Search engine  giant Google confirmed the conspiracy’s that they’d performed an update to its Panda algorithm around a week ago, however the company implied it only conducted a data fresh and no changes to ranking signals or updates in the algorithm were initiated.

SEO professionals and webmasters around the globe noted changes in their sites’ rankings last week, with some sites slipping further down the results.

A range of  sites that experienced missing rankings when Panda was first introduced discovered that their rankings and site traffic returned to the level they received before the algorithm was put in place by Google.

The announcement of the data refresh helps explain these changes and applies the suspicions of analysts.

This is the first update of 2012, the last minor update took place back in November 2011. Google stated that it wouldn’t be performing any updates throughout the Christmas period.

Google insisted in a statement that: “We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the over 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year.”

It has been calculated that generally Google has made atleast ten significant updates to its Panda algorithm since it was introduced in late February 2011. As Google does not record the number of updates it carries out, it can be difficult to keep track of  how many updates have actually been applied.

The previous major Panda update was taken  place back in October 2011 and the latest that has rumoured to have occurred Wednesday 18 January 2012 is the second minor change since the following major updated, leading industry commentators to name the recent update Panda 3.2.

The previous week Google also announced a new algorithm that intends to have a negative effect on the rankings of websites that include excessive advertising which in turn should promote sites that are genuine and useful and provide valuable content for web users. Make sure your company gets the best rankings throughout the Panda updates with SEO Manchester company Bite Digital.

Panda 3.2 Update Confirmed by Google is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

This blog post will explain how you can get profitable clients who will outsource their work to you.

Before client come to you, your business has to offer the best services that will produce results.

By the end of this web content you will get some contracts that will supercharge your business to the next level.

Guest Blogging: For my blog business to reach where it is now, it was because of a guest post that I posted on a high traffic blog that is related to my niche. Before you start to guest post on another person blog, you need to identify the right people that you are targeting. To be really successful in this approach i would recommend that you use Google Ad planner for research, this is because you will be able to see the kind of audience that visits a particular page and there interest.

Package Yourself: For you to get the best value for your money, you need to package yourself so that you can get the best clients who will give you more orders day by day. If you do not make yourself an expert in your chosen field, you will not succeed in your business. The main secret behind this approach is that one client can refer other potential clients to subscribe to your offer.

Testimonials: The most important thing to do is to show the results you have achieve to your clients based on your work.  Nowadays people do not buy knowledge, they buy social proof. If you show your business prospects results and case studies, it will make them trust you and buy from you whatever you have to offer.

Get profile contacts: To be proactive, you need to identify either company contact or individual contact list. For example, you can target big companies that are not updating their blog and request if you can be there writer.

This is a very important step that you should not ignore. Make sure to contact people who can pay your process without hesitation. To get a large number of requests, I would encourage that you should be honest and candid.

Now that you have learned the above tips on how to get clients for your business, the last thing I will show you is a little secret on how much you can charge your clients.

If a client approaches you to write a particular content, don’t ask for a flat rate, charge the client according to his/her own needs, this is because most clients are willing to pay whatever amount as long as they get the best value for their money.

If you offer the best service, you will get large orders than you expected. From my own experience, if you want to take your business to the next level, I would recommend that package yourself differently and you will win all those bids!

4 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Clients Running After Your Business is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

The internet is full of blogs on a myriad of topics. Some bloggers simply share events in their lives because they can, others want to give readers advice and others still are actually making money from their site.

If the idea is to make money, it’s important to get the right tips from bloggers who are actually doing this successfully. There are precious few of those about, because a huge proportion of bloggers make a lot of mistakes, often because they have taken advice from people who were not terribly successful to start with.

It is therefore essential to ensure that any advice taken does come from individuals who really know what they are talking about. Before beginning a blog, it is wise to decide the exact goal – in other words, should it make money or just inform?

If it is going to make money, certain strategies will have to be implemented in order to achieve success. This means adopting a design which will allow the blogger to add advertising and perhaps affiliate marketing products. It will also be necessary to use good SEO techniques in order to generate traffic.

Avoid Black Hat SEO

This means doing it right and not getting involved in the so-called black hat SEO, because this will ultimately lead to failure. The blog will also have to have a very specific theme and it is obviously vital for the product or service to be promoted by the blog to be desirable to as many people as possible.

