It’s been common knowledge that more and more businesses are turning to social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to build business and create a buzz for their brands. However, this may be turning against companies in an unexpected way.

Is social media, an important tool for marketing and SEO services, actually a bad idea for businesses?

So many people are using social media sites; millions, in fact. That creates a wide range and big demographic for brands to get their names out there in the world. However, this valuable marketing and advertising tool may be a disadvantage against companies when consumers use their social media platforms to engage negatively in regards to certain companies they aren’t happy with.

People Are Being Heard

When customers took to McDonald’s Twitter page recently to complain about bad experiences, many Twitter followers of the restaurant followed suit, created a storm of negative publicity for the fast food chain. Since bad press can happen within minutes and even seconds on the Internet, it’s hard for a company to know how to react to consumers stating their opinions online.

Damage Control For Businesses

Overall, Facebook and Twitter are helpful advertising tools for businesses and Internet marketing companies. Companies need to try to prepare themselves for negative feedback from followers and readers.

How do they do that? You may need to hire a social media expert to step in. Some companies are going on their Facebook pages and deleting negative posts, but this will only incite people further. Your consumers should be able to voice their opinions, even if you don’t agree.

The best thing to do to counteract negativity is to treat your consumers with as much positivity as you can. Offer coupons, promotions, and specials for followers and fans only, and try to create more positive customer experiences to outweigh the negative ones.

Remember people complain more than they praise, so happy customers may not be voicing their opinions. Another option is to be honest with your public. If you made a mistake in advertising or customer service, own up to it and try to make it right. Consumers respect honesty and will remain loyal if they feel like they are really being listened to.

Social Media Success

Essentially it’s necessary to appoint a social media manager that only deals with issues that arise on your company’s social media platforms. He or she can put out any fires as they happen as promptly as possible to avoid more negative publicity.

Keep in mind that consumers are watching your every move, so take care with your updates and Tweets along with how you interact with consumers on these pages.

Encourage Positivity

Ask consumers to post about their good experiences with your brand. Award a gift card or other prize to the best customer service story a week, or some other incentive to ensure consumers aren’t just posting about their complaints. Word of mouth on the Internet is taken quite seriously, so build a positive reputation so a few bad remarks here and there won’t completely throw your brand under the bus.

This is a guest post by blogger Shane, who enjoys blogging about social media and SEO services.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

With its user-friendly interface and searches organized by key terms, Tumblr makes sharing easy. It makes sense that businesses both small and large would find it intriguing. Even President Obama hosts his blog on Tumblr.

But does the social networking site cut it for businesses seeking a professional venue to sell their product? Below is a list of pros and cons one should consider before making the move.

Pros

• User-friendly: Anyone can create a Tumblr account.  If you lack HTML or CSS skills, Tumblr provides free themes ranging from sleek and professional to creative. You can decide how visitors see your posts without being a professional web designer (or shelling out the cash for one).

• Search-friendly: While Tumblr doesn’t promise that your blog will appear in a random search, you can help your chances by adding a slew of related keywords. If you run a local bakery, tagging “cake,” “bakery,” “lemon meringue,” and so on promises several pathways to your blog.

• Viewer-friendly: A Tumblr can require more creative content (e.g. photos, unique voice, short paragraphs), but it also makes sense in a time where people typically read only the headline of a news article.

Cons

• Less control: If Tumblr crashes, your blog crashes. Since Tumblr technically runs your site, there isn’t much you can do but wait. Luckily, when a social networking site goes down, everybody notices, and it rarely stays down for long.

• Fewer sales: This isn’t guaranteed, but Tumblr can be less commerce-friendly, according to some users. As of last month, the site does not offer an easily integrated shopping cart feature. However, Coexist Digital offers a Tumblr commerce platform that isn’t very difficult to add on.

• Fewer long-term visitors: Because Tumblr is so image-heavy, it almost works like a fashion magazine or a picture book. If your site or post doesn’t offer immediate gratification, the casual blogger might not stop to check it out.

Tumblr might be the blogging website of the moment, but does it promise longevity and professionalism? With its unique search features and aesthetically pleasing interface, it provides a new and unique platform. However, its lack of certain necessary business tools might make it nothing more than an additional venue rather than an entirely new one.

