Internet marketing — Page 2 — Barbara Saul and what she gets up to most days!

Do you want to be Retweeted?

Twitter – something you either get or you don’t, I find, but from an online marketing point of view, it can have its uses. I’m very much a social, if irregular, Tweep in that I forget to fire up HootSuite (which is useful for managing several accounts, I find, and used by millions of others) and then when I do remember find half an hour has passed while I’ve been following links, replying to tweets and generally tweeting before I remind myself that there is more “in the business” work to be done. Oh that I could be a social animal all day long – that would be nice…

Anyway – something that can be a tad irksome is when I go to share something that I think is useful or of interest to people only to find the Retweet would be too long, going beyond the 140 characters allowed. Now sometimes I will spend the time and edit, but if this proves tricky, perhaps losing the voice of the original tweet, or it’s just too unwieldy to edit, I give up and move on, which is a shame.

Perhaps the original Tweep just doesn’t think about that and/or needs those 140 characters themselves, which is fair enough. But sometimes, if you’d like that Tweet shared, leave some characters spare – make it easier to be Retweeted. Allowing for your Twitter name to be included in the Retweet and even for someone to comment is ideal – be succinct so your lovely followers and sharers can pass it on.

Of course this may well become irrelevant in future and if you Tweet directly from your Twitter page you’re allowed extra room to comment, but for those who use other tools, such as HootSuite, make it easy to share your wonderful content… And yes, I know HootSuite has upgraded and offers new streams that make things simpler, but this does not work for everyone, sadly – my browser freezes after a while so I revert to the old streams.

Of course if you’re not interested in having your wisdom or whatever shared the above is of no interest to you, but perhaps share this post anyway for your contacts who might enjoy some Retweet love.

One other quick thing to test out for yourself, apparently we are more inclined to share if asked in full – so “Please Retweet” rather than “Pls RT” – but if people want to share they’ll do it anyway. Be share-worthy is the thing – people will Retweet if they want to.

Another snippet – you can turn off someone’s Retweets – if they overdo it, perhaps, or you just don’t like what they share but want to keep following them. Take a look at the Twitter Retweeting FAQ page for how to do this and a few other things.

Oh, just one more thing – say thank you. This was more usual in the earlier Twitter days, to thank those who Retweet you, but these days it seems less popular and actually that may be sensible, considering the volume of Twitter traffic, but I notice those who drop me a quick “thanks” and like that they’ve noticed – I’m more inclined to share again if it’s appreciated but it’s not an expected thing.

There are quite a few Twitter playthings available for us now, with plenty of ideas to share with you so we’ll revisit this topic again soon. And if you want to know anything specific, ask away – I may not be able to help but will certainly know someone who can.

Happy Tweeting!

Time to write more, to get stuck in and share what’s what again

This really is not an(other) empty end of year embarrassed out-pour of promises, I really am going to get posting more on the online social media landscape, not least because it’s growing and changing and more exciting all the time and seemingly faster (or that could just be my age). I need to know what on earth is going on out there, never mind you 😉

So, there is a plan of sorts. Here I will be exploring the variety of social media, and not just in a quick post and then away. No, I’m going to get stuck in with each topic and share the explorations through that month. You’ll see what I mean as we get into January with Empire.Kred (what was Empire Avenue) a seemingly pointless (to many) procrastination that has not gone away and about which I’ve always had a feeling that it could be useful – so we’ll play with that through January. (edit: OK, so we’ll move Empire into March – projects took over, which is great but not useful for this purpose… #cobblersshoes).

Then in February we’ll Blab – don’t ask, I have no real idea other than video is involved, but will be asking someone for whom I have great respect, Steven Healey. He’s invited me for a Blab later in the month and I’ve asked if he can answer a few questions for us here. Because if he is playing with it, then there must be something there worth exploring.

On through the year and we’ll do the obvious platforms – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, et al – and happy to consider others, even the disparaged Klout perhaps. Google gets its own series – something I’ve long outlined (I even have a book cover ready for when I have enough to publish – created back in 2010, I think – good grief) and which I have determined to carry out this next year, not least for my own enlightenment – there are so many areas to play with – Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Insights and Trends, Small Business, Adwords, Adsense – all kinds of really useful stuff that can be bewildering but for which I will don my cape and wave my wand and help you to know what to do with such delights.

Peppered between all this will be more on usability and the user experience (UX), blogging, websites, stuff you really need to know about – accessibility, responsiveness (aka what does your website look like on a mobile device), and strategies.

That’s it for the promises, before I get carried away. The above is in the schedule and the writing muscle is raring to get to work. Watch this space… (until I sort out my MailChimp!). And perhaps subscribe to my Blab with Steven later in January.

What are you up to next year? What do you want to achieve with your business, blog or online shenanigans?

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How does your site look on your mobile or tablet?

What does your website look like on a mobile phone, or on a tablet, an iPad or some other less than “normal” sized screen?

Do you know? Do you care? Well, you should, if your website or blog is expected to earn its keep.

I wrote about this some time ago over on Birds on the Blog: “Does Your Website Look Big on This?” and the situation has of course evolved in leaps and bounds. Many more of us now use phones or tablets to access the web, and your website needs to look good on these handheld devices, I suggest.

For WordPress users this can simply be a matter of upgrading to a theme that is responsive. What that means is that the design responds to the size of the device with which it is being viewed. A simple way to see what your, or any, site does is to make your browser window smaller by dragging one side in – see the video if you’re not sure what I mean:

Go ahead, see what your website does within a smaller width screen…

If you are now filled with horror at what you saw, fear not. As I mention earlier, if you use WordPress you can either upgrade to a responsive theme that will work on pretty much anything, or add a plugin, such as the still useful and popular WPTouch.