Carefully Research Products or Services

The content of the blog will not only have to provide what people are searching for, it will have to convince them that this blogging site is exactly the right place to purchase the product from. This means that both the products or services will have to be very carefully researched to begin with.

The more information a blogger can provide on the service or product they are promoting, the better it will be and the more likely it will be that sales will follow. The content will have to be presented in a clear, attractive manner if it is going to convince people.

Vague descriptions and misleading articles will do little to help and ultimately just put visitors off. Keeping an eye on stats and finding out just how many of the visitors are actually converted into sales are a good way of determining whether all is as it should be.

Use the Right Keywords

The wrong kind of keyword, for instance, may drive plenty of traffic to a site, but if they are not relevant to the product, people may not actually find what they were looking for and leave without making a purchase. This means that keywords will have to be carefully researched.

Taking the time to research will save you headaches in the long run.  If you’re trying to make money blogging, it’s certainly worth the effort – you wouldn’t jump into any other investment with the same kind of in-depth research. You’d take the time to learn about ISA allowance limits and which state the amount that can be saved so you won’t lose money.  Why wouldn’t you do the same if you’re trying earn money blogging?

Making money with Blogs Involves Research is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Thoughts and ideas cross our minds by the millions each and every day.

On some days you might have a lot of thoughts on more or less the same subject and topic.

Sometimes we speak to others about our ideas, which most likely leave us with even more thoughts and ideas on the subject.

What about those days that you have millions and millions of different ideas going through your thoughts in one single day?

Often at times we think about the next million dollar idea when we least expect to. If you are a passionate blogger or writer like me, then you might be constantly looking for ideas or topics for your next post or article, book or whatever publication medium you are using. From my own personal experience they can sometimes come at the weirdest times.

They are like uninvited guests. They turn up when we least expect them to. Has that happened to you yet?

This is all great, but then you are most likely to be in a position or situation that just won’t allow you to start working on that idea right away, and the sad truth is that this is exactly where great, brilliant and genius ideas are often at times becoming completely worthless.

We simply forget them…

Later on you get to some point thinking that you could almost guarantee that you should have remembered something from earlier today that you needed to give your attention to, but you just can’t put your mind on it right now. Sadly, this happens to all of us most of the time in this day and age of information overload.

At that moment as soon as we think of this brilliant idea, we get so excited and full of other thoughts and strategies on how we can implement that main idea so we can accomplish something spectacular, something that is completely out of the box, and something that might even have the potential to completely change your life and possibly those of others, for good.

For this simple reason, we need to write down our ideas and what I call those “spotlight” moments.

Find anything within your reach to write that thought down. Use your smartphone, your iPad, a piece of paper, a box that you can rip apart or anything else capable of being written on. If you really can’t find something, ask someone close by, but just do anything you can think of to help you remember that thought.

Repeat it to yourself if you are alone. Sing it! Humm it! Phone someone if you’re driving (using a hands-free car system of course) and tell that person to write down this keyword, or to help you remember this thought at the very least.

If you are a business professional, you are more than likely to have some form of writing material with you at all times. Most smartphones has a recorder built in; otherwise I wouldn’t consider it a smartphone anyway.

The value of writing our every idea down on a piece of paper just can’t be measured by physics or science. Having your ideas and thoughts which you can reflect on or refer to at a later stage when you are able to make work of it, will ensure that we never run out of ideas. As you work on each one of them, so will the next one pop up in your mind, and you do it all over again…write it down.

So how do you value writing your ideas down as soon as you can?

The Value Of Writing Your Ideas Down is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

All right guys; we at We Blog Better have something new for you this month!

We are stalking blogs! Yes, you heard that right! We have tried our best to give you the best of the blogging world and we will continue with that but from this month, we have a twist!

Every first week of month we feature a blog that we have stalked over a period of time! Then, we pick out our favorite and tell you why we love them!

Now, there are no rules of being selected. Just that these bloggers have something wonderful on their blogs and we loved it! Also, they are just plain awesome!

In no way are we going to focus on one aspect of bloggers or just picking out bloggers blogging about blogging (yes, say that fast, it might be a tongue twister!) Just about any blogger can be selected; as long as you have content we liked!

So, here we go!

WHO DID WE STALK FIRST?

