October 12, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
According to a Citibank/GFK Roper survey of 500 small businesses, it is.
Based on a phone survey of 500 small business executives, 76% said they do not find social media sites to be helpful in expanding business. In fact, 86% say they haven’t even used social media technologies to seek business information or advice.
Is this proof that social media is simply a fleeting trend that will pass? Or is it more a matter of misinformation and misguided strategies hindering the success of social media in the small business arena.
Considering that a social media initiative approached in the wrong way can not only be ineffective but down right damaging to a business, I’d say that the unsuccessful nature of social media in small business is due to a general lack of knowledge about its importance and ill-advised plans for using it.
What do you think? Do you use social media for your business? Or is it just a fad?
Tags: Social Media, social media for small business
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October 7, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
3 Easy Link Building Tips
If you’ve heard the buzz about the importance of link building but aren’t sure what it is or what to do, these quick tips will help you get started.
Twitter – For a quick and easy link building initiative, start by dropping your link on Twitter and watching it spread. Open with an intriguing and eye-catching one-liner intro that will draw people in and lead them to click on the link. Think of it as a compelling newspaper headline used to draw readers in. Ideally, if they like what they see they will “re-tweet” your link on their profile so that it now not only reaches your own followers but is visible to their followers as well. That is a viral spread at work.
Also, consider directing your link tweets to a specific person or company. For example, if you just added a new line of hot teas to your breakfast bar, consider tweeting that information directly to the tea company (if they happen to have an account) with a link back to your site. A company will almost always re-tweet your message if you talk about their product because it becomes free positive publicity for them.
Facebook – Another great place for posting links is on Facebook because they will appear on your profile page as well as in your friends’/fans’ news feeds. If your friends/fans happen to like what they read they will repost the link on their own profile pages and now the link will appear on their friends’ news feeds as well.
Facebook has also recently added a “tagging” feature to its posting bar which means that you can post a link and tag a friend in it that you think may be interested in that topic and make the link appear on their profile as well. It will appear on the friend’s profile the same way a photo would show up on her profile if you tagged her in it. Now it is visible on your profile and in your friends’ news feeds as well as on your friend’s profile and her friends’ news feeds.
Famous Bloggers – Following famous bloggers in your industry of interest is not only a great way to stay abreast of the latest trends and get ideas for posts of your own, but it’s also a way for you to engage, interact and leave your link trail along the way. When I find a blog post of interest I make sure I comment on it because comment fields will often provide links back to your website. If I comment on a site that gets thousands of hits each day, some of the traffic may just see my link in the comments and stop by my site out of curiosity. It’s important, however, that you use this method appropriately and only contribute to discussions that are relevant rather than just trying to farm out your link all over the place. As you participate in the conversation and continue to build relationships with other bloggers, you’ll become a true part of the community and increase the likelihood that other bloggers may reference you and your site in their posts.
Give these tips a try and let us know if it helps you to drive traffic and increase inbound links to your site.
Tags: Link building, link building tips
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October 7, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
SEO experts have long debated the importance of the meta keyword tag. Does it affect rank? If so, how heavily is it weighted? Does it do anything at all?
Though many people suspected for a while that meta keywords were doing little to affect search rank, some recent announcements from both Google and Yahoo! finally confirm on the record that the tag is no longer crawled by the search engines or considered in rank.
Matt Cutts cleared up any confusion about Google’s take on meta keywords in a video posted to his blog on September 21 in which he clearly states the search engine does not pay attention to the meta keyword tag and has not for quite a while.
Just yesterday Yahoo! announced at SMX East in New York that they no longer support meta keyword tags either.
So does having meta keywords hurt you? The jury is still out. Most people say leaving the keywords in will not have an adverse affect on your site. However, it does make your keyword strategy available to any competitor that chooses to check your meta data.
Tags: Google, meta keywords, SEO
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September 29, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
Did you know that some 161 million US Internet users tuned in to watch more than 25 billion videos online last month? According to ComScore, Google led the pack of online video content properties by serving up more than 10 billion video views in the month of August, or about 40% of the total share.
Microsoft came in a distant second with around 500,000 views and the hits drop from there to Viacom, Hulu, Yahoo!, Disney, etc.
Online video has become a wildly popular Internet activity. Just under 82% of the entire US Internet audience viewed online video last month. An average viewer watched 582 minutes of online video, or 9.7 hours.
