Today we have spelling and grammar checkers in many of are applications on our PCs. But they don’t always catch errors because it may be a word but not the correct word. Always proofread and double check anything that the public will see. A coupel extra minutes can help save your reputation. Its certainly worth you’re while. Your internet marketing campagn will be a step above what other companies work with.

One of my pet peaves that I commonly see is SEO company websites, from countries outside the United States, that do not use proper spelling and grammar. How comfrotable would you be with having them write your content? If the spelling and grammar on there website is not correct, can you imagine how botched up your articals, press releases, or blog posts would be? Your business could quickly loose it’s professional status and loose clients and potential clients.

How many spelling and grammar errors did you catch in this blog post?

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Blogs Increase Organic Ranking

In todays business world they are a necessity as vast numbers of people search on-line for research and information before buying. Organic ranking for blogs are among the highest because content is updated frequently showing search engines fresh content to crawl. Any high quality internet marketing campaign includes a blog. Content based SEO is crucial to internet marketing and blogs are a big part of that toolbox.

WordPress October Statistics

WordPress, my favorite blog provider, announced their October stats on November 4th. If you have any doubts about blogs being an important and commonly used social media tool these statistics will prove their growth.

• 467,107 blogs were created.
• 6,690,017 posts were published.
• 494,186 new users joined.
• 7,623,730 file uploads.
• 4,986 gigabytes of new files.
• 842 terabytes of content transferred from our datacenters.
• 9,281,146 comments.
• 7,856,864 logins.
• 1,405,459,558 pageviews on WordPress.com, and another 1,474,457,685 on self-hosted blogs (2,879,917,243 total across all WordPress blogs we track).
• 2,509,895 active blogs and 25,386,866 active posts, where “active” means they got a human visitor.
• 1,600,608,549 words.

Put a Blog in your Internet Marketing Toolbox

These statistics prove that blogs have emerged as one of the best marketing tools the web provides. Blogs are easy to create and convenient to use. They give internet marketers an opportunity to promote their business in a web friendly atmosphere, appearing accessible and friendly. Not only can businesses get their word out but blog comments allow for followers reactions and input. What a great way for a business to keep on top of their clients, and potential clients wants and needs.

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The topic of todays conference call was “Marketing on the Internet: Getting the Results You Want.” Gina Robison-Billups, the founder of the association was the guest speaker. Her insights into social media marketing were both informative and enlightening. Her comparison of social media being a networking cocktail party was right on target.  Following are some of the topics covered today:

Social Media to Help your Business

• Articles: three to five articles a month posted on your website
• Press Releases
• Profiles should include a 30 second elevator speech
• Have a website: it’s surprising how many businesses still do not have a business to link to and refer clients
• Something to give: advice, support, connections, Membership to Moms in Business, etc.
• Facebook page
• Twitter account
• Linked In
• Public profiles
• Forums and discussions

This tool kit covers the basics of social media. I was so excited about the topic of the conference call I could hardly stand it. I muted myself for the meat of the presentation but could not help myself afterward and simply had to participate and expound a little on what you can do with social media.

Articles

We love articles! What a great tool to show authority and expertise. The more articles the better. Posting to article submission sites in many cases is free and an easy way to get your word out and create inlinks to your website. Articles are a key ingredient in content based SEO. Google loves them too and looks at them like votes of confidence.

Websites and Blogs

For those in business that do not have a website at least start a blog. They are free, easy, and if updated as they should provide new and exciting content for followers.  Bookmarking, linking, and pinging can bring more followers and more eyes to your business. Search engines, like Google, see all this behind the scenes work and use it to raise organic ranking.

Facebook

Facebook has grown exponentially in the last year. According to Mashable, the Social Media Guide, they grew from 100 million to 200 million users in less than eight months. If it were a country, it would be bigger than Brazil. How’s that for growth? A Facebook page for a business can gain a high search engine ranking in very little time. Oh, and need I mention?…Google loves them.

Thanks to Gina Robison-Billups

I would like to give a special thanks to Gina for having this conference call and letting the members of the National Association of Moms in Business know the importance of social media. As a new member I intend to become more involved and participate in more of their networking and events.

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Google battles Yahoo in this hilarious video.

