Sociable Plug In is a Great Way to Increase Traffic

August 6, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

If you are a regular reader then you know I love WordPress. One of the many reasons is their huge amount of plug in choices. One of my absolute favorite ones is the Sociable Plug In. You can pick it up here: (yoast.com/wordpress/sociable/)

What does it do?

Well, it allows you to add an array of social bookmark buttons at the bottom of your posts. It is very user friendly as well. With a few clicks of the mouse you can choose out of the many ones they offer what socials you want to appear in the footer of your posts. You may even choose the order in which they appear and whether or not you want them on your pages as well.

I suggest you go with their css styling option, unless of course you want to invest the time to style it yourself! LOL. If you leave it at the default setting, it lays it out vertically instead of horizontally. Their styling also offers a nice roll over affect. You can see it in action at the footer of this post and all the posts on my site.

To get it to look like it does at the end of my posts, once it is installed,go to: settings->Sociable-> then click on box next to “Use the sociable style sheet?”

What’s all the Fuss about Social Bookmarking?

Well, quite simply, it allows for readers to favorite a post made by you and for them to find a popular posts. If you write posts with valuable information, you will get more traffic. The Sociable plug in simply makes it easier for readers to give you the kudos you deserve!

Another positive about Social Bookmarking, and by far the best reason, is the one way back links it gives you. It is also an easy way to gain steady traffic.

Next Step

If you have not dove into the world of social bookmarking yet, start signing now!

sign up for a few social bookmarking sites like; digg, delicious, reddit, facebook and twitter.
Get the Sociable plug in
Visit sites with good content, bookmark them
Leave comments
Oh, and fav your own stuff!

Soon you will be a Social media guru!

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Plug In's, Social Networking

Promoting Content is an Important Part of Increasing Traffic

July 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Writing original content is vital for designing a successful website or blog. New content must be added on a regular basis to keep it active. If a site is neglected, PR ranking and traffic will be lost and hard to get back.

One thing to remember: writing and posting the content is only part of the work involved in promoting a website. The content itself needs to be promoted.

10 Tips to Promote Content for Free

Start a Newsletter. A mailing list is extremely helpful. It allows the owner of the list to send out weekly or monthly updates about website, specials and new content. It also keeps business owners in touch with their readers and clients. Note: Only including partial articles in the newsletter will encourage readers to keep reading the piece on site. They may wind up reading more than the article that got them there!
Tweet about it. Twitter is growing in popularity every day. Business owners, bloggers and webmasters should jump on this lucrative social networking bandwagon while they have the chance. Who knows what the next “in thing” will be! Read more about promoting on Twitter here.
Digg It and Others like it. These types of sites are designed to get the word out about new and top notch content. Joining these free sites and using them to promote content is a must for getting the word out about a website and it’s content. A few of the good ones are; digg.com, plurk.com, buzz.yahoo.com, delicious.com, reddit.com and stumbleupon.com.
Facebook. Another great place to network and connect with other business owners is to have a facebook account. It should be used for more than just connecting with old highschool friends. Using it to connect with others in business is very savvy. Starting a fan page is also a great way to get the word out about new content. Posting regular updates on facebook will bring in more traffic and new readers.
Submit Content to Article Directories. It is important to have a good authors box with 1-2 links back to writers websites. After 30 days, sending original content to article directories, makes it available for others in the same niche. It is a great tool to get free back links.
Install Social Plug Ins. WordPress is by far the best blogging platform in this writers opinion. They have fabulous plug ins to help readers promote what they read. Every blog owner should have social links in the footer of their articles. It gives readers the ability to tweet about great posts they read, or at the very least give it a thumbs up on sites like digg!
SEO. Always make sure articles have good titles, meta tags, h1 & h2 headings, proper key word usage and tags. This helps search engines promote the articles, and index them properly so potential readers can find them! Proper SEO is a vital key for increasing traffic. Tip for WordPress Bloggers: Install All In one SEO plug in.
Encourage and Respond to Comments. If an article receives a comment, respond to the comment. Encouraging conversation is the site owners job. Asking colleagues and friends to read and comment on articles is a great way to get conversations going. If a site is intriguing to readers they will come back, tell their friends and maybe even post about it on their site/blog!
Link to Articles. Visit other blogs and leave NON spam comments. Instead of linking back to home page of site, linking to actual articles on site will help get the word out about the content. This is also a great tip for forum signatures. Using the title of article with link is also a good way to intrigue potential readers and make them want to click and follow.
Guest Blog. Being a guest blogger is another free way to promote a website. In the authors box can be a couple links back to articles that are popular or new. Guest blogging for website with high ranking and same niche is the key to making the most of this tip.

Promoting a website is an ongoing task. There are no “quick fixes” to increase traffic. It takes hard work and determination to create popular websites.

