Shawn Smith (bottom row, 2nd from the left), from Optimal Webworks, attends Neverblue's Out of Bounds in Victoria, British Columbia.

Twice a year, Neverblue rounds up its top affiliates for a week-long meetup called “Out of Bounds.” They select their top revenue-generators, top incremental earners and top international affiliates.

Neverblue has been one of our most important partners. And they’re made up of great people too!

Shawn Smith went to Victoria, British Columbia in July 2010 to meet with some of the industry’s top affiliates. He also met with Neverblue’s smartest people.

Here’s video of our trip to Canada.

We just want to say thank you to Neverblue and everyone who made this trip so fantastic.

If you’ve thought about driving traffic to your website, you’ve likely been called by the allure of Digg’s sirens.

Ohhh, the thought of hundreds if not thousands of users streaming onto your site from traffic monster Digg.com

It’s just so … tempting. Provocative. It gets us hot, really.

One problem: It probably won’t work for you.

8 MAJOR MISTAKES NEW DIGGERS MAKE

A “new Digger” isn’t just someone who recently started an account on Digg, but it also describes someone who hasn’t taken the time to learn how to use Digg effectively.

Here’s several mistakes new Diggers make:

1. New Diggers Forget Digg is a Social Website: Digg allows users to have friends, to send messages and to comment on users’ content. Use Digg like you would other social websites.
2. New Diggers Don’t Make Friends: Yes, this is related to mistake #1. Friends are going to help you Digg up your stories. You need a number of friends you can count on to help make your stories popular. Reach out to people and get to know them. Interact with them!
3. New Diggers Don’t Comment: Another spinoff from the first mistake. You neeeeeeeeed to comment. You need to build relationships. And make sure your comments reflect that you actually viewed the content that was dugg.
4. New Diggers Submit Only Their Own Content … Repeatedly: No one likes someone who talks only about themselves. Submit content from other websites and Digg others’ submissions.
5. New Diggers Don’t Use Digg: To grow the influence of a Digg account, Digg users have to spend time on the site. And I’m not talking about 15 minutes every week. Digg is a serious time investment. If you want to use Digg as a tool to drive traffic, seriously devote a good chunk of time to Digging.
6. New Diggers Have No Focus: Digg is a huge site. There’s all sorts of categories that compartmentalize content. If you want your Digg account to drive traffic to your site eventually, become a power user  of a category related to your industry. This will help you grow your influence.
7. New Diggers Don’t Complete Their Profiles: #1 – You need an avatar. #2 – Link to your Twitter or website or something. #3 – Write a blurb about yourself. #4 Try not to look like a spammer or someone who will constantly bother others for Diggs.
8. New Diggers Write Crappy Headlines and Descriptions: Headlines for any submission should be intriguing and let other Diggers know exactly what the submission is linking to. Spend some time crafting these headlines and descriptions. One quick tip: Highlight the first letter of each word in your headline.

HOW TO BECOME A DIGG POWER USER

Want to get the most out of Digg? Some of Digg’s top users have shared secrets to their success and you should give them a read.

Check out Power User UPick‘s “12 Tips to Improve Your Digg Profile & Stats” – UPick gives some really great tips on how to boost your user influence on Digg.

Another pretty good resource with some more in-depth explanation of becoming a power user- “How I became a Digg Power User with a 75% popular ratio, completely legitimately, and got banned for it.”

SHARE YOUR TIPS!

Have you had success on Digg? Share your stories or wows and woes. And don’t forget to connect with us :) Friend Shawn Smith on Digg.

Awesome Photo by turydddu

Sound advice, right?

So why do so many of us ignore mommy-dearest when connecting with people online?

Don’t fall victim to canned connection requests!

You know the score. You see someone you want to connect with, so you send them an invite. The social network writes a greeting for you … something like, “You’re a person I trust. Let’s connect!” You hit send and you’re on your way to social networking stardom.