Logan Clement, graphic designer for Subtle Network, has dabbled with tumblr for his own business needs.  In addition to tumblr, he helps his clients with other social media marketing needs.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

But it has also shown a new way of getting inspired. For what, you might ask? Just life! There is so much you can use the site for when it comes to diversifying your day to day. Here are five ways people are doing so already.

Pinterest Tip #1 – Get DIY Inspired!

I am a major upcycling junkie, it has to be said. So when I saw the enormous following of DIY and crafters that are on Pinterest, I went nuts. From simple ideas for reusing materials not so easily recycled, to completely redecorating your home using your own style, you can find a ton of inspiration here.

Just the other day I saw a photo showing how a woman turned a collection of old mason jars into a set of solar powered lights for her backyard. Not only is that ecofriendly, but creative and very useful for those summer evening BBQ’s.

Pinterest Tip #2 – Get A New Look!

Because Pinterest is mainly targeting a female demographic, it isn’t a surprise to find how much there is on beauty and fashion. You can get information on new products from the company yourselves, or just see pics and tips from friends or people around the whole. Including those who show how to make trendy and beautiful outfits from thrift store items.

My favorite are the photos describing how to make your own natural beauty products. I have thrown out all my chemical filled soaps and started making lovely smelling ones myself. My skin has never looked better!

Pinterest Tip #3 – Get Cooking!

Tired of the same old menu at your house? Spice it up, with some of the best cooking tips on the web. Recipes, photos to break down and ingredients lists for new dishes, it is all here. Plus, some really cute ideas for foodies, whether you are a meat eater, a vegetarian or a vegan. This is a kitchen lovers paradise.

One of my favorite ideas I saw recently were mini pancake skewer desserts with whipped cream and strawberry slices. I loved it so much that I made them myself to serve at my daughter’s birthday party. They were a huge hit!

Pinterest Tip #4 – Get Fit!

Most of us don’t like exercise that much. Let’s face it, when it comes to the choice between going out for a run and sitting on our butts watching Scrubs reruns, most of us are going to choose Dr. Cox and nix the Nike. It is just part of our lazy culture, one that is common at this point all over the world.

If you need inspiration to get moving, this site is full of it. Workout tips, training schedules, motivational posters…they have it all here. By the time you have closed the window, you will be eager to get that workout out of the way.

Pinterest Tip #5 – Get Overcome With Wanderlust!

I have always believed that we all have an avid traveler within us. Some give into it, some just yearn to get away. But if you are wanting to pick a location to visit, you should definitely look on Pinterest. People post their own photos, and pin photos that they have found on others sites. All breathtaking and sure to get the wanderlust pumping.

If nothing else, you can create a great bucket list.

Conclusion

What are you waiting for? Photos are always incredibly inspiring, so why not use Pinterest to completely change your life? Whether it is getting to more cooking, changing your appearance or seeing a new place, you can see something for you here.

Jessy is the lifestyle blogger for Dobovo, the free travel app. Diversify your life by traveling!

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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So, after all the hype and excitement, the Facebook IPO got underway with a price tag of over $100 billion, but with the opening share price only trading marginally above the asking price, are their rough times ahead?

The big winners of the Facebook IPO were the company’s management, shareholders and advisors, because the opening share price squeezed the maximum amount of money for them, but gave little to the punters who wanted a quick profit.

Given the hype, private investors might have expected to make a nice earner of the Facebook IPO, but that didn’t happen.

Indeed, the closing price was only a few cents above the opening price and there are market analysts who say that underwriters had to buy stock to keep it from falling before the $38 mark. This, if true, will be a little worrying for all concerned.

There was frantic trading in the first minutes of the stock being listed, plus a technical fault and then the price rose, and came off just as quickly.

Private investors hoping for a killing have now learnt that they might be in for the long haul instead. Not quite the news they have expected. Back when LinkedIn began trading, shares quickly doubled and profits were earnt without delay.

Facebook is not playing out the same way and the next few days of trading will be very interesting indeed. Will the share price stay above the $38 price point, or will it drift off, or remain stagnant?

Part of the problem is that many of the institutional investors have stayed on the sidelines. They have baulked at a company whose public value makes it as big, if not bigger, than many huge and long established blue-chips.

Yet Facebook has yet to prove it can fully monetise its incredible reach (900 million users, some 13% of the population). That’s the bet of course and why the offering was priced so highly. Should Facebook get its business model right and can fully monetise each and every user, then the Promised Land is just around the corner. If it can’t, then things will have to change.

