What are your Social Media Fan Page Stats?

Do you know who takes the time to view your website, your blog or perhaps your Facebook fan page? With the wonderful service from Facebook (those of us with fan pages are automatically enrolled) you can find out if you have new subscribers to your fan page or if you have people dropping out. In this way you can gauge the level of interest in your message.

Here is part of the content supplied and an example below:

+5 Fans this week (1,245 total Fans)

55 Wall Posts, Comments, and Likes this week (43 last week)

240 visits to your page this week (222 visits last week)

This gives you an idea of the traffic to your website and a comparison of the numbers from the previous week. You can also plan to launch a campaign to obtain more visitors and engage more chatter. There are many ways you can do this. The site I listed above is a ministry site, so that works a bit different than a website that has a business focus.

For example looking at the Wall Post comments the numbers slightly increased from the previous week but a very small portion of the "fans" are engaging in conversation on the site. Therefore I have several options. One is to engage more directly, add a blog post or message or give relevant information that will compel those in the group to respond.

Another item of interest is the number of visits and the numbers of fans. Again the numbers are low which can mean those who stopped by did so by accident or by searching for relevant key words. Many decided not to join. Again, food for thought and the plan would be to create content that would engage the visitor as well as the end user compelling them to stay and join.

An option is to use a service such as Google analytics to run numbers on page views, geographic demographics and similar type of information. Don't let the weeks go by without posting some type of comment or information. I have done this with my business site and the momentum once started has begun to wane. Keep the marketing consistent and you'll enjoy very good results.

5 Facts About Having Video on Your Website or Blog

1. It Increases the Amount of Visitors (Traffic) to Your Site and Improves Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When your website contains a video, your web designer includes important industry keywords, phrases and your website or blog URL address along with that video to help elevate your ranking on the Google™, Yahoo! and other important search engines. One of the most common ways to insert video into your site or blog is to upload it to YouTube (giving you even more links back to your website) - not as daunting a task as it may sound - then embed the url link into your blog or site. YouTube has videos and great help links to guide you through this process.

2. It Gives Your Overall Internet Presence More Interactivity, Credibility and Traffic

Website surfers expect to see photos at the very least but, even more importantly, now expect to see and even share videos with others. This helps to create loyal fans and make videos "go viral" (watched by many).

Consider creating a "how-to" video on something useful for your customers or about your products and services rather than writing 500 words of text. Other common uses for video uploaded to company websites are testimonials given by your enthusiastic customers. Your video doesn't even have to be more than a slideshow presentation, as is demonstrated here in this video I created for the Empowered Networking Blog!:



3. It Can be Easily Embedded into Your Social Media Sites

Your friends and networking connections can view these videos on your Facebook and MySpace pages, YouTube channels and more. This gives you added visibility for your company or cause at no extra charge. It also gives you more useful links back to your own website or blog.

4. It Sets You Apart from Your Competitors

Many companies are still not up on the latest technology when it comes to web design and website usability. They are not aware of the lost opportunities from relying on old website technology and websites that are difficult to navigate. By including a well-designed, thought-out video, you are most likely providing something your competitors are not. If you can make that video "sell" for you, it's well worth the time and effort you put into it.

5. It Allows You to Reach a Completely Different Target Market

You may be tapping into an entirely different audience than you ever imagined. There are people surfing the Internet who only want to watch videos. How they find your video will be determined by the keywords that you use when uploading the video.

As more mobile phones and other devices become equipped with the ability to display videos, the size of your audience may be growing exponentially.

Watch for my next post on ideas for creating and marketing videos to post on your website and/or blog.

Getting More Blog Traffic

More Traffic to Your Blog
by Felice Gerwitz



So, you have a blog. You took the time to format, check and double check those keywords. And you find that you don't have any blog traffic. How do you get people flocking to your blog? Advertise. How?

