<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" version="2.0">

<channel>
	<title>Blogging Tips on How to Make Money Blogging - Donny Gamble</title>
	
	<link>http://donnygamble.com</link>
	<description>Learn the blogging tips that will help you make money blogging while building an authority blog. Get a FREE copy of the Bloggers Roadmap eBook!</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 12:22:22 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1</generator>
		<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/donnygamble" /><feedburner:info xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" uri="donnygamble" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><feedburner:emailServiceId xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0">donnygamble</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0">http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><item>
		<title>Tools to Help Generate Blog Content Ideas</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/tools-to-help-generate-blog-content-ideas/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/tools-to-help-generate-blog-content-ideas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 12:22:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/tools-to-help-generate-blog-content-ideas/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="113" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/google_trends_logo.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Google Trends Logo" /></a>For generating the blog content ideas, you have to search the different sources on the internet and the non-internet sources as well. The reason is that you have to look out for the new ideas from the different sources. Actually, the new ideas generate from the current trend and the present situation of the society. [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4332" alt="Google Trends Logo" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/google_trends_logo.jpg" width="258" height="196" />For generating the blog content ideas, you have to search the different sources on the internet and the non-internet sources as well. The reason is that you have to look out for the new ideas from the different sources. Actually, the new ideas generate from the current trend and the present situation of the society.</p>
<p>So, in this direction, you have to keep your eyes open to it always and also you have to watch the people&#8217;s conversations which are chirping around your surroundings. Moreover, you can get the ideas through your keen observation around your surroundings as well.</p>
<h3><b>Google</b></h3>
<p>Whatever ideas you like to get, you will find it in Google. Moreover, you have to know the Google activities. Since, you have to understand its functions well and take a keen observation on its searching results. The reason is that when you put a keyword in its searching bar, instantly you will get some results from it.</p>
<p>So, you have to take the real taste of Google for its searching results. Actually, you have to get the new ideas through its hidden clues. Practically, the options are unlimited and the only limitation is your imagination as well.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">http://www.google.com</a></p>
<h3><b>Google Trends</b></h3>
<p>It is the unique place for getting the new ideas for your blog content. Actually, it works according to the current keyword trends on the internet. So, in this context, you will able to get your ideas for your blog content. Moreover, you have to look at the current trend keyword on Google Trends with minutely.</p>
<p>So, you will see that the trending keywords are changing every day and you have to pick the right one for your blog content idea. As it will give a better exposure on the internet and also you will get the better traffic as well.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/trends/" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/trends/</a></p>
<h3><b>Wikipedia</b></h3>
<p>It is a general purpose store house of the keywords on the internet. Moreover, you can get your blog content idea from it without any fuss. Since, it is the collection of the keywords and you can also explore it for your needs as well. Even, you can use any keyword from its huge keyword list which are described in the article form.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">http://www.wikipedia.org/</a></p>
<h3><b>Blog</b></h3>
<p>It is better to visit frequently on the different blog for getting the ideas for your blog content. Moreover, you will get the different types of ideas from these blogs as well over the times when you will visit them.</p>
<p>Actually, you will get the clues about the different keywords which are running on the internet currently as well. Practically, the different kinds of blogs will give you a wider choice about the current keywords which will ultimately generate the ideas for your blog content.</p>
<h3><b>Newspaper</b></h3>
<p>Another way explores your blog content ideas through the newspaper. Since, it is updated every day with the latest content and information as well. So, there will be a great scope for you to get your blog content idea from it.</p>
<p>Basically, it will cater you the huge source about the current trends about the society and its habitats. So, it is the new vista for you to explore it for your blog content ideas.</p>
<p>Therefore, through these tools, you will able to generate your blog content ideas without no doubts. So, the only limitation is your imagination and observation power.</p>
<p><b>About The Author</b>: <em>Margaret is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, traveling and reading books. She contributes on <a href="http://reputationchanger.net/" target="_blank">Reputation Changer</a></em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=-sojsg147qI:oc0NLmwaZ1w:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/tools-to-help-generate-blog-content-ideas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why you’re Marketing Suuucks!</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/why-youre-marketing-suuucks/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/why-youre-marketing-suuucks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:02:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/why-youre-marketing-suuucks/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="130" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/your-marketing-sucks.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="your marketing sucks" /></a>Marketing is done by everyone. There are many things that suck marketing efforts. Marketing sucks money like a vacuum cleaner. There are many problems related to marketing. One must invest money in marketing in a fruitful manner so that marketing sucks less money. Marketing should not be done in a boring manner. Marketing must be [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4326" alt="your marketing sucks" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/your-marketing-sucks.jpg" width="250" height="218" />Marketing is done by everyone. There are many things that suck marketing efforts. Marketing sucks money like a vacuum cleaner. There are many problems related to marketing. One must invest money in marketing in a fruitful manner so that marketing sucks less money.</p>
<p>Marketing should not be done in a boring manner. Marketing must be done in such a manner that it saves money and give a chance to purchase better things at a low price. One should be very conscious and should have a proper knowledge about the marketing plans to perform well in the marketing.</p>
<h3><b>Improper planning in marketing</b></h3>
<p>It is essential to have a proper planning in marketing. Without a proper planning one cannot have a proper measurement. Great marketing plans also may fail-back for lack of improper plans. A plan is essential for a proper planning.</p>
