The best way to learn bleeding edge online marketing is to attend good conferences. Most educational facilities (and published books) will not be up to speed on the most recent practices.

Understanding the potential
Conferences are valuable because they teach you new online marketing strategies and tactics. If you are a marketing generalist (with no in-house marketing team or a one-man team), you benefit from understanding how service providers can help you – and the potential that is there. This knowledge is key, when want to grow more and need to outsource.

It is not all about the trade show, pens and brochures
Some online marketing conferences are true leaders on sharing bleeding edge strategies and tactics. For the most part, they are jam packed with valuable information that you can adopt and implement. Some conferences can range from 2-3 days long and have 3-5 learning sessions per day. Lunches and evening networking parties are also valuable sessions that should not be missed.  If you are sincerely passionate about online marketing and are social, the networking events are the places to learn from. Sometimes you can gather around a great group of like-minded people that are so stirred up about the great sessions previously in the day, that they carry on most of the discussions with their own experiences (which is so valuable!). Also if there are multiple learning tracks at the same time in the day, you can learn about the one you missed over a martini from someone else in the evening!

Do your research on conferences and ask others for referrals
Throughout North America, many conferences are solely online marketing being Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, or Search Engine Optimization and there are others that will have a mix of all types of online marketing strategies or even really niche conferences like just Pay-Per-Click, affiliate marketing or email marketing.

I think you just need to do your research on what you want to learn and question if the conference matches your needs.  If you are not sure, just ask other colleagues on their favorites and why.

My Favorites
My personal favorites are Blogworld, SMX Advanced and IRCE. Also on my wish list to attend this year is PubCon and next years SMX Analytics.

Your choices
The following list is of various conferences within North America for the rest of 2009 that I can find:

MAY 2009

• May 17 - 19, 2009 – Media Relations Summit, New York. http://infocomgroup.net/mrs09/
• May 18, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Dallas, TX.  http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/dallas.php
• May 18, 2009 - AMA: Social Media Marketing, Atlanta, http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2009%20TS%20SocialMedia%20Atlanta,%20GA.aspx
• May 20, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Houston, TX, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/houston.php
• May 21, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Hilton, TX, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/austin.php
• May 27, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Chicago http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/chicago.php
• May 29, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Milwaukee, WI, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/milwaukee.php
  

JUNE 2009

• June 1, 2009 - AMA: Social Media Marketing, Chicago, http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2009%20TS%20SocialMedia%20Chicago,%20IL.aspx
• June 2, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Minneapolis, MN, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/minneapolis.php
• June 2-3, 2009- SMX Advance - Seattle http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced
• June 4, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Denver http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/denver.php
• June 7 - 10, 2009 - iMedia: Brand Summit, Colorado Springs, Colorado, http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/22108.asp
• June 8, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Cleveland http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/cleveland.php
• June 8-10, 2009 - SES Toronto, Canada http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/toronto/
• June 10, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Atlanta, GA, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/atlanta.php
• June 12, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Charlotte, NC http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/charlotte.php
• June 15 - 18, 2009 -  IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition) Boston, http://www.internetretailer.com/irce2009/
• June 16, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Orange County, CA http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/orange-county.php
• June 16, 2009 - SES: SEO Training: Basics to Advanced, New York - http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/training/newyork
• June 16 – 18, 2009 - DM Days, New York - http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/dmdays09/
• June 25, 2009 - CMA: E-Commerce Conference, Toronto http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=56|K=229100|CAL=223287
• June 25, 2009, OMS (Online Marketing Summit) San Francisco, CA http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/san-francisco.php
• June 25, 2009 -  iMedia: Entertainment Marketing Summit, Beverly Hills, California, http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/22679.asp
• June 29, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Portland, OR, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/portland.php

JULY 2009

• July 1, 2009 - OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Seattle, WA, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/seattle.php
• July 13 – 15, 2009 - Shop.org: Online Merchandising Workshop, San Diego, CA, http://www.shop.org/web/merch09
  

AUGUST 2009

• August 3- 6, 2009-  eTail, Baltimore, Maryland, http://www.wbresearch.com/etailusaeast/
• August 9 -11, 2009 - Affiliate Summit East, New York, http://www.affiliatesummit.com/
• August 10 – 14, 2009 – SES San Jose, San Jose, California - http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanjose/
  

SEPTEMBER 2009

• September 1-2, 2009 -  Ad Tech, Chicago, http://www.ad-tech.com/chicago/adtech_chicago.aspx
• September 16 – 18, 2009 - IMC (Internet marketing Conference), Vancouver, BC http://www.internetmarketingconference.com/vancouver/
• September 21 – 23, 2009 - Shop.org: Annual Summit, Las Vegas, http://www.shop.org/web/summit09
• September 23 - 24, 2009 - PPC Summit, Los Angelas, http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview-los-angeles.html
• September 23- 24, 2009 - Marketing Sherpa B2B marketing Summit, San Francisco, http://www.sherpastore.com/demandgeneration09.html
  

OCTOBER 2009

• October 5-6, 2009 - Marketing Sherpa B2B marketing Summit, Boston, http://www.sherpastore.com/demandgeneration09.html
• October 5-7, 2009 – SMX East, New York - http://searchmarketingexpo.com/east
• October 15-17 Blogworld Expo  Vegas http://www.blogworldexpo.com/
• October 17 – 22, 2009 - DMA, San Diego, http://www.dma09.org/
• October 19 – 23, 2009 -  eMetrics Optimization Summit, Washington DC, http://emetrics.org//washingtondc/

NOVEMBER 2009

• November 4-5, 2009 -  Pay-Per-Click Summit, Chicago, http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview-chicago.html
• November 4-6, 2009 - Ad Tech, New York, http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/adtech_new_york.aspx
• November 10-17, 2009 – Pubcon by WebmasterWorld , Vegas - http://www.pubcon.com/

DECEMBER 2009

• December 7-10, 2009 – SES Chicago, Chicago, Illinois - http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/chicago/

If you have any relavant Online Marketing Conference in North America for 2009, please feel free to comment and add. (I am sure there's more out there!)

Yesterday, I attended a few talks at SMX West and one that I liked in particular was “The Dozen Most Common Search Marketing Mistakes That Chief Marketing Officers Make”. It should have been renamed “The Thirteen...”, because that is how many were presented by the panel (maybe someone was superstitious). If you are guilty of not understanding search marketing and the benefits it provides, this list of common mistakes will give you some insight on how to change and influence your marketing strategy. Alternatively, if you are an advocate of search marketing and understand it well, these tips can help you educate, advise, and influence others within your organization.

For the most part, these critical concepts have to be adopted at the top level. In the past, I have personally struggled with educating others about search marketing strategies (employers as well as clients) and found it a tough battle, sometimes taking up a fair amount of my time until they understand the strategies.

The panel included Brian Kaminski (from iProspect), Karen Weber (from Irwin Union Bank), Keith Dieruf (from Ameriprise Financial), Jody Farmer (from creditcards.com), Bill Muller (from iProspect), and Chris Sherman (from Search Engine Land, who acted as the moderator).

Business owners and Chief Marketing Officers (in larger companies) need to

• realize that search marketing should be an integral component of the overall marketing strategy
• be able to distinguish mistakes from best practices in search marketing
• eEnable a 360 degree communication within the company with regards to search marketing intellect

Mistake # 1: Failing to set measurable goals for your campaigns.
You should be breaking down natural and paid search with measurable goals and baselines. Perception is dangerous, paid has more exposure, but it is important to set goals for natural search as well. This will allow you to justify expenditures, such as increasing marketing budgets and resources. Measurable goals will also uncover and flag areas that are working and those that aren’t. It is also recommended that you track your return on investment.

Mistake #2: Failing to assign dollar value to every “conversion action” available on your site.
Define a value to other conversions or actions (intermediate benchmarks) on your site that are not the final sale per se. This is very important especially for long term final conversions, where prospects may visit your site multiple times or engage with you in other ways before actually becoming a customer. These intermediate benchmarks can include simple things like newsletter sign ups, RSS subscriptions, and content downloads.

The panel suggested that you should assign monetary value to those conversions to look at long term return of investment (ROI). Set intermediate steps and measure. You’ll have to get a sense of value for each intermediate step and assign it a value that you believe is accurate. Also, if you are in a larger organization, bring in other departments to get a sense of value. Assumptions need to be made. It will be hard, but adjust it as you move along.

Keith also reminds us that we need to understand that websites will deliver different experiences for different people and it is not always the sale per se that is the objective of the visit and the company will benefit in other ways (investors, employee recruiting, PR).

Mistake #3: Assessing the success of search marketing using solely a direct marketing model.
Looking at pure return on investment is probably not the correct way to look at it. Look at funnel metrics. Consider the rest of the benefits that trickle over into other areas. You can miss the fundamentals of stuff that can benefit over time (quality score, lower costs of Pay-Per-Click bids, and organic search almost has a permanent benefit).

We also have the attraction of measuring 1to1 correlation, but we may be missing the branding effect. It goes further with organic and paid - you will have a magnifying (halo) effect 1+1=3. Also realize that not all conversions are done online – search can trigger offline interactions (call, visit store), so try to have some mechanism to measure offline as well.

Mistake #4: Treating search engine optimization as a project and not an ongoing process.
We all have a desire to set immediate metrics, but don’t get caught up with it. Search engine optimization (SEO) is not a “set it and forget it” deal. Algorithms change, your competitors are taking part of Search engine optimization tactics constantly, new products are being added to your site, messaging may change or be revised, news articles being added, and they are all opportunities that you may be missing out on. Bill shared with us that they tracked some clients that were “set it and forget it” types and after a year without tweaking their Search engine optimization efforts (dealt as a one-time project), they lost 1/3 of their rankings. Bill reiterates, “Try to recoup and it will take a year to catch up. Do not set it and forget it!”

Also consider universal search, you can take advantage of constantly maintaining relevancy in the search engine results pages and get multiple placements with digital assets such as images, videos etc..

Jody shares his analogy of wheels that spins shouldn’t stop – it will take more efforts to get it going again. Things like fixing 404’s logging into webmaster every day or even setting up redirects for disabled pages- SEO needs constantly massaging and it all takes a long time.

Look at ROI for your SEO programs, understand benchmarks, constantly set base lines and set it up right, even if you have to get a firm to help you set it up.

Mistake #5: Making a number one ranking as your most important objective, when it may be costing you business.
Sometimes the cost of first place ranking in the search engines results ends with you loosing. You may spend what it takes to be number one, but find the conversion value may not be what you thought it was.

Don’t get caught up with being number one – the objective is to obtain a certain return on investment and not the rank. What’s important is setting objectives and not getting lost in those objectives. In some situations, your ROI may be better if you are in third or even sixth place. Also, don’t get fixated and put all SEO resources on one or two keywords – it isn’t good practice.

Mistake #6: Focusing on big keywords and forgetting the long tail keywords.
Long tail keywords can be less expensive and can give you (or your clients) the ability to find all your products. Use pay per click to go after long term keyword and it may be a difference of bidding .50 cents per keyword click to $11 per click for a head term. Also, make sure you look at your ROI of tail terms versus long tail. Head and tail terms can express the time of the buying cycle or mindset of your site visitors. For example “car” and “buy car” are different keywords that tell you where person may be in the buying cycle (research vs. ready to buy). Read more on long tail here.

Big keywords are the keywords at the head and for the most part are highly competitive and can be more general. Long tail keywords are down the popularity curve but may be more specific. Most people will try to go after the head, highly competitive terms (which may cost a lot for PPC or hard to tap into organic search).

Jody shared with us that for all searches in 2008, 28 percent had never been searched before. And that may be an indicator of how many long term keywords are out there to go after.

Mistake #7: Engaging in paid or natural search engine marketing, but not both.
If you don’t engage in both natural and paid search, you won’t get maximum benefits. Also, one feeds into the other – you can leverage what you learn and tweak the other. It is a proven fact that approximately 30 percent of clicks are on paid ads and 70 percent of clicks are on natural listings on a search results page. If you spend the time to do the work on your PPC copy, then use it for your SEO (on your pages). And if you spend the time for your SEO for natural search, use it for your paid ads.

Bill shared with us that there are studies out there that prove engaging in paid and natural search is 1+1=3. Jody also backs it up, that it is a multiplier with both. Together they perform better than individually. Why does it work? It gives more credibility if you show as a paid sponsor and natural placements.

Another good reason to use both is that it may be hard to be number one in either spot (organic or paid). Both search tactics normalizes your revenue if the algorithm changes in the search engines and it shakes up your natural rankings. Paid is the balance and if paid goes up organic is your fall back.

Mistake #8: Using your language and not that of your customers.
You need to bridge the gap on the terminology of what your company wants to use versus terminology of what people use to look for you. You should not push your message. By bridging the gap, you will be successful on casting the visitors in.

Ignore what you think you know and learn what you see. Look at your log files and onsite search reports to understand the language more. Don’t try to change the way people think about your product or it will costs you millions of dollars. Know how they speak and use it. Bill had a good example of a company that was using the terminology of “house warmer” when people were really trying to search for “candles”, or a company that was focusing on “lending money” when people were searching for “borrowing money”.

Internal education is key. Keyword mapping is one solution to communicate with your team internally what is important organically, show them the keywords and the volumes, and map them to what terminology your company may be trying to push. Show the company what opportunities they are missing for search terms.