Institutions are also upset that despite a large public offering, Facebook management retains around 96% of the vote via B share and Zuckerberg himself keeps 56% of the shares, and is still CEO and Chairman.

Which means, that it’s a case of yes, you can buy shares and share in the success, or failure, but don’t expect to have a say in the company’s future direction.

And that is not a situation that many of the big institutions like. They would like more free equity and an ‘outsider’ at the helm as Chairman.

The jury remains out about Facebook.

Biljana Dimovska is a member of the digital marketing team at UK SEO Consultancy Agency Cayenne Red. She is a regular contributor to the media on how companies market themselves in the digital age.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

When you started to work online or run your own blog, what were your motivations? Chances are that one of the perks for you was going to be the fact that you could work from home and work on the move.

However working from home doesn’t necessarily mean working from home – as that can actually get pretty old pretty fast as you struggle to stay focussed and as you find yourself distracted by the internet, phone and food, and as you lose any motivation to put on pants which you would have if you were working out in the real world.

In short it doesn’t take long to develop cabin fever if you never leave your four walls, so it’s important that you get out and about if you really want to live the dream – and that means in particular that you should look into travelling.

Travelling and Working

And the great thing about blogging is that you can do it from anywhere – so if your blog is bringing you in enough moolah you can take it on the road and start to see the world while you write. To do this though you need to walk a fine line between experiencing the place you’re in and actually working, and you need to travel with the right devices to help you maintain productivity.

To that end you should first of all invest in a small netbook. Think portability and low cost – because if you’re travelling it won’t be long before you start to get sand in your computer or before it gets stolen. To that end you also need a good hosting package so you can store all your crucial files online, or look into forms of online backup.

Finally the last crucial item you’ll need is a good carry case/satchel that you can use to carry your laptop and phone around with you without weighing yourself down. Sacrifice on clothes and books so that you can still travel light.

Spot a Great Location

You also need to know how to spot a good location for working. Your best friend is going to be the humble café.

They are dotted all around the world and you should find for the most part that people are happy for you to sit in them and work for extended periods of time. You might also be able to find a power socket here and wifi.

Phone is Your Friend

Failing that you should have a good deal on your phone that gives you internet tethering. You should discuss with your service provider before you leave whether there’s a package you can purchase that will give you cheaper connectivity while you’re out there – and this is very important as it will help you to upload your articles even when you don’t have access to free Wifi anywhere.

Hotels with Wifi or Wired Internet

When in a rut, there are a couple of places you can go to get emergency computer usage. Most hotels for instance will have some internet and even if you aren’t staying here they should allow you to get online and use it there for a small fee.

Failing that you might even be able to ask the reception or staff in the hotel to use their computer and their connection – if you can store your files on a flash drive (a crucial thing to bring with you) then you will be able to upload it right from there. Internet cafes will also be dotted around most towns and cities.

Better though is to choose hotels that have a good Wifi connection to start with. If you can find a place to stay with a great view and a balcony, along with Wifi and facilities for making tea, then you’ll find that there are few better circumstances for inspiring you to write your best articles.

This guest post was written by Brian from a leading link building company. He believes that a link building campaign can be much more effective if it’s backed by quality content.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

With the steady emergence of cloud hosting and virtual machine solutions as viable business models, you need to be informed about how these technologies can help or hamper your SEO initiatives.

1. Quality of SEO Tool Within The Admin Panel

Like any other complex system, hosting a website brings together a number of sophisticated technologies each of these technologies can determine how a website performs along a number of key areas, such as SEO. Several different things about the web host and how it is set up and configured influences the site’s SEO trajectory.

Website owners, for example, may select a specific web host based solely on how easy its back-end administration model is for them to use. But each back-end system will feature some SEO tool or other. While this does not directly affect SEO performance per se, the quality and power of such a tool will determine how effective the site administrator is with his SEO work.

2. Stability of Web Hosts

The stability of the web host also plays an important role in SEO. Web hosts that are down more frequently face a greater risk of getting lower or unfavorable rankings from search engines Shared hosting is another factor that helps with SEO success.

Just as people appraise the quality of a neighbourhood by looking at the social and financial status of its current residents, search engines may likewise rate a site according to the quality of its “neighbours”.