The Problem:

Many people approach blogs in the opposite way that they approach other business ventures. No one would think about opening a store front and then letting people know about it. There would be all kinds of promotions, grand-openings, announcements, and/or print ad campaigns to let people know about your new business. It is no different online. One of the best was of getting more traffic to your blog is by advertising, and I don't mean click ads although they can be effective, they are costly. Yes, you need a blog in order to advertise it, but once you do, all your other social network and print ads need to be in place.


The Solution:

Let your facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social network followers know about your blog. Use blog widgets to allow your readers to send the information about your blog, easily to their social network sites.

Twitter and Facebook users are always looking for good content for their followers. A blog post that is a good read will be happily tweeted by your followers. Create a link so that the reader can easily do this with a push of a button. There are all types of add ons for your browser that make this easy. We will discuss some of these application in future posts on using social networking.

Other Quick Ways to Get More Blog Traffic

• In your signature line in emails.
• On your business card
• Letterhead stationary, brochures
  
• Website
• In your newsletter
  
• Print Ad
• Banner ads
• Forums
• Responding to other blog posts
• Article writing
• Social networking
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Plaxo
• Youtube

Regardless of how you announce your blog post, be sure to choose at least two or three ways to advertise with each post. If you do, you will notice a marked incline in the number of followers and comments. Did you find this information helpful? If so, help us by letting your social networks know about it. And...do you have a good way to advertise your blog? What has worked well for you? Please share your insights here.

What is Your Internet Strategy?

We all start out with good intentions when we decide to build a website for our business.

But if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

The sad truth is few businesses have a well thought out website business strategy.


Most know that having a business website can be important to increasing their business bottomline, but few will see any significant improvement in increased sales or profit unless they have a well thought out online business plan.

Finding the time to develop an effective internet strategy can be difficult and time-consuming if you don’t know the right questions to ask. There are so many other things in your business that require your attention, it can be tempting to push ahead with building a website before taking the time to prepare.

But without a clear strategy in place, poor online business decisions can put an added drain on your already strained budgets, and can even be the difference between staying in business or closing up your doors.

To be effective, your website and online marketing strategy need to be part of your overall business goals and objectives. It needs to be aligned with your current offline business plan and strategies so your online tactics work with your business and not against it.

Once you know where you want to go, your path to get there becomes very clear and the tools that will help you get there become even clearer.

Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com

Blogging: Time Saving Devices

Part 2
Blogging: Time Savers

We've already established that time is a commodity many of us do not have in abundance. Therefore, making the most out of our time is essential.

Here are some other quick and easy-to-use time saving tips when blogging.

1. Have a theme for your blog
2. Ideas
3. Plan a series
4. Use blog features
5. Scour news stories
6. Be user friendly
7. Get rid of nasty code



1. A Theme:

Having a theme for your blog will greatly cut down in the frustration of wondering what to post next. This will give you a place to begin. Use a notepad (or word document on your computer) and list some ideas for your blog. Pick the one idea that is the most encompassing of your general overall customer reach or client base.

2. Ideas

I have too many ideas and too little time. Therefore a handy device that I use is Mind Mapper software. You can search online for free versions, in fact Wikipedia has several download links for free software. This has been a life saver for me in terms of organizing ideas for upcoming book projects. This can even be used for work flow, or to-do lists. I own software that has been purchased (MindMapper 5.0) and it has paid for itself many times over. When writers block strikes you can look at your idea list and pull some fresh ones out. Make sure you add some when you take some away.

3. Plan a series

One idea can lead to another and another. If you think about your blog post as one long series that will help you keep with the topic flow and expand upon another thought. I personally know authors who have taken their blog posts and turned them into free e-books or obtained book contracts because of the number of blog followers. Why would your readers come back daily to check on your posts? Is it because you have enticed them with a "what's coming" at the end of the post? Use these devices and watch your numbers soar. (You will spend less time in advertising your blog as well.)

4. Use your blog features

You can write blog posts many days ahead of time and schedule when they will become "live." This is a time saving feature. Write when you have the time.