Mistake #9: Optimizing only your web pages and not your other digital assets.
It’s about taking advantage of universal search – start using other things for your benefit. This includes videos, blogs, press releases, and optimizing things that show up in local search. Keyword mapping on external profile pages and digital assets on third-party sites also benefit your search efforts. This all helps in stacking the results in your favor and helps with reputation management. Read more on my post on universal/blended search here.

Press release optimization is a very popular recommendation from Chris, Brian, and Keith. It’s simple to do, you can show the value (measureable), and it is a very effective way to show up multiple times on a search results page. Read my blog post on how to optimize press releases.

Mistake #10: Treating your search marketing and other channels separately, instead if integrating them.
Bill shared with us that 57 percent of searchers are triggered from offline campaigns like TV and print (Super bowl ads are a great example). And then 39 percent of those will buy it if found online. Huge conversion! So it’s important to use the same keywords that are used in offline marketing pieces in your online search! Do the optimization before the pieces hit the streets, especially if it is a campaign with unique keywords or taglines. Creating and capturing demand – it’s search insurance.

Mistake #11: Failing to bid on terms for which your site ranks highly within the organic results.
You may have number one placement in organic search and that page may be a softer branded page. You can leverage the 1+1=3 benefit by having a paid ad on that same results page, which can be linked to an entirely different page. The paid ad can link to a landing or promotional page that may convert better (with better call-to-actions) than the softer page that is ranked naturally.

Mistake #12: Bidding solely on branded terms and ignoring non-branded terms.
Depending on what you want to accomplish, bidding on non-branded keywords may be important for acquiring new business. Branded keywords are where they already know you, so put content in front of people who don’t know your brand. Non-branded keywords may be problem oriented keywords and the searcher is looking for a solution. So you have an opportunity to drive content to users that don’t know your product and you may have the solution. Non-branded terms help with getting you out there for awareness and at the same time they can also be where the best conversions come from.

Mistake #13 attributing conversions to the last click, when there may have been many clicks.
There are many clicks that don’t bring conversions but are influential. We are inaccurately attributing prior actions. We need to understand interrelationships of non-branded and branded search events as well as purchase paths better. For example, most companies are not measuring if a visitor clicked through a PPC ad, then left, and then came back through a banner ad, then left, and finally came in from another banner and converted. Most tracking systems attribute that last conversion to the last banner and ignore and give no value to the first PPC ad. Attribution modeling would measure out all ads and give credit to them for the final conversion. Some of these models can be quite complex with different values on the different actions and may follow certain formulas or rules.

Bill states that companies that are not doing attribution modeling may lose out. Attribution models effectively move measurement away from the last click before conversion, so that you see the benefit.

To learn more about attribution modeling, watch Attribution Management video on Search Marketing Now.

Are there other common search mistakes you personally encountered or learned from? Feel free to share and post a comment below.

I want to point out, even before pimping out your twitter background, it's important to put a url in your twitter profile. I have seen the url field being ignored many times, especially by Twitter newbies and some thank me for reminding them to add in that bit of information. You have to understand that people may be interested in what you are saying on twitter and will want to find out more about you or where you work. But if you don't have a url to click through to, they may never learn more about you. If you are a blogger or have a company website put it in. Don’t have a blog or website? Insert your LinkedIn or Facebook profile link (I’m starting to see that a lot more now). I like to pimp out my twitter profile page with additional contact information on my background image and there are a lot of others that are doing it as well. Here’s some tips from Twitter Survival Guide on how to make your profile page even better:

• Your Twitter home page is the first thing people see when they access your Twitter profile. Make it memorable by differentiating yourself from the rest. This can be achieved by changing your background color, or even uploading an image of your own. You can also change the color scheme of your Twitter updates and profile information boxes.
• If you are using Twitter as a platform for promoting yourself or your business, you could custom design a background that displays all your pertinent information on the left side of the screen, similar to a Twitter-specific business card design. If you are not a Photoshop expert, there are a number of services and sites that will create a custom background for you like Twitbacks; many are independent marketing and SEO specialists, while others like Tweetstyle have built a business around bettering your Twitter experience.
• If you decide to do it yourself, a good place to start is with Twitterbacks.com, where Jim Kukral is both offering Adobe Photoshop starter templates and collecting from Flickr shots of “twitterbacks” others have done.

Here’s some samples of pimped out backgrounds:

www.twitter.com/shannonyelland (below: mine of course!)


www.twitter.com/marismith (below)


www.twitter.com/soundcity (below)


Want to learn more about twitter? The Twitter Survival Guide (90-page ebook, ) co-authored by Bob Walsh and Kristen Nicole, will tell you about the proper etiquette that goes along with building your Twitter brand, and offers a wealth of hints, tips and tricks on how to use Twitter to achieve your goals.

• A 301 redirect is a permanent transfer that tells the search engines to transfer any page rank to the new page and that you will never revert back to the old page.
• A 302 redirect tells the search engines that it is a temporary redirect and not to transfer the page rank just yet, as you may revert back to the old page.

Why should you use redirects?
When deleting, moving, or renaming a page on your website, the important thing to remember is that this change carries many implications. If these changes are done without redirects, you may lose out on site traffic, or lose search engine rankings on certain keywords and any page rank gained (sort of like brownie points with Google).

Here’s some sample scenarios that can happen if you don't use redirects:

• Past site visitors may have bookmarked your internal pages. If you don’t use a redirect, they will receive a “404 page not found” error message and possibly just exit your site right away, resulting in the loss of a potential customer lead.
• Blogs, directories, and partner sites may have linked to internal pages on your site. Again this can result in missed traffic for your site, because the visitor may be irked that they received a 404 page and immediately exit your site.
• Blogs, directories, and partner sites that link to your pages may raise your site ranking in the search engines results pages (if the hyperlink title tag and keywords were used within the hyperlink), but if the page is not redirecting, this will not help you whatsoever.
• The big guy (aka Google) may have indexed and remembered a particular page that comes up in the search results page on a certain keyword. If you then change or delete that page without a redirect and Google reports an error link , you will lose that ranking altogether.

So when should you use redirects?

• Redesigning a website (use 301 redirects)- Let’s say you decide to redesign your website, and try to better optimize your site with keywords in the page names (one of the many best practices that can help, especially in a competitive marketplace). You realize that you can improve on our search terms, such as “website builder” and “content management”, and want to rename pages to help with the SEO. You do this to transfer the pages properly to prevent inbound link issues and preserve our search engine rankings gained to date.
  
  For example:
  Old page = www.sitemasher.com/build
  New page renamed = www.sitemasher.com/website-builder
  
  
• Deleting products or pages (use 301 redirects) –If you have a product page or service that is no longer available, it is best to redirect it to a new or similar product or service page.
  
• Expired promotions (use 301 redirects) – If you have an expired promotion, why not redirect it to your new promotion, so you tell people about it.
  
• Product or service temporary unavailable (use 302 redirects) – When you are not sure if you are going to reactivate the page or not, use a 302 redirect. This tells the search engine and robots that the page may still become active in the near future and just redirect the traffic to the temporary page.

How to redirect a web page
I have two ways to show you – the hard, nerdy, coder way…and the easy Sitemasher way!

The difficult way via the .htaccess file on a server (Unix). OK, I may have lost some of you now! I have been down this path myself for a few sites. This method is for techie webmasters and not necessarily for people that want to just design sites. You have to do the following steps:

1. To create a .htaccess file, open Notepad, and name and save the file as .htaccess (without an extension).
2. If you already have a .htaccess file on your server, download it to your desktop for editing.
3. If the .htaccess file already has lines of code in it, skip a line, then add the following code: redirect 301 /old/old.htm http://www.you.com/new.htm
4. Save the .htaccess file
5. Upload this file to the root folder of your server.
6. Test it by typing in the old address to the page you've changed. You should be immediately taken to the new location.
   
   Interested in learning more about the hard way? Read more here.

The easy way with the Sitemasher content management system. I am going to plug Sitemasher, because I work there and I really like how our product developers exposed an easy way for me to define redirects – thanks guys! I don’t have to worry about coding now, nor do I have to deal with server uploads (FTPing).

1. Log in to Sitemasher to access your site, which is built on our hosted content management platform, and select the SEO tab.

2. Click Advanced SEO - Redirects.

And voila, simple, done - go for coffee!

Want to share examples on how you have used redirects and why it helped you? Feel free to share your comments below.

If you want to learn all about Twitter and how it can benefit you or your company as a brand, I highly recommend Deborah Micek and Warren Whitlock's Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online. They really know their stuff with regards to Twitter and Social Media. I had the liberty to meet Warren Whitlock at Blogworld Expo in Vegas over a month ago (a very nice man he is too!).

Below is my compiled list of every term, shorthand and tool that I researched on the net (after being disappointed with http://twittonary.com/ – they can use my list below if they give credit!). I am sure many new tools are still being developed and I may have missed many that will be in Warren and Deb’s handbook (feel free to comment on the post if you know of any I missed- I am sure there's more! )

I colored coded my list by: Terms ( orange ), shorthands ( green ) and tools ( purple ) all in alphabetical order.

