, answering services, etc.).

Check your categories in your listing to see if you are in compliant with Google terms.

Follow the “Check List” Google has put in the listing to help people play within the guidelines.

Read the editorial guidelines again.

Then re-submit your listing to Google Places.

Hopefully, this brings you up to speed, and keeps your listing out the sandbox. For information, on staying current with the local market, feel free to subscribe to the RSS Feed or join the mailing list; and if this internet stuff seems to difficult give a shout out to our marketing team. We can help!

The Original Post is Located Here: Google Slaps “Local Search Market”

The are certain Off Page SEO Factors that could kill your linking campaign, and prove to be a waste of time. Well… I wouldn’t say a total waste of time — cause all links count — but definitely not getting the most out of your efforts when it comes to building quality back-links.

Think of it like this, for every quality link it takes 100 crappy links to equal that one link. Those low quality links will add up over time, however if time is of the essence why would you waste it building low quality links. Furthermore, it takes the same amount of time to build both, unless you’re using some type of software that builds thousands of back-links a day. Which could ruin your website if done incorrectly.

Many people don’t fully understand Off Page SEO, so when it comes to what matters most when building links people are simply confused. So… let’s try to clear a few things up.

What Off Page SEO Factors matter most?

• Which websites link to you. This may seem elementary, but here’s the bomber. You need a variety of one way back-links pointing to your site, however topical or niche related back-links weigh heavier in the eyes of the search engines.
• The number of sites linking to you. Here is where the concept of mass-linking became twisted. Sure you want a lot of websites pointing at your site, but not all in one week. The process should happen over a period of time in a natural way. Even if, you’re using some type of automated software.
• The Google Page Rank of the website linking to you. Every site passes link juice, whether it’s a PR-0 or a PR-8 site, a very small portion of page rank is passed on to the site it is linking to. Now… use your brain here, a site with a page rank of 0 doesn’t have as much to give as a site with a higher PR. So with this in mind… page rank matters.
• The page title of the site linking to you. The title of a page tells the spiders and the users what that page is about. It’s only right that the title would help in the classification of your site.
• The anchor text used to link to your site. Anchor text is the text or words on a site or in a post that — when clicked — sends that visitor to your site. Spiders read the text to determine the meaning of the site in which it links to.
• The number and type of links pointing to the website that’s linking to your site. This stops people from building link-networks out of garbage websites, and shows the spiders you’re associated with other authority sites in your niche.
• The number of outbound links on the website that’s linking to your site. If the webmaster links to a ton of other sites, then the Page Rank is spread thin across a wide array of sites and the link-juice is watered down. The site could also be viewed as a link farm.
• Is the site deemed by Google as an authority website? One link from an authority site could mean the difference in ranking high for a competitive keyword or not ranking at all.

These are a few Off Page SEO Factors that play a major role in dominating your niche. Link building is tedious, and requires an organized plan of action to ease the burden. If you’re not up to the challenge give us a shout out, we’d love to help.

The Original Post is Located Here: Off Page SEO Factors