<p>A proper planning requires many researches, goals, budgets, measurements, many more. In marketing the most important thing is to be hard-working. One must not think to be successful in marketing if one is not really hard-working. Proper planning with a hard-work is a key to get success in the marketing field.</p>
<h3><b>Shortage of budget</b></h3>
<p>One must be very serious about the budget planning before marketing. One must not think of getting into marketing business without a sufficient budget. A plan will remained sucked if there is no proper budget. Marketing for consumable products may involve with high amount, similarly total sale value is easy to achieve. Fewer budgets are required on the basic concept of trading.</p>
<p>While doing marketing every aspect of different purchasers are to be noticed. Marketing process is different based on separate commodity. Budget should be planned before one starts marketing based on surrounding the market. Marketing without budget is simply impossible. Proper amount must be set aside before marketing.</p>
<h3><b>Problems in selling product</b></h3>
<p>Marketing may also sucks due to the lack in selling capacity. One must be very efficient in selling a product. In marketing one must try to create interest in purchaser’s mind for a particular marketing item. Purchaser must understand the benefit of using products marketed. Marketing is not very easy.</p>
<p>If the consumer does not understand the benefits of the products that marketing people are trying to sell then they simple reject the product without knowing its benefits. Lack of proper marketing due to lack of communication with the consumer also sucks down marketing.</p>
<h3><b>Conclusion</b></h3>
<p>Marketing is really a tough job and all hard-works are essential for marketing. One who can promise to be sucked less and perform more in marketing should only join in the marketing then. Poor knowledge and insufficient fund is dangerous for marketing purpose. People involve in marketing attempt for long-term goals. Goals must be set fixed for a successful marketing business.</p>
<p>Top officials of a marketing company must have unity among all the members so that all have the same focus for capturing the market and marketing does not get sucked. Personal barriers among the marketing members also lead to marketing sucks. Lack of professionalism in the marketing business is very dangerous and causes marketing sucks.</p>
<p><b>About The Author</b>: <em>Margaret is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, traveling and reading books. She contributes to <a href="http://hydroxycutinfo.com/" target="_blank">Hydroxycut</a></em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=xrtiXKPiOAQ:3vlG09BeeSA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/why-youre-marketing-suuucks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Online Tools for Checking Plagiarism in Blog Writing</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/online-tools-for-checking-plagiarism/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/online-tools-for-checking-plagiarism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:39:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4320</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/online-tools-for-checking-plagiarism/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="143" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/checking-plagiarism.gif" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="checking plagiarism" /></a>The growth of the blogging has brought about the problem of plagiarism that can damage not only your reputation as a writer, but also the rankings of your site. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the world of writing and warrants disciplinary actions against persons proved guilty. In many cases it is also possible that [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4321" alt="checking plagiarism" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/checking-plagiarism.gif" width="220" height="210" />The growth of the blogging has brought about the problem of plagiarism that can damage not only your reputation as a writer, but also the rankings of your site. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the world of writing and warrants disciplinary actions against persons proved guilty.</p>
<p>In many cases it is also possible that a blog writer may inadvertently use words or phrases in his blog writing that have already been used numerous times on other websites. So the best way to avoid any such mishaps would be to subject all blog writings to some best online plagiarism checking tools.</p>
<p>While there are paid online tools such as PlagiarismDetect or Grammarly which supports advanced features such as checking any number of pages on the entire web, it would be helpful to know that there are many free online services also.</p>
<p>The best way to protect your content and ensure that each piece of writing is unique is to submit them to any of the top plagiarism checkers that are available online.</p>
<p>You can check your blog writing for plagiarism with the help of a number of online tools that give you the best results. By using any of the plagiarism tools listed by <a>EssayTigers</a>, you can make sure that the blog post doesn’t contain any copied content.</p>
<h3>#1. PlagiarismSoftware.net (Duplichecker)</h3>
<p>Use Duplichecker to check that your posts original and free from plagiarism. It is easy to use this software by following some simple steps. Just upload or copy paste the blog writing then click ‘search’ to get the report, analyzing the text within a few seconds.</p>
<p>In case there is any copied content, it displays all the websites from where the material has been sourced. The entire text is carefully scrutinized and the best part is that this software to detect plagiarism is free for use.</p>
<h3>#2. PlagiarismDetect</h3>
<p>This plagiarism checking tool requires registration and works by checking the submitted text in the space provided or by checking the uploaded file in txt or doc format. The check is done by a random selection of strings of the submitted text and searches it in Google.</p>
<p>Since the text chosen for plagiarism may be too short, the results may not be necessarily foolproof.</p>
<h3>#3. Copyscape</h3>
<p>The free version offered by copyscape works by searching each page URL and displaying the top 10 results. Each result will display any content that is duplicated by highlighting them. For better results, you can register for Premium Search that is a paid version wherein the submitted text is checked thoroughly on the web for any plagiarism.</p>
<h3>#4. Doc Cop</h3>
<p>Doc Cop has a free version that checks a limited text of 75 words and is limited to just two such texts for a day. You have to register for this service through email. It works by checking a part of the text submitted for plagiarism check on Live Yahoo and Google.</p>
<p>If any copied content is detected it sends a report on the duplication to your registered email. You have to follow it up by browsing through the result pages generated by the particular search engine and detect the duplicated content and <a href="http://donnygamble.com/are-you-protecting-your-online-reputation/">protect online reputation</a>.</p>
<h3>#5. ArticleChecker</h3>
<p>This online service is free and easy to use. You can choose to paste the blog writing in the text box provided on the site or enter the URL of the blog writing and click on the “Compare” tab.</p>
<p>The text can be checked on Yahoo or Google search engines or on both for added protection. The results list the copied phrases and the number of times it is found online. This tool is no doubt simple to use but may miss out on a detailed check of the texts.</p>
<h3>#6. Plagiarisma</h3>