• 1 – ( shorthand ) one, won
• 2 - ( shorthand ) to, too, two
• 30 Boxes - (tool) has tight Twitter integration. After adding Twitter to your Web Stuff, you can view twitters from you and friends and you can post directly to Twitter.
• 4 - (shorthand ) for, four
• 4U – ( shorthand ) for you
• 4ward - ( shorthand ) forward
• ab or abt – ( shorthand ) about
• B – ( shorthand ) be
• b/c – ( shorthand ) because
• b4 – ( shorthand ) before
• BFN – ( shorthand ) bye for now
• bgd – ( shorthand ) background
• BiggerTwitter - (tool) A service similar to Twitzer which allows you to post longer messages, although works by placing a link in the Tweet.
• BigTweet - (tool) - BigTweet installs as a bookmarklet to your browser and allows you to post to Twitter from any web page. Insert special Unicode characters and shorten URLs.
• Blackbird - (mobile tool) a Twitter client for BlackBerry smartphones.
• Blogo - (mac tool) A weblog editor which is also a full-featured Twitter client integrated with Twitpic, tinyURL, tweetburner and Ping.fm.
• BLT – ( linux tool ) Perl script that lets you see what your friends are doing right from the Terminal.
• BR - ( shorthand ) best regards
• BTW – ( shorthand ) by the way
• CelebrityTweet - (tool) Stalk or follow celebrities on Twitter as they tweet in real-time.
• CheckYesOrNo.info - (tool) Create simple yes or no polls and use the 'send to twitter' feature to easily share with your twitter buddies. It's like those notes you used to get from girls back in junior high.
• Chirrup – ( windows tool ) Twitter client with extensive Japanese language support.
• chk - ( shorthand ) check
• cld – ( shorthand ) could
• clk – ( shorthand ) click
• Cullect - (tool) Collaborative feed reader optimized for Twitter; sign in with your Twitter id, post to twitter. Cullect also auto-expands shortened urls. More info at @cullect •
• da – ( shorthand ) the
• deets – ( shorthand ) details
• DM – ( shorthand ) direct message
• Drunktwittering – ( term ) Similar to drunk dialing
• Dweet – ( term ) Tweet sent while drunk
• Dwigger - (tool) Threaded conversations and voting for Twitter
• EM/eml – ( shorthand ) email
• EMA – ( shorthand ) email address
• F2F – ( shorthand ) face to face (as in meeting someone in person)
• fab – ( shorthand ) fabulous
• fav/fave – ( shorthand ) favorite
• Feedalizr – (tool) A free desktop application that allows you to view, rate and comment on what your friends are sharing online. Tweet, upload pics to Flickr, update your Facebook status, keep up to date with your friends’ Google Reader, Digg, Tumblr, YouTube and Last.fm posts on Friendfeed.
• fitURL - (tool) fitURL creates short URLs just like tinyURL accept it fights spam by checking for spam URLs which makes it much more reliable.
• Flotzam - (windows tool) A Mash Up of Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and blogs, completely configurable.
• Follow – (action) Choosing to sign up to receive someone's Tweets.
• Follow+UserName – (action) The instruction to keep up with a user's flow of Twitter messages.
• Followers - ( term ) People who follow your updates.
• FoodFeed - (tool) Twitter-based food log. Track what you eat by prefixing a message with @having, or direct messaging having.
• FreeTweets - (tool) Cool collections of hottest Twitter Backgrounds.
• Friendfeed – ( tool ) Puts all of our RSS content onto one page, making it easy to see from one glance (rather than going to different properties) and you can even reply from friendfeed to different tools. It’s smarter to organize around people, rather than tools.
• Friendorfollow – ( tool ) Find out who you're following that's not following you back, and who's following you that you're not following back.
• FuelFrog - (tool) Use Twitter to keep a log of your fuel and mileage. Compare your mileage with others in your area, or with the same car.
• fwd - ( shorthand ) forward
• FYI – ( shorthand ) for your information
• Geotwitter – (action) Tracks the geographical location of the most recent Tweets.
• Get+UserName - (action) A command that retrieves the most recent updated Tweet from that user.
• Google Snackr – ( tool ) Snackr is an RSS ticker that pulls random items from your feeds and scrolls them across your desktop. When you see a title that looks interesting, you can click on it to pop up the item in a window.
• GR8 – ( shorthand ) great
• Green Tweets – (tool) Tracks tweets about green & environmental topics based on semantic natural language analysis rather than keyword.
• gTwitter – ( linux tool ) GTK+ based app inspired by Twitterrific.
• Hashtag – ( term ) Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags or categories, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag.
• IC – ( shorthand ) I see
• IM - ( shorthand ) instant message
• IMHO – ( shorthand ) in my humble opinion
• IRL – ( shorthand ) for in real life
• iTweet – ( mobile tool ) A mobile Twitter site designed for the iPhone.
• iTwit – ( mobile tool ) Mobile version of Twitter made for the iPhone.
• itz - ( shorthand ) it is
• Jack Dorsey – (person) Widely acknowledged as the inventor of Twitter.
• Jaiku – ( tool ) A competitor of Twitter, currently owned by Google.
• Jargong - ( mobile tool ) Browse Flickr, do some social networking, but most importantly, check and publish tweets.
• JK or j/k – ( shorthand ) just kidding
• JSYK – ( shorthand ) just so you know
• jTwitter – ( mobile tool ) View timelines, enter updates, and more, all on your mobile phone.
• K – ( shorthand ) okay
• kewl – ( shorthand ) cool
• KipFolio Widget – ( windows tool ) Simple Twitter widget for KipFolio.
• L8 – ( shorthand ) late
• L8er – ( shorthand ) later
• LiveTwitting - (tool) Use LiveTwitting for your next conference, event, or meeting instead of liveblogging. Simple commands to turn recording on and off, all through Twitter.
• LMAO – ( shorthand ) laughing my ass off
• lmk – ( shorthand ) let me know
• LOL – ( shorthand ) laughing out loud
• Loudtwitter – ( tool ) Automatically transfer your Tweets directly to your blog.
• MadTwitter – ( windows tool ) A reincarnation of Twitterrific, except on Windows.
• Micro-blog - ( term ) A tiny way to blog. Twitter only allows 140 characters and classified as a micro-blog.
• mil – ( shorthand ) million
• Mistweet – ( term ) A message or 'Tweet' that was sent in error or one later regrets.
• MoniTwitter – ( tool ) Receive important updates about your site via Twitter.
• Njoy – ( shorthand ) enjoy
• Nudge+UserName - (action) A Twitter command used to remind a Friend to update their Twitter status
• Obvious – (company) The American company based in California that created Twitter.
• OH – ( shorthand ) overheard
• OMG – ( shorthand ) oh my god/gosh
• peeps – ( shorthand ) people
• picobuzz - (tool) Shows popular buzz words from the public timeline and who's sayin' them!
• PingTwitter - (tool) Ping your Twitter account from your blog so it auto updates when you make a new blog post.
• plz – ( shorthand ) please
• pockettweets – ( mobile tool ) A Web-based Twitter client for the Apple iPhone.
• Politweets - ( tool ) A tool for tracking Tweets relating to politics
• pple – ( shorthand ) people
• props – ( shorthand ) proper respect
• Pwytter – ( windows tool ) Cross platform Python Twitter client with Asian character support.
• Quotably – ( tool ) A ‘conversation’ tracker, it threads together the discussions that members are having by looking at the replies, interesting to see how conversations spiral into different threads. Follow the Tweets of a particular user in a threaded style.
• R – ( shorthand ) are
• ReporTwitters – ( term ) Bunch of journalists publishing 'reality style' tweets in conjunction with their articles.
• Retweetme : ( tool & action) Use Twitter to remind yourself of things you might forget. When the time comes, Twitter will message you the reminder.
• ROFL – ( shorthand ) rolling on the floor laughing
• RSS2Twitter – ( tool ) Share any RSS feed on Twitter, and have new RSS items automatically be tweeted.
• RT / Retweet – ( shorthand ) when you repeat a tweet from someone else
• RU? - ( shorthand ) are you?
• Ruby on Rails : The programming language used to create and develop Twitter.
• Saytweet – ( tool ) Create a Twitter badge that shows your updates on a picture!Upload a picture and then tag some Twitter users in that picture. Voila − that's all it takes to make a dynamic mashup like the one above. Give it a try, and then share the badge!
• Search Plugin – ( browser plugin tool ) Tweet right from the Firefox search box.
• Shareaholic – ( browser plugin tool ) Share links and webpages via Twitter right within Firefox.
• shld – ( shorthand ) should
• SnapTweet – ( mobile tool ) Snapping a mobile photo, uploading to Flickr, and using http://snaptweet.com/to post it to your Twitter stream
• Spaz – ( cross-platform tool ) Desktop client built with AIR.
• Summize: ( search tool ) For searching the content of hundreds of thousands of Tweets. As of fall 2008 it is twitter.search.com
• Snitter – (tool) lots of features with a great UI make this Twitter client stand out from the crowd. Built on AIR.
• StrawPoll - (tool) Tiny daily polls in 140 characters or less.
• Teletwitter – ( windows tool ) Experimental open source client.
• Terraminds – ( search tool ) Search for specific users or tweets.
• thx/tx – ( shorthand ) thanks
• TIA - ( shorthand ) thanks in advance
• TikiTwit – ( mac tool) Match your iChat status to your last tweet.
• TinyTwitter – ( mobile tool ) works with any Java enabled device (that's a bunch & includes the CrackBerry) and any Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone
• TopNewsTrends - (tool) Top News Trends combines google trends data with twitter search.
• TrackThis - (tool) Track your FedEx, UPS, USPS and DHL packages using Twitter direct messages
• Twappi - (tool) Daily Twitter mood
• Twautocomplete – (tool) Firefox extension to add autocomplete on Twitter.com for @-messages and d-messages
• TreoTwit – ( mobile tool ) Easily check and update your Twitter right from your Treo.
• twiggit - (tool) twiggit is an automated service that lets your friends on twitter know what articles you digg.
• TwitDir - (tool) A Twitter directory, no more. You are looking for someone, something? Just type a few words in the search engine.
• Triqqr – ( windows tool ) Submit tweets directly to Twitter and view user profiles.
• ttyl – ( shorthand ) talk to you later
• ttys - ( shorthand ) talk to you soon
• Twadd – ( term ) To add someone as a friend - mutual followers.
• Twadget – ( windows tool ) Simple gadget that lets you view and submit tweets right from Vista’s Sidebar.
• Twaffic – ( term ) Twitter traffic.
• Twaggle – ( term ) A gaggle of followers.
• Twaigslist – ( term ) To sell something via twitter. Also Twebay.
• Twaiting – ( term ) Twittering while waiting
• Twardware – ( term ) Twitter hardware.
• Twashdot – ( term ) News for twitterers. Stuff that doesn't matter.
• Twaunt – ( term ) To taunt someone over twitter.
• Twead – ( term ) To read a twitter.
• Twebay – ( term ) To offer something for sale via twitter. Also Twaigslist.
• Tweekend – ( term ) Spending your entire Saturday and Sunday reading and posting via Twitter.
• Tweepish – ( term ) Feeling sheepish or regretful about something you tweeted.
• Tweeple – ( term ) Twitter people, Twitter members, Twitter users
• Tweeps – ( term ) Twitterites that follow each other from one social media/network to another.
• tweeps / tweeple – ( term ) peeps / people (on Twitter)
• Tweet Pushers – ( term ) Writers (guest bloggers) whose ideas and suggestions that will be featured at The Wall Tweet Journal
• Tweet(ing) – ( term ) The act of posting to Twitter
• Tweetaholism – ( term ) The continued use of Twitter as an addiction that is difficult to control
• Tweetard – ( term ) A twitter retard.
• Tweet-back – ( term ) Bringing a previous tweet conversation or reference back into the current conversation.
• Tweetbar – ( browser plugin tool ) Put Twitter on your Firefox sidebar.
• Tweetbeep – ( tool ) an alert email service where you can filter keywords.
• Tweetburner - ( tool ) a url shortener with stats
• Tweetdeck – ( cross-platform tool ) an Adobe Air desktop application. TweetDeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets.
• Tweet-dropping – ( term ) Eavesdropping on someone’s else’s Home Page in With Friends mode.
• Tweeter – ( cross-platform tool ) Java based client with customizable UI.
• Tweeter – ( term ) A user of Twitter (compare: Twitterer).
• Tweeterboxes – ( term ) Twitterers who tweet too much
• Tweetfeed - ( tool ) A customizable page that displays related Twitter activity live, a way to keep track of what is happening on Twitter that interests you (and share it with friends), A super-easy way to create "tweet walls" for conferences and events!
  