Well, we had to begin with a lady! And if you haven’t heard about Ameena Falchetto, please hurry over and read about her NOW and then you can finish the post later!

Ameena is many things at one time but for beginners, she is an entrepreneur, a marketing geek, runs two blogs, is wife to John Falchetto and a mom to a lil angel!

WHY DID WE STALK AMEENA?

Ameena is the brain child behind the highly fantabulous Brand Identity Visualization (BIV). She has come up with this uniquely splendid product that is based on the power and impact of visual communication. Everyone is talking about it and we just had to find out what it was all about.

Our team member Brankica got her BIV done and she was gleaming with joy.

Here’s what Brankica has to say:

The image was “the first draft” and she got it from the get go, it was perfect and there is nothing about it that I would change!I am so proud of my Brand Identity Visualization image and I really think you should check out what is it all about and get Ameena to do one for you!

Also, she has done some incredible BIV’s for Marcus and John. The image below is Ameena’s own BIV.  Yes, stare at it for as long as you want! It is hand drawn by her… gasp, gasp!

WHAT WE LOVED WHEN WE STALKED?

We stalk for a reason.

Here’s why we think Ameena is a rockstar and is totally worth stalking:

• Did you just see that BIV we posted?
• She does amazing videos on her blog. And she does it often!
• Her posts are accompanied by cute hand drawn images! And they are make you laugh and go wow and make the point ALL at one go!
• Really, do we need to give any more reasons other than that BIV? See it again!

WHERE YOU CAN STALK AMEENA?

Now, we just indulge in a little harmless crime and tell you where you can stalk the lovely lady by doing either of these (just click on what method you choose to stalk)

• Check out her BIV portfolio
• Follow her on Twitter
• Through her blog

So, that was our stalk fest for this month! Go, stalk Ameena!

WHAT NEXT?

It’s a start but we are planning to stalk more! Drop in your comments; tell us how you like the stalk fest! And listen, listen, if YOU want us to come stalk YOU, go to our Facebook Page and tell us why we should be stalking you and drop us the link to your blogs! You have to be convincing; we stalk by choice! Watch out for next month! It might be you!

We Blog Stalk : Ameena Falchetto is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Downtweet is live Twitter and tweets

Have you imagined the Internet without the social network site known as Twitter?

This is downright scary and unbelievable because many people today are doing their day to day activities with Twitter. Basically, Twitter is one of the easiest social networking sites today. Ranked side by side with Facebook, Twitter has a large and steady audience, attributed to its flexibility and easy usage.

Twitter’s form of micro-blogging, allows you to create Tweets everyday. If you are always online, you can post Tweets about your daily activities. You can also view others’ Tweets if you have the time.

Now, the Twitter community can be divided into many significant parts. One of those parts is the power users.

These are top-profile businessmen and entrepreneurs who love to Tweet about the latest happenings in their businesses. They can Tweet about the latest products and services they can offer.

Company representatives are also considered power users because they are Twitter marketers and customer handlers. Celebrities also fall in this category because people always love to know what they are doing everyday.

If you belong to the power user category, make sure that you can capture the attention of your followers with only few lines and words. Try your best to use words that are enticing enough for your target audience.

However, in the Twitter community, the largest part is the passive users. These users do not have activities in their profile; they don’t post Tweet and interact most of their followers. It may be an overstatement to say that they have followers. These users are just interested in observing Tweets from various prominent figures.

Do you belong in the passive user category?

That is not a bad thing at all. However, you need to maximize your observation time so you can get the best. What you need is a Twitter widget in your profile that allows full customization and flexibility.

One widget to try is called Downtweet—a very useful widget for all types of users in the Twitter community.

Once you visit the website of Downtweet, you will see several widget panels that you can access. These panels are active and they broadcast about four feeds in a minute. You don’t even need to sign up just to view Tweets from famous celebrities. You can just limit the frequency of the Tweets by selecting the category that you want the most.

Choose ‘comedy’ and Downtweet will bring you the latest happenings in this industry. These happenings may be commentaries from comedians and gaggers from many parts of the world. Installation of this widget is fairly easy. Just select the category that you want to feature in your website. Afterwards, Downtweet will give you a special code that you can embed in your website, similar to CSS codes.

Downtweet definitely teaches you the right and smart way of Tweeting. With a Twitter application like this, users can really enjoy their Tweeting time. It is fitting to say that in Downtweet, you are really in control. You are the master of your profile.