Wrong. This is one of the biggest mistakes for new and seasoned social networkers. Here’s why:

6 REASONS WHY CANNED GREETINGS DON’T WORK FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING

1. You Don’t Care About Me: You really couldn’t take the time to write something personal to me? Why do you want to connect then?
2. You Don’t Care About Yourself: If you can’t think of something useful to say in a connection request, what does that say about your own work ethic. Too busy … or lazy … to write a few sentences?
3. I Don’t Have Time To Read Your Profile: Who are you again? And why should I spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how we might have some type of connection?
4. I’m Annoyed: Seriously, I get these kind of requests all the time from people I don’t really know. And you just piled another one on the fire.
5. I Won’t Write You Back: How am I supposed to help you or remember who you are if we met before without some prompting? Writing you and asking “Have we met?” is just a little too awkward for many of us. So your request gets ignored.
6. Your One Step Closer to Never Connecting With Me Again: If someone chooses “I don’t know this person,” when confronted with a LinkedIn connection request, the requester will never be able to ask for a connection again. Sound harsh? Maybe you should have considered writing a better greeting in the first place.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT POOR GREETINGS?

This isn’t rocket science. Make a good first impression.

Tell people why you’re connecting with them. Give them some personal details. Make others want to connect with you or at least give them a reason for why they should.

We’ve written up a quick guide for you to help: 6 STEPS TO NEVER GETTING TURNED DOWN AGAIN … FOR FRIEND REQUESTS. Sign up for our newsletter to get the tips.

Have you had experience with canned connection requests? Vent here in the comments.

If you’re like a lot of people, you aren’t sure where to start with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This quick SEO guide will help you get started evaluating new and existing websites.

HOW SEO WORKS

Search engine optimization is all about structuring your website and content to make it easier for search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN) to determine what topics are most relevant to your site. This helps them determine what websites to offer searchers in search results for specific terms and keyword phrases.

The following checklist won’t make you an SEO expert, but if you use it, you will instantly get a leg up on the majority of websites on the web, and likely many in your market. You can take your search engine education to the next level with the excellent SEO online course by SEOBook. Believe us, there’s plenty to go beyond this list.

7 STEPS TO IMPROVED SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT

1. Target Relevant Keywords: A keyword is a word that describes the content on your website and one that searchers may type into a search engine to find your website. For example, if your website sells flowers, a couple example keyword phrases may be “Buy Flowers” and “Cheap Roses.” Each content-filled page on your website should target a different keyword or keyword phrase to build traffic from search engines. Research words that searchers may use to find sites similar to yours to use those words in your website copy.
2. Write Unique Page Titles: Each page on your website should include a unique page title, the text that appears in the title bar of a web browser. The title of each page should include keyword phrases related to that specific page. Avoid repeating page titles on multiple pages.
3. Place Relevant Keywords in Headings: The most important text on a web page is the text found in the <H1> tag. Make sure you put a keyword or two in there. Search engines value words that you put value on. For example, big, bold words in section headings are weighed more heavily than a word found in regular paragraph text at the bottom of the page. WARNING: Don’t try to overload your page with the same keywords – search engines don’t like that and it won’t help you … it will probably hurt you. Include synonyms of your keywords and keyword phrases throughout your pages.
4. Write Unique Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions are the couple sentences that appear in search engine results pages below the title of web pages. These short texts often describe the contents of the web page or tease the searcher to click into the page. Page descriptions won’t give you a huge boost in search engine rankings, but it likely will increase the number of people who click into your site from search results pages.
5. Create a Site Map: A site map is a single page on your website that outlines and links to all the pages within your site. This helps the search engines find all the pages within your site.
6. Avoid Text in Images: Search engines don’t read text in images as well as they read plain text in your HTML. If you place keywords in images, it will likely be harder for search engines to figure those words out and apply their relevancy to your website.
7. Include Keywords in Link Text: Whenever linking to another page on your site, include keywords about that page in your link text. For example, if linking to your website page about the different varieties of roses that you sell, write link the text “Types of Roses” instead of “Click Here”.
8. BONUS!!! Split Up long Pages: If a page on your website takes a couple scrolls to view and includes a number of topics, break that page up into multiple pages. This will allow you to better target both pages to more specific keyword phrases and give you a better chances of ranking more pages in search engines.

