Summary of below: What will you discover in this article?

- Why we blacked out our site for the day
- What SOPA and PIPA are and how important it is to fight
- How SOPA/PIPA will essentially force us to all become laggards

Let’s inspect one of the writers of these amazing bills shall we? Don’t worry, I will absolutely be judging him.

Citation: THANKS WEASELZIPPERS.US

Check this dude out… This is a first person view of a computer as he attempted to turn it on for the first time back in May of 2011. *Notice the mild confusion and excitement as he sees a light begin to glow.*

In summary:
Do you think this guy really knows what is best for the future of the intnernet? Highly unlikely…

Being a strong follower of tech ventures and seeking new business startups in the industry that could be a game changer, I would be very disappointed to see a new start up like http://dropost.it not be able to launch because of something written within the SOPA or PIPA bills. These guys really have their stuff together and would miss out on a huge opportunity.
This is very serious and it is very nice to see many of the top dogs participating and using their assets to spread the word as heavily as they possibly can. On a side note… this might be the most productive day in the world of business with Reddit being down. (Citation: Tyler Lincoln quote from Sunday night)
If you aren’t familiar with SOPA or PIPA, here is a quick summary of what you need to know for the sake of sweet irony I have provided the link to the Wikipedia references.

SOPA = Stop Online Piracy Act
- The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.

PIPA = Protect IP Act
- The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to “rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods”, especially those registered outside the U.S.
- The PROTECT IP Act is a re-write of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA),[5] which failed to pass in 2010. A similar House version of the bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was introduced on October 26, 2011.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

LET’S FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM!

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4. Effort
3. Reviewstimonials
2. Social Rapport
1. OPRAH!

Why Oprah? Because…. she’s got more money than Davey Crockett and is one of the most popular people on the face of the earth. If the message isn’t clear, I’m talking about hammering the market relentlessly until it has no choice but to give you a piece of the pie.

I firmly believe that search engines and Internet Marketing in general directly correlates to real life experiences. I realize it is pretty nerdy, but if you can imagine a search engine as a High School and us as the people that attend it, you are already ahead of the game. Search engines crave competition, jealousy, ethics, effort, and even cheaters can temporarily get ahead … as long as they don’t get caught. We just so happen to be going to school with Oprah who is pretty “fierce” with several “it” factors that make her super popular.

Having an authority image plays an integral role in the success of a personal or business’s website and as for Oprah, her website has “got it going on!” She’s constantly gossiping (building content, spreading rumors); becoming a trend setter, giving her girlfriends advice (authority), playing wing woman while scamming on boys at the mall (testimonials), participating in after extracurricular activities (effort), donating her time to philanthropies (building social rapport), and gets top grades without considering cheating on a test (white hat strategies).

In October 2010, I was able to pounce on some opportunities based on my Oprahesque outlook on search engines and human interaction. Over that time, my futuristic theories had gradually become more evident and affirmed my bold beliefs. Over the next few weeks I will be providing what triggered the original ideas, the concepts conceived, and drive it deeper than I have ever explained it before. These original thoughts were delicately shared with associates I trusted, but now I’m prepared to share the next wave of strategies with anyone willing to listen. Heck, I will even be sharing internet marketing business concepts that could be used immediately for profit.

We don’t have to be as amazing as Oprah, but we can learn a lot from her. That’s why just before I sit down at the computer and analyze a client, I put on my WWOD bracelet and think to myself…“What would Oprah Do?”.

Be prepared for the new wave of internet marketing strategy.

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1. Blogs form the base of the social network “pyramid”, contributing the most (and usually most meaningful) content to the web. A blog’s power to bring visitors to a website cannot be underestimated as long as it maintains continuous posts about relevant topics. Blogs are easily syndicated via RSS feeds, which make it easy for users to  stay updated with new posts, or subscribe.
2. Social networking websites, or rather, the social networking website, Facebook has really blossomed in the past few years into a content generating machine. The content is all personal information, but the thing is, now it’s easy for small businesses use that information to connect with new customers and interact with existing customers.
3. Next on the pyramid come social bookmarking websites. Reddit and Digg contain a plethora of links that are submitted and voted upon by users. While not quite as widely used as the lower pyramid layers, websites like StumbleUpon and Delicious make it easy (and kinda fun!) to “stumble upon” new websites. Users can list their interests or topics they enjoy on the Internet, and they are directed to websites that fit their profile. If your website is in the right niche with some representation here, you can get some very relevant traffic.
4. Twitter, the self-described information network, resides at the top of the pyramid. While tweets don’t help search engine rankings in quite the same way the previous methods do, they help generate trends and popular topics. If your website is relevant to the trends, all the better! Much like Facebook, Twitter is also great for interacting with customers and clients.

pro2go Designs can help you manage all of your social networking websites, without relying solely on an automated bot! Get more information on social networking management.