• Tweetheart – ( term ) That special someone who makes your heart skip a beat
• TweetIn - ( term) When a group of twitterers agree to get together at a set time to twitter
• Tweetlater - ( tool ) Keep your Twitter stream ticking over with new tweets even when you're not in front of your computer. Or, use it as your personal reminder system.Send automated thank you notes to new followers, and automatically follow new followers,if you choose to do so.
• Tweetr – ( cross-platform tool ) Submit tweets, upload files, urltea built in, delete messages.
• Tweets - (term) Posts on Twitter by twitterers.
• Tweetscan – ( search tool ) Search by term and username.
• Tweetsulted, Tweetsult – ( term ) insult
• Tweetup – ( shorthand ) an in-person meet up of Twitter members
• Tweetwhatyoueat - (tool) Your daily food diary. Setup your own Twitter food diary in moments.
• Tweetwhatyouspend - (tool) Cash tracking made simple through Twitter.
• TweetWheel – ( tool ) Find out which of your Twitter friends know each other!
• Twellow – ( tool ) A directory that categorize twitter users into the various categories.
• Twerminology – ( term )Twitter terminology
• Twerpscan – ( tool ) Check the number of followers of everyone on your contact list, the number of people they are following, and the ratio between those. If the person is following more than (n) people (can be customised), and has a followers-to-following ratio higher than 1:(m) (can be customised), you'll be notified by a link.
• Twessenger – ( windows tool ) Updates Live Messenger status to reflect latest tweet.
• Twexplanation – ( term ) Sending a nebulous tweet and having to explain it while offline from twitter.
• Twhepherd – ( term ) The Twitter employee that finds and restores lost followers to your twaggle.
• Twhiner – ( term ) A twitterer who only ever posts whiney, negative tweets
• Twhirl – ( tool ) A desktop client for the Twitter microblogging platform, powered by Adobe AIR. Connects to multiple Twitter , laconi.ca , Friendfeed and seesmic accounts.
• Twideo-cronicity – ( term ) When you’re watching someone’s videos and they are simultaneously leaving a comment or tweet for/at/about you.
• Twidget – ( mac tool ) Update your Twitter status within Dashboard.
• twidroid - (tool) the first full-featured twitter client for android mobile phones
• Twike – ( term ) To ride a bike with twitter.
• Twinja – ( cross-platform tool ) AIR based client which allows you to follow users on the fly.
• Twinfluence - (tool) a simple tool using the Twitter API to to measure the combined influence of twitterers and their followers, with a few social network statistics thrown in as bonus.
• TwinkedIn – ( term ) Inviting friends made on Twitter to “connect with you on LinkedIn
• Twinkle – ( mobile tool ) Contact old friends and make new ones, all with Twinkle, the location-aware network for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
• Twippera – ( browser plugin tool ) Twitter widget for Opera that can send and view tweets.
• Twis – ( term ) To dis a fellow twitterer. Bad form.
• Twist – ( tool ) See trends in twitter
• Twisticuffs – ( term ) Fighting with a fellow twitterer over twitter.
• Twit.el – ( linux tool ) Another utility that allows publishing of tweets within Emacs.
• Twit4Live – ( windows tool ) Set status message as latest tweet, send tweets from within Live Messenger, and send tweets to contacts.
• Twitbar – ( linux tool ) Post tweets from the GNOME deskbar.
• TwitBin – ( browser plugin tool ) TwitBin is an extension for firefox that brings the power of twitter right in your browser. Send and view tweets right within it.
• TwitBox – ( windows tool ) Desktop client. View and submit tweets, see replies and direct messages, delete your own tweets, and multiple account support.
• TwitDir – ( search tool ) Allows user to search for users by name, location, or username.
• Twitgit – ( mac tool ) Read your friend’s tweets and submit your own, right in Dashboard.
• Twitkit – ( browser tool ) TwitKit is a Twitter sidebar for Firefox. TwitKit has a 6-section interface, using tabs to separate content.
• Twitosphere – ( term ) Community of twitterers
• Twitpic – ( tool ) TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter .You can post pictures to
• TwitPic from your phone, our API , or through the site itself.
• Twitt(url)y – ( tool ) A service for tracking what URLs people are talking about as they talk about them on twitter.
• Twittastic – ( term ) Fantastic, wonderful, superb; coined by the folks at Twitterholic when referring to their robots.
• Twittcrastination - ( term ) Twittering as a form of procrastination
• Twittduit – ( term ) If you need to Tweet a friend that does not follow you, post a
• Twittduit asking your followers to pass a message.
• Twittectomy - ( term ) unfollowing friends
• Twittelator – ( mobile tool ) C omplete iPhone twitter client . Available through the App Store.
• TweetAhead – ( mac tool ) Schedule tweets to be posted ahead of time with a simple Dashboard widget.
• Twitter CLI – ( windows tool ) Post tweets via the command line.
• Twitter for Vim – ( linux tool ) Publish tweets right within Vim.
• Twitter.el – ( linux tool ) Publish tweets while in Emacs.
• Twitter100 - View 100 Tweets at a time.
• Twitterati – ( term ) The glamorous A-List twitterer's everyone wants to follow.
• Twitterbate – ( term ) To masturbate to another user's tweets.
• TwitterBerry – ( mobile tool ) Twitter built for various BlackBerry devices. Update and view timelines with ease.
• TwitterBuzz – ( tool ) Find out what domains are being most linked to on Twitter.
• Twittercal mass – ( term ) A community that has achieved a critical mass of twitterers.
• TwitterCard - (tool) Create a 125x125 Twitter business card widget to put on your blog and display bio and recent status.
• Twitterer - ( term ) A user of Twitter (compare: Tweeter).
• twitterfeed.com - (tool) "feed your blog to twitter". submit your blog's feed, and get your new blog posts twittered automatically.
• Twitterfly – ( term ) Being a social butterfly on Twitter evidenced by extreme usage of @ signs.
• TwitterFox – ( browser plugin tool ) Compact Firefox extension that can publish and view tweets. ( previously known as TwitterNotifier )
• Twittergrader – ( tool ) Twitter Grader gives you a grade based on the power of
  your Twitter profile.
• Twitterholic – ( tool ) Shows the top users and accounts on Twitter.
• Twittering – ( term ) To send a Twitter message.
• Twitterish - ( term ) Erractic behavior with short outbursts.
• Twitteritas – ( term ) Women who play with their twitters.
• Twitterject – ( term ) Interject your tweet into an existing tweet stream of conversation.
• Twitter-ku – ( term ) Those who either post on both Twitter and Jaiku or load their
• Twitterless - (tool) Twitterless will notify you when somebody stops following you and tell you who it is and your follower history is graphed out over time.
• Twitterlex – ( mac tool ) A simple Mac OS X Dashboard Widget that shows you the last 30 twitters by you and your Twitter friends, updating every 60 seconds when visible.
• Twitterlicious – ( windows tool ) Update Twitter status, easily check replies and direct messages.
• Twitter-Light Zone – ( term ) Where you are when you return to Twitter after any time away and feel disoriented and lost.
• TwitterLinkr – ( tool ) A service collecting the best links posted trough Twitter
• Twitterlocal - ( tool ) Filter finds tweets based upon a users profile location. If you’ve a local business, this could become useful. Lets you generate an RSS or XML Feed to filter out Tweets around a certain area.
• Twitterlooing - ( term ) Twittering from a bathroom.
• Twitterloop – ( term ) To be caught up with friend tweets and up on the conversation.
• Twittermaps – ( tool ) A mashup technology that lets Twitter users find each other using Google maps.
• Twittermob – ( term ) An unruly and ragtag horde of people who descend on an ill-prepared location after a provocative Twitter message.
• Twitteroo – ( windows tool ) Client with URL shortening, clickable links and tweets, customization, and both public and friend timelines.
• Twitterpated - ( term )To be overwhelmed with Twitter messages.
• Twitterphoria – ( term ) The elation you feel when the person you’ve added as a friend adds you back.
• Twitter.PollDaddy.com - (tool) Create Polldaddy polls and post them directly to your Twitter stream.
• TwitterPost – ( mac tool ) Basic client that submits tweets, shows your current iTunes track in your feed, and more.
• Twitterrhea – ( term ) The act of sending too many Twitter messages.
• Twitterrific – ( mobile & platform tool ) Twitterrific is a fun application that lets you both read and publish posts or "tweets" to the Twitter community website.
• Twitterrific ( term ) - a really good Twitter thing
• Twittersearch – ( search tool ) Search Twitter and tweets by word.(formerly summize.com)
• Twitterstream – ( term ) the twitter timeline (public or friends)
• Twitter SPY - (tool) Twitter SPY displays the Twitter public timeline.
• TwitterSync for Yahoo – (windows tool) Syncs Twitter status with Yahoo Messenger status.
• Twittertise - (tool) Twittertise allows you to schedule in advance and track the clickthroughs on tweets. Ideal for advertisers looking to measure effectiveness.
• Twittertories – ( term ) Clusters of twittererers that follow and friend each other with little overlap with other clusters.
• Twittertude – ( term ) Bad Twitter attitude. Or a state of being, like solitude only with other people present.
• Twittervision – ( tool ) See where in the world people are submitting tweets from, real time.
• TwitterYM – ( windows tool ) Simple Yahoo Messenger status updater.
• Twittfeinated, Twigged Out, Twired – ( term ) To be so hyped up on twittering that you cannot sleep
• Twittfessional – ( term ) A confession made on Twitter
• TwitThis – ( tool ) Allow visitors to your site to easily share a page or post via Twitter.
• Twitticisms – ( term ) Witty tweets
• Twittilate – ( term ) To arouse with tweets.
• Twittish – ( term ) Too skittish to twitter.
• Twittonary – ( term ) dictionary of twitter terminology
• Twittsomnia – ( term ) Twittering due to inability to sleep, thus compounding inability to sleep.
• Twittworking – ( term ) Networking with Twitterites using Twitter
• TwittyTunes – ( browser plugin tool ) A FoxyTunes (Firefox extension) addon that posts what you’re currently listening to Twitter.
• Twitux – ( linux tool ) Twitter client for the GNOME desktop.
• Twitwall - (tool ) When its too long to tweet, but too short to blog, just TwitWall it! TwitWall is the easy-to-use, quick-to-blast-out blog companion for Twitter.
• Twitxr – ( tool ) Share pictures from your mobile phone. Automatically publish them on social networks and photosharing sites.
• Twixt and tween – ( term ) Can't decide who or what to tweet
• Twode – ( term ) To hack on the twitter API.
• Twofor – ( term ) Replying to two unrelated twitter messages with a single tweet
• TwoingTwoing – ( term ) To twitter about wonderful things.
• Twoogle – ( term ) Twitter as the human Google. Pose a question, get near-instantaneous results.
• Twoops – ( term ) When you accidentally send a private sms to Twitter
• Twoosh – ( term ) A full 140 character twitter.
• Twopsies – ( term ) When you drop things because you are twittering.
• Tword – ( term ) Words formed by appending “Tw” to the original word (like most words in this list).
• Twouche – ( term ) Someone acting like a big fat jerk via twitter.
• Twurvey – ( term ) a survey sent out over Twitter
• Twuzzer - (tool) Twitter/GoogleMaps mashup.
• Twype – ( term ) to type a twitter.
• TY – ( shorthand ) thanks
• TYT – ( shorthand ) take your time
• TYVM – ( shorthand ) thank you very much
• U – ( shorthand ) you
• u’ve – ( shorthand ) for you have
• ur – ( shorthand ) your
• Useqwitter – ( tool ) emails when a twitter stops following you after a certain post
• V2V – ( shorthand ) voice to voice (as in chatting on the phone)
• w or w/ - ( shorthand ) with
• w/e – ( shorthand ) weekend
• w00t! – ( shorthand ) an expression of joy/excitement
• wazzup?/whaddup? – ( shorthand ) what’s up?
• What’s Up? – ( windows vista tool ) Gadget that allows you to see latest tweets from your friends.
• WildSets – ( mobile tool ) Extensve Twitter app for mobile phones. Support more than 300 phones.
• wld – ( shorthand ) would
• woz – ( shorthand ) was
• wtf – ( shorthand ) what the f***
• wth – ( shorthand ) what the heck
• yammer – ( tool ) a similar mico-blogging software to Twitter but for enterprise companies and can be used as an intranet solution. This company won the Techcrunch50 award in fall of 2008.
• Yoono – (tool) Receive alerts, update your status or message your friends in your browser sidebar. No need to switch from one site to another or from your browser to a desktop app anymore. The perfect tool to become a twitter heavy user without spending hours on it. Yoono also integrates many other services : facebook, flickr, friendfeed, major IM services
• yr – ( shorthand ) your
• YVW – ( shorthand ) you’re very welcome
• YW - ( shorthand ) you’re welcome
• ZenTwitter – ( linux tool ) A GUI frontend for Twitter using zenity and curl.

My Sources:

• search.twitter.com
• Google.ca
• http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Twitter+Glossary
• http://warner-carter.com/blog/popular-twitter-terms-would-these-be-tweeterms
• http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Twictionary-of-Twitter-Terms---Part-1&id=1261044
• http://whyfacebook.com/2008/09/11/twitter-lingo-demystified/ (from Mari Smith the Facebook expert and super nice lady! twitter: @marismith )
• http://mashable.com/2007/09/29/twitter-toolbox/
• http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/04/05/my-essential-twitter-tools/
• http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/05/five-new-twitter-tools-you-should-know/
• http://wtips.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-tools.html
• And my twitter friends that shared: @Seoadvice @ wiselywoven @ MyPreciousKid @ bcarroll7 @ gahlord dltabor @ steph_woods

Did I miss any terms, shorthand or twitter tools? Feel free to comment on the post and add to the list - I am sure there are still lot's more - share away!

1. Do use twitter to build in-person connections – Start or attend a tweetup in your area. A tweetup is a real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through Twitter.
2. Do use twitter to build personal relationships - Tony, one of the panel members first started on twitter to find out where the parties were - he did it for personal relationships with friends. Then Zappos (his company) adopted it. Twitter was used for company culture and introduced employees to each other. Check out their twitter.zappos.com – they have an aggregate feed and trained their employees (over 400) on twitter too.
3. Do use twitter to give away products and get your brand out- You can use twitter as an internal tool or as a customer acquisition and brand awareness tool. Give-aways are always a good way to get an user base to follow you!
4. Don't just post your blog urls - Most common errors is to twitter your posts only. You need to first build relationships and trust. Also mix it up and show your personality - get to know each other and participate. You have to click on and comment on others tweets too.
5. Do use Google Snackr (http://snackr.net/) Snackr is an RSS ticker that pulls random items from your feeds and scrolls them across your desktop. When you see a title that looks interesting, you can click on it to pop up the item in a window.
6. Do Retweet– repeating someone elses tweet is ok. The art of “retweeting” is best described as taking a twitter message someone else has posted, and rebroadcasting that same message to your followers. You can also read more about "The Art and Science of Retweeting for Twitteraholics" at: http://bloggingbits.com/the-art-and-science-of-retweeting-for-twitteraholics/
7. Don't tweet for linkbait - Not trying to write link bait but stuff you really want to share. The term “linkbait is used to describe content on a website which is designed to generate incoming links from other sites".
8. Do tweet for help when it is important - Tweeting for help can actually get retweets for the same call for help. Ask for good causes or genuine help and not to get business and sales - which may leave a bitter taste with your followers. A good example is to ask for introductions to someone or recommendations for a product or service. People love helping each other!
9. Do shorten urls– use tweetburner or tinyurl to create a short urls. If you open up an account with Tweetburner you can track your clicks - you should check it out - I love it.
10. Don't abuse twitter - Follows those you wish to follow and don't abuse or spam them. If you abuse relationships, you will have less followers. Also twitter will disable accounts that have spam-like behaviors!
11. Do mix personality and business – It's definitely an individual preference but you should mix it up. It's healthy to show who you are even if you are a company.
12. Do filtering - Set up a filter of your name, and set alerts of tweets that you want to filter out (those important to you). I recently checked out Tweetbeep.com - check it out.
13. Do follow – some people follow all and some people only follow a percentage of their followers. If you don’t follow people, they cannot direct twitter you and others can't find you through other networks. Most tweets will follow you back if you take the time to follow them (except spammers).
14. Do check your direct messages - Respond to your direct messages. You can also send a direct message with the @ and not with the replies tab.
15. Do use twitter for a reputation management tool – go to search.twitter.com (formerly summize.com) use it to track your company and product name and at replies for your handle (for example: "@shannonyelland" is mine).
16. Do use twitter for feedback - Basic rule of thumb to follow: If you are asking for straight data and facts use Google, but if you are asking for opinion - twitter it. If you cannot find technical questions on Google it is still ok to Twitter it though.
17. Don't try to be a twitter hero – just interact, be honest and helpful - then you will become a successful tweeter and the tweople will like you!

Did I miss a twitter tip that you want to share? Feel free to comment on this post!

Oh ya Rafeal, reminded me in a post below - my twitter is http://www.twitter.com/shannonyelland if you'd like to follow me!

1. Google Insights for Search - This is in Beta and it is a free tool. You can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. I Particularly like this for it's geographical filtering for Canada, but wish that it had a North America filter to see both the US and Canada. Pretty neat graphs and insights (I guess that's why they called it insights!)
2. Wordtracker - This is a subscription based tool ($59/month or $329/year). Allows you to keep your reports and keyword findings. It seems like it can suggest more keywords with it's Keyword Universe. I have used this tool in the past, but it doesn't seem like it has evolved over the last 2 years -I might be wrong though.
3. Keyword discovery - This is one of Trellium's paid services ($69/month or $599/year). By looking at their offerings - it's features seem to match Wordtracker and then some.
4. Wordze- has a subscription model ($7.95/day or $38/month)
5. Wordpot - has a free plan as well as standard ($23/month) and enterprise with API connections ($249/month).
6. Spyfu- has a free and a subscription plan. This one seems interesting because it breaks down adwords average click prices for keywords. The free service is very limited.
7. Seodigger.com (organic search results)- has a free and a subscription plan. It is an interesting tool where you can enter your domain (or competitor’s) and find out which of your keywords rank high enough to be listed within Google’s top 20.
8. Compete.com - a free service. Their site was down when I was writing this post - so I have no comment on it!
9. Comscore marketer - is an expensive keyword discovery tool, but would be well worth it for an enterprise company. I actually attended one of their webinars (few months back) and it seems like a great service. From what I remember, it can cost you a minimum $20,000 investment though.
10. Hitwise - this is another expensive yet robust research tool. It can cost you about $695 per report. This is ideal for a larger corporation that may need most up to date reports.
    