As users dedicate more time to online video, marketers have to take note and begin applying video techniques to any online strategy. Try this:
1. Add a video tour of your property to your site and YouTube
2. Start a YouTube channel and post frequent video updates and advertisements
3. Create quick and affordable low-budget Internet ads to post on YouTube. The funnier, the better.
And in case you haven’t caught it yet, here are the 100 Most Memorable YouTube Moments (in a 4-minute musical montage).
Tags: online video, YouTube
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September 29, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
Bill Hunt at Search Engineland has an interesting how-to guide for site owners hoping to get their content listed on Baidu, China’s #1 search engine.
Baidu - China's #1 search engine
A recent ComScore report showed that Baidu had more than 8 billion searches in June, making its penetration in China 76%. Google’s penetration in China? Just under 20%.
It should come as no surprise, then, that marketers are jumping to get some face time Baidu. Can it be done? Here are Hunt’s tips for getting ranked on Baidu:
1. Language – The site must be in Chinese
2. Hosting – The site should be hosted in China
3. Content – Text should be at the top of the page because the crawlers don’t always scan the full page
4. Flash – Just as with Google, Flash is not friendly to Baidu’s crawlers
So who should be worried about ranking on Baidu?
Hotels with properties in China should consider taking steps to improve odds of being ranked on Baidu. Likewise, hotels with properties outside China that are marketing to a Chinese audience would also benefit greatly from appearing in the country’s number 1 search engine.
For more on Baidu, see Bill Hunt’s full article here.
Tags: Baidu, how to rank on Baidu, SEO
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September 11, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
What’s up online this week? A sprinkling of links to help you round out the last few hours of the work week.
1. 9/11 tributes from Yahoo! and Bing… but no Google doodle? Find out why.
2. The You Lie Guy helps his opponent raise almost $250,000 on Act Blue.
3. Google launches Google Internet Stats which may have helped Socialnomics avoid this scathing critique from Robert Cole regarding the questionable stat citations in their wildly popular Social Media Revolution video.
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September 10, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
Google announced yesterday on their blog that Google Product Search will now incorporate YouTube video reviews in the results.
This is great news for those of us that require video proof that the so-called spill-proof gyro food bowl really won’t spill before we commit to the purchase.
It is also great news for companies looking for a cheap way to get the word out about their products. Who needs expensive commercial advertising? Do it for free with YouTube and Google Product Search. You can see an example of videos in the results on this search for a Nikon D90.
If you provide a data feed to Google Products and want YouTube videos to show up, simply add the “YouTube attribute” to your feed. Note, however, that Google says they can’t guarantee inclusion of all submitted videos.
Tags: Google, product search, YouTube
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September 9, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
Happy 9/9/09! We won’t see another single digit symmetrical date like this until 1/1/2101. Since most of us won’t live to see the next one, here are some ways people are celebrating the anamoly…
1. iTunes switched its Tuesday new music release to Wednesday (today) to celebrate the date.
2. Hotels are offering special 9/9/09 discounted rates.
3. Tim Burton is releasing his latest movie “9″ today.
4. A 99-cent only store is offering to marry 9 couples for only 99 cents and will award the first 9-lb, 9-oz baby born today $999.
5. The Nines, a Starwood luxury hotel, is celebrating with a fashion show.
Not everyone is celebrating though. If you turn 999 upside down you get… 666. Either way you flip it, it’s an interesting date.
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September 9, 2009 by 10bestsolutions
USA Today recently reported that many of the nation’s most poorly performing hospitals are located in highly trafficked top travel destinations.
According to the article, some two dozen hospitals with the highest death rates in the country are located near popular travel destinations. Among the top 10 worst are two hospitals in Dallas and another in Vegas.
This kind of negative media attention is of little comfort to travelers and can be damaging to the destination’s reputation and the businesses that count on tourism to stay afloat.
Keeping up with these negative stories as they arise and quickly following up with more positive PR efforts are ways hotels, casinos and conference centers in these areas can combat the negative attention and keep travelers coming back.
Information is amplified online, reaching more people more quickly than any other medium. Therefore, a solid reputation management strategy is an important element for any online marketing initiative.
Does hospital quality ever dictate your travel plans? Let us know…
Tags: online brand image, online reputation, reputation management, worst hospitals
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