Work Yourself Up!

10 Tips for Getting Traffic Through Social Media Sites

Web 2.0 sites and social media are already here (and have been for some time). Experts predict that this trend will only grow. That means if you don’t start using social media now – today – you’ll be left behind.

Here then are 10 tips for using social media to drive traffic to your sites…

1. Complete your profile.

When you first open your Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo or other social media site account, fill out your profile (including a picture). Doing so makes it easier for people to get to know you and build relationships with you, which will make it more likely they’ll click through to your site.

2. Interact.

Social sites are, by definition, social. They’re two way streets (not monologues). That’s why you shouldn’t just post content and move on. Instead, spend a few minutes each day interacting and getting to know people in your network.

3. Include a link to your site on your profile page.

This tip is simple but effective: Give people a reason to click through from the social media site to your blog or squeeze page. A promise of a free solution usually makes for a good enticement.

4. Ask your followers to “retweet” and repost.

If you create a “buzzworthy” post (such as a post on a hot or even controversial niche topic), as your Twitter followers to “retweet” it and ask your other social media networks to repost it.

5. Spend time each day growing your network.

Commit to spending at least 10 minutes each day growing your network. You’ll see big results by the end of the month. And you’ll be amazed at the size of your network in six months or a year from now.

6. Link your social site pages together.

Link your Twitter account to your Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, HubPages and other social media pages. And vice versa.

7. Use your real name so that you’re easy to find.

People who want to do business with you won’t respond well to working with “BaseballBoy72.” Instead, build trust by using your real name. Doing so also makes it easier for others to find you on Facebook and similar sites.

8. Post good content.

Social media is not just about networking, it’s also about sharing information. If you share some of your best information with your network, you’ll get respect, trust… and more sales. Plus you’ll establish yourself as a niche expert.

9. Optimize some of your content.

Some social sites (such as Yahoo! Answers and Squidoo) get crawled and indexed regularly by the search engines. As such, you may consider optimizing some of your content for the search engines by including relevant (longtail) keywords two or three times for every 100 words of content.

10. Get the most benefit for your time.

Instead of trying to interact and build relationships with thousands of prospects, consider building a relationship with a handful of partners. That’s because just one good partner can send you hundreds or thousands of prospects and customers.

10 Tips for Using Videos to Market Your Business

Even if you’re not selling video-based products, you should be using video to market your business. That’s because different customers respond better to video than they do to text. When you use both text and video, you’re reaching a wider audience than you would with text alone.

Here then are 10 tips and tricks for using video to market your business…

1. Keep ‘em short.

Whether you’re loading videos on YouTube.com or you’re using them to pre-sell products on your blog, keep them short (around five minutes or so)… especially if your audience includes people who don’t know you. If needed, break a long video into multiple smaller videos.

2. Post videos on your sales pages.

You can use video sales letters to highlight the main points of your regular sales letter. You can also use videos to demonstrate what the product is and how easy it is to use. You may also get your satisfied customers to give you video testimonials.

3. Choose your keywords carefully.

If you’re loading your videos onto YouTube, choose keywords that your market is currently using to find information in your niche. You may also choose keywords that match those being used alongside other popular videos in your niche.

4. Know your purpose before you start.

Before you film, choose one purpose for your video. Is it to get subscribers? Send traffic to your blog? Pre-sell a product? Whatever the reason, base your entire video around that singular goal. Don’t confuse your viewer by giving more than one option.

5. Create a call to action.

You should create at least one call to action in your video, where you tell people exactly what you want them to do and why (e.g., “Go to www.yourdomain.com to grab Part 2 of this video – but hurry, you can only get it free for a limited time!”)

6. Encourage comments.

If you’re posting your video on YouTube, on your blog or other social sites, encourage comments (even controversial ones). The more people talk about your video, the more your visitors will return to your page to see what’s new in the discussion.

7. Use other social sites to jumpstart the viral effect.

If you want your video to go viral, you need to advertise it. One way to do that is to link to or embed your video on your other social media site pages, like Twitter or MySpace.

8. Blog about your video.

Another way to advertise your video is to blog about it. If you embed your video on your blog, then encourage your visitors to bookmark it using Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com or similar.

9. Ask your JV partners to share your video with their prospects and customers.

Yet another away to advertise your video is by asking your JV partners to mention it in their newsletters, blog about it and share it with their social media contacts.

10. Put a video on a CD/DVD and give it away for free.

You can build a physical mailing list by putting your video on a CD or DVD and giving it away for free to those who give you a mailing address. Be sure to include an upsell at the end of your video.

Social Bookmarking Can Multiply Backlinks to Your Site

Have you ever shared a link with someone else? You read something that was so incredible or informative that you had to tell others. Social bookmarking can help others do that very same thing for you.

Backlinking is the method of enhancing your website traffic through inbound links from other sites. And these are not just any sites; they are reputable business sites and blogs that have established them on the Internet. It is not always easy to gain access to these sites and their loyal visitors.

Social Bookmarking

Try social bookmarking. Maybe you have seen all those cute little icons at the bottom or middle of the page on websites and blogs. What are they?

They are links to social bookmarking sites. When you bookmark something, you want to be able to come back to it later without a lot of trouble. These sites allow you to submit articles that are ranked by other members. Content that is ranked high has a chance to be featured on the front page to gain even higher visibility.

To get the ball rolling, you can sign up for these accounts for free. Some of the most popular are Digg.com, Facebook, Twitter and Delicious. Facebook and Twitter are actual social networking sites where you can post links to articles posted on Digg, Delicious and your own website. With an extensive network of friends (and their friends), you can create a ton of backlinks in no time.

On your website, you can then post an icon for these social bookmarking sites. Readers who are members also, can click and post your article there.

