Are you using recurring Tweets?

by Joao Moraes on October 14, 2009

The specific piece from Twitter Terms of Services is:

Recurring Tweets are a violation no matter how they are done, including whether or not someone pays you to have a special privilege. We don’t want to see any duplicate tweets whatsoever – They pollute Twitter, and tools shouldn’t be given to enable people to break the rules.  Spinnable text seems to just be a way to bypass the rules against duplicate updates and essentially provides the same problems.

Play fair and happy tweeting!

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Your keywords meta tag are not used by Google in web ranking

by Joao Moraes on September 23, 2009

Meta tags are a great for webmasters provide search engines with information about their sites. Meta tags can be used to provide information to all sorts of clients, and each system processes only the meta tags they understand and ignores the rest. Meta tags are added to the <head> section of your HTML page.

GoogleGoogleGoogle declared yesterday they do not use the meta keywords tag. Google has not used keywords for a long time. Why did Google blog about this?

  • Do  people continue to sue over it by claiming copyright infringement?
  • Do people confuse the meta keywords with the meta description?

If you are new to this subject see which meta tags Google does pay attention at Webmasters/Site owners Help.

There is also this video you will find useful:

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

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Video Tip: How to Look, Act Like a Pro

by Joao Moraes on September 21, 2009

YouTube_logoYouTubeYouTubeYouTube, the Wal-Mart of Videovideovideo hosting sites, is now the fourth most visited website on the Internet, with a staggering 85 million viewers. If you’re going to use online video to promote your business (and you should), then you might as well look good doing it! After all, your video is part of your image and your brand.

But what if you’re having a bad hair day, or you don’t know what to wear? Fear not! Here are the top tips for looking like a pro when you’re ready to fire up that webcam or camcorder:

Can you hear me now?

Nothing derails an otherwise good video like bad audio. We’ve got to be able to hear you! RunRun reviewsRun reviews a couple of tests and make sure your volume is adequate. (And try to avoid crying kids or barking beagles in the background!)

Got a light?

Or a few lights are even better. Be sure that you’ve got enough light, and that the light source is coming from in front of you. Never shoot into the light. You don’t need a big lighting rig, just be sure that your face is lit well enough to be seen!

Whose got your back?

Be aware of your background. What is behind you in the shot? Be sure that your “environment” and background setting is clean, uncluttered and not distracting. A neutral background or office setting is best – Outdoors is fine, too, as long as there’s not too much going on in the shot.

Ready for your close up?

Do a few test runs. Rehearse. Relax. Get comfortable. Like anything new, the more you practice, the better you’ll get. Be yourself. Make eye contact and think of it as if you’re talking to a friend. It takes a bit of getting used to, so feel free to do a few takes. Don’t stress over what to wear or your hair. Just dress as you would going to a meeting.

What’s shakin’?

Hopefully not the camera! Even if your camera person (okay, your spouse) has a steady hand, it’s really hard to hold the camera still any length of time. This is easily remedied with a small camera tripod. Just set it up and it’s steady as she goes. This makes a big difference!

You may be a little camera shy or self-conscious at first, but a few test runs and you should be good to go! Give it a try. You don’t have to post your video for millions to see until you’re happy with it! But remember, done is better than perfect!

by Lou Bortone, Guest Blogger

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12 Social Media Tactics In Cindy King Marketing Plan

by Joao Moraes on August 10, 2009

These social media strategies are listed in the order of time dedicated to each of them.

1 – Personal Blog

Role:

  • Main hub for my online presence
  • Create a professional online presence for my unique skill set
  • Provide people with tips and useful resources to build cross-cultural and international skills

Reason: To make it easy to find me

TimeTime reviewsTime reviews: between 1-3 hours every day

2 – International Strategy Blog

Role:

  • Create a base for a membership site
  • Provide businesses with an easy strategy for international business development

Reason: This complements my personal blog very well, but I cover more serious business topics here.

Time: between 30-60 minutes most days and more depending on membership site development

3 – Search

Role:

  • Monitoring my name, blogs and business markets
  • Business intelligence gathering
  • Up-to-date monitoring of cross-cultural and international topics with a focus on both business and skill development
  • Collecting useful resources for my personal blog

Reason: I do not know what I would do without this search. It is the first thing I do every day. It really is about business intelligence.

Tools: GoogleGoogleGoogle alerts and other keyword search tools. This includes FriendFeedFriendFeedFriendFeed as I use this to stay current. And I just started using BizSugar to monitor small business topics. Some of the folks there are obviously doing the same thing I do, but for small business topics. So it is a great place to look for current quality articles on subjects of interest for small businesses.

Time: 30-60 minutes every day

4 – Twitter

Role:

  • Create strategic conversations on my core topics
  • Under the radar marketing
  • Build credibility
  • Up-to-date monitoring of what is going on around cross-cultural and international topics with a focus on both business and skill development
  • Collect useful resources for my personal blog
  • NetworkNetwork reviewsNetwork reviews with key players in the field of cross-cultural and international business
  • Identify key sources of referrals for my business
  • Market feedback
  • Connect with people I would never meet otherwise and who are important for my business networking.