Using the keyword tools above, you can implement your final choices into your website pages or blog post to optimize and raise your chances to be found on the web more. Here are some tips on best practices the panel shared with us:

• Make sure the keywords are in your page title. This is your tag in the head of your page code. Some platforms automatically take your page name or post title and embed it in the page title for you. Others may give you a choice to override it manually.
• Use keywords in the tagging and tag pages .
• Make sure you use keywords in h1 (It's usually the first header in the content body).
• Avoid a lot of repetition of keywords in the title tag .
• Stephan recommends using http://www.seobrowser.com/ - It's a free tool to see your website like a Search Engine sees it.

1. Squidoo is a place where you can post your articles of information about a topic. Write some valuable content to drive traffic. There are several benefits to this strategy. It is monetizable (split profits), you can build content that can be found in the network and the search results, and you can build inbound links (traffic) to your website.
2. HubPages is another place where you can post articles. It is very search engine friendly and may outrank your regular blog posts in the search engine results pages (but that’s OK). It has a 60 percent revenue share program and allows you to insert your Google AdSense to make kickbacks from the advertising of content-sensitive ads.
3. Wetpaint is a free wiki that’s quick and easy to use for posting “How to” articles on their large network. Include good links coming into your site and your wiki can also show up in the results pages.
4. Twitter lets you find and interact with people with similar likes and dislikes. You can twitter (call out) your best posts to drive traffic to your site or to any of your social media pages. However, don’t twitter all your posts and mix up what you twitter though (for example, wiki posts, HubPages posts, your blog posts, and so on). Don’t do irrelevant posts directly to anyone and don’t spam @someones. Read my blog post on "How Twitter Can Help Online Marketing and Tips".
5. TubeMogal lets you create and upload videos to TubeMogal, and it submits the video to other sites, such as like YouTube, Viddler, and so on. There are many video strategies to massage your search engine results pages and drive traffic to your site:

• Create video blogs, such as ”How to” videos, informational videos, or tours.
• Read your text posts to the camera.
• Create daily videos – make a commitment that the camera goes on.
• Create a top X list on video, such as the top ten Christmas gifts for boys. Top ten lists are good and usually rank well in the network and the search engine results pages.
• Encourage people to leave comments on your video.
• Screen cast a video tour (for example, Camtasia) of your world. People can watch how you are moving on the computer. Take them on a tour of your site, how to sign up, or even talk them through a PowerPoint presentation.
• Save blooper videos and compile them together. People see you as a human being and usually love them!
• Create an “About us” video.
• Encourage video contests – Don suggests to have a process in place where the submissions transfer the rights to your company though.
• Twitter your videos.
• Embed your videos in Squidoo and HubPages.
• Submit your videos to Podcasting directories.

Did I miss an insight? Or want to share your take on this topic? Feel free to comment on this post.

• It’s about reaching out and being people-focussed. Having relationships at ground level.
• It’s about participation – you must reach out and dance with your tribe.
• It’s about persuasion and - giving what they want. (I.e. something free, value added tips, something relatable etc...) And most likely NOT your feature set of products or ROI sales sheets.
  

Micek stated “People buy who are you and what you sell” - it’s a soft sell.

I can relate to her theory and I am trying to educate some of our executive team that we have to “dance” and have personal relationships with customers and it will turn into a sale at one point or another. I’m a true believer of axing the old school hard sell and traditional marketing tactics to build a company brand.

Micek recommends that if you are new to social media, Twitter is a good place to start with this social interaction. You must not get stuck on the technology; tribal seduction is not about the technology - it’s about relationships, commonality and grass roots. There are many social media tools and channels (blogging, podcasts, online video, social networks like Facebook, Myspace, and other social media tools like tagging/ reviews). New tools will constantly pop-up over time.

This new media marketplace is about the market (your tribe which can consist of the band, clan or individual) and you (which should be the main focus).

E3: Be emotional or entertaining or engaging to connect.

“People are tribal, business is personal” is the most important thing to remember. Micek made us repeat it out load. It totally makes sense in this new media world and we have tools available that can help us find and reach out to our tribes. Twitter is one sample of a perfect tool to carry out this overall strategy for your brand because:

• It helps with WOM=Word of Mouth Marketing – and it is on speed.
• It’s tribal and you can easily connect with individuals in your tribe with similar passions, interests, values, likes, dislikes. These tribes can be professional and passionate (sub-culture).
• It is PR – helps get your brand out.

• Captivate attention
• Hook emotion
• Advance trust
• Radiate desire
• Motivate to action

• Associate your product with something that is pleasurable. Think about your tweets on how you can entertain or trigger engagements.
• Think tribal communications. They should be natural – we are human beings.
• Seduce and don’t molest. Don’t slam followers with your company news. Maintain channel congruency and mix it up - give them some value.
• Don’t just send them to your business site – they like to see your blog or other interesting sites that you have stumbled upon.
• Use an art of persuasion. The seduction is YOU not your product! Let your personality shine through.
• Polarize people.
• Be controversial.
• Try to trigger an emotional response.
• Think about what is your brand. Who are you? What do you represent? And portray it.

• First, your site should be properly designed with optimization in mind. It’s a shame that some web design providers (mostly smaller shops) still build sites that are not SEO friendly, either through poor design, lack of content, lack of tagging and defining keywords, and lack of linking within your site, site structure, or the platform it is built on. I call designers who ignore these important best practices “build-and-run designers,” as they only care about their portfolio and their pay check .
  
• Second, your site should be built on a search engine friendly platform or content management system (CMS). If your site is built on any content management platform, it will be dependent on its code output and there may be some limitations to what you can tweak to further optimize your site (so that, in the end, it will be found on the search results pages).

These two elements go hand in hand and should be taken seriously. I like how Stephan Spencer explains it in “Search Friendly CMS does not Equal Search Optimized One”. Some people sell the platform as the be-all and end-all solution, but you need a human element involved that understands optimization, plans the site, and implements the best practices to compliment the platform and fully optimize your site for the search engine results pages.

Disclaimer: Not to be biased, but I presently work at Sitemasher as the online marketing manager, so I give feedback and recommendations to our product development department on what is required for an SEO-friendly platform. These recommendations are from my experiences with regards to the code output and site infrastructure. (Sitemasher is a software as a service (SaaS) website builder with a build-in content management solution.)

Believe me, I’ve been through the pain of building websites where I’ve chosen the wrong platform (there weren’t many choices in 2000!) and I had to deal with work-arounds or hire a programmer to do custom 301 redirects (one of many painful tactics to make your site seo-friendly). So I thought I’d share some tips on what features to look for in a website platform. Understanding the website platform should be your first consideration for your SEO-friendly website requirements.

10 features to look for in a search engine friendly platform

1. SEO-friendly URLs and site structure
   This helps by allowing the search engine robots to visit your site, read your pages in the right manner, and properly index your pages (to remember and bookmark them) for the search results pages. If you don’t follow the basic guidelines, your site may not be ranked properly or show up on the search engine results pages. Look for a website builder or platform that can follow these requirements:
   
   o Avoid dynamic URLs with characters: Your chosen platform should not generate URLs that contain ampersands, equal signs, or question marks. It should also eliminate session IDs from the URLs for the spiders. This is specifically true if you are using an AJAX Web 2.0 platform type, so ask if the pages have been rewritten and simplified for the search engines.
   
   o Control of your URL naming: You should be able to define and rename your pages to names that the bots can understand. SEO experts say that short URLs work best in the search engine rankings. Most platforms automatically name your pages by the product, title, or page name within the editor. Look for this feature so that you have control of the URL names, as this will allow you to help your SEO even more.
   
   o Control of site structure and categories: You should be able to define a site structure (categories) that the bots can understand. This is the same as URL naming, apart from the sub folders or categorization. You should also have control of your categorization naming. Most platforms name your categories automatically, but if you have control of them, you will again benefit in the long run.



2. Easy access to control your meta and title tags
   Not all platforms will give you access to override these tags. These platforms may brag that it is automatically done for you, especially in online store platforms. In most cases, you want control to override these meta tags. And in other cases, you may have to dig into the code or get help from a developer to insert the meta and titles tags in the head of the pages (which is hidden code). Look for platforms that allow you to override these tags at a global or page level, and ask whether they can be edited in a simpler manner that doesn’t require HTML knowledge. Most will have an SEO dashboard (like http://www.sitemasher.com/) and it will be a matter of inserting the tags in a form that automatically inserts the code in the head for you.



3. Auto robots page insertion and easy edit access
   This is a text document with certain snippets of code (always named “robots.txt”) that usually sits on your web server at the root folder, and it is, in simple terms, “the welcome mat for the search engines.” A search engine will look for it when it first crawls your site – it wants to see whether you have any instructions on what pages to visit. In this way, you can direct the search engines to important pages and herd them away from unimportant pages that shouldn’t be indexed to show up on the search engine results pages (SERPS), such as password-protected areas, landing pages for special time-sensitive promotions, or internal pages (some SEO experts call it bot-herding). Google will actually report an error if it doesn’t see your robots page, but it won’t necessarily harm you. I have also found this handy to use with very large sites, where some robots take up tons of bandwidth and can slow the site down (especially in online store platforms). In the past, I have actually defined a rule for a certain robot not to look at the site, because it wasn’t serving that area or relevant to the search engine (for example, in Asia). Your CMS platform should automatically generate this page for you so that you don’t need to know the exact code or have access to the server. It should also give you access to simply define areas of your site in the robot.txt file that you don’t want to show up on search engines. An alternative yet helpful feature is that some platforms will allow you to define the robot permissions at the page level.



4. Automatic Google sitemap.xml generation
   Google Sitemap is an XML sitemap that lets you give Google information about your site. In its simplest terms, a site map is a list of the pages on your website in one or more XML pages. Submitting a site map ensures that Google knows about all of the pages on your site, including URLs that may not be discoverable by Google's normal crawling process. To save time, look for a platform that does this automatically for you. Good ones will update this XML code when you add new pages, update the date stamp, or define the page rank (importance), and will also allow you to update the file in a WYSIWYG editor. Read more in the “Why Use Google Sitemaps” post on my blog.



5. Automatic URL list generation
   Much like the sitemap.xml file above, this is used by Yahoo and possibly some other smaller search engines, but the code is simpler and in a text document. Look for a CMS or website building platform that automatically generates this code in the urllist.txt document, and then Yahoo will look for it and index your pages.



6. Auto generation info.txt and easy edit access
   This is an information text document for your website and business that is particularly used for the Alexa bot. Alexa is one of the largest database repositories on the Internet, containing historical snapshots of the Internet. These snapshots not only show what the websites looked like, but also how they are interconnected, and the general surfing activity over time. It is the only major public database that’s larger than Google. This file helps you get listed on Alexa, and help gives you legitimacy if you show up in their directory. Look for a CMS platform that generates this automatically for you and that gives you the ability to edit it in a WYSIWYG editor. I have also heard that other website bots like Compete may use this file as a reference to list websites in their directories.



7. Easy access to insert analytics and tracking codes
   Analytics and tracking codes let you understand how people come to your site, and where your online advertising and other efforts are turning into leads and conversions. There are a lot of platforms that have analytics built in, but these can be somewhat limited, so it doesn’t hurt to connect your site to third party analytics like Google Analytics. Also, some of these analytics (such as Google Analytics) allow you to set up advance tracking code snippets, and it’s a good idea to look for a CMS that allows you to easily add these tracking codes without the help of a programmer.



8. Defining image alt tags with a WYSIWYG editor
   Do question whether the platform lets you define the alt tag through a WYSIWYG editor. (An alt tag is hidden code that contains a textual description of an image that the bots can read, as well as users who have images turned off or are visually impaired). Matt Cutts in Google (he’s the head honcho of the search results rules) suggests that you should use the alt tag for every image on your site. Learn more about the image alt tag with Matt’s video here.



9. Fast page serving
   There’s talk among SEO experts that pages should be served to the user within 500 milliseconds, or else it can affect your search engine results rankings. It makes sense that Google would penalize you if your pages take forever to download and leave the user waiting. So serving pages faster with the same content may show up higher in the ranks. You can avoid this issue by making sure that your images and code are optimized. If you are looking at a CMS or other kinds of platforms, ask to see a sample site that runs on the same platform, and run a test of a page through a website speed test at http://www.iwebtool.com/speed_test.