If your site happens to be hosted along with known spammers, it will not help your case with the search engines Geo-location is also a vital consideration. If a website is hosted on a server in one country but it targets audiences in another, it wiII be frowned upon by the search engines

3. Cloud Hosting Solutions – Effective and More Simple to handle

Cloud hosting and cloud computing are relatively new operational models that have made an impact in business over the last few years like their web host counterparts, cloud hosts allow people to park their websites in the host computing facility but cloud hosts offer services beyond mere web hosting; they also house data and serve up software applications.

This is a great boon for businesses and entrepreneurs, whose computing costs are significantly reduced since they no longer need to purchase expensive computer hardware, software and networks, and pay for the accompanying maintenance and upgrade costs. They simply rent the computing power they need.

SEO initiatives likewise benefit from cloud hosting like web hosts, cloud hosts take away a layer or two of complexity from the technical requirements of operating a website. This lets website owners focus on managing and marketing the site rather than concerning themselves with a huge number of technical details.

One of the more evident effects of cloud hosting on SEO is on geo-location while website contents are hosted on the cloud, they are served locally, depending on the visitor’s IP address. Sometime in 2010, Google released the Caffeine update on its search ranking algorithm.

The update now places great importance on page speed, and sites that load faster get higher rankings on the search results pages since cloud-hosted sites appear to generally load faster, this can be a tremendous advantage in competitive markets.

Biljana Dimovska is a member of the digital marketing team at UK SEO Consultancy Agency Cayenne Red. She is a regular contributor to the media on how companies market themselves in the digital age.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving to suit the needs of the Internet community, as the leading search engine there’s a lot of pressure on Google to return the best results possible for keywords.

The criterion that determines authority and credibility are in a state of flux, Google is getting smarter about off-page SEO factors and what gives a page value.

The implications of this are more far-reaching than most bloggers would expect, there is a big paradigm shift taking place with Authorship and Author Rank at its helm. The focus in the future will be more about who authored the content rather than where it’s posted, and bloggers need to either prepare for it or be left in the dust.

How does Authorship work?

Authorship is a system that Google began implementing in July of 2011, it’s still in the very early stages of development and it’s safe to say that anyone currently enabling it on their websites are ‘early adopters’.

In a nutshell, Authorship gives Google a foolproof way of tying a web page to a Google+ profile, thus verifying the identity of the pages author. This concept may seem simple, but it’s groundbreaking in the search engine world because the identity of a page’s author has been almost impossible to verify in the past and thus not a factor for search algorithms.

Authorship utilizes a simple system of HTML tags to associate web pages with a Google+ profile, bloggers simply need to link both ways and use “rel=author” and “rel=me” tags when doing so (it’s also a good idea to use rel=me to link all your social profiles together). This creates a ‘handshake’ between the Google+ profile and the webpage, a two-way verification system that tells Google that you are in control of both web properties.

How bloggers should prepare

The first priority of bloggers looking to get ahead of the game in SEO via Authorship should be to give their Google+ profile an overhaul and make it as professional and complete as possible.

Use the best profile picture you can, it’s going to show up next to every search result that you enable Authorship for. Fill in as many fields as you can and try to look at your profile through the eyes of the average web visitor.

Once you are happy with your Google+ profile, it’s time to start actually enabling Authorship on your websites. If you run WordPress, you can do this very easily by using the AuthorSure plugin- all you have to do is fill out one form and it’ll do all the confusing rel=author stuff for you. See Google’s documentation on rich snippets and Authorship to learn more about enabling it.

The most important thing is to keep publishing quality content under your Google+ identity as much as you can to build your Author Rank. Participating in conversations on Google+ helps as well so try to be a part of the community and get involved with your industry. When posting on web properties that aren’t your own, always tell the webmaster about Authorship and how enabling it will help their rankings.

Vadim Kirichenko is a VP with www.wisdek.com, a leading SEM, PPC and SEO company. He has not started using author markups for guest posts he writes but he doesn’t forget to use them on client blogs.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

How good would it be to filter everyday life? No more city gloom – instead everything would have more of a ‘pop’ or dreamy tint. Well designer Markus Gerke has given a hint at what things could look like with the Instaglasses.

The concept is fairly simple: as with the Instagram app, the glasses have pre-set filter built in which you can activate by pressing the Insta button in the centre of the frame.