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Pet Rescue by Judy is a 501C3 no-kill animal rescue organization, dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of abandoned and abused pets.

Get information about the Dash for Dogs schedule and activities. Be sure to visit their Facebook page as well.

Learn more about pro2go Designs and internet marketing Orlando, Florida.

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Idea#1: Teach what you know - Are you very protective of your industry secrets? Well, try something different and share everything you know. Share your secrets in forums, Facebook or Twitter. Post it to your blog, email it to your contacts, prospects and clients. If you feel you’re giving away too much, you are on the right track. This is what everyone is concerned about: “If you give away all your secrets, then no one will want to hire you.” This is what actually happens: people will see you really know what you are talking about but won’t have the time, desire or knowledge to do it themselves so they will hire you to do it for them.

Idea#2: Think about your indirect competition – On your website, you’ll want to tell why you’re better than other agencies, and that’s really good, but you should also talk to them not only about your direct competition, but also about your indirect competition which is ways to solve the same problem with a different approach. For example, a) why working with .Com Marketing is better than another agency, b) why doing SEO monthly is better than not doing it & c) why working with .Com Marketing is better than doing it yourself. Keep in mind that your direct competitors are not the only ones competing with you.

Idea#3: Learn from your own blog – How often do you go through all your blog posts, see which ones got more re-tweets or comments and write down a few notes about what works and what doesn’t? If you don’t know what your audience liked in the past, you have little chances of creating something that they will like in the future.

Idea#4: Have a Facebook Page – Although you probably already have a Facebook profile, you should also have a Facebook page. Here’s why: a) you can only have 5,000 friends under your profile and unlimited fans for your page; b) Facebook pages get indexed by the search engines & you can get a link back to your site; c) On your page you can have an opt-in box so people can subscribe to your newsletter or get a free report; d) with a page, you can send an update to all your fans at once.

Call .Com Marketing to learn how we can develop an internet marketing plan that will increase your ROI…..(407)774-4606 Ext. 204

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Due to the low financial cost, Small & Medium sized businesses are making social media their number 2 online marketing preference just behind their company site. As of March 2011, Social Media out performed SEO and Paid Search. More and more Small & Medium sized businesses are adding social media to their internet marketing strategies. The most prevalent used social platform used by Small and Medium sized businesses is Facebook. Google and Bing were a distant 2^nd and 3^rd.

While social media is making its mark and generating business leads, traditional search engine optimization should not be overlooked. It still gets businesses found when consumers are looking to place a buy.

Call me to discuss how a social media campaign can work for your business….(407)774-4606 Ext. 207

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Google Profiles

We all know how valuable a page one Google search result is. Well, what if I told you Google offered you a free tool that guaranteed that a page you created would end up on the first page of any Google search for your business — would that be of interest to you?

I thought so.

One of the dangers in this online world we all inhabit is that people can post almost anything they want about your business, even if it is not a true or accurate reflection of your business. Complaints (on Yelp, blogs, forums, or wherever) may be the first thing people see about your business.

Here’s the good part, by creating your own Google Profile, you can create a Google page that is written by you and puts your best foot forward. Then, whenever someone Googles you or your business (you can create a profile for both), that Profile is guaranteed to be at the bottom of the first page of search results.

Pretty nifty, huh?

Google Alerts

What are people saying about you and your business online? Of course, it is very hard to track — that is, unless you set up a Google Alert. Daily or weekly, you can have Google send you an e-mail that lists all of the places where you and your business are mentioned.

Consider how valuable that could be. If people say something nice about your business, you can thank them. If they complain, you can catch it early. Either way, getting regular notifications about your business will help you protect and grow your brand.

You may also want to create alerts for the competition, to see what is being said about them. Or what about getting alerts for important words or trends in your industry? That turns Google Alerts into a very powerful research tool — where the results come to you.