10. Home page naming and avoiding duplicates
    Many CMS solutions have a default home page other than www.domainnamehere.com/ (for example, www.doaminnamehere.com/index.htm) and the search engines get confused and may read the pages as duplicates, which is not too good for your SEO efforts. This is usually a by-product of the URL that is generated through the platform and you may not have control over it. Eric Enge’s blog post “SEO Hell, A CMS Production” explains it well. Just make sure your website is able to default to the home page www.domainnamehere.com/ regardless of how your site is built or the platform that generates it, as it is standard SEO practice. (A work around can be redirects and some platforms will have a WYSIWYG editor for that.)
    

Final tip to take home: If you found a CMS or web platform that is SEO-friendly, but is not familiar with all of the SEO best practices, don’t start designing and building your site just yet. Contact an SEO firm beforehand, as they will help and consult with you on planning the site structure, and naming pages for SEO with strong and relevant keywords, so you can integrate it within your site build. Every little detail in the initial planning stages can have great results in your SEO efforts!

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

I attended a great webinar "Blended Search One Year Later" with Chris Sherman from Search Marketing Now. During the webinar he posted an interesting poll to the attendees and it was: “Over the past six months have you noticed your company’s images, videos, or press releases appearing on the main search results pages of the major search engines?” Half of the attendees said yes, 34% said no and 15% said not sure.

Sherman explained the stages/versions of search that we have seen to date:

• Search 1.0 – was first-generation search engines. Primary ranking method was Boolean logic, which was early ‘60s information retrieval based more so on database queries. It did a good job within a closed universe. It was pretty basic and easy for search marketers to optimize their websites and not really algorithmic (dependent on multiple variables and checks and balances). It also was a green light for black hat (aka spammers, the bad marketers) and opened the door to Search 2.0. Remember the good old days when you’d search “Britney Spears” and you clicked onto results and somehow landed on a porn site? That was trickery and not effective results for the searcher! You did not have a huge amount of confidence that Google would deliver the right results and you probably had to spend a lot of time searching for the right information or website. You had to really hunt or take chances on faith and luck of the draw. Back in 1993, Alta vista said 99% of submitted URLs were spam. Search engine marketers were mostly viewed as black hats (if that term was even coined then?)
  
• Search 2.0 – With the issues and limitations of search 1.0 – it lead to search 2.0. This was more of an algorithmic search, which factored in hundreds of different variables to figure out the key words and main categorization of our website. For search marketers, it was imperative to understand how the search engines work and keep up with the best practices. If you fell back on old tactics to trick users to visit your site with irrelevant key words, you were labeled as a black hat and your site could possibly be delisted from the algorithmic search engine. Larry Page from Google reasoned that the entire web was loosely based on the premise of citation and introduced the page rank. If he could divine a method to count and qualify each back link (site that linked to your site and validated who and what you are) on the web, as Page puts it "the web would become a more valuable place." This was a way to understand the authority – simplistic toward page rank. This was harder to spam (better for white hats – people who followed the rules), and sophisticated SEO became imperative. Then search engines started to have vertical searches such as catalogues of videos, news and images through links, and tabs and radio buttons. People were just using the regular search results and ignoring the other “vertical searches” for the most part though. Search marketers never really focused on them either.
  
• Search 3.0 – Where we are today. These separate catalogues or vertical searches are becoming irrelevant as digital assets are being considered in the algorithms for regular search results. We start to see that more people are clicking on news in regular search results more and not via the news tabs. People are starting to click on YouTube videos and maps or news links served from third-party sites.

How to take advantage of universal search and show up multiple times on a results page:
You have a chance to have multiple results show up on Google, but not necessarily web page text links as Google doesn’t like to serve multiple pages from your site on a results page. But what you can work around is try to increase the possibilities of mixed pieces to show up on that same results page. Here are some tips to help you optimize other pieces and increase your impressions (showing and displaying) on the results page under your company and or key words strings that customer search for you.


Images – How to optimize for blended search:

• Name the image with an appropiate name.
• You have an option to tag images within your WebPages with the “alt” tag. Try to label it with your company name, product or service or whatever is appropriate for that image. Something that is straightforward and not “image_201.”
• Also try to optimize or tag (categorizing) any images you have hosted on any photo-sharing site like Flickr - it’s not all about optimizing images just on your site.
• If you have images within your pages, also make sure they are surrounded by text in html that has some complementary or same key words in the paragraph above and below.

News – How to optimize for blended search:

• Optimize text the same way as web pages (juicy, meaty content).
• Choose a news distribution service that has optimization features or services – free services don’t really have all the features to optimize your release properly.
• Add important key words in the headline that you want to show up in the search results pages.
• Leverage linking power within your press release. Use links, one for each 100 words.
• Use alt tags on your images.
• Add key word anchor text with your hyperlinks.
• Take the time to tag the release itself.
• Run a key word density check and tweak – make sure your target two to three key words are defined through all areas mentioned above.

For more details read my blog post on “How to Optimize News Releases for SEO and Tips”.

Local Business Listings – How to optimize for blended search:

• Opportunities are huge now here.
• Crucial – take control of your own listings with Google, Yahoo and MSN. Take control of your listings (free or enhanced) use them for the exposure – local listings are given prominence. You usually have to go in and open a local account, verify that it is you via phone or snail mail and then add all the information. This is a manual process and you are not automatically added.
• Add location-specific info within your site – put it everywhere on every page – not as an image. This helps the search engine to understand where you are. You can put it in the footer of every page in html text.
• Localize content if you have multiple locations – you can really do well if you take the time to create localized content for each location and have local listings with the search results for each location.

Video - How to optimize for blended search:

• Most people are not optimizing their videos – they are just uploading them.
• Add your video to your pages - use descriptive text around the video with keywords that are relevant, just like images (paragraph before and after).
• Define your video tags according to key word and strings that people may use to search for you, not just your company name.
• Make sure you add a description.
• Host it on a social media site that is optimized, like YouTube.
• Include URLs in videos to encourage viral distribution with “letterboxing” as a title in lower left.
  

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.) If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

Isn't it funny how the world evolves over time? Now the distribution model has changed and is far less costly. Press releases are not only being pushed to journalists and media - they are also being served out on the Internet via blogs, news feeders, directories, and aggregators, thereby - tapping into an enormous audience and, in some cases, talking directly to the consumer or customer. Additionally journalists, media, and end users may have subscribed to particular key word feeds, which are more of a pull versus push.

So what’s the big deal to a website owner?
Press releases can help your search engine rankings for popular and competitive search terms. If you're a website owner, you should seriously consider adding press releases, optimization, and online distribution into your online marketing mix. Ultimately, this will benefit you by producing higher search ranking results on key word strings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), which in turn creates more site traffic and more site conversions (such as newsletter sign-ups, product or services purchases, downloads, phone calls, or trials)

My favorite news distribution tool:
After doing some online research for news distribution providers, business wire, and service shops, my favorite choice is http://www.prweb.com. It is good for those who understand SEO and how to write a release…and for those who don’t! If you fall into the latter category, you can add on editorial revision, drafting, and optimization. Depending on your news release length and the additional services you choose, it can range from $80 to $1,000 for each release. For Sitemasher, I personally choose the “Media Visibility” package at $360 for distributing our news releases, as it has more options for optimizing and distributing news. Sometimes I will upgrade with the business wire add-on, as it can reach an even larger media network, but only for very important releases. Recently we distributed a news release about Sitemasher’s Blue Sky Award from Microsoft and we valued that as very big news.

Ten top tips for optimizing your press releases to increase search engine rankings and site traffic
Some changes to a press release are relatively minor, but can make major differences in the most critical spots. If you take the extra time to implement the following tips, not only will you see the benefits, but your release could potentially be picked up by more sites, search engine results pages, aggregators, and directories, and also attract more media attention and bloggers (who may write about your product or service).

1. Choose news distribution services that have the right features. Research self-serve online distribution services that offer features to optimize your releases (see points below on those requirements, and question whether you can do it on their platform). Some don’t offer all of the features to properly optimize your news. If you’re unsure from their website whether they do, then sign up for an introduction webinar, if available, to understand the tool more. Alternatively, ask them for a test account that will let you log in and kick it around to actually see the features. Also, look for a service that gives you reports on readerships, downloads, and archiving (for longevity on exposure). Consider the geographic distribution networks and whether you can upgrade to larger networks or language translation (if you are a global company or plan to go global in the future).


2. Optimize: add all important key words in the headline. Understand and define the most important key word strings that you want to be known by, and try to incorporate them in your headline. Why? Because it increases the possibility of people finding your release or your release being picked up by key word queries in readers and directories. If you state “Sitemasher wins an award,” it is too vague and it will limit your exposure throughout the web that picks up releases via tags (also known as “categorization” and “key word” queries). By contrast, if you state “Sitemasher wins Microsoft Canada Blue Sky Award,” you have more potential key words, which means the release can be picked up for any tags under “Microsoft” and “Blue Sky Award.” Also, if people search for this exact phrase in Google, they will probably find your release at their first attempt. I actually saw this work just a few hours after we sent out our release. It was listed in second place in the Google search results, and was picked up by Yahoo and Google news, as well as some top aggregators and financial aggregator sites that pull through all Microsoft’s feeds.


3. Optimize: use links, one for each 100 words. Try to follow a rule of one hyperlink per 100 key words. Some SEO experts believe that if you do more than that, then the release can be over-optimized (also viewed as spam from the search engines) and possibly get penalized, whereby it will show up lower down in the search engine results. To take it even further, make sure that you add hyperlinks to the important key word phrases (and never something such as “click here”). This helps raise the ranking of the release (and possibly your website if the link is to any of your web pages) in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for that particular key word or key word string.


4. Optimize, use alt tags. In the same way as defining key words, this tactic can also tell the search engines what is important and raise your release within the search engine rankings. So if you can label particular pictures with your important key words, make sure you take advantage of it.


5. Optimize: add anchor text. This is an advanced tactic and sometimes a little confusing or hard to find the instructions within PRweb.com. However, the formulas are simple, and with a little practice (and by following a few simple rules), adding anchor text to your press release is quite straightforward.
   
   Plain anchor link: http://www.sitemasher.com/cmssolution.htm [Sitemasher]. This will result in a link with the text “Sitemasher” pointing to “www.sitemasher.com/cmssolution.htm,” or whatever you substitute.
   
   Anchor with Title tag: http://www.sitemasher.com/csssolution.htm [Sitemasher __title__ Sitemasher is a cms platform and more]. This is the same as the above except that if a reader hovers a mouse over the link, the text “title text” (or whatever you substitute) will appear.
   
   Note: There’s a space before and after the underscore, which is a prerequisite.
   
6. Interact and optimize. Use images, audio, video, and PDFs to take things up a notch and make it a multimedia news release. This may attract attention, as some aggregators like to rank multimedia pieces higher up on the page. It also gives other bloggers additional pieces to pull through to their sites if they wish. If you are pulling in a YouTube video, make sure you also tag it with important key words within YouTube, which will help your most important key words in the search engine results. Also, within the news distribution service, you should be able to label and tag any images and PDFs with key words to increase your odds of getting even more exposure.
   
   
7. Optimize: take the time to tag the release itself. Services like PRWeb have an additional feature that lets you can define Technorati tags. Technorati looks at tags that authors have placed on their websites or news releases. These tags help categorize search results, with recent results coming first. If you overlook this feature and don’t use it, you can miss out on thousands of readers who may subscribe to Technorati, or directories and aggregators that pull through feeds from these tags. PRWeb allows you to tag your release with multiple tags, so I always choose the most important tags.


8. Optimize: run a key word density check. Some services such as PRWeb may have an analysis tool that gives you feedback on key word density and key word locations. Try to make sure you have at least two to three of the most important key words in the title, in the short description, and within a hyperlink and its anchor test. If the analysis indicates that your release is weak or lacks important key words in some areas, go back and tweak it.


9. Have a strong call-to-action and landing page on your site. Depending on your message, I’m sure that you can incorporate some sort of call-to-action or incentive to read more on a special landing page. Maybe it’s as simple as asking interested parties to sign up to your newsletter, read more on your company blog, sign up for a webinar, download a white paper, or sign up to qualify for substantial discounts on purchases. If you have a unique landing page for this release, you can also track how many people clicked through by viewing your site analytics.


10. Provide good content. Last, but by no means least, make sure that you add meaningful content. Keep it short and get rid of adjectives – “the first,” “the best,” “the paradigm-shifts,” “world famous,” and all manner of other trend-setting verbiage and numerous quotes. For website owners and SEOs, this may be a matter of educating and retraining you or your writer to move away from traditional news release writing (hyperbole) that used to talk to media and journalists only. Releases via the web are being picked up by other bloggers, and pulled through and aggregated on other sites, so it’s more important to get straight to the meaty stuff!
    
    If you’re looking to do your press release yourself, here are some good tips on how to write it, along with information about the anatomy of a news release:
    

• News Releases 101: Best Practices
• Formatting Your News Release
• News Release Template
• Quick Tips for News Releases
• Editorial Guidelines

Want to learn more about online PR and marketing? A recent book I read is called “The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly” – I highly recommend it!

Or would you rather hire a firm to help you with your SEO and PR? Recently, I talked with Deborah Collins at a BCAIMS Seminar from Soya Marketing (www. soyamarketing.com ). She is an online marketing PR and social media expert. We had a great discussion on how PR and SEO have merged. Debbie advises her clients to be very careful when choosing a PR firm, as not all PR firms (especially traditional ones) understand or have invested in the time to learn SEO and online PR and how they work together.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.) If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment.

