My secret formula for Twitter popularity

This is exactly what I’ve done since I opened my @SEOCopywriting account at Twitter:

1. I chose an username that reflected my business’ purpose accurately.

2. I filled my Twitter profile with clear, relevant information.

3. I started tweeting, but not really on a regular basis. I update my status only when I feel like doing it.

4. I never engaged in spammy practices.

That’s all.

This doesn’t look like a magic Twitter popularity formula

It’s because there’s never been any “magic formulas” in my case. I’ve never developed any special plans or strategies either. I chose a more spontaneous approach. This works for me, so I’m happy and that’s all that matters.

Of course, you can and probably should spend some time reading the many Twitter tips available all over the Internet. You’ll likely find some excellent pieces of advice among the fluff. However, keep in mind that doing things your way is always an option. A good one, by the way. As long as you don’t go around spamming your Twitter followers, you’ll be safe and free to be yourself.

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Tons of Tips for Ranking in 5 Other Google Engines – How to exploit YouTube, Google Images and other Google properties for better search engine ranks.

Five Steps to Effective Keyword Research – I highly recommend that you study these keyword research lessons and make use of them from now on.

10 Pack Update affects Mom & Pop’s, McDonald’s, Marketers, MC & Mapquest – The table at the bottom of this post makes it an absolute must-read.

Twitter Contests and Incentives – Do they Work – Incidentally, yesterday I stumbled upon (no pun intended) one of these contests for the first time.

DiggBar Is Here. Go Shorten Those URLs – I don’t know about you, but I loved this idea. It may encourage the not-so-active diggers out there to use Digg more often.

Social Networking Specialist – What You Should Do Before You Hire This Professional – Basic advice for small business owners who still aren’t familiar with the social media universe.

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online – The title mentions 10 universities, but the list contains nearly 30 writing courses.

50+ Open Courseware Writing Classes from the World’s Leading Universities – For an even larger free writing course list, visit this page. Classes in several categories, such as grammar, research and business writing.

Temp Agency Primer – Looking for writing jobs? Maybe it’s time to consider this alternative, if you still haven’t done it.

President and co-founder Ezra Silverton kindly answered our questions about web design, Internet marketing and online reputation management.

- Which are the essential elements of a truly well designed website?

A well designed website is made up of many factors. Essentially it’s a balance between legible content, friendly navigation, a professional creative and imagery, smart marketing and a properly programmed code.

- Your company offers online reputation management services. What’s the worst ORM mistake one can make?

I would say there are two things people often do that make things worse for them. Both are equally bad ORM mistakes. First is the person or company replying to the negative press hatefully. The second is starting a fighting match online where the company starts to post how horrible the other person was or is. Neither are going to get the situation resolved and it will draw more attention to the problem than is necessary.

- Is it essential for all websites to have a mobile design version nowadays? Why?

I would say Yes! I encourage clients to be ahead of the curve. It not only helps to distinguish themselves among competitors, but it also shows their commitment to excellence. Even a simple mobile version of their website—one that just highlights some essentials like the company, services and contact information—is enough. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Just something that’s low on bandwidth and provides a good user experience.

- If you were allowed to make use of only one Internet marketing technique, which would you choose? Why?

Tough question. Its very rare that we would only utilize one Internet marketing tactic. If it had to be one, I would suggest search engine optimization (SEO), simply for the fact that it proves to have the best return when you compare it against the costs of other marketing tactics. SEO tied in with website analytical data provides a very strong vehicle for understanding where to spend future advertising dollars and how to get even better results.

- What are you most proud of about 9th sphere?

Among our 9 awards, the over 11 years in business, our quality standards, the industry leaders we have helped make out of our clients, it all wouldn’t be possible without our team. We have some of greatest people who just have a true passion for providing the best web solutions. We are committed to being the best website solution provider and want to do things properly. Our team ensures that this is accomplished.

Now that you’ve read Ezra Silverton’s interview, here is a couple of links for your bookmark:

9th sphere – Toronto website design and development.

9th sphere’s Blog – Articles on Internet marketing, best practices, web design and more.

How to Build a Reputation Monitoring Dashboard – This is a long, detailed and much necessary post. I’m sure you’ll want to bookmark it.

It’s official – SEO now more popular than PPC! – This is the trend showed by Google anyway. There are geographical differences though, as you’ll see when you read the post.

Setting Expectations for Search Engine Optimization – All search engine optimizers should read this article. It’s important to know how clients view your work and how to politely counter their arguments when need be.

CEO and co-founder David Wallace answered questions about SEO, paid search, social media and challenges.

- How would you explain the difference between organic and paid search to a client who was totally confused about these concepts?

Organic search results, sometimes referred to as “editorial,” are algorithmically produced and not based on whether someone has paid monies to the search engine to appear there. Paid search results on the other hand are exactly that—they are there because an advertiser paid for them to be there.

Organic search results appear based on the search engine response to a search query, and what actually appears, as well as any order, is based on the engine’s algorithm. While the paid search portion of a search engine has its own algorithm, what appears and the order in which those results appear is also based on how much someone is willing to pay, as well as how well their ad creative perform.

- What’s your favorite type of client: the one who already has a basic understanding of SEO and its importance, or the one who you must educate? Why?