Tweeting the Right Way with Downtweet is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Given that social media is among the most lucrative means of business promotion online, maximizing the efforts being put unto it as well as leveraging the potential it could have for your business is quite essential.

Usually, it is being done by posting regular updates which are in relation to the type of business you are in as well as the products and/or services you are offering to your prospects and customers. It could be by way of a status update through your business’ Facebook page or a 140-short tweet from Twitter.

Since a social media profile of your business calls for regular updates, it is indeed essential that you have to pick out which type of updates you should post in your social media accounts to be able to empower the social media presence of your business.

While there are a range of topics or updates eligible to be posted on a social media profile, I have sum up here a few of the main types of updates you have to post to your business’s social media profile to be able to reach an even wider range of customers and to keep them coming back for more.

Updates/News related to your business field

Do you own a business about car parts and accessories? Why not post some new updates from the latest trends and news within the automotive industry?

With this, your fans or followers will be able to know more about what’s happening on the field with the information you have provided.  By doing such things, you could be able to establish a better business brand by being a thought leader or the one having the expertise in a particular field.

Just don’t write it all up on your social media account, though (remember there is a limit to your number of characters on Twitter) but instead, provide a link pointing out to your business’ website or blog or perhaps link it to an article which you have just read which refers to the same topic.

Some links to helpful and interesting content

Have a new content to share to your fans and followers? Well, you could give it out as an update by putting in some snippet of the post and then a link below or next to it. This typically applies to a blog content but it doesn’t mean that a new content from simply a non-blog website is not on the list. Remember, just make it new or you’ll bore your followers.

Links pointing to other helpful information

Sharing other links on your social media profile isn’t really a bad idea at all. Always keep in mind that you are not the only one who makes such relevant and engaging content. If you happened to stumble upon some blog posts or a content which you think could be of a great help to your audience, then why not share?

Some analytics have indeed shown that it is one good way of bringing in new audience to your social media business profile, regardless of the source may be, just as long as they find it interesting and in connection to your business.

Deals, promotions, contests and freebies

Do you have a new product or a new service to offer? Or perhaps some promotion, contest, or freebie to hand over to your audience? If so, then post them as an update right away! What would be the use of them if you let them unnoticed to your customers?

Attract more and more audience as well as prospects by simply announcing an upcoming contests and deals. Got freebies? Who wouldn’t want then anyway? I think everybody does, and updating about it is just the right thing to do.

Answers questions from the audience

Most of your audience subscribe to your updates because they want to know something from you and assume that you are an expert in that particular field. So the next time a customer asks a question from you, don’t ever bother answering them. You could actually make their day and at the same time, it is one good way of showing how you value your audience.

Surveys and polls from your audience

When establishing a brand on social media, it is really important to consider your customer’s feedbacks and hearing their opinions as well. And this could best be done through polls and surveys. Through this, you will be able to receive feedbacks and know more about the opinion as well as the preferences your audience may have.

Humor related to the industry

Why the need to be so serious? Everyone wants to have some bit of humor in their end and you could use it to be part of your business update as well. However, you have to come up with a way that you could put in some sense of humor into your next status update.

In fact, it increases user engagement (such as the likes, tweets, comments, etc…) and also gives a positive light to your business’ social media presence at the same time.

The next time you make an update, try to be short but straight to the point (don’t overlook the character limit..!) This will help your audience not to be confused at what you are trying to point them out.

Got another essential type of update for your social media profile? Why not leave a comment below. Thanks!

The Major Types of Updates your Social Media Profile Should Have is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Share Pics from iPhone Instantly!

According to the social media strategy consultant and author of the book Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, Amy Porterfield – the foremost thing that people share on Facebook are images.

She’s not the only pne who understands this trend, Darren Rowse shared this strategy in his post “How I Got 18 Times More “Likes” a on Facebook Update.”

She once narrated a tale of a photographer who started out by taking images at his friends’ parties and then tagging those images on their Facebook profiles. Others saw those images and through a link to the photographer’s Facebook page on those photographs, visited his wall and hired him to be the photographer in their parties. Within no time, that photographer made thousands of dollars.

This is just one example of what the power of good photographs can do.

