Reasons for Business Blogging and Kicking Off a Local Socal Network [10:36m]:
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Internet Marketing Report and Social Media Highlights Newsletter – June 2008
This newsletter will mail out the first week of each month, please visit the link below to opt-in http://lists.pixelhandler.com
‘Bill’s Internet Marketing Report’ - Another good reason for businesses to blog
- Strategies and topics relating to the happenings I experience in the race of marketing, publishing and selling on the web.
I’m currently employed by a medical equipment manufacturer and distributor (I freelance too) and last month some very interesting news was broadcast on news radio and the internet about the LA Laker’s own Kobe Bryant and his back injury.
From latimes.com — May 13, 2008
"I tried to play and make drives to the basket where I could kind of withstand the pain without the back completely spasming and then put the next game really in jeopardy," Bryant said.
On Monday he addressed reporters while standing, as he did during Sunday’s postgame news conference. Bryant said he would receive round-the-clock treatment.
His regimen includes ice, heat, massage and stretching. Bryant also held his electrical stimulation device by his side, saying he would basically sleep with it the next couple days.
The reason why this news was inspiring for my employer is that the company’s main product offering does just what Kobe’s medical device does and more. This news became a great way for the company to share with clients about just how good their technology really is; also sharing the story about Kobe saying “he would basically sleep with it the next couple days.” In following up on the report, Kobe did not miss a game during this series and continued to score very well, while the Lakers moved on to the next playoff series.
The reason why this news was so valuable to blog about is that it allowed the company’s news blog to add valuable content supporting the site’s search engine optimizations (SEO) objectives. The general public may use different variations of the words that a business uses to describe its offerings. The blog format allows for a very quick response to optimizing the companies Web site with the terms used by the general public and reporters. The best benefit is that the reported did report on Kobe talking about a medical condition that my employee has a solution for, back spasms!
Once the blog was posted, the same day as multiple news agencies reported on the injury I sent off an email to a targeted group of clients that would be very impressed with the technology and hearing that a professional basketball player and NBA MVP says so. That perspective was a lot better than I could say, even though I used the technology after a broken leg and shoulder and loved how well the medical device blocked my pain.
The return on investment for this blog and email blast was that conversation were opened up with key clients who needed to learn more about the technology and how it fit in within the sports profession.
Sites referenced:
‘Highlights in Social Media’ - Starting up an online social network with NING
- The Internet is bringing people together and making connections for personal and professional development. Being involved socially online is a way to build new relationships with like-minded individuals.
Recently I became interested in social media and networking with other like minded Internet professionals. My favorite online social networks are linkedin.com and twitter.com, I use facebook.com and a few others less often. When I read about ning.com in FastCompany magazine and also heard about ning.com again during a local meetup in OC. This got my created juices flowing and since I enjoy networking with other professionals, and also have spent much of my career flying solo (as an in-house person or working from home), I was inspired to kick off a new network, refreshoc.com in alignment with the ‘Refreshing Cities’ concept… Refresh is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas. Promoting design,technology, usability, and standards.
I am interested to find out how many other Orange County Internet professionals would be interested in networking and building a local community for sharing experiences on creating the Web that we surf on. At the end of 2007 I attended a PodCamp in Ontario (SoCal); there I was very interested in how people gather around a common interest or passion. I was able to learn from others who are doing what I wanted to learn, just by attending and participating in the unconference style of gathering.
One concept that I would like to discuss on Refresh OC is the possibility of growing a community of OC Internet professionals who would like to attend a facilitated, participant-driven gathering centered around building the Internet; where professionals share, learn and grow in an open environment. Perhaps this will happen once discussions begin on the topic of planning events and organizing discussions, demos and interaction from participants right Here in OC. Perhaps each event could have a 50/50 raffle or a more creative way of raising funds to benefit a local cause.
Sites referenced:
Found on the PodSafeMusicNetwork:
Listen the track titled, Surfin the Blast Wave by Nony Zero – at the end of the broadcast!
Internet Marketing Report and Social Media Highlights Newsletter - May ‘08 [0:07:00m]:
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Well, it’s about time! I finally committed myself to personal branding and sharing both professional topics and personal insights/news via an email newsletter. This mailing is managed by an online database for easy opt-in and out-out choices. I am sending you this message since we have been in contact either professionally or personally (friends and family included).
This newsletter will mail out the first week of each month, please visit the link below to opt-in http://lists.pixelhandler.com.