Google Places

Google Places is sort of like the White Pages of today. Think about a search you have done for a local business. What pops up first when you do that? That’s right, a little map of the area with that business and others nearby.

That is Google Places.

Places allows you to add your business to that local directory and map — for free. Your Places place can list hours of operation, pictures of the store, coupons and more. If you are willing to pay a small fee of $25, you can even make your Places spot stand out even more.

Google Trends

Officially called “Insights for Search,” Google Trends can be a valuable research tool for your business, allowing you to tap into market indicators. This tool enables you to track Google searches on various subjects, going back to 2004. Here, for example, is a search of the term “small business mobility.” You will see it was not even a significant search term before 2007. Trends then is a good tool for locating past — and potentially future — trends in your business or for your products.

Bottom line: Google is a lot more than search these days — and the right tools can be good for your bottom line.

If you just don’t have the time to implement any of these fantastic tools yourself, please call us to discuss how we can help you grow your business.

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Here are four fun and free social buzz tracking tools. These tools provide tracking on the basic level but tracking of any kind is still very important. Enjoy!

Monitter – http://monitter.com/
Enter up to three words/phrases (eg. three brands) and Monitter starts live streaming of tweets that include the words/phrases. What makes this better than a search from within Twitter is with Monitter you can limit tracking to a particular area/city!!!

SiteVolume –  http://www.sitevolume.com/ Enter up to five words/phrases to compare total volumes for each word/phrase in five social media sites: Digg, Myspace, Youtube, Flickr, Twitter

Keotag – http://www.keotag.com Enter a word/phrase and then select from a long list of social media sources (eg. Twitter etc.) to see recent posts for that word/phrase within selected social media source. View photos from Flickr relating to the word/phrase.

Addictomatic- http://www.addictomatic.com Kudos to Addictomatic because it has a very interactive dashboard and has great features! - Addictomatic is a search engine that offers tracking on Youtube, Digg, Google blog search and Flickr. Just pop in your brand term (or your competitors) to get an overview of where you’re doing well and which areas need attention. For example, if it’s not picking up your photo or video results you will know this is an area that needs search engine optimization!

Call .Com Marketing to discuss how our advanced social media services can help your business grow. 1.866.266.6584

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Photo-Social Fresh

I had a fantastic time at my first  Social Fresh conference this past Monday and Tuesday! When I first signed up for the conference, I was worried it was going to turn out like so many of the social media webinars and workshops I’ve attended that left me feeling disappointed and angry…well, mostly just angry!

Even though Social Fresh advertised that this class was a “master” training course, I was skeptical. The other courses boasted about advanced this and master that, but ended up being nothing more than a cleverly disguised community center Facebook course. Sunday night, thoughts of PowerPoint slides showing me why I need a Facebook Page for my business and not a Profile page, churned in my head.

Come Monday morning, about 5 minutes into the conference, I realized it really was a master training course! The guest speakers were extremely knowledgeable, inspiring, and brought their real world experiences to the table!

Here are my 5 favorite Facebook excerpts from the Social Fresh Tampa 2011 conference:

1)”Facebook is not ShamWow~Justin Levy” – Facebook is not a fad and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. I love this analogy because I have to deal with people on a daily basis that think Facebook will burn out in a month or two.

2)”Does Facebook replace your website? Hell No!” – Consider Facebook as your website’s partner. It’s supposed to support your site, not replace it.

3) “One in 500 updates make it to the news feed~Ellie Mirman” – Not all of your updates will be seen by every one of your fans, but popular updates will earn more impressions. Posting multiple times a day doesn’t improve your feedback. It could actually work against you.

4)”Facebook ads reach every fan” – Umm…wow! That’s a simple, yet powerful concept. There is a feature that allows you to share your ad with all of your fans.

5) “Direct analytics, don’t let them direct you~ Chris Penn from Blue Sky Factory“- This wasn’t directly about Facebook  but it was about tracking your social interactions. I just loved it so much I had to have it in my top 5! The point here was to only focus on the analytics that are relevant and avoid the gobs of information you don’t really need. Great advice!

Lastly, I really appreciated Paula Berg sharing her story. Paula was at one point, the entire social media department for South West Airlines. She really understands the resistance that we encounter as social media specialists. Her presentation left me feeling energized!

Many thanks to all of the guest speakers and to Social Fresh for providing an inspiring social media conference.

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