You can be proactive and post your article there as well, with links back to your website. If your business associates and friends are also members, they can vote for your articles and you can do the same for them.

Here, quality does count. Votes will be cast for the best content that meets the needs of your peers. You can achieve a high status here for consistently great performances. That, in and of itself, can multiply your backlinks as everyone will be looking for your latest creation.

So, what are you waiting for? If you feel that your search engine ranking is not what it could be, it could be your backlinks or the lack thereof. Social bookmarking can help catapult you onto the front page of Google and Yahoo when you and others submit your content on those sites.

Creating Expert Status: Networking

You may know a lot about your business niche, but does anyone else know that? If not, it's time to set yourself up as an expert.

Sometimes it is WHO you know that counts, like when you're trying to accomplish something and need help. On the path towards expert status, you will need others to reach the destination.

I know, I know - you are not the type of person to shamelessly self promote. Don't worry because there is no shame involved. To do any less, than tell others about what you have worked hard to learn, is selling yourself short and that IS shameful. Even for shy people, networking with others in the business world can only help. What makes it a bit easier is that you and those you network with are all after a common goal - increased profits.

Why Network?

Networking is important in business. Making connections with others in the online world increases your visibility which matters when you want to get noticed. Who do you rub elbows with? Begin with someone with influence in your business area like a guru of sorts. Get to know them by hanging out where they hang out - on their blog, in their social networking groups and by attending events they host or are speaking at.

Networking mutually benefits both parties. While you are getting to know them, don't forget to let them know who you are. When you comment on blogs, link those comments to your own blog and/or website. If you host a podcast, invite them to be a guest.

Other Ways to Network

Blogs and forums are not the only way that you can make a useful business connection to promote your expert business status. Join local and online business associations. This is not in name only. Do our part and get involved so that others see your face, hear your voice and notice your work.

Your involvement in these professional organizations is a two-way street. Use the time to give but also get. Ask questions when you need to. Sharing business tips, tricks and secrets is a part of the perks.

Don't neglect the social networking communities. Facebook and MySpace are a lot of fun for connecting with old friends, but they are also big forums for sharing business information. You can post new happenings on your website and links. You'll be surprised who sees and takes advantage of the news. Invite all of your fellow organizational members as well as clients and other business associates to be your friends so they can view posts to your Wall.

Networking can be intimidating especially for business owners who are not good at self-promotion. But, once you begin, you'll notice the benefits and get hooked.

Social Bookmarking and Reader Relationships

Who wouldn't want to be viewed as an expert in their field? It can mean more traffic, more sales, more credibility and greater visibility. Your readers and social bookmarking sites can help you there.

When you find something that you love to read, you want to tell everyone. You also want to be able to find it again if you needed to. That is part of what a social bookmarking site is all about.

When you provide good quality content, your readers are happy. They are sometimes so happy that they will bookmark your content on their favorite social bookmarking site.

There are bookmarking sites for just about everything. Readers can tag content, videos, pictures and more. You can create your own account with these sites and add icons to your blog or website content pages.

The sites don't copy your content but index a link to it when someone bookmarks it. The bookmarked content or media is voted on by other members of the site. You could even be featured on the front page. That could bring you more readers.

There is one crucial point: Readers won't bookmark your stuff if you don't try to build relationships with them. Listen to what readers say in surveys and make changes on your site or to your products. Knowing that they are being listened to is a feather in your cap.

But, don't stop there. Your readers may be writers in their own right. Endeavor to find to what your readers are interested in. if they have blogs, read and comment on them. Bookmark posts that you find interesting. If you see any of their bookmarked content, leave comments when you vote.

Reply when readers post on your blog. Use your responses to start a conversation with them. It can be as much a fact-gathering mission as curiosity about those who read what you write or buy your products.

When your loyal readers see your stuff bookmarked on a site like Digg or StumbleUpon, they will vote for you. Social bookmarking is one way to drive traffic to your site and help build expert status. Choose social networks that cater to your type of content.

If readers like and trust you, they may be more inclined to use social bookmarking to interest others in your work too. Reciprocate by visiting their blogs or websites and tagging their work. Again, the reader/business relationship has proven to be mutually beneficial.

Social Networking Takes Your Reader Relationship to a New Level

Whoever said that social networking was no good for business, never tried it before. Giving your readers another arena in which to see you active is one way to build a relationship with them.

Before you begin using social networking, beware. It is highly addictive. There are many advantages for you and your readers.

Social Networks

Have you heard of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter? So have your readers. They probably use them for social interaction with friends and family, but you can show them how to use it for business.

Begin by setting up a business and personal space on these sites. You probably already have a personal space on many, but business will be something new.

Facebook

Facebook is a versatile tool for keeping your readers informed about you and your activities. Use a business page to list new conferences you will be attending, podcasts you are hosting, and the names of blogs where you will be guest posting. Readers, that find you here, can sign up to listen to live podcasts, follow you to the guest blogs and also invite you to their events.

If there is a question they want to ask, let's say about how to start a business or how to troubleshoot a problem, they can talk with you wall-to-wall in private to get advice. Through Facebook, you can offer free classes, e-courses and other tools to those who opt-in for different services on your website. Also, let your readers be part of virtual focus groups to help you test new ideas.

YouTube

If you have a new product that needs feedback, post a video on YouTube. Readers and others can post their comments on your work. Use it as a forum to demonstrate products or services and also to tout the advantages of buying from you.

Twitter

Do you send tweets? If you do, use them to communicate with readers about new things you are doing. They can get up-to-date information about not only the business but also personal info you want to share.

Create a separate business and personal account so that you can manage both. If you find readers or customers who have potential as business associates and the like, you can choose to give them access to your personal space as well.

Social networking sites are just another way for readers to see you in action away from the office. You can build a rapport with readers too by unveiling new products and services to them there.