Internet Marketing Report and Social Media Highlights Newsletter - May '08
_Internet Marketing Report and Social Media Highlights Newsletter…
*'Bill's Internet Marketing Report' *
*- *An ongoing theme in my newsletter. I will publish strategies and topics relating to the happenings I experience in the race of marketing, publishing and selling on the web.
This month's topic is linkbait. One of the best ways to increase search engine
optimization performance is improving your rankings by growing your list of
inbound links to your Web site. This is one strategy that takes persistence
and pays off over time. Without a strong link building strategy it can be very
difficult to gain higher rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs),
especially for competitive keywords or search phrases. The goal is to be
number one on the first page of your favorite search engine using a phase that
is searched for very often by your desired audience. The linkbait that I am
currently offering is a free website theme for bloggers.
This month I released downloadable file as blog theme for photo enthusiasts in
order to gain more inbound links to my personal blog. My site is managed using
WordPress, one of the most widely used open source Web applications for online
publishing. The WordPress site has a large community with a high volume of
online traffic, of which a large segment of users desire to customize their
own blog with a custom design, free of charge!
Because I enjoy the benefit of the contributions made by this online
community, I finally took the opportunity to give back, by offering Shoot
It! a free photo blog theme. This professional web design should prove to be
a favorite among photography enthusiasts and professionals alike. Within a
couple days of uploading the _Shoot It! _theme to my blog, I noticed ten
downloads have taken place. I believe the numbers will grow even faster once
the theme is listed on the WordPress theme site.
As a demonstration site, I launched a pro photo tips blog, Take Better Photos
Now, with content provided by a very seasoned photographer with a passion for
sharing tips to help people take better photos. Michael Kitada plans to
publish tips for photography enthusiasts and this will benefit his photography
business as well by providing inbound traffic to his main Web site. His new
blog using this photography theme already has about 100 unique visitors with
the first couple weeks while creating the Web site design. I anticipate that
the volume of links will be begin to grow from the promotion of this free
offer and also from the links created by bloggers using the free theme.
Sites referenced:
http://takebetterphotosnow.com
*'Highlights in Social Media' *
*- *Second theme with a focus on building your personal brand using online networking. The Internet is bringing people together and making connections for personal and professional development. Being involved socially online is a way to build new relationships with like-minded individuals.
Last month, my wife and I attended a meetup in Irvine on the topic of internet
marketing. We both were able to learn new information and meet others involved
in selling and promoting on the Internet. This came about by visiting
meetup.com and searching for internet marketing. This is the second time that
I have searched online with the intention of learning something new, then
followed up by meeting a group of like-mined people (offline and in person)
who share their knowledge openly among the community. Some time ago, I wanted
to learn about podcasting (broadcasting audio using electronic media); then
ended up at a very open convention, podcamp, where I was able to ask seasoned
veterans specific questions about new media publishing - giving me a kickstart
with my own podcast. Both of these experiences proved to be great networking
events as well.
I recently became a fan another very popular social media Web site,
twitter.com, which works the opposite of email. You choose who you want to
follow (allow to speak, or tweet, with you) rather that filter out the
messages you want to block. On a Saturday afternoon, you may find very
influential people online sharing breaking news like Microsoft (MSFT) backing
out of their offer to buy Yahoo (YHOO). The news appears between highlights of
someone bragging about a great meal or fun with friends. Twitter (micro
blogging) is fun. At times, I will read a short comment (currently twitter
only allows up to 140 characters per micro message) then I'll hear the story
on the evening news and think to myself, wow, publishing has really changed.
For example, on May 3rd, I first heard about this MSFT/YHOO story on twitter;
then later, on May 4th, I see the story published on the New York Times Web
site. The internet is bringing conversations together among like minded
individuals who naturally attract an audience with similar interests and
speeds faster that ever before.
_Sites referenced: _
_http://twitter.com/pixelhandler http://ww
w.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/technology/04soft.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogi
n&oref=slogin
Found on the PodSafeMusicNetwork: _ Get Three Coffins Ready is a Denver
based Instrumental Surf-Rock band. Listen the track titled, _Action! - at the
end of the broadcast!