<p>This is another easy to use plagiarism detector tool that checks for matching results on Yahoo or Google. The free version is limited to a search of 5,000 characters and can be used only five times a day. You can use this service by copying and pasting the selected text into the specified text box or by entering the URL of the page to be checked.</p>
<p>Another way would be to upload a file in any of the formats such as .txt, .doc, .rtf, .pdf and .docx. It is better to enroll for a premium membership if you want to submit longer texts to multiple searches and ensure better results with refined searches on the web.</p>
<h3>Author bio</h3>
<p><em><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101642616120229772197?rel=author" target="_blank">Leslie Anglesey</a> is a paper writer and contributor to <a href="http://www.essaytigers.com/" target="_blank">EssayTigers</a>. She&#8217;s passionate about writing for journals and blogging, traveling and cooking.</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=nDIAcDFF1i0:kFpgimCyZ9k:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/online-tools-for-checking-plagiarism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hot Social Media Tools for 2013</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/hot-social-media-tools-for-2013/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/hot-social-media-tools-for-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:59:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/hot-social-media-tools-for-2013/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="135" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/social-media-tools.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="social media tools" /></a>Social media has been growing fast in the recent past. Although Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the current heavy hitters, Pininterest has fast caught up and is the fourth most popular after them. Concerning use of social media in business processes, creating strategy, guided by deep insights into the users can achieve greater, larger and [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4315" alt="social media tools" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/social-media-tools.jpg" width="260" height="234" />Social media has been growing fast in the recent past. Although <a href="https://www.facebook.com/connectwithdonny" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/donnygamblejr" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/donnyg16" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> are the current heavy hitters, Pininterest has fast caught up and is the fourth most popular after them.</p>
<p>Concerning use of social media in business processes, creating strategy, guided by deep insights into the users can achieve greater, larger and profitable audiences. The following hot social media tools are the best you need in 2013.</p>
<h3>#1. <a href="http://www.plagtracker.com/" target="_blank">Plagiarism checker</a></h3>
<p>It’s becoming very important to ensure that the content you publish on social media is unique and original. Plagtracker is a tool that will ensure your social media content is unique and respectable among peers, competitors and fans/followers.</p>
<h3>#2. <a href="http://www.pinfluencer.com/" target="_blank">Pinfluencer</a></h3>
<p>Pinfluencer is a marketing and analytics platform for Pinterest. It helps you measure the ROI of your Pinterest activity. It tracks pins from your website, pins from your boards, followers, and other engagement. Pinfluencer helps its users identify brand advocates and prospective customers, ensuring the use of Pinterest to its full potential. Customers and its users contact them for pricing, but Pinfluencer offers a 14-day trial and a free demo.</p>
<h3>#3. <a href="http://instagram.com/" target="_blank">Instagram</a></h3>
<p>Instagram is a social network that made a big impact in 2012, but often overlooked. Instagram having experienced growth of more than 1,100% since being acquired by Facebook, it is still a network to be watched as it has acquired a great audience. The latest release of Instagram-Twitter fight, photo sharing is important to users and any new tools that spring up look up to Instagram as an add-on to the platform.</p>
<p>Instagram extension is also available on <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/instagram-for-chrome/opnbmdkdflhjiclaoiiifmheknpccalb" target="_blank">Google</a> and brings it right to your browser. One is not needed to be on phone to manage Instagram activity, and instead can conveniently access everything you needed right from Chrome. And they’ve made the interface as similar to Instagram as possible, making for quick and easy adoption.</p>
<p>Consumers are spending more than a third of social networking time on mobile apps. Therefore mobile are springing up for use during TV watching, to manage a contest, to share music.</p>
<h3>#4. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-pages-manager/id514643583?mt=8">Facebook page managers</a></h3>
<p>Facebook Pages Manager, which was only released this year, is geared toward social media professionals. Users can manage our brand’s Facebook Page without interfering without interfering with personal accounts.</p>
<p>In 2012, Pinterest showed that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter will not be guaranteed the top spots forever. All social networks will have to keep innovating in order to keep our attention. It’s clear, however, that social media should no longer be considered some separate entity when it comes to marketing strategy.</p>
<p>Social can now be integrated into every marketing activity you do, and definitely deserve a place in your plan for 2013.</p>
<p>We should expect to see social media tools, analytics, and apps that will allow for us to better maximize optimize, and report on our social media activity and spend.</p>
<h3>#5. <a href="http://quozio.com/" target="_blank">Quozio</a></h3>
<p>This fun tool, comes with a bookmark option, allows one to create an image out of text on the Web, making the text or quote perfectly pin-able for Pinterest.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=oHfHqoEgCyY:5n4Or7bgoMU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/hot-social-media-tools-for-2013/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Multivariate Testing 101: Purpose and Instructions</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/multivariate-testing-101/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/multivariate-testing-101/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:59:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/multivariate-testing-101/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="127" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Multivariate-Testing.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Multivariate Testing" /></a>In the fast-paced world of the web, change is constant. It’s not enough to have a web presence, you must constantly be refining to bring it up to the standards and expectations of your audience. Regardless of how much time and money was put towards your website, it may become obsolete in a few years [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4309" alt="Multivariate Testing" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Multivariate-Testing.jpg" width="225" height="191" />In the fast-paced world of the web, change is constant. It’s not enough to have a web presence, you must constantly be refining to bring it up to the standards and expectations of your audience.</p>
<p>Regardless of how much time and money was put towards your website, it may become obsolete in a few years without implementing some changes here and there.</p>
<p>Before you get your hands dirty changing the content and design of your site, you’ll be better equipped going forward by running some tests to identify key elements of your site that may be lacking. It’s through these multivariate tests that you can implement the changes to get the results you need.</p>
