Even though business has slowed, it has given me the awesome opportunity to do "work" that I haven't had time to do when business was at a peak level.
Are you taking advantage of your down-time? You should be. Instead of being overcome with doubt and fear, be energized with new ideas and the ideas that wound up on the back-burner because of lack of time.
Time is usually your best asset. Now that you have it, use it and create the next wave of hope and inspiration!
I know we are. Coming soon, I will be announcing several projects and services that will finally be launched and we have generated a new air of excitement. We look forward to hearing what YOU have been doing with your time as well. Comment and tell us about your new projects or new business goals.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
http://www.JITweb.com *~~* http://www.JITseo.com http://www.JITtemplates.com
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Twitter Search Is Broken? Doesn't Twitter Have Twechnicians?
My observation will be short in keeping with the Tweet-style of "less-is-more".
If Twitter is so hot, on fire, can't-live-without, addictive, etc., don't you think that it would be important to fix a very important part of the site for the users?
In the past 4 weeks, I've tried to use the search on Twitter on a daily basis. It has worked twice.
What's up guys? Too busy tweeting to do any work over there?
Just sayin'.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
http://www.JITweb.com *~~* http://www.JITseo.com http://www.JITtemplates.com
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
If Twitter is so hot, on fire, can't-live-without, addictive, etc., don't you think that it would be important to fix a very important part of the site for the users?
In the past 4 weeks, I've tried to use the search on Twitter on a daily basis. It has worked twice.
What's up guys? Too busy tweeting to do any work over there?
Just sayin'.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
http://www.JITweb.com *~~* http://www.JITseo.com http://www.JITtemplates.com
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Is Twitter and FaceBook Killiing Your SEO Efforts?
In a single word, yes. Twitter hurts your SEO efforts on your website.
Think About Your SEO Objectives
In true SEO efforts, you are trying to make your web site as accessible as possible. One of the tactics known to be valuable (albeit less valuable now due to link farms) is backlink or RLM development.
Think about what you are doing on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Since they are structured to be a community, all of the traffic there is generated specifically to get people to come to their site, not yours. Search engines do not like to give credit to community sites based on the volume and diversity of the community and it is uncommon for community site pages to rank high in search engines.
Squidoo Turned Into SquiDon't
It has been observed that some lenses that have dropped from #4 and #11 for their main keyword, placing well-outside the top 100 for those keywords. These lenses contain relevant, informative content with multiple-modules, including modules that are profitable for Squidoo. They have maintained their good lens rank within Squidoo itself, but Google has dropped their rankings and positions.
Further analysis of the Squidoo demotion reveals that linking from Squidoo to your domain-based website can actually be detrimental to your overall website ranking in search engines. This is having the opposite effect desired when white-hat Squidoo users posted their content. Of course, spammers couldn't wait to jump on the Squidoo bandwagon and peddle their fodder to the masses ruining yet another good business and promotional outlet on the Internet. Thanks a lot - spam vermin.
The Squidoo, Twitter, Facebook Connection
Twitter and Facebook are no better for your marketing efforts than the quality of followers that you have. How do you know you have quality followers? You don't. Unless you know your followers personally, at least 50% of people follow you in hopes that you will follow them back and nothing more, particularly on Twitter (known as Tweet-hoes). The majority of people that are not already famous for other things besides having a huge following on Twitter are there to see how many people they can get to follow them. That isn't particularly useful.
As a matter of fact, if you spend a lot of time on Twitter trying to develop quality marketing leads, you are wasting time. We have done an analysis concerning posting links to valuable information on Twitter. The results were absolutely dismal. We posted a link giving away a very popular set of instructional books that sell well at $599.00. We were GIVING them away. The results? NOT ONE clickthrough from the 10 posts on Twitter available to over 10,000 "followers"! Astonishing.
Our conclusion? Out of the time spent on these sites, no one will be clicking on your links posted in the site unless you are Matt Cutts from Google or Good Morning America on ABC and you are wasting your valuable time promoting other sites instead of your own (Think TinyURL.com). People think that Twitter and Facebook is "fun" and that it puts them in touch with the "untouchable" (famous) people. That's nice - but not productive.