There are many people who take their photographs via a VGA camera and then share it with their friends. They are highly mistaken because their photos hardly receive any attention. Instead of making them look better, the image makes them look worse.

Here is where PicYou enters the game. PicYou is a website that enables you to modify and share your photographs with complete ease.

An iPhone app of the website was launched on 9 Jan which complements the site. With this app, you can use all the features of the website through your iPhone.

Now some more details.

1)   Filters

You can change the look of your photographs with the help of 10 filters available on PicYou. Each filter has a unique frame with it.

The names of the filters are:

• Albion
• Killowatt
• Infatuation
• Zeitgeist
• Gammanation
• Dreamy
• Ralston
• Cuttlefish
• Retrofocus and
• Hipster

See the sample images below to understand the working of these filters and frames.

[The image used is from Flickr – Creative Commons.]

Original

Kilowatt Filter

Zeitgeist filter

Of course these changes can be achieved via a software like PhotoShop but there are two drawbacks in that method.

Such softwares are very expensive. Amazon is selling it at $647 after discount!

Did I mention that PicYou is absolutely free?

Not everybody can use it. To achieve the above effects you need to have at least some basic designing skills. PhotoShop is a pretty complicated software.

2)   The social network

PicYou is not just a tool to edit photos. It is also a social networking site. Anyone of us who has used Twitter ever will find no difficulty in navigating through PicYou’s website. The format is more or less the same.

You can follow people whom you like, others can follow you, you can ‘like’ photos, comment on photos, interact with others via messages and hence make new connections and friends.

And as I said earlier you can also share photos with your Facebook and Twitter friends.

Some other features include:

• Unlimited photo uploads to the cloud.
• Full camera capability. This means you can take and upload pictures to PicYou’s cloud via either of the two cameras of your iPhone – front and back.

All the features that I mentioned are equally accessible from the website and the iPhone app. Though of course, like all other websites and apps, the apps’ look is a bit different from the website.

Check out these cool snapshots of the PicYou’s iPhone app:

PicYou.com – Share Pics from iPhone Instantly in Instagram Style is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Whether you’re just getting started in online marketing or want to turn your social media profiles into moneymaking machines, get ready to make 2012 the year you start rolling in the green with these powerful secrets!

Secret #1: Monetize Your Social Media Profiles

Whether you’ve dabbled in it or you’re a die-hard fan of it, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways social media marketers can make multiple streams of passive income.

Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to start building up these streams of income – simply run promotion campaigns on your social media account for an affiliate.  I’ve seen plenty of social media marketers who’ve offered special promotions for affiliates, and have made a bundle in commissions as a result of just a single Facebook status update or tweet.

However, keep in mind that you don’t want to run these promotions too often – after all, your social media account is for networking, not advertising!

Secret #2: Offer a Free Report on Your Social Media Site 

As an online marketer, you already know that offering a free report on a squeeze page is a great way to build up your list and, as a result, take your sales to the next level.  So why should your social media account be any different?

Write up a brief ten to fifteen page report on a relevant industry topic, then offer it to your fans or followers in exchange for their email addresses.  Your list will expand and grow – and you’ll be making more cash as a result.

Secret #3: Offer Fan or Follower-Only Discounts 

If you want to make more cash from your social media accounts, offer your fans or followers exclusive discounts on your products and/or services.  To really up the ante on this discount, offer it for a limited time only – as a result, your fans and followers will feel special and you’ll see a massive surge in your sales numbers.

Be sure to tell them to share your offer or discount with other colleagues, fans and followers.

Secret #4: Connect with Other Industry Leaders 

If you want to make more money from your social media account, it pays to connect with other industry leaders.  Why is this, you might ask?  Simple: because strong business relationships can lead to bigger prospect lists, more opportunities for affiliate deals and the chance to develop rewarding financial partnerships.

You never know what opportunities will abound when you make a connection via your social media accounts – so don’t be afraid to reach out to the big league people in your industry.

Secret #5: Regularly Comment on Relevant Industry News 

While offering free reports and limited-time promotions will lead to short-term boosts to your sales, one of the best ways to guarantee long-term cash flow is to regularly comment on relevant industry news.

So what’s the connection?  Simple: the more insightful and thought-provoking comments you make on what’s happening in the industry, the more your fans and followers will regard you as an expert in your field.  It goes without saying that the bigger your expertise, the more people will follow you – and that directly results in increased sales as a result of your expertise.