<p><em>What is multivariate testing?</em> We’ll take a closer look at this testing technique in this article.</p>
<h2><b>What is Multivariate Testing?</b></h2>
<p>Multivariate testing is a set of marketing testing methods to find the best version of a website by presenting users with a series of variations of that site. Everything from headers, to site layout and graphics can be modified based on the results of the testing.</p>
<p>During the test, each variation receives equal attention and views from site visitors, so then decide which is more conductive to the overall effectiveness of the website. From there, the variation that received the most positive results will make its way into the revised version of the site.</p>
<h2><b>Why Do Multivariate Testing?</b></h2>
<p>A number of important factors influence most business owner’s decision to conduct multivariate testing – a highly optimized site will bring in more conversions, more sales, and thus more revenue for the owner. A user-approved site makes a substantial impact onto the credibility and success of your business and the more-appealing it is the more likely you’re going to receive a favorable response.</p>
<h2><b>How to Conduct Multivariate Tests</b></h2>
<p>With online tools and applications that automate most of the steps in multivariate testing, running them has been easier than ever. You can also opt to hire a third party firm that offers testing services to conduct the tests for you.</p>
<p><strong><em>Step One: Do a check on your website</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Evaluate your website and identify where it may be coming up short. Don’t be afraid to get some insights from colleagues and friends as an outside perspective can give you insight you might of never have considered otherwise. List the elements they mention and sort them into groups so you can run multivariate tests for each.</em></p>
<p><strong><em>Step Two: Create a test criteria</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Before starting your test, set up some criteria by which you’ll use to evaluate the results. Remember the goals you’ve identified earlier, as they should be in line with them. </em>For example, if you want to increase email subscriptions, then you should go for the website variation that will give you an increase in subscriptions.</p>
<p><strong><em>Step Three: Design and run your test</em></strong></p>
<p>At this stage, it’s time to design the variations that you’re going to be using for your test. Make sure that both versions are distinct from the other so that you can really see what type of design appeals with your customers.</p>
<p><strong><em>Step Four: Implement the final changes</em></strong></p>
<p>When the tests are done, it’s time to gather the data and interpret the results. You can now determine which variation performed better based on the criteria you prepared earlier, and then implement the changes on your actual website. Consult with your list of elements to test out as a means of going forward and conducting more tests.</p>
<p><i>This guest post is contributed by Ruben Corbo, a freelance writer that writes about technology, gaming, music, and online marketing where you can read more about multivariate testing. You can read more about this particular subject at </i><a href="http://www.maxymiser.com/" target="_blank">Maxymiser</a><i> as well as traffic to sales converting topics.</i></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=JqO_-94Hzg0:Yla43RYWf08:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/multivariate-testing-101/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Engagement Supersedes SEO in Social Networking</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/engagement-supersedes-seo/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/engagement-supersedes-seo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:41:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4303</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/engagement-supersedes-seo/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="108" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Social-Engagement.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Social Engagement" /></a>The power of Google has created a keyword-centric online marketing practice. It was actually this paradigm that sort of catalyzed the prevalent “black hat” SEO of the past – keyword stuffing, keyword spamming and keyword over optimizing just to name a few. Then social media marketing services came into the online marketing mix and it [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4304" alt="Social Engagement" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Social-Engagement.jpg" width="225" height="162" />The power of Google has created a keyword-centric online marketing practice. It was actually this paradigm that sort of catalyzed the prevalent “black hat” SEO of the past – keyword stuffing, keyword spamming and keyword over optimizing just to name a few.</p>
<p>Then social media marketing services came into the online marketing mix and it didn’t take long for internet marketers to ask the question whether social will affect a site’s SERP performance in Google.</p>
<p>While almost every social media agency believes that social signal now play a more crucial role in search engine rankings, many are still baffled how to make their social posts more SEO-friendly.</p>
<p>Here’s an unorthodox answer: do not execute social media marketing services for SEO’s sake.</p>
<h3><b>It’s All about Engagement, Not Ranking</b></h3>
<p>Social sites are places for meaningful interaction, not business. That does not mean that you can’t promote your brand in social networks, but you have to do it in such a way that is conversational, not hard sell. People post things on their social media accounts based on their interest and passion. No social media agency is entitled to just barge into these social spaces with nothing but search engine rankings in mind.</p>
<p>It does not take a rocket scientist to spot social media posts that are meant to please Google and not to engage readers in the most meaningful and impactful way possible. Just browse a forum for a good one hour and you’ll be surprised about how rampant the practice of creating social media posts that are heavy on keywords, but light on interaction and social sincerity.</p>
<h3><b>Headlines that Peak People’s Interest</b></h3>
<p>One of the missing elements in how <a href="http://www.agencyseo.com/social-media-marketing.html" target="_blank">social media marketing services</a> are conducted today is compelling and creative headlines that will peak the interest of social netizens. This is precisely because of that still prevalent keyword-obsessed mentality.</p>
<p>Well, guess what? While Google and Yahoo are gearing up to index Facebook comments, they still won’t be able to crawl millions of posts only viewable in Facebook itself.</p>
<h3><b>You Don’t Need Rankings in Social</b></h3>
<p>A social media agency should not be confused about social signals and social posts. For example, a blog with social sharing widgets has a greater chance of ranking high in search engines when it gets a log of Likes, Tweets or +1s. However, you don’t really need to worry whether your social media posts will rank high on Google or not.</p>
<p>First, it’s basically because you already have your captured audience in your social pages. One of the strengths of social media marketing services that search engine marketing tactics don’t have is that it is community based – meaning, the people in your network already have a certain level of engagement and investment in your brand. You don’t need to rank high to be seen because you are already visible to a market that matters.</p>
<h3><b>It’s All about Content Sharing</b></h3>