• Host the contest on a video-sharing (like YouTube, Vimeo or Viddler) or photo-sharing site (like Flikr).
  
• Advertise the contest details on your website with simple and clear instructions. Give the link for where to upload the media piece for the contest. Is it a video or photo contest? Be clear on what they should tag the video or photo so you can review them and pull them through your site (like a mashup).
  
• Define a specific tag or channel that can be used for your contest - making sure the tag is not so generic that it could accidently be used for other photos or videos.
  
• Use the top favorites is an indicator of finalists - no need to collect votes via a form on your site. YouTube or Flickr does all the work and tallying for you!


• Entice the contestants to send out the link of the contest on your site to their friends and family to vote for them. This is where it can become very viral!
  
• Advertise your contest everywhere you can. If your company has a blog, Facebook or twitter account – make sure you cross-promote the contest and link to it! Try sending out a press release if it is a big contest.
  
• Use a mashup to advertise and show off your contest. A mashup is a mini application that combines the submitted videos or photos that were defined under a particular tag on the social media site (i.e., YouTube or Flickr). You can obtain the code snippet from the host site and display the mashup on your website, blog etc by simply copying and pasting the html code. The mashup is dynamically (shows up right away) updated whenever anyone submits a piece to that category.
  
• Define a deadline date and use three to five top votes as finalists and send out a message to all participants asking for votes on the finalists. You can obtain longevity and more interactivity when you include your customers with the final voting!

This is a continuation from my “How Social Media Can Help You With Your Online Marketing Strategies” blog after attending Darren Barefoot’s The Many-Armed Starfish: Social Media Marketing 101. He mentioned a case study that is similar to above idea.

1. Pitch a story in an unusual way – I would not be surprised if a site like TechCrunch gets at least 25 pitches per day. So don’t send the same kinds of pitch the others are, or you won’t be given a second.
2. Show your creativity - Send something creative, yet relevant. Don’t send a press release or dry marketing fluff.
3. Make sure the story you are pitching is newsworthy – Pitch an event, product/company launch, something innovative, or something that is time-sensitive.
4. Don’t send a blanket pitch - If it is evident that you blasted an e-mail to a bunch of bloggers, it will be ignored. Customize it and be personable and down to earth. Know the author and talk to him/her. Corporate sales tactics won’t work.
5. Try to offer exclusivity – Bloggers may want to be the first to blog about a story if it is a huge. They want to be on the cutting edge of their topics or expertise.
6. Make sure you understand and relate to the blogger - Research the author and question yourself if it is a complementary blog to what your story is about. Sometimes you can read the blog author’s biography or understand the objective or theme of the site just by reading a few posts. Know whom you are talking to and talk his or her language.
7. Give schwag – Some bloggers like to receive free giveaways and I bet that something that comes via snail mail or Fedex can possibly receive more attention than e-mail.
8. Beware - Understand a journalist vs a new-age blogger. Some journalists can get freaked out if you are too personable and creative.
9. Pay it forward - If you have a blog of your own, post or comment on the blog. You can use this tactic to return the favor (after they blogged about you) or use it as a tactic to get their attention before sending them your pitch. If you have a fair amount of traffic and first blog about them, they may be aware that you sent them traffic if they watch their server stats or have a reputation management service (like Google Alerts). So when you send in the pitch they may want to return the favor. Note: this is usually with smaller blogs as the larger ones cannot review all the server stats and may not notice you. You can also send them a quick e-mail saying “Hey I blogged about you, check it out here…”
10. Be persistent – Don’t get disheartened if you were turned down or not noticed. Try following up, but be courteous with the timeline and your persistence – don’t stalk them either.
11. Make connections before you need them. Mediocre marketers try to befriend bloggers when they need them. Good marketers befriend bloggers before they need them.

Other tips on getting bloggers’ attention:

• How to Get in TechCrunch - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/11/how_to_get_in_t.html
• Top Ten Things You Can Do To Get Blogged - http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/08/top-ten-things-you-can-do-to-get-blogged/
• Blogger Relations 101 - http://www.toprankblog.com/2006/10/blogger-relations-101/
• How to Suck Up to a Blogger - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/how_to_suck_up_.html

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

Looking back to the ‘70s or before, some marketers recognize that hanging around the water cooler at work, talking about happenings and experiences was a form of social media. So, technically, we can say that social media has really been around for decades!

Wikipedia equates social media as the newer age interaction with regards to technology and the Internet:

Recently, I attended a British Columbia Association of Integrated Marketers (BCAIM) luncheon seminar and wanted to share useful insights when considering social media for corporate goals and implementations. The topic was "The Many-Armed Starfish: Social Media Marketing 101 with Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo of Capulet Communications.

So why is there such a buzz with social media with marketers?

• Because it really works.
• Many online marketers have found that they can leverage social media to get the word out about their company, product or services at a larger scale.
• If executed right, it can have a great return on investment and be an integral part of growing a business online.
• Social media has much more impact and can scale up easier than traditional advertising tactics.
• Social media has lower costs than traditional marketing tactics – with barely any technological setup or subscription costs attributed to it. Beware though, a major misconception is that social media is 100 percent free. That is totally incorrect, social media needs the human factor to massage, tweak, and invest time in. It is an ongoing project that will need love and attention, which in return can be employee salaries or outsourcing costs to manage such campaigns. If you really think it is magic and it’s only a matter of setting up a Facebook or blog account and walking away from it – you’re mistaken!
• More people are participating and hanging around social media because the tools are more assessable for the average person (cheaper laptops, cameras and camcorders) as well as the free or cheap delivery forms available (blogs, wikis, forums, podcasts, video and image-sharing portals, micro-blogs [like twitter], social networks like Facebook and MySpace).
• These social mediums allow users to communicate with the masses and more important with silo communities (people with the same likes and dislikes as you). And these silos may not be obtainable within your physical community, so the online availability just snowballs and allows you to reach audiences you never had before.

Julie and Darren shared with us that social media can help your company with:

• Media relations
• Customer engagement
• Market research
• Advertising
• Competitor intelligence
• Word-of-mouth
• Public relations

How social media helps with your corporate goals may depend on what mix of forms you choose to participate in. These forms are changing and new ones will always be introduced. Keeping that in mind, you may need to adapt to the protocols for each medium.

If you follow some of the basic tips (some are from the seminar I attended and some are also from my own experiences and other readings); you should be able to reap the benefits of social media:

• Be authentic and transparent - Don't try to hide behind anything or a customer persona (like a fake happy customer). You'll always be found out and it will harm you. If you don’t agree, read more about the Wal-mart fake blogs; also known as “Flogs” .
• Listen before you leap - Understand how and why others use the medium. Feel comfortable first before jumping in. Lurk and check out how others are using the medium. Once, I was pressured by my boss to jump in and comment on the blog sphere and I sort of spammed it (didn’t know the rules yet). I was called on it right away by another comment and they were appalled. That is a great sample of what not to do! I realized that I had to learn more on how to better interact in the blog sphere.
• Monitor the web - Keep track of who is talking about you and what they are saying. Use tools that help for your company’s reputation management. I use Blogpulse and Google Alerts, they are both free tools. If you are a larger company global company you may consider a reputation management service that is more robust and a subscription service (like Meltwater News or Sentiment Metrics).
• Participate in the conversation - Jump in and get involved, especially when it is negative. If you don’t participate or own up to negative comments, it will not leave a good impression and you cannot rectify and turn the situation around. In the social sphere, negative comments can be embedded everywhere. If you show some sincerity and honesty when responding to a negative comment, you will be respected – everyone knows you are human. Don’t ignore negative situations or it will snowball. Kryptonite Lock did exactly what not to do, read more about it here on how it harmed them.
• Try different forms of social media and integrate them - Try at least two to three different forms of social media tactics and cross-promote each of them. For example, have a Facebook group and cross-promote your company blog. Twitter about your new blog posts. Connect your twitter to your blog and Facebook status Feed.
• Commit to social media and be realistic - It takes more than just opening an account with a tool and waiting for people to come find you. This is the hard part, only commit to ones that you can really nurture and spend time with. Book time every day or week to participate, massage and learn from it. Make a true commitment.

I really think Social Media should be a part of your online marketing strategy, read my blog on “Multi-dimensional Online Marketing.” At Sitemasher, I have found some effective tactics with Facebook, blogging, social tagging and micro-blogging. I still have lots to learn as this is such an evolving medium, so I may also pick up Barefoot's new book to learn more from an expert, once it’s published (probably early 2009).

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

• Use your existing key words in your sales collateral, website or press release as a starting point.
• Run searches for alternates and plurals in key word tools online (like Wordtracker, Google Keyword Tool or Webmaster Toolkit to discover alternates that you may not have known.
• Check out competitors’ websites
  o Read their website body copy.
  o View source and check out their title tags, meta key words and descriptions within each of the main pages.
  o Run a key word analysis report on your competitors site.
• Ask your customers how they’d search for you on the net (what key words).
• Review your website analytics under the “Referrals” area, it can tell you some key words that are leading people to your site.

So, what the heck do I do with these key words?
So you have a large list of key words – what the heck do you do with them now? Below are some best practices for implementing key words. If you follow some of these rules and processes, it will be easier for you to implement and understand how to optimize a site for search engines. You will also start seeing increased traffic and potentially more customers within a month because you are following some of the things that the search engines love about the so-called key-word-dense sites.

• Try to use Excel spreadsheet and sort key words by themes and then match up each set to every page on your site that is appropriate to the messaging for each page.
• Focus on a small set of key words for each individual page. These small sets of key words should be theme-based or complementary to the message that is in the body of the particular page you are optimizing. Don’t ever try to insert all possible key words within an inside page or even your home page. Try to focus on three to six key words or one to three key word strings max for each page.
• Implement these key word sets within all elements of your chosen page including your title tag (shows up in the browser title), meta tag description (hidden text that is usually the search results description), meta tag key words (hidden text), image alt tags (hidden text – but can see it when you roll over an image) as well as the content writing of the body (the visible text).
• Choose the theme set of key words that are most important for your company and try to use them for your home page.
• Each page should have a good mix of matching key words within the body text, hidden tags, title and image alt tags. Do not stuff key words within the title that are not within the page content – trust me, that will most likely not bring you traffic!
• If you choose a small set of key words for each page – you are optimizing that page for the search results, so make sure the meta description sums up the description for that page.
• If you found that some very important key words are not implemented within the content writing of the page, try to incorporate it or suggest it to your boss or your content writer to do so.
• Try to link any key words or key word sets within your site to the relevant page (hyperlink and cross-link pages within your site – Google gives you more brownie points for this).
• Try to incorporate key words within any outside links to your website.
• Don’t try to focus on one general key word for a page – if it is too general, everyone else is most likely going after it.

Key word density is one of many search engine strategies. Read more on “What is Search Engine Optimization,” if you implement a few strategies, they will all help with growing your website traffic.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

• Enhancing website performance: Sometimes websites are slow and the site visitors will bounce off the site if they experience it. You can use online tools to measure how fast your website reacts to requests (I use http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/index.html ). Switching hosting providers can solve this issue. Making sure you are not on a shared server with other sites that can slow your website down. A decent hosting company will have burstable solution where you are not capped or affected. Or there are software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that have a great scalable solution, like Sitemasher has. (Disclaimer: I work at Sitemasher as the Online Marketing Manager). Also, make sure that your website is built on a good platform (online store, or Content Management System that is scalable and does not have issues with bloated databases that will hog the server memory) or find out how to clean up your databases to make your site run faster, if that is the case.


• Advertising to and linking to relevant landing pages: Making sure whatever pages you are linking to from external campaigns on directories or banner ads are relevant and have the same messaging. Don’t direct all campaigns to your home page. If you have a banner ad for widgets, then link it to the widget page and not your home page. The more you leave your site visitors to hunt for the info, the more likely the drop-off will happen. Tim Ash, author of “Landing Page Optimization” is a huge advocate of optimizing your website landing pages. He delves really deep into this one strategy and articulates this practice so well that you will be sold that this alone is one of the best strategies and something that you should work on every day.


• Tweaking usability and design: Look at the tiny details and try to get into your customers’ minds to determine what they want on your site. Learn what others have learned. Incorporate best practices for usability, for example: the checkout button is on top right and search bar on every page. Don’t try to be “different” or “cool” and let the site visitor guess at how to interact with your website. Keep the common-sense stuff consistent.
  
• Enhancing experience and navigation: Help your site visitors find information and navigate back and forth. Use bread crumbs stating how deep the site visitors are in the site and give them ability to go back to first level with one click (non-linear), add hints to where they are on checkout (i.e. “you are on step 1 of 4”) and also have a sitemap link and search on every page.
  
• Encouraging interaction for help: Have multiple points of contact available for your users for support. Online chat is a good one (like HelpOnClick or LivePerson). People want answers and support instantly, and will most likely not want to wait for an e-mail response later or the next day. Have a phone number, help topics and e-mail contact as backup. Having multiple help and support mediums might save you from losing a customer. I have found that for some small online stores, may have first-timers calling in orders or asking live chat questions – they only want to check out if you respond and are actually legit. In those cases, they will probably not ask for support the second time, as they may trust you from the first experience. Also, inquiries and concerns from such customers can actually give you ideas how to optimize your website further, so welcome every one of them. Some will most likely be issues you never even thought of!