SHARE YOUR SEO SECRETS

Remember, this quick checklist will give you an advantage over a large number of sites on the web, but it’s not the end of your SEO efforts. Search engine optimization is an ongoing and constant process. After getting started with these items, you should continue to expand your understanding of SEO or enlist the help of a professional firm.

In the meantime, share some of your organic search engine secrets with others here. We’d love to know what’s worked best for you to keep this list growing.

Notes: Excellent image by A.A.

We created this list of Twitter resources and tools for a discussion we’re leading at a LA2M lunch on Feb. 4, 2008 @11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m. Join us at Conor O’neill’s Irish Pub in Ann Arbor.

While this is not an exhaustive list of Twitter links, this should serve as a nice resource for getting started using Twitter. For an extended intro, check out tweeternet.

The discussion will focus on more advanced Twitter issues, such as how to use Twitter in business and marketing. Check out the list of topics and the rest of our Twitter resources. You can also print out this Twitter resources post.

Btw, you can follow the Optimal Webworks team! @shawnsmith, @nikkicino and @_samjones

Twitter Topics

1) How has twitter changed the way you network?
2) how has it changed the way your busienss operates?
3) What examples can you share about how Twitter has impacted your life outside of business?
4) Twitter Etiquette: What to do and not to do on Twitter
5) How to fight the noise in Twitter?
6) Best tools for managing Twitter?
7) What ways can you use a Twitter account?
8) How can you monetize Twitter?

Can you think of any other discussion points? Share them please :)

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social network and micro-blogging service, with one of the fastest growing communities online. It allows people to send public private messages in 140 characters or less via the web, a desktop client and mobile phones.

Many people think of Twitter as the same service as Facebook status updates. And it’s true, Twitter can serve that purpose. But it can also do much more. If you are new to Twitter, watch this video about Twitter in Plain English to get a better understanding of how status updates propelled Twitter’s userbase.

Twitter Etiquette

Twitter etiquette deserves a post on it’s own, but we’ll try to sum it up here quickly.

Think of the conversations you have on Twitter as the same as the conversations at a cocktail party. The party features many conversations occurring simultaneously. Which do you want to participate in?

When you approach a conversation, do you immediately blurt out “I need to go to the bathroom,” or “I need some grapes from the grocery store.” If you did, your comments would likely puzzle the people already conversing. The same goes for Twitter messages and conversations.

The most important goal of updating your Twitter account is to provide value to the conversation, whether that means sharing a link, posting an interesting observation or responding to someone else. Keep that in mind and you’ll do alright.

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of Twitter.

How to send messages & commands

Replies: @username – send a public message directed at another user. You can send replies to multiple people in one tweet. Example: @username1 @username2 hi

Direct Messages: d username – send a private message to a single user

Retweets: Copy and paste another user’s message and add the text RT or Retweet in front of the pasted message. Include the @username of the person who originally posted the message after RT. Then send the message.

Definition “Pay Per Pick (PPC)”: PPC is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, such as blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an advertisement to visit the advertisers’ website. (Source: Wikipedia)

Pay Per Click advertising is a great way to use search engine traffic to find new customers and also a way to test the viability of your products or services.

PPC advertising campaigns are most commonly used by targeting keywords and keyword phrases in search engines, so that when a search engine user types in a specific keyword or phrase, ads targeting those words will appear in search engine results for those terms.

In the image above, you can see common forms of PPC advertising, appearing as sponsored links in Google’s search results pages.

Items in the “Premium Sponsored Links” box tend to be higher-priced and could possibly clicked more than the less-costly sponsored links on the right.

What are Some Pay Per Click Networks?

The most widely-known PPC advertising network is Google Adwords, which allows you to post your ads to Google’s search result pages and also into content pages that are displaying Google Adsense ads.