<p>Creating the highest volume referral traffic from social sites should be your first priority when doing social media marketing services. Compelling headlines and interesting content will bring you social network marketing success, not keyword-centric posts.</p>
<p><em>Richard Franklin is an Internet marketing expert and wants to share his knowledge with people who are about to hire a <a href="http://www.agencyseo.com/" target="_blank">social media agency</a> for their business. He has also given words to many articles where one can find the latest trends popular in SEO companies.</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=pLXkOF07P5A:6yssKcXHsW8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/engagement-supersedes-seo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>10 Ways to SEO your Blog without Giving into Trends</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/seo-blogging-trends/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/seo-blogging-trends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:02:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/seo-blogging-trends/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="128" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-seo-blogging-trends.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="2013 seo blogging trends" /></a>When you think about search engine optimization, or SEO, you usually think about something trendy. The latest fad or sure fire way to make your blog double its traffic in one day. Either that or you think about pay per click ads or other monetary investments. But what if I told you there was a [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4299" alt="2013 seo blogging trends" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-seo-blogging-trends.jpg" width="225" height="193" />When you think about search engine optimization, or SEO, you usually think about something trendy. The latest fad or sure fire way to make your blog double its traffic in one day.</p>
<p>Either that or you think about pay per click ads or other monetary investments. But what if I told you there was a way to SEO your blog without giving out money or investing in the biggest new thing? Well, here are some simple ways to SEO your blog without going trendy or spending lots of money:</p>
<h3><b>#1. Get a Niche</b></h3>
<p>The first thing you should do before anything else is find a niche. This is your blog’s overall theme. Your topic. The niche should be specific enough to get attention but broad enough that you do not run out of things to blog about. “Red cars” would be an example of too broad a niche, but “red 1968 Chevy Nova’s” is way too specific.</p>
<p>You need a happy medium to keep your blog focused while still having enough to write about. Make sure you enjoy your blog’s niche also. After all, you are the one who will spend day in and day out writing about that topic. If you do not love it now you will really hate it soon! By having a specific topic it makes it easier for search engines to categorize your blog for appropriate search results.</p>
<h3><b>#2. Know your audience</b></h3>
<p>After you figure out what your blog topic is the next thing you need to do is find your audience. Are you pointing your blog towards kids? Parents? The elderly? Men? Women? Business people? You have to have a specific target audience in mind to make your blog successful.</p>
<p>Once you figure out who your audience is, then you need to do some research and find out what they want to read about. Every audience is different. After all, you will not find a lot of business men searching for Justin Bieber, nor will you find kids searching for the Wall Street Journal. Know who your target audience is and what they read about before you ever write on your blog.</p>
<h3><b>#3. Do your research</b></h3>
<p>Now that you know what you are talking about and who you are talking to you should do some research. What are the most commonly searched words and phrases in your blog’s niche category? There are many programs online that can help you find out.</p>
<p>Most of these programs also offer insight into who is searching for these terms, giving you the ability to really focus on your target audience. By doing research you are avoiding wasted time and work on blog posts that will never be seen. Combine popular search terms for the best results.</p>
<h3><b>#4. Use keywords</b></h3>
<p>Once you have the research done then you can get to the bread and butter of SEO. Keywords are not a fad. They are a realistic way to get your blog noticed. The only fad with them is keyword packing. You want your use of keywords to be natural and unforced. Think about real people reading your blog, not just search engine crawlers.</p>
<p>Once you have done your research and know what the keywords are you will find it easy to write a blog post centered around them and will have great keyword density without sacrificing the quality of your content. Do not bother to try and hide the fact that you are using keywords. Anyone halfway familiar with SEO practices will get that. Instead embrace the fact that you can be user and search engine friendly and make the most of your blog.</p>
<h3><b>#5. Make it look nice</b></h3>
<p>Speaking of making the most of your blog, remember that your goal should be to get real people to read it, not just search engines. Believe me, search engines are easier. They do not care about the text color, the formatting, the background or any of that prissy stuff. However, people do. You want to make sure your blog is readable at the very minimum, but if it can be attractive and easy to use also that is a plus.</p>
<p>Make sure the background color allows the text to be read easily. Do not use pop up ads or other distracting and annoying placement. Make sure that scrolling works and you can even add some images for visual appeal. If your blog is white and boring spice it up with a new layout or just a splash or two of color.</p>
<p>The idea is to increase visual appeal, thus increasing the amount of time people will spend on your blog. Believe it or not, the smarter search engines get the more this matters to them as well. If it looks good to readers it will probably look good to the crawlers as well.</p>
<h3><b>#6. Keep it short</b></h3>
<p>I know that you probably think that longer posts are better, but you would be wrong. Sadly you get the same credit for a five hundred word post then you do for a five thousand word post. So, save your time and energy and keep your posts short. Five hundred to two thousand is a good length to shoot for.</p>
<p>If you have a lot to say you can always break your post up into segments which also has the advantage of making it look like you update more frequently. Anything less than five hundred words has the chance of being overlooked by search engines. The advantage here is also that readers do not want to read an essay.</p>
<p>They love to scan and go quickly. By keeping your stuff short you will have more readers click on it. You can also keep readers and search engines interested by breaking up the posts you make into headers, list formats or bullet points. This makes them easier for readers to scan and search engines love numbered posts like “5 ways to…”</p>
<h3><b>#7. Update regularly</b></h3>
<p>Speaking of keeping it short, updating your blog is a must. It might be that you post every day or every other day or even three times a week. Whatever your schedule is stick to it. Just know that the more you post the more hits your blog will get. That does not mean posting five times a day though.</p>
<p>Too many posts can scare off readers just like two few can bore them. Keep it level and post often for the best results. You do not want to burn yourself out or run out of things to write about either. Search engines love new things, so posting regularly can keep your blog at the top of the search result list.</p>
<h3><b>#8. Use multi media</b></h3>