5. News Stories

Does your blog contain up to the minute news? If not, you may consider inserting some trends from time to time. This helps your readership, does not take long to find (make sure you subscribe to information sites that provide good sources), and will liven up an otherwise  same-ole post.

6. Be user friendly

Are there applications on your blog that will allow readers to tweet or facebook a post of interest? Does your blog speak down to people or is it easily understood. If you use a word the reader may not understand do you link to the site with the information readily available. Don't make your reader work. Let your blog be a place to find information quickly and easily.

7. Nasty Code

If you use a word processor to write  your blog (and you should), many times there is html code that is embedded in the document. If you control-copy-and-paste from the word document into your blog post screen, you will bring all that code along and mess up your blog post. Use this simple life saving technique. Copy your word document (Highlight your document (Ctrl key and A), then hold the Ctrl key, and hit the "C" for copy)...then open notepad... and paste (Ctrl key and the letter V). Then copy the entire document from notepad and paste it into your blog. It will look identical to your word document all without the annoying code.

Review shortcuts to copy and paste:
Highlight All: Ctrl + A
Copy All: Ctrl + C
Paste All: Ctrl + V

Next post: Keywords...using them will help your blog ranking.

Domain Name Tips for Small Business

Your domain name plays a key role in your online business success. It is what your website is called and how it can be found. Anytime you type into the address bar of your browser, you are using a domain name. For example, when you type http://www.empowerednetworking.com/ into your browser, you are typing in the domain name for the Empowered Networking website.

Choose your domain name wisely. When choosing a domain name, be sure it is something that people will be able to remember or recognize. Often times, a potential customer or a business associate may not know your physical address or phone number, and going to the internet and bringing up your website is the best way for them to find you. So try to keep your domain name simple and easy to remember.

When you’re ready to get a domain name for your website, you must first search to see if the domain name you choose is available for “purchase”. Now, I put “purchase” in quotation marks because in actuality you are not really purchasing your domain name, you are claiming it, or reserving it, for your use for the time you have registered it for.

You can search for a domain and purchase it at any domain registrar. Examples of domain registrar sites are goDaddy.com, eNom.com, and NetworkSolutions.com. Which domain registrar you use is up to you, as they vary in price and ease of use. Or if you have a webmaster, they can typically handle registering your domain for you.

Purchase your domain name for more than one year. When it comes to search engines, age matters. And the longer you reserve your domain, the better it is for search engines. If you purchase your domain for 3 or even 5 years, the search engines view your website as a more established business and will give it more weight and higher ranking in search results.

Keep your domain registrar login information in a safe place. Be sure you keep track of who your domain registrar is and be sure you have your login and access information stored in a safe place where you can find it. You need this information each time to renew your domain or if you need to move your website. If you do not know your domain login information, ask your webmaster to get it for you so you have it on file.

Be sure you renew your domain on time. If you do not remember to renew your domain before it expires, you run the risk of losing it and giving someone else the chance of purchasing it away from you. Talk about identity theft! Forgetting to renew your domain is like leaving your storefront unlocked, you’re just inviting someone to steal it away from you.

Most domain registrars will email out notices to let you know that your domain is due for renewal, so be sure you keep your contact info and email address up-to-date with your domain registrar so you will get their notifications. And, as an added precaution, you might add a reminder in your Outlook calendar to remind you a few weeks before your domain expires so you remember to renew it on time.

Verify your domain registration information is correct. Be sure your domain has been propertoy registered in your name. You can check this by going to http://www.whois.org/ and typing in your domain name. Be sure your name and contact information shows under the Registrant portion of the domain. If you have a webmaster who setup your domain for you, their name should show as the technical contact. But be sure your name is showing as the actual registrant for it. So, in case you have a falling out with your webmaster or need to move your site yourself, you want to be sure you have the information you need to take control of the situation and take control of your website domain if needed.

Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com