Thursday, October 29, 2009

How To Use Twitter Lists Effectively


We knew it wouldn’t be long before Twitter came up with a new feature…Twitter Lists. But like all new features, users have to learn how to use them effectively, and more importantly, how to use them with a Twitter account in conjunction with your internet marketing plan.

So what exactly are Twitter Lists? Basically you create a Twitter List named whatever you like, “My Fave Tweeters” for example, and you can add people to those lists and make those lists visible or invisible. For example, if you create list named “People I Should Unfollow” you probably wouldn’t want to make that lists visible, and only you would be able to see that lists.

So how exactly does this benefit you or your potential customers? This is where the creativity begins to flow. Let’s say you own an online bookstore and you are promoting a new author. You can create a Twitter List named “Friends Who Would Love John Doe’s New Book”. Once you make that lists visible, people you add to the list, which should be tweeters who have bought books from you before or are interested in books, will be notified on their homepage.

Once they see they’ve been listed, they’ll be flattered and probably check out the new book on your website.

Another cool feature is the ability to use the url of that list in your internet marketing plans. Let’s say you wanted to let other people on your website know exactly who are on the “Love John Does’ New Book” list. You can copy the url of that list and include it into your webpage for another level of interaction. Usually people just use their Twitter urls to promote Twitter, but now there are more ways to use Twitter to promote your interest and more importantly, your business.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Will Google Wave Change Internet Marketing?



With the launch of Google Wave, marketers and online businesses have been wondering...will this new application change everything for me? Will it allow me to get closer to potential customers or make them harder to find. Will it expose hidden marketing agendas that have been effective, or will it cause a new wave to opportunities?

Our verdict? We believe Google Wave will allow marketers and businesses who are doing their own marketing, to work more effectively. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. For those of you who are just hearing about Google Wave, Google Wave is "a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking." (Source: Wikipedia)

The main reason we believe The Wave is going to change marketing of the past to a new effective future is the implementation of cloud computing. Cloud computing allows for a laptop users to use applications and programs from a hub instead of having to download it to a computer. The idea here is the ability to take "real-time" to the next level. Marketers can utilize this real-time component to interact and communicate with customers in real time.

Just imagine, releasing a email offer that immediately allows customers to engage, communicate and ask others about an offer that they also received...and even ask you questions about the offer..in real-time. Something that email has yet to do.

Learning to utilize this powerful tool now by interacting with developers and testing the product out now is imperative to the success of any marketing campaign going forward.

Want to learn more? Visit our previous post on What Exactly is Google Wave..

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Article Writing Guidelines: Ajax Union

Article Writing Guidelines:

· Your article must be at least 500 words long.

· Include a compelling headline. “How to” headlines work great.

· You will be provided with a number of keywords. Please implement the words throughout the article and in the headline.

· We might ask you to write about “Choosing a Car Stereo” and you don’t even have a license. It’s okay to google for ideas. It’s not okay to cut & paste from other sources. Not even one sentence. If you use stuff that is already out there - make sure you launder the material well. Turn it around and use new words.

· Never repeat a sentence twice in the same article or even in a series of articles.

· You are writing for an internet audience so always keep in mind that youtube is a click away! Don’t go all New York Times and don’t use big words. Use simple, intimate style and share (or make up) your personal experience.

· Keep the paragraphs short and get to the point quickly.

· Try to maximize the use of bullets or numbers

· Although we are a marketing company, you should not try to advertise or promote any business in your writing. Keep it objective and deliver unbiased articles. When writing about Selling Gold for Cash don’t say “sell gold online, it’s better than sex.”

· But don’t be too negative as well. This is not investigative reporting so “don’t sell gold online – it’s a scam” wouldn’t work. Although you can definitely write “when selling gold online, watch out from unscrupulous businesses” and provide tips for safe transactions.

Also, please include a two sentence summary before each article and the main keywords you were using.

Canonical Link Element, Duplicate Content

Ever wonder about duplicate content? Watch This Video.



Matt Cutts of Google introduces the canonical link element.

Matt Cutts of Google introduces the canonical link element.

Resources:
Blog post on Google webmaster blog:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspo...

Yahoo blog post:
http://ysearchblog.com/2009/02/12/fig...

Microsoft:
http://blogs.msdn.com/webmaster/archi...

Ask:
http://blog.ask.com/2009/02/ask-is-go...

Google Help Center documentation:
http://google.com/support/webmasters/...

Joost de Valk: WordPress, Magento, and Drupal
http://yoast.com/canonical-url-links/