When it comes down to it, your social media accounts offer you plenty of opportunities to increase your prospect list, enhance your brand and, as a result, make more cash.  So if you’re not putting these expert tips to good use yet, now has never been a better time to do so!

Let me know your thoughts and comments on this topic.  Was it helpful, will it motivate you to look at other ways to increase your income sources or do you have other ideas and suggestions you can share?

The 5 Biggest Cash-Making Secrets of Social Media is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

Guest post by BandC from MyBlogGuest

For beginners the world of search engine optimisation (SEO) can seem mindboggling. ‘Keywords’, ‘back links’ and ‘page rank’ can all seem like complicated computer jargon. Small businesses may think that utilising an SEO strategy is a time consuming, complicated procedure but it needn’t be.

There are 4 key areas of SEO that any small business can put in place and start reaping the benefits:

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the first and most important step in any SEO strategy. You need to decide who you are targeting – clients, other businesses etc – and what you want to rank for. This put simply means where you appear on a search engine results page when certain words are searched for.

Research this area carefully to identify how competitive the terms are, and what people are actually searching for. You don’t want to go to niche, or to obvious. Geographical keywords are always a good place to start and will target people who are looking to buy, not browsing.

For example, ‘teeth whitening in Worcestershire’ is specific and local, but not as competitive a keyword as ‘teeth whitening.’ These keywords are then placed in your website copy, headings and meta tags. Remember to strike the perfect balance between making it coherent for human readers, but specific enough for the search engines.

Back Links

Back links are another essential part of SEO and the quickest way to build your page rank. Page rank is the authority of your individual website pages according to Google and other search engines. If external websites have linked to a particular page, search engines see them as having more authority and rank them higher.

Using your keywords as anchor text, create links to specific pages of your website. This way, even the pages deep within your website can be indexed by Google and benefit from SEO and page ranking.

As with your keywords, you want variation in the locations of your back links. Having multiple links from one website or blog is not as effective as having a number of blogs and websites linking back to your site.

You can create more back links through guest blogging, press releases and article directories. If you don’t have the time, funds or access to these, you could enlist the help of a seo company. They can help you get started and access these platforms.

Google Places

Adding your business to Google Places enables you to target millions of Google users in an instant. Linked to Google Maps and related services, Places improves the visibility of your business on the Internet.

Google Places can be a great tool for small businesses as it allows you to target local customers. Couple this with you local keywords and back links to ensure you reach people in your area. This also helps you rank for the localised keywords and improve your page rank.

It is really easy to manage and you can update your listings at any time. You can even promote your business if you haven’t got a website. Google Places lets you track how many people have viewed and clicked your link.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an easy way to manage the traffic to your website and check how well your SEO efforts are working. You can instantly see what people searched to find you, and you can make sure you are targeting the right keywords. This way you can shift focus if one term is ranking slightly better than another.

If something isn’t proving as successful, you can find out quickly with Google Analytics. As a small business you want to make sure everything is working as you had hoped. You can then tweak and change anything as needed to best maximise your SEO strategies.

SEO is an essential marketing strategy businesses of any size should strive to employ. Only one team member needs to have grasped the basics before you begin to yield results and fast. You can bring your business exciting new sales and clients in a short space of time.

Businesses of any size can benefit from offsite and onsite marketing. Bird and Co Creative is a full service graphic and web design company that specialises in SEO and Social Media Marketing. Contact them today to see how it can benefit your business.

SEO for Small Businesses Made Easy is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Become a Better Blogger

The early days of a website can be test an entrepreneur’s faith. Most websites see sporadic visits with few visitors returning for more. You might not make enough money to make it seem worth time, and it’s easy to become frustrated after a few slow months.

Writing articles and content is time consuming, and with a lack of an immediate audience, the entire process can be discouraging.

However, successfully marketing a new website requires the same traits that are necessary for any entrepreneurial venture – patience and flexibility.

While establishing a web presence can be daunting, it is fraught with opportunity for those who can stay the course and try new things.

A great first step to marketing your business online is to enter the world of podcasting. Here are five ways podcasting can help your business grow:

1. Provide Variety

Every visitor has different needs and preferences, and you should offer as many content delivery methods as possible to satisfy your audience. Some readers only want content that can be read, downloaded, or printed. Some prefer to watch video, and some would rather listen to a podcast.

