1. Fab.com and Styleowner.com

Both of these sites are versions of the successful model behind Pinterest. Styleowner is being praised for the rewards it offers to active members who discover popular content, curate their images and links well, and provide insightful recommendations. Fab.com is known for the niche that it’s carved out within the design community. Called “Pinterest for designers”, Fab.com is taking off quickly and becoming an indispensable resource for those in the business.

2. Percolate.com

This site is still in its beta stages and hasn’t yet been made available to the public, but the buzz surrounding it is hot indeed. The site is expected to help users discover suitable content for their specific online communities.

3. Skiminks.com

Skiminks places code into a website template and then skims the content looking for product mentions that can be turned into links. The tool also looks for appropriate places to add affiliate links and inserts them automatically. This can be great for your site and also for your affiliates and partners.

4. Tabjuice.com and Locafollow.com

Tabjuice is a long-awaited tool that can help users sell products directly through Facebook. This can help you monetize your social media like never before. Locafollow is a new tool that can allow you to identify twitter users with relevant interests by searching their bios and the cities they live in for keywords. This can help you find and reach out to influencers, a win for you and also for them.

5. Cyfe.com

Want to gain insight into your sales data, web analytics and social media feeds all in one place? Try Cyfe.com and coordinate analytics from Google, Ad This, Feedburner and Alexa.

Image By: glokbell

A visitor to Pinterest with a specific interest can easily find theme-based boards posted by, for example, fashion enthusiasts, or those who share similar taste in home décor. If you’re interested in knitted baby hats and are always on the lookout for new baby hat design ideas, you can head to Pinterest to find somebody who shares your taste and covers his or her pinboard with cute and inspiring baby hat photos.

So if you’re trying to market your small business on the internet, what does this mean for you? How can Pinterest help you showcase your product to potential customers?

Pinterest as a Marketing Platform

Like any social media site, Pinterest can help you attract visitors who come for the photos and stay for the brand message. Whatever your message, your public pinboard can draw in visitors with relevant tastes and interests, and before long, you’ll have a bona fide following. Even better, you can get visitors to recommend your board to others, or repost the images they find there.

Each image, or “pin”, contains a link back to a source, so you’ll increase your site traffic if you offer images that link back to your website or blog. This means that if you pin a picture from your blog to your pinboard, someone with an interest in that image may click on your pin. The pin contains a link that leads straight to your blog page, which can help you spread the word about your products and services.

Promotion relies on visibility, and Pinterest is a bustling marketplace where users gather to share and trade images. Make sure your images support your brand, and then use Pinterest to maximize the number the number of eyes that will see them.

Setting Up a Pinterest Account

Getting started on Pinterest is easy. Just visit Pinterest.com and request an invitation, then set up your account, establish your first pinboard and start posting. Take a look around the site to find out how other users are using their pinboards, and pay attention to the images that get the most attention as you begin posting your own.

Image By: heatherknitz

But the conversation continues. And while SOPA and PIPA failed to gain support in congress, similar initiatives are already being drafted in the U.S. and around the world. The problems surrounding content ownership and piracy have not gone away, and without adequate intellectual property protections, businesses, artists, writers, and other content creators struggle to protect their interests.

Right now, for example, every business owner, innovator, and internet user should be keeping one eye on the progress of ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. This is an international agreement being negotiated in relative secrecy by 39 countries including Japan, the U.S., and 27 members of the European Union. Supported by many in the entertainment industry, ACTA will impose new criminal sanctions on copyright violators, and will likely lead to new forms of internet censorship and content control.

Internet marketers should also carefully follow the progress of ACTA negotiations. If enacted, this law may impose new restrictions on marketing practices and message distribution, which, in turn, may affect the price of paid marketing content, and may require more careful dissemination of images, sound and video.

Will ACTA be bad for business? Possibly. The free flow of information throughout the internet is generally considered a benefit to both business and society. But without control of intellectual property rights, producers remain unprotected, innovation remains unsupported, and content revenue streams remain uncontrolled. The answer will lie in the details of the legislation and the results of the international debate.

As digital marketers, we’ll be following these issues closely. Our position will be based on the needs of our clients, our partners, our community, and our stakeholders.

Image By: DonkeyHotey

In 2011, Twitter took this system to the next level. With a new product called the Twitter Translation Center, the company can now crowdsource translations of Twitter sites into dozens of new languages. Any Twitter user can now sign up, log in and start contributing to the translation process. Volunteers can create translator profiles, use phrase tagging, comment on phrases and more. Translations are taking place on Twitter.com, mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone and iPad, Twitter for Android, Twitter Help and the Twitter Business Center. (Translations apply to sites and products, not Tweets.)

For business users, this means the reach of Twitter is about to expand exponentially. Thousands, maybe millions of users who couldn’t access Twitter products a few short years ago will now be able to log on and join the conversation. This is a potential game changer for growing businesses with international ambitions.

Deals, links, updates, compelling pictures and special offers can be viewed by users on the other side of the world. Bear in mind that these translations apply to products, not Tweets, so you’ll be able to take better advantage of this new tool with images and non-verbal product messages.

If you’re interested in joining Twitter’s crowdsourcing efforts in order to target a specific language market, visit twitter.com/translate and follow @translator for more information.

Image By: shawncampbell

1. Get out there:

Blogging, despite what some might believe, is not a solitary pursuit. Some businesses and private bloggers like to sit in their own personal internet bubble and type away, and that’s fine. But the best way to get others to read your blog is to read the blogs of others. Get into the mix. Read what people have to say in your subject area. Leave comments. Post links. Become a guest blogger. Give feedback. Introduce yourself.

2. Optimize directories and social media:

Don’t just link to your blog on your Facebook page (though doing so is a good idea). Each time you post a new blog, mention it in a Tweet and status update, and do so with a little flair. Lure readers in. Include a link in the update, of course. You’ll also want to register yourself with relevant directories, so readers in your specific subject area can find you in specialized searches.

3. Monitor analytics and 86 what isn’t working:

If you install analytics and track them carefully, you’ll have a general idea of who your readers are. So use that information to your advantage. If a new theme or concept isn’t working for your audience, get rid of it. If your readers turn out to have a sense of humor, drop the serious tone and keep them laughing.

4. Vary your content appropriately:

It’s no secret that people like variety and novelty. Incorporate fresh images, new videos and occasional site revamps into your long term plans.

5. Ask for feedback:

Engage with your blog readers at every opportunity. This means using calls to action, discounts, contests and any other interactive tool at your disposal. But it also means asking them directly what they want. And when they tell you what they want, by all means, make it happen.

Image By: iliveisl