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1. Putting my youngest son on my Facebook page. He’s 23. He’s a college student. He’s a fun loving kid. Need I say more? I immediately regretted being his “friend”. Did I really want to see what he was posting on his page? Nnno! To his credit nothing unseemly has come across the news feed. But then again, perhaps he has taken my suggestion to have two Facebook pages. One for his friends where he can be as raunchy as he likes and one for me and other parents that tells us about how he just returned from church and charity work.
2. A friend of mine, who displays artwork for sale at her business, posted images of the artwork on her blog. There was one particularly ugly piece of work that was centered around a 3D toilet paper roll. I commented on her blog and asked her if she really thought someone would buy it. Her comment back to me was short and not so sweet. She had already bought it.
3. Email and the deadly auto-populate address was my demise on one particular email. I was sending an email to a colleague about one of our clients. To put it bluntly, it was a rather sarcastic and critical review of a presentation they had given. When I went to the address bar I accidently inserted the email address of one of their associates instead of my intended recipient. I confidently pushed send and at that moment saw the wrong email address. No taking that back. Nothing was ever said but it still haunts and humiliates me.

I’ve told you mine, now you tell me yours. Comment here with your stupid internet mistakes. It may make me feel better to know I’m not the only one.

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Listing Ads: Look Beyond for Real Results

Real estate brokers are at the top of the list for using internet marketing. Most brokers have their listings on line and hope that someone sees them and responds. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Slapping some listings on a website and hoping someone sees them is not enough. Authority needs to be shown. What makes you different than the other thousands of real estate brokers? Let the world wide web know that you have knowledge about the industry above and beyond the average. Savvy brokers are using content based internet marketing to increase website traffic, leads, and sales.

Content Based SEO to Increase Awareness

Content based internet marketing is a proven, legitimate and ethical way to increase targeted website traffic. It is an efficient and cost-effective way to find new and loyal clients. Content in the form of articles, web 2.0 pages and social media are excellent tools for brokers. Not only does this create backlinks to the website but it increases the website’s organic ranking.

Real Estate Blogs

Every broker should have a blog. Sounds easy enough but it doesn’t stop at just having a blog. Continual posting everyday or at least several times a week is mandatory. The broker becomes the authority and go-to source for real estate information. While you are building trust with your followers you are also finding targeted leads looking for real estate services. The links in the blog will point to the Broker or Agent website’s home page and deeper links into specific site pages.

Internet Marketing: Brand Recognition and Trust

Internet marketing in the form of smart, informative content for real estate brokers and agents will build  brand recognition, gain trust, and turn leads into prospects and prospects into sales. Getting a step above the competition in the tight real estate market is essential to success. Get the word out, not just about your listings, but about your authority.

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This excerpt from the PBS website is just another example how content based SEO is making an enormous dent in how businesses relate to their clients. Looks like Gourmet Magazine didn’t jump on board soon enough.

Did the Web Kill Gourmet Magazine? | PBS

The murder happened in the kitchen with a laptop.

That possible explanation for the death of Gourmet magazine sounds like a solution from the game Clue. The 68-year-old food magazine met its end this month when publisher Condé Nast cut it and two other magazines. Some blamed Gourmet’s demise on the Internet and its theft of the print audience. It’s easy to see why.

For foodies, the attraction of thousands of food websites is powerful. Many home cooks now carefully position a laptop in the kitchen, keeping it safe from crumbs and splashes, instead of a magazine recipe. The loss of Gourmet, which was seen as a prestigious title, means that other food magazines may now feel a greater sense of insecurity.

But the threat to food titles goes beyond the mere existence of the web; it also comes from magazines’ challenges in the changing game of branding.

Getting to Know You

It might be tempting for some to blame the thousands of food bloggers for distracting audiences from print media.

There’s a food blogger for every ethnic specialty, dietary concern or locality. Bloggers offer personal connections, unique voices, and a passion for their subject that print magazines may not provide. Narrow expectations from readers and advertisers can limit print magazine content, while bloggers are more free to explore topics in frequent posts.

Read more here:  MediaShift . Did the Web Kill Gourmet Magazine? | PBS.

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Google Images Refined

What does this mean for us as image searchers? I decided to search Google Images for “dogs”. Think that is a big category? You bet. There are over 57 million images! The results produce images of different dogs, advertising images, and even an image of a hot dog. Wanting to narrow things down a little I pick my favorite image, two labs in a field, and click beneath it where it says “Find Similar Images”.  Now my search is a bit refined showing labs and other sporting dogs in outdoor scenes. No more hot dogs, or advertising images. My results have also been narrowed down to 620 images.

Google is rolling this out gradually and searches will be able to be refined even further to narrow results to just exactly what you are looking for. Some of you may be able to do this now but I don’t think it is working for everyone at this time. Google is continually striving to make our searches easier and faster to find the exact information we need. Three cheers for Google,their search engine, and their extraordinary technicians!

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