Filed Under: Article Marketing, Blog, Blogging, Featured, Marketing, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking Tagged With: Article Marketing, Blogging, Marketing and Promotion, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking

Social Networking and Your Business

June 9, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Social Networking is extremely popular right now. It brings worlds together with a few mouse clicks and a keyboard…or even your phone! We can build friendships with people thousands of miles away. Social Networking is also something that can also be beneficial for businesses.

Tips to Use Social Networking for Business

Twitter.com. Twitter is one of the most popular forms of social networking. It is like having an IM with the world. You can use Twitter to promote your business, self or service. The key though is to be active and unselfish. You cannot make it all about you. Relationships must be built. People on Twitter are like the rest of the Internet world…they despise spammers! Do not DM links or self promos. Save that for your live tweets. I would suggest 1 self promo tweet for every 7-10 non business tweets. (follow me on Twitter here )

Ning and others like it. Ning.com is a social networking platform that is usually categorized in different niches. For example, you may find a network for writers. Writers will go there and discuss their crafts and share what they are doing. The cool thing about places like ning is that each “member” of the network gets their own page. On their page they can have links and other self promoting things for their business, product or service. Members also have their own blogs that other members can come and read. Again, you must be careful not to be labeled a spammer. Join the community and build relationships. Stay in your niche and never make it all about you.

Facebook. You can get similar results with MySpace. However, for a more professional look and mature audience, Facebook is the best choice for business promotion. Create a personal page and be sure and add your link. Find people you know and people to network with. You can also create a page specifically for your business. Facebook is another way that you have a platform to promote you and what you do. As with anything though, do not be a spammer. Build relationships.

Blogging. Blogging can also be a form of social networking if you are doing it correctly. You can use your blog to promote what you do 100%. Make it interesting and fun though. Build friendships with other bloggers. Link exchange. Comment….no spamming…actual involvement type comments on other blogs. Before you know it you will build a readership and clients for your business. Bloggers are very loyal to their own. If you do it right and make it less about you and more about building relationships, you are more likely t find success with blogging.

There are also various linkage sites and many more ways to get in the world of Social Networking. Google it. The point is to get involved. Participate and build relationships. Oh, and NEVER spam.

One last thing I would like to mention…all the social networking types listed above is FREE! You can join free and start your own for free. F-R-E-E! What better way to promote your business, product or service??

Filed Under: Business Coaching, Featured, Social Networking Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Social Networking, Starting Out

Twitterpated

May 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

No, I am not talking about Bambi and Friend Owl’s description of being love struck. LOL…well…maybe a little love struck! I am talking about Social Networking. Social Networking is in right now and Twitter is one of the many venues for it.

I love to Twitter. I use it to vent, share, network and promote. It’s FREE. A free way to advertise and promote. Amazing, huh?

Twitter really can be a useful tool in promoting your website or business. Twitter is like having a live mini IM/blog that can reach many people. It can be a great way to get the word out about your product or service. However, you need to make sure that you are not spamming your followers!

Post on it throughout the day stuff that is going on in your day. Work, family, news, etc. Then, when you do post a few “ads,” they will not seem like you are an ad crazy twitter spammer! LOL!

You can add Twitter right to your browser. I use Fire Fox, so I have Twitbin. It sits right to the left of my screen so I can see new posts from people I follow. And, so I can add a post when the mood arises. It is totally cool!

Pay attention to what is going on with the people you follow. Participate in conversations so that you are involved and not just a voyeur. If all you do is post about you, no one will be interested in you! Be a true blue twitter friend.

I have made many new friends on Twitter. If I never got twitterpated, I would not have met them!

So, get twittering! Oh, and feel free to follow me!

Filed Under: Featured, Marketing, Social Networking, Starting Out, Tips for Success, Web Design Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Social Networking, Twitter

How To Use Forums To Promote Your Website

April 4, 2009 By admin

By: James Woolley

Forums are a tried and tested way of getting free traffic to your website. By posting on forums that allow sig files (those messages that appear below each post) you can indirectly advertise your website or affiliate program every time you post a comment. It sounds pretty straight forward, but a lot of people are still failing to make best use of this method of promotion. In this article I discuss exactly what to do and what not to do when posting on forums.

The first thing you should do is to find the most popular forums in your particular niche. Start by doing a search on your favored search engines for relevant forums, and then read a few posts and see if they allow sig files. If they do, jot down the url of each forum, until you have a nice list of suitable forums. Then I recommend going to alexa.com and typing each forum’s website address into the traffic ranking box and seeing how much traffic each forum gets. Ideally you want as low a number as possible for it’s ranking, and as a rule I generally tend to favor forums that have a ranking of 50,000 or lower. This ensures you don’t waste your time posting on forums that hardly anyone is visiting.

