Hey everyone, Josh here from the Internet Beacon. We’re a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm located in Finksburg, MD. What we do, SEO, is a form of Internet Marketing. Much like traditional advertising, SEO is all about getting your name out there. In this case, we’re working to get your website in front of customers through search engines like Google and Yahoo. For more information, check out our SEO Answers page and our blog post on SEO. This week, I’d like to talk about creating a buzz in social networking.
Everybody Likes Free Stuff
This is universally true. Whether it’s pens, hats, or coffee mugs, people love getting things for free. Check your desk, odds are you have a pen from a business you’ve visited recently. Promotions on the Internet are similar. You want to give customers something of yours for free so that they come back for more and, at the same time, tell their friends to visit your site. Twitter is great for this. It requires very little interaction on the part of the user, as they simply follow your company name (i.e. @IBeacon) and receive updates from you. Many businesses have used this to attract traffic. They give away free software, consultations, etc. Find what works for you and give it a shot.
People Want the Inside Scoop
Along the lines of giving away free stuff, many people want to know what is going on before others do. You should reward people for their interest in your company. For example, the website Penny Arcade has a mailing list that only sends out a message occasionally, but they always include coupon codes and links that are not publicly broadcast. This is a great way to treat loyal online customers. Try posting a coupon code with limited use on a company Facebook page and see what happens. Remember to plan for a large amount of people taking advantage of these savings. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Make Friends and Influence People
For sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, grouping options exist for people and businesses. Use this to your advantage. Become Fans of companies that do similar things to yours. If you sell sporting goods, become fans of their page on Facebook. Build connections to related businesses and ideas. Using the sporting goods analogy again, become a fan of a local sports team, i.e. small town not national teams. People might be visiting their favorite merchandiser’s group and notice your company.
Create a Community
Just because a group is hosted on Facebook doesn’t mean that you can’t create another community within it. By providing meaningful content to users, you will keep them coming back for more. Some sites offer cheap games to entertain users. This is a good option if you have a team who can program in Flash. If not, work to keep users involved. Create polls and questionnaires to gather opinions and then tailor your content to meet user demands. This has worked time and time again.
Well, that’s all for this week! I’ll see you next Thursday.
-Josh
Internet Beacon
Three Ways to curb Spam on Your Blog
Friday, March 12th, 2010A blog is a great way to get your particular message out to people around the world. Whether you are sharing recipes, business strategies, or trading baseball cards, a blog can become a hub of activity. Naturally, there are people drawn to these places to take advantage of the amount of activity. These people are called spammers. You can tell who they are because they don’t usually add to the conversation, but rather promote their own site. Keeping these people off of your blog will go a long way towards building its legitimacy. Here are three ways to do that.
1) CAPTCHA Them.
First, please forgive the play on words. Okay, a CAPTCHA is a tool for many
blogs and other sites which requires the user to enter the text they see in an image that looks slightly garbled of distorted. We’ve all seen them. CAPTCHA is used to prevent automated software from just scanning a website and filling in their information. This is a classic method for spammers. The best part of this is that implementation is free and has very little impact on the end user. It is readily available for WordPress as an add-on called “SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam 2.2.9”. It’s free so go out and grab it if WordPress is powering your blog.
2) Papers Please
Another way to ensure that the comments left on your blog are legitimate is to require users to register themselves. This is an almost surefire way to make sure that comments left are legitimate. The biggest downside here is that many users may not wish to set up an account just to comment on a blog. Because of this, registration may be a better idea once your blog is established.
3) Everything in Moderation
The best way to make sure that no one posts something you don’t like is to require moderator approval of all comments. There are two sides to this. On one hand, you will absolute control over anything posted on your site. Nothing will get past you/whomever you place in charge of this duty. On the other hands, you are looking at an inordinate amount of time required to sift through a multitude of entries. Also, users may be less inclined to post if they feel they may be censored for no reason.
Well, that’s all for this week. We covered some basic steps for protecting your blog from spammers and unwanted ads. Check back next week for more!
-Josh
Internet Beacon
Baltimore SEO
Maryland SEO
Tags: Blog Hints, captcha, comments, internet, marketing, seo, spammers
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