Other popular PPC networks include:

• Yahoo! Search Marketing
• Microsoft AdCenter
• LookSmart
• AdBrite
• Miva

What You Need to Start a PPC Campaign

Before starting a Pay Per Click advertising campaign, businesses should:

1. Identify the product or service they wish to advertise
2. Explore keyword phrases web searchers may use to find the product or service
3. Investigate the appropriate PPC ad networks
4. Devise a budget for the PPC campaign
5. Set metrics the campaign should hit for a successful campaign
6. Optimize your website’s landing pages for your specific keyword phrases

Social media can help you form more intimate relationships with your customers and business partners – even more-so than using blogs alone.

Social media strategy is the latest and greatest buzz craze of building your business online, but you shouldn’t dive in without first taking some time to understand social media and strategies for maximizing it for your business.

In this Social Media Strategy Series, we will discuss:

• What are the Different Types of Social Media Services
• Is Social Media Right for Your Business?
• Which Social Media Service Should You Use?

Ready to move on? Stay up-to-date on the latest social media strategies advice.

With so much hype and hearsay surrounding blogs, anyone can easily misunderstand their purpose and functionality. In fact, we’re still learning new things about blogs every day despite being experts!
Here’s a Quick History Lesson on Blogs:

First called “web logs,” blogs became mainstream in 2004, at a time when writers used blogs heavily to comment on politics, policy and just about anything else.

For the better part of the early 2000s and late 1990s, blogs traditionally acted as a personal publishing system for people to post their own thoughts and muses on the Internet. Many refer to this model of blogging as the “diary” method.

Since, blogs have evolved into strong commentary machines that affect everything from politics to news reporting to the everyday lives of many Americans.

In recent years, more and more businesses and companies have begun employing blogs to better connect with customers.

Aren’t Blogs Just a Bunch of Personal Rants?

Not at all.

Blogs are used for content publishing by people such as GM exec Bob Lutz, Martha Stewart and my kid brother.

Web readers have come to look to blogs as producers of the latest and greatest industry news and commentary. Blogs allow consumers keep up with the latest goings-on of their favorite companies and they help businesses establish authority and thought leadership within their respective industries.
The message your blog sends is entirely up to you.

How Do Blogs Work?

Blogs are operated software installed on a personal web server or by a professional web service, such as Movable Type’s TypePad and Google’s Blogger.

Free options include WordPress, a leading open-source blog platform, and Blogger.

When using blog software, users are able to type in entries much like they would type an email. A blog writer creates a title of the post (like a subject of an email) and then enters the entry body’s content.
Then hit publish, and your content instantly hits the web!

Blogs usually employ reverse-chronological order publishing to keep the freshes content at the top of the website and help website visitors find the latest content quickly and easily.

Certainly, a lot of technology and backend wiring helps new content get into the web and indexed by search engines, such as Google, but we don’t have to worry about that. As you read through this series, you will gain a better understanding of how content makes it from your blog to other places on the web and how to get your content in front of your target audiences.

Business and corporate blogging has become an essential part of establishing and maintaining many companies’ online presence.

By joining the blogosphere, your company becomes uniquely positioned to converse with with its clients in a very real and honest way. Any many B2C and event B2B customers appreciate the increased dialogue.

But what is it about blogging that makes the practice necessary for your business and how do you get started?

In this how to blog for business series, we will discuss:

• What are Blogs?
• How do Business and Corporate Blogs Differ from ‘Normal’ Blogs?
• How do You Identify Blogs in Your Industry?
• How to Plan Your Business’s Blog
• How to Know What to Write in Your Company Blog
• How to Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Company’s Blog
• How to Find Readers for Your Company Blog

We’d love to hear about your blogging experiences. Please share them on any of these posts!

Optimal Webworks has evolved a great extent since we first launched in July 2007. Moving away from largely building websites, we’re now focused on building sustainable web assets that have the potential for growth within their respected niches.

Simply put, we’re building web entities that identify niche markets that appeal to people who buy items online.

With such a huge change in our operating procedure, we wanted to update our website to help others understand our goals and processes.

Stay tuned to this site for tips on building a better online business for your company and new products that we’ll be rolling out and testing.

We’re looking forward to this incredible adventure and are happy to have you along for the ride. Please share your feedback whenever you get the niche. We’d love to hear from you!