Once you have your list of forums you can start registering for them and creating your own sig files. This is where SEO becomes a factor, because not only should you create links that contain your main keywords that you want to rank highly for, but you should also vary them slightly so the search engines don’t think that you are simply buying links, because they all use the same anchor text.

Now you can begin posting some messages. Your ultimate objective of posting on forums is to get people to click on your sig file and visit your site, however there is a right way and a wrong way of doing this.

The wrong way is by spamming forums and posting endless worthless comments that don’t add anything to the topics being discussed. The end result of all this is that other readers of the forum will soon suss you out and regard you as a forum spammer and so will have no interest in clicking on your sig files and visiting your site.

The right way to get the most people you can to click on your sig file, without spamming forums, is to brand yourself as an expert in your particular niche. By bearing this in mind when posting each individual message you will start to become respected and people will naturally want to find out more about you and your website. How will they find out this information? Through your sig file of course.

There’s a few other things you can do to maximise your click-thrus from sig files.

Firstly, if you are posting on forums for any length of time, you should change the wording of your sig file every so often. People get bored with seeing the same sig file over and over again, and tend to gloss over it after a while, so it’s important to spice it up every so often (while keeping it keyword rich of course).

Secondly, on every forum you will generally find one or more epic threads, ie those threads that have simply taken off, with several pages of posts, each of which has been viewed hundreds, if not thousands of times. These are the kinds of threads that you should try and post a comment or two on for maximum exposure.

In addition you should also try and start your own epic threads. By being the first person to post on one of these threads your sig file could be seen thousands of times by other readers of the forum. The best ways of doing this are by either starting controversial topics that people will be begging to add their own opinions to, or by starting an open-ended discussion that could lead to many additional topics being discussed, all on the same thread. Either way your initial post containing your sig file could potentially get exposed to thousands of readers.

If you follow the basic guidelines outlined in this article you should create a steady stream of traffic to your website just from forums alone. Combine this promotional method with any of the other numerous traffic-generating methods, and you will soon have a high traffic website on your hands.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: James Woolley is a full-time marketer who runs a website and newsletter dedicated to helping people make money online through internet marketing. To subscribe to his newsletter send a blank email to jimsmarketing@aweber.com or visit http://www.jimsmarketing.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: Internet, Marketing and Promotion, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking, Websites

How to Network Using Message Boards

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Audrey Okaneko

Message boards are becoming more and more popular as a means of meeting and communicating with others. Message boards can be found on many websites these days. Look at a site like iVillage.com. They have hundreds of boards to choose from.

Message boards are a form of communication. Think of a message board the same way you’d think of a social party. If the party was from the PTA, you’d expect schools to be talked about. If the party was being given by an investment firm, you’d expect money and finance to be discussed.

What you would not expect at either of the above parties is for folks to enter the party and run around saying “buy my products” and “visit my store” without ever even saying hello to anyone at the party. What are the chances you’d buy from that person or even visit that store?

Here are several do’s and don’ts for message board use:

Do introduce yourself to the group. Leave the ad behind on your introduction. Let folks know who you are, where you live and why you’ve come. Did you come to the group to learn from others? Did you come to contribute your own knowledge? Did you come to talk about one of your favorite hobbies? Did you come to hear how others view parenting?

Do contribute to topics that are of interest to you. I recently found a message board about picky eaters. My own daughter, who is now 23, was once a very picky eater. I jumped right in and began sharing many stories from my daughter’s childhood.

Do develop a profile on the site you are visiting. Most sites allow you to fill in your name, your hobbies, where you live and often your URL. Take advantage of these profiles and share yourself with others.

Do create a signature. My own signature is usually just my URL. However a line or two under your URL is just fine, as long as the community you’re visiting allows this. Always check the signature rules before creating your own signature.

Do read some of the posts to get a feel for the community. Some communities are more formal than others. Some communities are very laid back.

Don’t post ads. There is nothing that will leave a bad impression like an ad. Some communities will both delete the ad, and also ask you to leave the community.

Don’t post messages that say nothing. If you have nothing to say, wait for another topic. I’ve visited one community where the same person answers every topic with “I agree”, and then puts her signature there. Is it no wonder that she once posted she gets no sales from her networking efforts? The same is true for messages that say “welcome to the group”. I think the only time I’ve posted “welcome” is when the original poster shared something personal and I’m answering that personal part. Leave the “welcomes” to the group host.

If you are new to message boards, try, messages.yahoo.com/index.html They have many boards there to choose from. Or, www.ivillage.com/messageboards?ice=iv,mp,rn,mb Again, they too have many boards to choose from. You can also do a web search for message boards.

When I first learned about message boards, I read for at least a solid week before I posted anything. I really wanted to understand the personality of the group. Since that day, I have met hundreds of people through message boards. I’ve made purchases, made sales, and made friends, all as a result of posting on message boards.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Audrey Okaneko has worked from home since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.netor visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com