The inbuilt 5-megapixel camera with a ‘shoot’ button on the arm of the shades let’s you take a snap and upload to your Instagram account. Take a look at the image below to see how it works.

via designmadeingermany

See also: How Instagram can do wonders for your business

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

Once you’ve set up your social networking profile, though, how do you get friends and increase your popularity’?

One of the best ways to connect with your social networking audience is to talk about things they’re interested in. The trick is that these may not be the same things that you’re interested in. If you’re an entrepreneur, for example, you may want to talk about the pros and cons of running your own business.

If most of your friends aren’t self-employed, though, you’re not going to catch their interest. Instead, post about things that you know they’ll be interested in, like pop culture, current events or cuisine.

Update social media sites often

Make updates to your social media sites often. This is the general rule of thumb whether you’re on Twitter or you run a blog. The more regularly you post, the more people you’ll reach. Also, if your friends and fans grow used to you posting regularly, they’ll check back more and more for your latest.

Avoid writing about anything too personal, negative or depressing. While weight loss, your horrible boss or your most recent breakup may be at the forefront of your mind, keep it off the Internet.

For the most part, people don’t respond to negative subjects. You may get a few emoticon frowns from your closest friends, but other than that, people are going to steer clear of your depressing page.

On the same note, stop over-talking about yourself altogether. Self-promotion often has the opposite effect, whether you’re using social media outlets for your personal life or your business. Write about things that people will find interested but resist the urge to constantly refer back to yourself.

Find common ground

Use your social media networks to actually learn about your network of people. A general rule of thumb is that people like to talk about themselves. You can connect with someone easily and quickly if you become interested in them; getting someone interested in you will follow naturally.

This is true of face-to-face communication and it holds true for online conversation, too. Read other people’s updates, comment on them and try to relate to them. You’ll find that you have more friends in no time.

Share your social networks with all of your other social networks. Allowing people to connect to you no matter where they land in your online life will multiply your reach. If you run a blog, make sure links to your Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts are listed. On your Facebook profile, put links to your Mezee and Google accounts.

Use the same social skills online that you would in a crowded room. Don’t brag, rant or insult. Use the same tact as you would if you were with your online friends in person. You may get a lot of attention from a curse-filled complaint, but you won’t get any long-term loyal followers.

Guest Post written by Ludwing Hernandez .

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency

Most people now realise that you can’t just build a site and hope potential buyers find it, in fact many webmasters spend more time/money promoting their site than they did building it.

But with so many options for getting the word out there how do you know which is right for your site (and your budget)? Here are some ideas to help if you’re lost.

1. Pay per click (PPC)

Most of us are familiar with the small ads you see at the side of Google search results and it’s these links that make Google the bulk of its money. Pay per click can be complex though, first ads are served on an auction basis where you pay more to be featured at the top and get more clicks.

Then a metric called “quality score” is factored in were you get more points if your site is perceived as a quality resource. Also it’s really important that you track the effectiveness of any PPC campaign to see if PPC visitors are buying or not, it’s surprising the number of businesses spending thousands per month with no reporting.

2. Affiliate sales

If you’re on a budget, setting up an affiliate program could be the answer to get some quick sales as it has no real up-front costs. Essentially you offer affiliates a percentage of any sales that referred customers buy on your site, whilst this means you make less profit on that sale it’s an order you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Plus if you factor in the potential repeat orders a customer may make it makes sense to take a hit on the first sale. Also you don’t need any special software to do this as affiliate networks like commission junction will setup and manage it for you, plus they already have thousands of affiliates signed up and ready to promote your products.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimization should be seen as a long term strategy to increase sales and make more money from your store. It takes real commitment to make it work since Google can and does change how it ranks sites regularly.

However if you can get your store to the top of the search results for keywords that represent exactly what your selling then that’s free targeted traffic which will surely convert into sales. Also if you do crack the SEO puzzle and you’re in a smaller niche market you can often be at the top for years with no ongoing effort if you get the SEO basics right.

So hopefully this article has given you some ideas on making more money from your online store. There’s lots of competition for customers but if you can think outside the box a little then sales won’t be far away.

This is a guest post by Paul who writes on money saving tips, click here to visit his site.

via Social Media & SEO blog, Dust. Boutique Agency