2. Avoid Writer’s Block

Many entrepreneurs face writer’s block shortly after launching their sites. By creating audio content, you can break out of any slumps and leverage the thoughts of others for content generation.

3. Build a Relationship with your Readers

Podcasting will allow your visitors to get to know you better, and by putting a personality to the content will make it all the more meaningful. They will hear your voice, learn more about you, and eventually, feel like they know you.

4. Establish Credibility

There is a wide gap in the number of available websites and podcasts available on the web. By setting up a podcast you can set yourself apart from your competitors and give your audience a new means to interact with you.

Podcasting can increase your credibility with your visitors as many podcasting services allow you the opportunity to take calls from listeners and answer any of their questions. Additionally, you can invite experts to join the podcast who will provide valuable tips and strategies to your audience for you.

5. Build Links

There are ancillary benefits to podcasting beyond just providing additional content for your readers. An additional benefit to this strategy is the additional links to your website you will likely generate, which will in turn, boost traffic. Make it a routine to invite influential bloggers onto your podcast. There’s a great chance that many of them will link back to your site.

Many business owners hesitate to start podcasting because it is something new and different, yet this is precisely why they should dive in. By innovating and remaining flexible, you will have a golden opportunity to set yourself apart from your competition.

5 Ways Podcasting Can Help Your Blog is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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I'm also available for blog startup, content writing and consultation services.

Visit my other blog, Highly Favored for Christian inspiration and church newsletter tips.

Become a Better Blogger

So… do you?

Want to build a successful blog?

Don’t even think about it…

unless…

you’re prepared to try all these strategies.

You CAN build a successful blog!

When I started my ‘other’ blog nearly two years ago I had no knowledge of the blogging world.

I didn’t even know there was a ‘blogging world’!

I started from zero awareness and zero experience. I didn’t even read blogs!

Sounds mad, I know.

But I love to write. It’s my passion and I needed a project. My son suggested I start a blog and I began to find out what it was all about.

Here are the 6 Most Valuable Strategies I Have Learned in Building a Successful Blog.

1.    Building takes time and skill.

At first I rushed around trying to do too many things at once.

But I soon discovered that the only way to build my blog was to focus on one element at a time.

I needed to spend time working out what my niche should be.

• Where was my expertise?
• What could I write about that others might like to read?

Finally I chose the field of Self Development because I’m trained as a Confidence Coach. I was excited to realise that my blog could become an online resource for gaining confidence.

For your new blog you need to do the same.

Work out what you can give to others, what you can share, how you can help.

2.   You must be able to empathise with your readers.

• Are you able to be able to stand in their shoes?
• Are you able  to understand where they are and where they’d like to be?

You need to be able to travel along with your reader.

Think about how it felt when you were stuck, needed help, didn’t understand how to do something.

Start where they are and go from there.

3.   You must believe you have something worth saying.

• What are the main issues your reader will have?
• What does he need from you?
• Will he trust you to help?

If your casual readers are going to become regular readers they need to know you will have something worthwhile to say.

They need a reason to return and you have to give it to them.

4.   Presentation matters.

When I was researching blogs to get hints and tips it soon became clear that I clicked away from certain ones very quickly.

I clicked away if…

• the text wasn’t broken up into ‘bites’,
• the topic was written about in a ‘text book’ way,
• it wasn’t clear what the topic was!
• the style of writing was pompous or pretentious,
• the post was too long.

Your readers are no different.

Think about what appeals to you when you come to a new post and try to provide the same for your audience.

Think about using carefully chosen images, don’t simply choose the most obvious ones. Images can add a lot to a post, that can’t be put in words.

5.   Read lots of blogs and the blogs’ comments.

This is one of the most helpful strategies.

Not so you can steal blog post content but so you can discover…

• intriguing post titles
• what works and what doesn’t
• helpful hints and advice in the blog comments section
• what appeals to you and what doesn’t
• what the expert bloggers have to say

Want To Build A Successful Blog? Don’t Even Think About It… is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

Would you like to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to my newsletter? Or perhaps follow me on Twitter.

I'm also available for blog startup, content writing and consultation services.

Visit my other blog, Highly Favored for Christian inspiration and church newsletter tips.

Become a Better Blogger