There are many more ways and best practices to optimize your website and above are some good starting points. The important thing is that you start to analyze your website metrics and review the small changes as you go to see if they have made an impact. I would not recommend doing many changes at once, and if something does not have beneficial impact, you can change it back. Your website can and should get better when you understand the impact – it is an evolving process!

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

• Key word discovery and enhancements: Using tools and competitors’ websites to find out what key word strings to focus on. Also using your analytics or even your pay-per-click campaigns (if you are doing any) for some key word ideas. Looking at each page as an opportunity to focus on a theme of a few key words. This strategy can always be tweaked and enhanced as you learn more about your target audience and how they arrive at your site.


• Content-rich copy: Writing your web copy with key word strings that your potential customer or site visitor will search for you.


• Making sure site architecture is crawlable: Having html pages that can be read by the search engine robots (not a Flash site), having pages that are not dynamic (choosing the right CMS or e-commerce platform), having navigation links that are readable from home page, constantly tweaking and cross-linking pages throughout your site. Linking to sitemap from your pages, and having a robots follow in header(not a “no follow”).
  
• Posting fresh content on a continual basis: If you have a website that has fresh content, the search engines will come back and index your site more in the results pages. Also more new content means you will also have more key word strings and potentially more traffic. Having a blog is a great way to add fresh content, and the search engines love how crawlable they are.
  
• Rolling out the red carpet for the search engines: Includes having a robots.txt and a sitemap.xml with all your pages listed and ranks. The search engines also need you to pay attention to and label every inside web page with unique title tag, meta description, key word tags, image alt tags that match or complement the content within that page. Read my blog on “Why Use Google Sitemaps.” (also, check out Danny Dover's SEO Cheat Sheet - I think it is quite handy!)
  
• Link building: Have complementary sites link to your site. The more relevant and complementary key words the linking site has to your business, the more it will so-call lift your rankings.
  
• Social media tagging: Get your site listed by tagging (which is kind of like getting yourself categorized by key words in directories). This can include digg, del.icio.us etc.
  
• Universal search: Optimizing and labeling/tagging images, video and news with key words. More and more you will see these popping up in the results page versus just text links.
  
• Local search listings: Getting your company listed in local search, also making sure you put your full address with zip/postal code in text in the footer of your pages or contact page, Google picks that up as well.
  
• Using website statistics: Analyzing, interpreting and looking for opportunities and ongoing tweaks for key words.
  
• Avoiding black-hat strategies: This is a bad-guy strategy. Avoid using duplicate doorway pages, cloaking multiple sites with same content, stuffing key words in same color as your background and in invisible Div’s. You can maybe trick Google for a short while, and it would be very hard to get relisted in the index, if they find out and penalize you for it. Follow rules stated in Google Webmasters area and you should be fine.

Each of the tactics above warrants further explanation in separate blogs and you can really invest more time dissecting individual areas and tactics. The more you work on SEO best practices, the more likely it will grow your website traffic. I also like to term SEO as a full-circle process and not linear – you can learn from one SEO tactic that can further help another. SEO is all about research, analyzing, interpreting and tweaking - definitely not a one-time project!

Complementary to search engine optimization (SEO) is search engine marketing (SEM) strategies and for the most part are online marketing campaigns that may have some hard costs (outside of someone’s time to implement). For example: pay-per-click advertising, cost-per-acquisition initiatives, paid directories, banner advertising, e-mail marketing. Read my blog on “Multidimensional Online Marketing Tips” – it will give you some ideas on having a mix of SEO and SEM strategies.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

• E-mail marketing.
• Social Media - Can include blogging, participating in forums and other social media tactics, there are so many now, it is hard to keep up (Facebook, MySpace etc.).
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Trying to show up on the search engine results without paying for ads. This can include making sure your site is crawlable, having outbound/inbound links, good site architecture, and a key-word-rich website. Keep in mind that it is evolving to universal search with images, videos and external pages you have on the social networks as well. Make sure your pages have the proper key words and multi-media are tagged appropriately.
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - Paid advertising via the search engines (Google, MSN and Yahoo). These usually show up in sponsored search results as well as on ad placements within the content network. Can also include text, image or video ads served through Universal Search.
• Banner Ads being served via third-party or portal-site sponsorships.
• Cost-per-Acquisitions (CPA) - This can include referral program (or even affiliate marketing), where you pay other sites that give you leads or conversions (signups or paying customers). This can include new CPA programs, which will be evolving.
• Traditional Advertising - Any traditional advertising like print, magazine and video should be complementary or enforce whatever you have online and tie in to either convert or track on landing pages.

I am a huge advocate of this Multi-dimensional Marketing, but in the past I have had a hard time trying to convince my clients on the different tactics (before I was with Sitemasher as the in-house marketer). It was hard to convince my clients and explain the "halo" effect and how all the chosen online strategies will sooner or later snowball and show results. Unfortunately most marketers (or business owners) either ignore MDM or simply aren't aware of the possibilities. I am happy that others (like the presenters at Massive) are advocates of MDM and are trying to educate business owners that there is potential.

Tip #2 – Multidimensional marketing should be looked at as longer-term online exposure versus a one-shot advertising effort. Also, a mix-and-match approach should be adopted at the same time to get the "halo" effect.

So what is the "halo" effect? David Scott explained it as a situation where you use multiple media and tactics to reach your customers and you have "lift" with branding. Chris from 6S marketing mentioned "brand equity." You should look at efforts as a full campaign and complementary. If you are not Nike or Apple, it may take potential customers to see your brand multiple times (also known as impressions) in different areas (i.e., e-mail marketing, in a forum or on the search results) before they include you into their "consideration set."

Tip #3 - Multidimensional marketing demands some patience and transparency when it comes to the social media tactics. Be persistent yet very careful when you venture social media.

• Take your time and learn how to interact within the social sphere and don't rush it. Learn how others use this medium properly. Observe and learn the right etiquette for posting, tagging and interaction with others.
• Don't expect results right away, this tactic does take time to earn brand equity.
• Be transparent and don't try to fool members of the community - they are smart consumers. Don't try to pretend you are a customer of your company and post spam comments on how great you are. They will find out sooner or later (most likely sooner), and you'll be banned or negatively advertised by the community. Try to add value to the community by participating in the topics and giving value with tips. You will gain trust and credibility from the community and they will sooner or later visit your website or e-mail you for more help or advice.
• If you are blogging for your company, try to focus on building thought leadership before trying to get customers. Customers will see that you have a good knowledge network and will contact you for your product or service after you’ve built trust and credibility.
• Be open to negative and positive feedback. Linda Bustos suggests, "If something falls apart, own up to it and turn it around." Respond to comments in a timely and honest way. If you screwed up, state how you are going to fix it and you'll probably win them back.
• Consider a reputation management tool to use and track good or bad comments that are being posted on external blogs (for example: Blogpulse).
• Lightly brand media and widgets, if you overdo it with brand and sales tactics, it probably won't be distributed by the community.

Tip #4 - Go after the Long Tail. Focus on consumer fragmentation for your multidimensional tactics online. Whatever you choose for your mix, try to focus on areas where you can find fragments of your customers that will have a higher conversion rate. Check your website analytics and know where people are coming from to your site. Find them on other places and look for other opportunities to have a better impact to the "halo" (read my blog on "Web Analytics - Simply Reviewing Referring Sites for Opportunities" for some ideas). They may hang out in communities that are complementary to your business or vertical or they may be a type of customer (persona) who uses certain key word strings to find you on the search engines.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know.)

• Yahoo Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com/) - $299 USD/year
• BOTW Directory (http://botw.org/) -$79 USD/year
• BOTW Blog Directory (http://blogs.botw.org/) - $39 USD one-time review fee. If you have a blog within your site.

• Open up a Google Adwords account - There's no minimum spending requirement-the amount you pay for AdWords is up to you. You can, for instance, set a daily budget of $5 and a maximum cost of 10 cents for each click on your ad.
• Set up one or two campaigns and avoid guesswork - Google provides keyword traffic and cost estimates so you can make informed decisions about choosing keywords and maximizing your budget. Use it.
• Choose your geo-targeting properly or your budget will be wasted. If you own a pizza restaurant in Vancouver, only choose Vancouver. Don't waste it on people in Toronto!
• Choose only a small list of keywords and include your business name! If your site isn't showing up on the search results yet, bidding on your business name is most likely only going to cost you 8 cents per click, which is cheaper than a decent business card!
• Craft up two to three ads under each campaign - Google will start to serve the best ad that has click troughs.
• Use phrase-match option only when you start out. It is the best way to drive qualified traffic to your site without a huge budget. I would only recommend broad match if you have a large budget and know what you are doing.

Keep in mind that the above are only some guidelines if you only had $550 to start with for the first month and to keep your Cost-per-Click program going it would be $150 per month.

Once you 've gone through the process of setting up a basic search engine submission program, consider taking one of two routes:

1. Learn more and push the limits of search engine marketing - this is just the tip of it.
2. Hire a firm or a search engine marketer. They can get results faster and you can feel more relaxed if you open up a larger budget.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know!)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

• Your site has dynamic content.
• Your site has pages that aren't easily discovered by Googlebot during the crawl process - for example, pages featuring rich AJAX or Flash.
• Your site is new and has few links to it. (Googlebot crawls the web by following links from one page to another, so if your site isn't well linked, it may be hard for us to discover it.)
• Your site has a large archive of content pages that are not well linked to each other, or are not linked at all.

You can also use a site map to provide Google with additional information about your pages, including:

• How often the pages on your site change. For example, you might update your product page daily, but update your About Me page only once every few months.
• The date each page was last modified.
• The relative importance of pages on your site. For example, your home page might have a relative importance of 1.0, category pages have an importance of 0.8, and individual blog entries or product pages have an importance of 0.5. This priority only indicates the importance of a particular URL relative to other URLs on your site, and doesn't impact the ranking of your pages in search results.

You can read more about Google Sitemaps at: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318

1. Make signing up easy - don't add a button, then expect the user to click on it to another page with a form. Insert a subscribe box directly in your web page with two fields (keeping it very simple). Don't bombard your subscribers with other questions, they'll get turned off and may not sign up. You are only asking them to dance with you, you are not asking for their first-born.
   
2. State your policy clearly - Link to a privacy promise and stick to it. No one will sign up for your newsletter who is unclear whether you resell names to your partners or suppliers. Subscribers need to know you are a trusted source. If you have some business certifications, logos on your site etc, maybe place them near to the subscriber box.
   
3. Be clear on what subscribers are getting and link to a sample - Make sure your label subscription box includes a clear title. Try using "Free Newsletter", "Free Tips", "Latest Updates", "E-mail Offers", "Monthly Newsletter Tips" etc... Try testing to see what works best for your business. Also, offer a link to your archives so they can get a sneak peek of past issues before signing up.


4. State the frequency in your subscribe box - Nothing is so annoying than thinking you signed up for a monthly newsletter and you receive multiple e-mails the first week. Your subscribers may unsubscribe just as fast if you surprise them. Or how about when you sign up for a newsletter and you don't even receive one? Make sure you state the frequency of your newsletter upfront within your subscribe box (for example: daily, weekly, monthly or bi-monthly) and your subscribers will not be disappointed nor will they unsubscribe.
   
5. Add sign-up form to every page - Based on my experience, I usually sign up for a newsletter after reading an incredibly interesting article on the site. And I would usually come into the site from the back door and not even land on the home page. If you have your subscription link on your home page, but your links page gets lots of traffic, those people will never see that you have a newsletter. Increase your exposure and you will increase your subscription rate. I found that some of the sites I managed in the past, would get 1 to 3 percent sign-up conversion per month with regard to total unique visitors. So if you had 10,000 visitors per month you may have from 10 to 30 additional subscribers per month for this tweak alone.

Do you have a specific question about online marketing? Send an e-mail to shannon@sitemasher.com , and we'll try to post a blog on the topic in the future (and possibly do the research for you, if we don't know!)

If you want to share similar experiences on this topic, I encourage you to leave a comment!

Time flies when you have to manage a website. But, who has time to dissect all areas of website analytics when there are so many other tasks to do?

1. You sell products or services and a referring site lists your company as one of the providers in their directory listing. See if they have an advanced profile section, where you can post your full company blurb or even your logo. Some may or may not charge you for it.
2. A magazine reporter an editorial on tips about your industry and links to your site as being one of the few providers (they most likely just Googled you and wanted to give their readers some choices). Try to contact the writer at the referring site and propose to supply them with future tips or even full articles. You'd be surprised at how many editorial writers love having someone else doing their work! Just make sure the tips are unique and are not so specific to your product (not a hard sell); it can subtly suggest your product/services.
3. Someone rates/reviews your products on a portal site and it is positive. Check out if the portal site offers paid advertising options or even an e-mail list sponsorship package. This portal will most likely have tons of other visitors who are interested in your products (with the same profile likes and dislikes as the original reviewer/member). This tactic can be a very focused medium for your company to get more leads from the web.
4. A site that sends you visitors may have a blog that you can comment on. That is, if the topic is related to your product or service. Make sure your comments are sincere and not spam and also link back to your site. Beware - if you leave a so-called spam comment - it will be deleted.