Tools: TweetLater alerts emailed hourly & scheduled tweets.

Time: 30-60 minutes most days

5 – Social Networking

Role:

  • Develop a strong international business network
  • Identify good referral sources for my business
  • Fundamental activity for developing my business.

Tools: Commenting on other blogs, engaging in conversations, the phone & SkypeSkypeSkype

Time: 15-60 minutes most days

6 – Social Bookmarking

Role:

  • Collect useful resources for my personal blog
  • Deepen actions in social networking
  • Strengthen my online presence and visibility
  • Find appropriate communities to establish social proof

Tools: I test different platforms regularly. And have just committed to strengthening several of my social bookmarking profiles as a personal investment.

My favorite social bookmarking platforms are: BizSugar, StumbleUponStumbleUponStumbleUpon, MixxMixxMixx and DeliciousDeliciousDelicious. I am also currently dabbling in Reddit, Sphinn and Tip’d.

Time: 15-30 minutes most days

7 – Community Participation

Role:

  • Create a presence in specific communities linked to my business objectives

Tools: A few select groups on small business, social media, sales, web marketing

Time: 15 minutes most days

8 – Posterous

Role:

  • The social networking platform of social media
  • To share fun and interesting things that I find online that do not fit on my blogs
  • To share guest posts I do elsewhere
  • To connect with people in a social environment without the gimmicks and noise of FacebookFacebookFacebook

Tools: A sub-domain on my personal blog

Time: 15 minutes most days

9 – Facebook

Role:

  • To be present in a favorite social hangout for some of my readers
  • To share fun and interesting things that I find online that do not fit on my blogs or PosterousPosterousPosterous

Tools: A profile page, a group and two fan pages

Time: 15 minutes most days

10 – LinkedIn

Role:

  • To be present in a favorite networking hangout for some of my readers

Tools: Nothing extra right now, but soon to use the SlideShare application on LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn

Time: 5 minutes most days

11 – Community Development

Role:

  • Sounding board and idea development with like-minded people with strong international or cross-cultural profiles.
  • To share fun and interesting things that I find online that do not fit on my blogs or Posterous

Tools: Ning group

Time: Heavy front end time investment underway

12 – Microsite Development

Role:

  • To increase awareness of individual service offerings

Tools: WordpressWordPressWordPress

Time: Heavy front end time investment underway

Strategic Content

I cannot talk about all of these social media tactics without mentioning the need for a strong content strategy. It is this strategic content that makes everything work. Social media is based on content marketing:

  • All of the content is there to drive traffic to my blogs which act as a central hub.
  • Content is written to bring this traffic towards the central hub.

And content is used strategically:

  • Content is adapted to the social media platform
  • Content is re-purposed in alignment with the connection made on that social media platform
  • All content is created within my overall business strategy

The Results

The important thing to remember is that all of these social media tactics work together. The synergy of everything combined is what brings clients to my business.

Although future clients find me through my social media presence, they rarely leave comments on any of the social media platforms. People usually contact me directly.

Social media for business is a process of getting to know our clients. Our businesses are different. Our clients tastes can change, and they can be very different on different social media platforms. People will continue to evolve in how they use social media.

These are the 12 social media tactics that work well for my business today. I usually spend a couple of hours a day on social media. But these tactics work well for me, because I can adapt the time spent to the time I have available.

You have to know that I did not start out with so many tactics. The first one was a blog, then a second one. And I spent many long months defining the different audiences for both of these blogs. Next came TwitterTwitterTwitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. And it was observing the synergy that happened with this little group that I slowly expanded onto other platforms.

How do I manage to do it all?

  • Re-purposing my own content
  • Actively sharing third party links
  • Creating social network friendships

Although these tactics work well for me they may not work for your business in the same way they work for mine. And I would adjust my tactics for any other audience.As social media changes I may find myself using different tactics in the future.

What works for your business? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

  • What social media tactics do you use to connect with your clients?
  • How many social media platforms do you use to market your business?
  • Which social media platforms do your clients like to use?

Visit Cindy King Blogblogblog and know more about her talent!

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Google Friend Connect

by Joao Moraes on July 29, 2009

Simon Ford is the EventsListed owner and an expert in Social Media.

As an example see how he is Beating Google Friend Connectgoogle friend connectgoogle friend connect at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube.

Simon U Ford, Social Traffic Leader, with the help of friends (through quality relationships, not followers) that have been established through the SocialTraffic.biz organizations philosophy to learning social media marketing has just beaten 8 GoogleGoogleGoogle owned videos into the number 1  search engine position for the search phrase “Google Friend Connect”, a Google owned product!

Here is the video too:

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

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