<p>Want a new way to bring in a lot of traffic and get noticed on search engines? Try multimedia. Images, videos and infographics are the big thing nowadays. I swear I get more hits to my blog off of the images then I do off of my posts! Image search in search engines is a great way to get in new readers. Linking over to YouTube and using it is also a great way to get a new audience.</p>
<p>If you are creative and have some artistic skills you can create an infographic that might go viral, and anyone can create their own video. Nearly all new laptops come with a web camera and built in mike. Or you can record a presentation or even use screen caps with narration to explain a complex idea. There are many way to incorporate multimedia into your blog and reap the benefits.</p>
<h3><b>#9. Use social media</b></h3>
<p>Speaking of going viral, social media is the place to go for organic clicks to your site. Videos and images do well on sites like Facebook and Pinterest, and even the shortest blog posts can be Tweeted out. Find out what your target market is talking about and which social media sites they use for the best effects.</p>
<p>Then try to connect on a regular basis to keep the readers flowing in. Search engines love social media too. The more your blog’s name is out there the better your rankings are going to be.</p>
<h3><b>#10. Enjoy your blog</b></h3>
<p>Last but not least remember to love what you are doing! Everyone can tell if you are just slapping something out there or dialing it in. Instead, have passion for your blog topic and let that passion flow through in your writing. Blogging is like no other writing out there.</p>
<p>It is all about making connections and sharing knowledge. So be passionate and share what you know with others. You will find that search engines appreciate passion too, and the more creative and natural you write the more likely it is for people and crawlers alike to notice you. Be human and passionate for the best results.</p>
<p>As you can see, it does not take lots of money, ads or the latest fad to SEO your blog. All it takes is great content, a firm goal, and some research. You can make your blog great if you have the passion for your topic and the ability to stay on target for the long term.</p>
<p><b>Author Bio:</b></p>
<p><em>Jason Miner plays a vital role for <a href="http://blogcarnival.com/" target="_blank">www.blogcarnival.com</a>.  He is an expert in writing topics of different categories.  He is helping the carnival team to grow &amp; working on making this an even better place for bloggers. </em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=B5Zvmy72tSk:2gqvbalVT_o:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/seo-blogging-trends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Avoid Legal Trouble While Using Social Media</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/avoiding-legal-trouble-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/avoiding-legal-trouble-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:14:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Martell</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[copyright infringement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTC guidelines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trademarks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/avoiding-legal-trouble-social-media/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="112" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/social-media-legal.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="social media legal" /></a>It is very clear that online marketing is slowly and surely taking the place of traditional marketing practices. We see that many large businesses do not even advertise in newspapers anymore, and fewer and fewer businesses are putting money into magazine advertising like they used to. A lot of this advertising has shifted online in [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4294" alt="social media legal" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/social-media-legal.jpg" width="230" height="172" />It is very clear that online marketing is slowly and surely taking the place of traditional marketing practices.</p>
<p>We see that many large businesses do not even advertise in newspapers anymore, and fewer and fewer businesses are putting money into magazine advertising like they used to. A lot of this advertising has shifted online in the form of internet and social media marketing.</p>
<p>Social media marketing, in particular, seems to be a very popular medium of advertisement for businesses. Social media gives businesses an entire new platform on which to interact with customers. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow companies to build relationships with their followers in ways that no other advertising method has ever allowed them to do before.</p>
<p>But just because social media marketing is not traditional does not mean that it is not governed by similar laws. In fact, the <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/" target="_blank">Federal Trade Commission</a> has, in the recent years, made large strides in the fight to legalize and regulate the marketing methods employed by companies on social media networks. Unfortunately, a lot of companies stoop to unscrupulous, shady methods to advertise their products and to drag their competitors down.</p>
<p>Things like fake reviews and false advertisements run rampant in the social media world… but for those who wish to do things honestly, there are definitely rules to follow… and keeping within the guidelines of the law will also have positive benefits for your business! Among other things, you will be free from the fear of legal trouble while using social media!</p>
<h3>First Steps</h3>
<p>The first steps to take, when it comes to staying legal on social media sites, are pretty straightforward. As long as you make an attempt to operate honestly and with common sense, you will rarely have trouble. The problem is, however, that it is fairly easy to break some of the rules without even intending anyone any harm… and those issues are the ones that you have to watch out for the most!</p>
<p>First, it is of paramount importance that whoever is running your social media campaign knows the rules and follows them. This encompasses everything from posting ads, to running sweepstakes, to messaging, to hiring other people to do things for you.</p>
<p>You need to be especially careful when you are hiring people to post reviews or to spread the word about your business. If you hire someone to post a review about one of your products and they don’t disclose that the posting was ‘paid’ or ‘sponsored’, then you could actually face legal trouble as a result!</p>
<p>The FTC has rules about this type of thing, which is why you have to be so careful. If you don’t disclose the fact that a review is ‘paid’, then it is a form of misrepresentation and misinformation as it applies to the typical consumer.</p>
<p>By pretending to be a typical consumer, a paid reviewer is actually withholding information from consumers that the FTC has stated they have a right to know. A consumer has a right to know whether they are reading a real review or a paid review. That is the law, so make sure that your hired help knows this, and make sure that they follow it!</p>
<h3>What Can Happen If You Don’t Follow The Rules?</h3>
<p>To put it simply, not following the rules could very well lead to you shopping for a new <a href="http://www.bgs.com/areas-of-practice/criminal-defense-law/" target="_blank">criminal defense lawyer</a>. Just because the rules are not ‘always’ enforced does not necessarily mean that the people breaking them are going to go unseen or unpunished. If you want to run your business honestly, then make sure that you know the rules and that you are following all of the applicable laws.</p>
<p>Failing to do so could earn you any one of the following punishments…</p>
<ul>
<li>A ban from the social networking sites that you are using</li>