If your website is not WordPress-based, have a word with your web designer to see what they suggest. Of course I’d recommend you consider moving to WordPress, for the ease of content management, the security available and for the flexibility. But then I would 😉

It is easy to not realise how dated a site can become, this site has only just been upgraded to a responsive theme, another by StudioPress’ Genesis range, after I tested it myself last week – gulp! #cobblersshoes

If you’d like me to take a look at your website, let me know…

Guest blogging is a good thing

Blogging on your own site is a great way to add fresh content, show off your knowledge, attract customers, all kinds of usefulness. Blogging on someone else’s site though. Why would you do that?

Well, readers of those other blogs might well be interested in you and what you do, whether you blog about what you do or not. Reaching that wider audience is powerful stuff – a whole new readership to get to know you. And many blog owners welcome the good content for their readers.

On some blogs you’ll do it for the joy of writing or sharing your opinion, which can attract those who like your style to your own work/business/blog – they want to read more – there is usually a signature area in which to give a brief overview of who you are and what you do.

It’s not about selling or link building or any other such nonsense that just does not work and can even get you a scowl from Google. It is about sharing what you know, developing your authority, getting your brand out there, even just sharing opinions that will attract others who recognise someone they want to know more about.

Take Blokes on the Blog, an online magazine type of blog about and for men that I run, as an example. I welcome guest posts but will not have people selling on there. It’s rare to even accept content that the bloggers have already posted elsewhere – there are exceptions, but only those that I deem interesting for the readers. Blogs such as this are great for exploring your writing style and offer you an outlet for content that may not work on your own site. Indeed I encourage new writers and help them where necessary.

On this blog I’d welcome guest posts that are going to be helpful to you, my readers. Many of you are single-person business owners who just want to make sense of this online marketing stuff. There are plenty of posts that would be useful for you and I know good people to write them, but their often a bit busy – take a look at my friend Suze St Maur’s How to Write Better – now there’s a great writer – every day, pretty much, and open to a good guest post too. There are areas where I’m not expert, plenty of them, and I’d love to be more useful to you by including such. I really must get Suze to write here… 😉

It is always going to be more useful for you to write original content and not just copy what you’ve written on your post already, that’s just common sense. And indeed that is what we need to do when considering guest posting – use your common sense.

There was, and probably still is in places, an over-reaction that guest posting was not a good thing when Matt Cutts posted “The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO” last year. You have to read what he adds at the bottom, too, though.

So – keep an eye on blogs where your voice might be welcome and ask or offer. Keep exercising that writing muscle – who knows what may come of it…

And if you fancy guesting, let me know, or if you’re not sure where you could guest post, I’ll help you find somewhere.

photo credit: Gemma Garner via photopin cc

“I want some SEO …”

Something I get asked about now and then by clients old and new… They have a great website with good content and now “want some SEO”.

Just what does that mean these days? A few years ago it was more obvious – research your keywords and apply them through your site (in a basic nutshell) then find some relevant sites to link through to you. But it’s just not that straightforward these days, if you want the rewards – visitors, customers, clients – whatever it is you need (which of course is the first thing you need to get to grips with – not as obvious as you might think), you have to work harder for, at least to start with.

So what are we supposed to do? Well we have so many ways to attract people now that we have to work out just what is likely to be most effective. Of course in order to do that you still have to understand what you’re selling and what you want people to do upon visiting your website or your blog. And then you give it to them. Well, that’s what it boils down to, but those visitors and customers, shoppers and subscribers are all over the place these days (so to speak).

For instance, one of the services Lynn Tulip of Assessment4Potential provides is excellent advice for people considering a job or career change. There are many people offering similar services so how do we get the job seekers to read Lynn’s posts and books, getting to know her style so they want to hire her to help them? Well by demonstrating her knowledge within her articles, these then need to be shared as widely as possible, in the places those job seekers are looking. LinkedIn, for instance, is one good place for professionals. Facebook perhaps? It does not need to be direct, but sharing on Facebook may have her articles seen by people who know others who are looking – especially in that festive fortnight when people get a chance to think about their jobs a bit more, resolutions considered, and the like… Where else might be a good place to share this?

You see it’s not just a matter of putting in the keywords – those search phrases people use – that is going to be one of the hardest ways to attract people and there are arguably just handful of positions available. Do people even search for what you do on the search engines? Do they prefer recommendations or to find something in their more comfortable online “club”? StreetLife is a recent place to consider, for local businesses, and not as somewhere to advertise necessarily, but for your happy customers to recommend you, or for you to step forward in a friendly manner.

What might work for you? Where are your customers? Are you someone who can “chat” on Twitter so people get to know you somewhat, even within those meagre 140 characters, enough to look further, or certainly to welcome the occasional tweet related to what you do? I know for some the constant selling on Twitter works, but I’m not keen – but then I’m not fabulously successful or wealthy, so my approach is not going to be what works for everyone – I fit my online marketing to suit my life and business mix.

It really is all a matter of testing – dip your toe into the various online media and see what works. Watch your visitor activity on the website and through your calls to action – is there any? Perhaps time to rework the plan of action, for me as well as for you…

I’ll start with a post later in the week on where to explore – you might be surprised, and it may be easier than you imagine, this “SEO” lark…

photo credit: marciookabe via photopin cc