Both can be great, while at the same time both can be difficult. There’s the client who has a little SEO knowledge but at the same time is a know-it-all. You almost want to say to them, “If you know everything, why did you hire me?” There are others armed with some SEO knowledge that can be very helpful, because they understand strategy that has been developed and how to implement that strategy.

Those clients who are willing to learn are also a pleasure to work with. The ones who are unwilling to learn at least what you are providing for them, typically do not remain long term loyal customers, because they never come to fully realize the value they are getting from a good SEO effort.

- Where do you see the PPC industry heading?

While we do not do a whole lot of PPC, I think more and more clients will either manage PPC campaigns themselves or use some sort of automated software solution. With regards to AdWords, I also see more and more advertisers allowing Google employees to manage their campaigns, which is not always in the best interest of the advertiser in my opinion, but it will happen anyway.

- You keep profiles on several social media sites (25, if I haven’t lost count). What’s the impact of social media on your business?

Being involved in social media has several benefits. Most importantly, it allows you to get your brand out there on social media related sites that are attracting thousands if not millions of users. There is also the networking aspect, that is, being able to connect to peers within your industry. I find this invaluable.

Being involved in social media has allowed me to connect to even more people in this vast industry and has even brought about new clients. It also has allowed our company and myself to become more transparent and open to communication.

- Which was the toughest obstacle your company SearchRank had to face? How did you triumph over it?

Finding time to work on internal projects. Let’s face it: any SEO/SEM firm that is good at what it does is very busy. And while this business is good for the bottom line, it often places internal projects on the back burner, or they are discarded altogether.

So, one thing we started doing last years was to make sure all of our regular scheduled work that we do for clients is complete by no later then the 20th of each month. This allows us a week, sometimes a bit more, to work on our own projects. For example, we run several blogs, a few directories and are developing some new tools and niche sites. All these require time, and without having that free time at the end of each month, these various projects would no doubt be neglected.

Now that you’ve read David Wallace’s answers, here are some links for your bookmark:

SearchRank – Phoenix, Arizona online marketing.

SearchRank Blog – Posts on Google, SEO, link building and more.

@DavidWallace – Follow him at Twitter.

SearchRank’s Founders – Full list of David Wallace’s profiles at various social media sites. Irma Wallace’s bio and profiles.

RightNow’s owner Chris Tucker shared his views on the SEO world with us:

- What’s the difference between a good SEO company and a mediocre one?

We feel the difference is service. There is a myriad of SEO companies these days. When we got started back in 1995, there was only a handful of people who were creating what would become SEO. Then, as the skillset became an industry, we saw an impersonalization begin to take hold, with large companies hiring armies of account executives who really had no idea what SEO was but were good at sales. As a small shop, we feel our edge is lower prices, because the client isn’t paying for the army of account execs and they get to interact directly with the people doing the actual work.

- Do you believe Google will ever face real, strong competiton?

Absolutely! Why do you think they are buying anything that appears even partially bonafide? They know the time will come and so they have taken the route of diversification. It’s only a matter of time. Can you just imagine how many techies there are hold up somewhere working on just that?

- What’s the biggest of all SEO myths?

Believe it or not, it has hardly changed since the dawn of time. The single biggest myth we continue to quell almost every day is that of “hidden text.” I just dont understand this theory. Why would a web site want to hide its content?

- If you could change just one thing in the SEO world, what would it be? Why?

I would like to see more “best practices” coming from the search engines themselves, so there would be less confusion and better results for those willing to adhere to them. I would also like to see more competition. In the “old days” we optimized for the potential of getting on several popular portals. These days, clients could care less if they score well on Yahoo or MSN. The numbers just aren’t there to justify much effort. It’s Google first page or you’ve failed.

Now that you’ve read Chris Tucker’s interview, here is a couple of links for your bookmark:

RightNow Communications – search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

Netrafic.com Blog – about the search marketing industry.

President Carla Ackley kindly agreed to the SEO interview that you’ll read now:

- What’s the difference between a good SEO company and a mediocre one?

A good SEO company does research beforehand and gives a realistic quote to the potential customer. They also have excellent customer service and do what they say they would do in the quote. They also do great follow-up to make sure the client’s site is performing well.

- What areas of SEO do you most enjoy?

Organic SEO / Natural SEO (White Hat).

- How do you promote your company’s services?

I promote my company’s services by having top listings in the engines naturally and by getting word-of-mouth referrals. No other advertising seems to work as well.

- Speaking of your company, what are you most proud of about ClassicHits?

I am proud that we have been in business for 15 years now, and were one of the first SEO companies online. We also are in the Better Business Bureau with no complaints.

- How would you explain the importance of SEO to a business owner who still hasn’t realised it?

I like to say it’s a form of advertising that you really only have to pay one time for. It’s a way to get traffic affordably off the Internet, and that’s important nowadays as many people do not use the phone book anymore, they use the Internet to find businesses.

- What’s the actual importance of PageRank nowadays?

I don’t think it’s as important as it once was for SEO, as many of the Indian Linking companies abused its use. If you need links, I prefer Press Releases rather than buying linking as its works better overall, and Google won’t penalize you like they will for linking services. I can get a site high ranking by keyword, even for a site that has no PageRank, so it’s not been a big deal for me. However some people like to see it, so in that case I would recommend the Press Releases and article writing.

Now that you’ve read Carla Ackley’s SEO interview, here’s a link for your bookmark:

ClassicHits.com – Arizona Search Engine Optimization