<li>Personal and professional embarrassment</li>
<li>A loss of business and followers</li>
<li>Fines and/or jail time! (in some extreme cases)</li>
</ul>
<p>Take trademarking and copyright infringement. Did you know that posting a copyrighted image on your blog could technically open you up to a $150,000 lawsuit? Luckily, you are protected from such action (under specific circumstances) by the <a href="http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act" target="_blank">Digital Millennium Copyright Act</a>, but it DOES make you think twice about grabbing just any random content off of Google images for your blog!</p>
<p>So whether it’s you or an employee managing the social media for your business, make sure that the rules and guidelines laid out by the FTC are followed. If not you could be in for some very unpleasant life lessons.</p>
<h3>Author Bio:</h3>
<p><em>Josh Sigafus is a freelance content writer who lives in the Central United States with his wife and two kids in a small-town community. When he is not working, Josh loves to read, spend time with his family, and play music. Josh often utilizes resources online and came accross <a href="http://www.bgs.com/" target="_blank">www.bgs.com</a> when he was looking for ways to stay legal while marketing his business on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=13kkAuRys0Y:vMH8AobHHIw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/avoiding-legal-trouble-social-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Make Your Linkedin Profile More Professional</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/linkedin-profile-tips/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/linkedin-profile-tips/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:24:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4286</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/linkedin-profile-tips/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="82" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Linkedin-Logo.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Linkedin Logo" /></a>Having a social media presence is one thing but having a professional and dedicated approach on professional networking sites including Linkedin is quite another. Linkedin offers a great doorway to reach out to your professional clientele base offering more mutual business interactivity with increased chances of finding the right talent. All these powerful advantages of [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4287" alt="Linkedin Logo" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Linkedin-Logo.jpg" width="270" height="148" />Having a social media presence is one thing but having a professional and dedicated approach on professional networking sites including Linkedin is quite another.</p>
<p>Linkedin offers a great doorway to reach out to your professional clientele base offering more mutual business interactivity with increased chances of finding the right talent.</p>
<p>All these powerful advantages of Linkedin can be easily lost if an individual has an unprofessional profile. Here are certain sure shot tips and tricks that simple users can incorporate in their Linkedin profile to make it look more professional making it stand out from the crowd with increased chances of better interactivity and convectional options.</p>
<h3><b>Have a Detailed Profile</b></h3>
<p>Having an incomplete profile is one of the biggest blunders a lot of people don’t give much attention to. Any social media profile especially on a professional network like Linkedin is the gateway to the world.</p>
<p>A LinkedIn profile is comparable to a professional resume, where one displays past educational information, work knowledge, skills, present work arrangement and profile image. Following LinkedIn’s Profile Completion Tips when editing the profile is a good idea to incorporate making sure that the profile gives out as much information that can showcase all the professional strengths including work experience, achievements as well as endorsements making it easier for potential connections to know intricate details about your professional life as well as your very own skill sets and past achievements.</p>
<p>Another tip to make your Linkedin profile more professional is to enable the profile for public viewing. Making your profile public clearly indicates to potential recruiters that you are open to exploration and associates.</p>
<p>Having the profile public gives out an unprofessional attitude showcasing that either one is not interested in any jobs or mutual associations or possibly even worse that he or she may have something to hide for the public at large.</p>
<h3><b>Upload a Professional Profile Photo</b></h3>
<p>Having a professional profile display picture is one of the basic steps but goes a long way in making sure that the individual is a thorough professional. Pictures of family and friends can be moved to other social media websites or even micro blogging ones.</p>
<p>Linkedin is purely for professional networking and having a good professional display picture makes it easier for potential connections to relate and understand the kind of work one is associated with simply by taking a view of the profile picture.</p>
<p>Having a high-quality, fresh profile picture of yourself that suitably describes your role in the associated field or industry is the best way to make Linkedin profile more professional.</p>
<h3><b>Add Relevant Skill Sets</b></h3>
<p>The skill set section on Linkedin is turning out to be by far the most popular choice to find and connect with fellow connections. Most companies use the skill set feature to find the best available talent for their respective industries.</p>
<p>Updating your skill sets using Linkedin Skill search tool is widely recommended to increase more interactivity and increasing your chances of connecting with the right people who may be either new business associates or job recruiters.</p>
<h3><b>Proofread Profile before Publishing</b></h3>
<p>Lack of attention to the profile inputs including spelling and grammatical mistakes make it the easiest way to showcase an unprofessional profile. Always make sure that once you edit your profile it is proofread a couple of times to avoid factual, grammatical or unintentional howlers and mistakes that can dent the good work of the profile in a jiffy.</p>
<h3><b>Update Endorsements Regularly</b></h3>
<p>Endorsements or recommendation from previous employers, business associates and even fellow workers is the best way to bring a high level of professionalism to your Linkedin profile.</p>
<p>Not only do endorsements work as a confidence boosting measure for potential business clients or new recruiters or HR personnel, they also act as the unique selling proposition of your profile making sure that all existing and potential connections are aware of your stronger points and past experience.</p>
<h3><b>Be Proactive in Linkedin Groups</b></h3>
<p>Social networking is all about interactivity. The level of interactivity gains even higher prominence when it comes to social networking. An empty profile or a good profile would not be of any worth is the basic interactivity element is not focused.</p>
<p>Users can increase their professional etiquette by being more proactive in Linkedin groups both by being proactive in discussions as well as helping out other people needing advices on trivial industrial matters that you may have experienced in the past.</p>
<p>Also its recommended to update your groups periodically so that you can attain your professional excellence by being part of the most relevant and popular groups that can boost your connections as well as interactivity with other members of the group of the same or different core industry group.</p>