Internet Marketing Report and Social Media Highlights Newsletter…
‘Bill’s Internet Marketing Report’
- An ongoing theme in my newsletter. I will publish strategies and topics relating to the happenings I experience in the race of marketing, publishing and selling on the web.
This month’s topic is linkbait. One of the best ways to increase search engine optimization performance is improving your rankings by growing your list of inbound links to your Web site. This is one strategy that takes persistence and pays off over time. Without a strong link building strategy it can be very difficult to gain higher rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), especially for competitive keywords or search phrases. The goal is to be number one on the first page of your favorite search engine using a phase that is searched for very often by your desired audience. The linkbait that I am currently offering is a free website theme for bloggers.
This month I released downloadable file as blog theme for photo enthusiasts in order to gain more inbound links to my personal blog. My site is managed using WordPress, one of the most widely used open source Web applications for online publishing. The WordPress site has a large community with a high volume of online traffic, of which a large segment of users desire to customize their own blog with a custom design, free of charge!
Because I enjoy the benefit of the contributions made by this online community, I finally took the opportunity to give back, by offering Shoot It! a free photo blog theme. This professional web design should prove to be a favorite among photography enthusiasts and professionals alike. Within a couple days of uploading the Shoot It! theme to my blog, I noticed ten downloads have taken place. I believe the numbers will grow even faster once the theme is listed on the WordPress theme site.
As a demonstration site, I launched a pro photo tips blog, Take Better Photos Now, with content provided by a very seasoned photographer with a passion for sharing tips to help people take better photos. Michael Kitada plans to publish tips for photography enthusiasts and this will benefit his photography business as well by providing inbound traffic to his main Web site. His new blog using this photography theme already has about 100 unique visitors with the first couple weeks while creating the Web site design. I anticipate that the volume of links will be begin to grow from the promotion of this free offer and also from the links created by bloggers using the free theme.
Sites referenced:
http://takebetterphotosnow.com
‘Highlights in Social Media’
- Second theme with a focus on building your personal brand using online networking. The Internet is bringing people together and making connections for personal and professional development. Being involved socially online is a way to build new relationships with like-minded individuals.
Last month, my wife and I attended a meetup in Irvine on the topic of internet marketing. We both were able to learn new information and meet others involved in selling and promoting on the Internet. This came about by visiting meetup.com and searching for internet marketing. This is the second time that I have searched online with the intention of learning something new, then followed up by meeting a group of like-mined people (offline and in person) who share their knowledge openly among the community. Some time ago, I wanted to learn about podcasting (broadcasting audio using electronic media); then ended up at a very open convention, podcamp, where I was able to ask seasoned veterans specific questions about new media publishing – giving me a kickstart with my own podcast. Both of these experiences proved to be great networking events as well.
I recently became a fan another very popular social media Web site, twitter.com, which works the opposite of email. You choose who you want to follow (allow to speak, or tweet, with you) rather that filter out the messages you want to block. On a Saturday afternoon, you may find very influential people online sharing breaking news like Microsoft (MSFT) backing out of their offer to buy Yahoo (YHOO). The news appears between highlights of someone bragging about a great meal or fun with friends. Twitter (micro blogging) is fun. At times, I will read a short comment (currently twitter only allows up to 140 characters per micro message) then I’ll hear the story on the evening news and think to myself, wow, publishing has really changed. For example, on May 3rd, I first heard about this MSFT/YHOO story on twitter; then later, on May 4th, I see the story published on the New York Times Web site. The internet is bringing conversations together among like minded individuals who naturally attract an audience with similar interests and speeds faster that ever before.
Sites referenced:
http://www.meetup.com/
http://twitter.com/pixelhandler http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/technology/04soft.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Found on the PodSafeMusicNetwork:
Get Three Coffins Ready is a Denver based Instrumental Surf-Rock band. Listen the track titled, Action! – at the end of the broadcast!
Answers for Internet Marketing, SEO, Business and Promotion [16:00m]:
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This week I spent some time getting social with LinkedIn.com I answered a few questions related to my profession. This episode (6) covers the questions in short form with links to the original questions with the linkedin community answers, you will need to log-in at linkedin.com to view the links in this post. The audio player above includes the additional explanations to these questions and comments on the answers submitted by the linkedin members. Also, I play a song titled, "Finish What We Started" by Headway and can be found online at… http://www.podsafemusicnetwork.com
(more…)
Posted: April 9th, 2008
Categories:
Marketing,
Search
Tags:
advertising,
business,
donations,
internet marketing,
promotion,
sales,
Search,
seo,
social media
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