<p><em><b>About the author</b></em><em>: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing, reading and traveling. Beside this she is fond of luxury cars and wishes to own one day</em><em> </em><a href="http://www.bornrich.com/lamborghini-reventon1.html" target="_blank">Lamborghini Reventon</a></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=z8CGL_tD4Dc:aXUjnFAQp-Q:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/linkedin-profile-tips/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Blog for International Audiences</title>
		<link>http://donnygamble.com/how-to-blog-for-international-audiences/</link>
		<comments>http://donnygamble.com/how-to-blog-for-international-audiences/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:51:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Donny</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://donnygamble.com/?p=4266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://donnygamble.com/how-to-blog-for-international-audiences/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/international-audiences.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="international audiences" /></a>Blogging is a powerful tool helping you connect with your audience. It helps you articulate your work, it encourages people to stay on your website for longer and it can also boost your visibility on websites (regular, original content is a popular technique for Search Engine Optimization). If expansion and growth are on your to-do [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4267" alt="international audiences" src="http://donnygamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/international-audiences.jpg" width="225" height="225" />Blogging is a powerful tool helping you connect with your audience. It helps you articulate your work, it encourages people to stay on your website for longer and it can also boost your visibility on websites (regular, original content is a popular technique for Search Engine Optimization).</p>
<p>If expansion and growth are on your to-do list for 2013 then you need to start thinking about how you are going to make your blog work internationally. There is a world of potential new customers out there; you just need to know how to talk to them effectively.</p>
<p>If you and your brand are expanding into a new country, if you want to connect with a wider international audience &#8211; and do it effectively &#8211;  here are five tips to get you started.</p>
<h3><b>Research Your Target Markets</b></h3>
<p>Audience or market research is the first step of any new campaign. When we understand the marketplace we are better placed to cater for its needs and wants. If you are planning to target a new country or international culture then first do your homework. What search engines do they use, and how is blogging viewed there? What are your competitors doing, what platforms are they using?</p>
<p>Google might be the dominant world search engine, but it’s not the most popular one in every country.  Do you know about Baidu in China or Aonde in Brazil, a directory that links Portuguese web pages?</p>
<p>Knowledge is power and it helps to understand what your target audience is already doing online, and how they are engaging with brands and businesses. This will give you a toolkit and strategy for how to begin communicating with them directly.</p>
<h3><b>Research Keywords</b></h3>
<p>SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the science of boosting the ranking of websites on search engines. This is a fast-growing industry. There are different factors to consider including Top Level Domains, directories and hosting, all of which can boost the visibility of your website in different countries and locations. For blogs then you need to think about content.</p>
<p>Keywords are the words that your customers put into search engines to try to find different products and services. The goal is to anticipate these, to build them into your website and to use the words in your blog to help increase your ranking.</p>
<p>Researching keywords should be an element of your target market research. Keywords will be different depending on the language of your target audience. Consumers tend to use colloquialisms and familiar terms to search for products. If you’re trying to communicate with a trade audience, they’re more likely to use industry jargon.</p>
<p>It isn’t a question of simply translating the keywords you already use in the US, since these might not be the most commonly used ones. For example, Italian searchers often use a mixture of English and Italian words, such as “voli low cost” (low cost flights).</p>
<p>It’s also important to remember languages vary between countries. If you’re blogging about cars, you should know the translation is “carro” in Latin American Spanish, but this means “cart” in Spain!</p>
<p>Using the right keywords will help to make your blog more visible and relevant to your target audience. Use a native speaker to help you find the most effective keywords.</p>
<h3><b>Create Optimized Content</b></h3>
<p>You are armed with the right keywords so how do you use them in your blog? Optimizing content means using the SEO techniques that will help make your blog work for search engines. To optimize your content you will be building your researched keywords into meta-tags, titles, alt-tags, and heading tags as well as the body content of your blogs.</p>
<p>However it also needs to work for your audiences as well as the search engines. Most international search engines recognise a regular use of keywords, but the copy still needs to flow, to be engaging and entertaining. To engage with your new target market you need to understand their culture and online behaviour and you need to localize your content.</p>
<h3><b>Use Professional Translators</b></h3>
<p>We’ve talked a lot about understanding the culture and the language spoken by your target market. Even within the same language there will be differences, as the “carro” example illustrates.</p>
<p>A professional translator will understand the nuances of language, the small changes and differences your target audience will employ. Little mistakes in terms of vocabulary will make it obvious that this isn’t your mother tongue. This can alienate your target market and result in them switching off.</p>
<h3><b>Adapt Your Message</b></h3>
<p>The key strategy for optimizing your blog for an international market is to understand the local culture. Research your audience, know how they behave online, how they engage with brands. You will find it much easier to engage with them successfully.</p>
<p>Language is an important factor of that but also understanding humour, references, local celebrities and cultural references are important. A blog should be fairly informal. To effectively engage with your audience, you need to assimilate yourself.</p>
<p>Technically this means developing that localized SEO strategy but it also means that you need to adapt your message depending on who you’re talking to. This involves recognizing each target market as being equally important, and moulding and shaping your message to suit it.</p>
<p><b>About the author:<br />
</b><em>Christian Arno is the founder of Lingo24, one of the world’s leading providers of <a href="http://www.lingo24us.com/" target="_blank">translation services</a> in New York and across the  Americas. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 has worked its way to becoming the web’s favorite translation company, working with more than four thousand translators and clients in over sixty countries. Follow Christian (<a href="http://twitter.com/l24ca">@l24ca</a>) and Lingo24 (<a href="http://twitter.com/lingo24">@Lingo24</a>) on Twitter.</em></p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?a=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/donnygamble?i=JD_86qWj6io:mSkh7iuMhls:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a>
</div>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://donnygamble.com/how-to-blog-for-international-audiences/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