The Twitter Flash
We look for Twitter to be the next flash-in-the-pan story. Spammers are already hitting Twitter with applications that post multiple posts in multiple accounts, from different apps, and cross-application posts. It is happening at lightning-speed just like the development of scraper software and duplicate-content software that posts to many different social sites and sites built around key phrases that "scrape" content from other sites in order to run a useless site full of duplicate content with the purpose of displaying Google Adsense ads based on those key phrases.
Twitter's flash is fairly bright now that it is going, but will quickly die out. If Twitter's owners are smart, they'll sell to Google before the fire starts getting dim.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
http://www.JITweb.com *~~* http://www.JITseo.com http://www.JITtemplates.com
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
Think About Your SEO Objectives
In true SEO efforts, you are trying to make your web site as accessible as possible. One of the tactics known to be valuable (albeit less valuable now due to link farms) is backlink or RLM development.
Think about what you are doing on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Since they are structured to be a community, all of the traffic there is generated specifically to get people to come to their site, not yours. Search engines do not like to give credit to community sites based on the volume and diversity of the community and it is uncommon for community site pages to rank high in search engines.
Squidoo Turned Into SquiDon't
It has been observed that some lenses that have dropped from #4 and #11 for their main keyword, placing well-outside the top 100 for those keywords. These lenses contain relevant, informative content with multiple-modules, including modules that are profitable for Squidoo. They have maintained their good lens rank within Squidoo itself, but Google has dropped their rankings and positions.
Further analysis of the Squidoo demotion reveals that linking from Squidoo to your domain-based website can actually be detrimental to your overall website ranking in search engines. This is having the opposite effect desired when white-hat Squidoo users posted their content. Of course, spammers couldn't wait to jump on the Squidoo bandwagon and peddle their fodder to the masses ruining yet another good business and promotional outlet on the Internet. Thanks a lot - spam vermin.
The Squidoo, Twitter, Facebook Connection
Twitter and Facebook are no better for your marketing efforts than the quality of followers that you have. How do you know you have quality followers? You don't. Unless you know your followers personally, at least 50% of people follow you in hopes that you will follow them back and nothing more, particularly on Twitter (known as Tweet-hoes). The majority of people that are not already famous for other things besides having a huge following on Twitter are there to see how many people they can get to follow them. That isn't particularly useful.
As a matter of fact, if you spend a lot of time on Twitter trying to develop quality marketing leads, you are wasting time. We have done an analysis concerning posting links to valuable information on Twitter. The results were absolutely dismal. We posted a link giving away a very popular set of instructional books that sell well at $599.00. We were GIVING them away. The results? NOT ONE clickthrough from the 10 posts on Twitter available to over 10,000 "followers"! Astonishing.
Our conclusion? Out of the time spent on these sites, no one will be clicking on your links posted in the site unless you are Matt Cutts from Google or Good Morning America on ABC and you are wasting your valuable time promoting other sites instead of your own (Think TinyURL.com). People think that Twitter and Facebook is "fun" and that it puts them in touch with the "untouchable" (famous) people. That's nice - but not productive.
The Twitter Flash
We look for Twitter to be the next flash-in-the-pan story. Spammers are already hitting Twitter with applications that post multiple posts in multiple accounts, from different apps, and cross-application posts. It is happening at lightning-speed just like the development of scraper software and duplicate-content software that posts to many different social sites and sites built around key phrases that "scrape" content from other sites in order to run a useless site full of duplicate content with the purpose of displaying Google Adsense ads based on those key phrases.
Twitter's flash is fairly bright now that it is going, but will quickly die out. If Twitter's owners are smart, they'll sell to Google before the fire starts getting dim.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
http://www.JITweb.com *~~* http://www.JITseo.com http://www.JITtemplates.com
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tagged.com Social Networking??? - Here is One To AVOID
The Tagged.com Email Spam Scam
"Jessica Tagged You!"
Guess You've Figured out Tagged.com Is The Scammer Spammer
Contact: noc@tagged.com
Domain name: taggedmail.com
Registrant Contact:
Tagged.com - Technology Department (NOT A REAL PERSON)
Fax:
P.O Box 2863 (NOT A STREET ADDRESS)
San Francisco, CA 94126
US
Administrative Contact:
Tagged.com (NOT A REAL PERSON)
Technology Department (support@tagged.com) (NOT A REAL PERSON)
(SAME AS REGISTRANT)
Technical Contact:
Tagged.com
Technology Department (support@tagged.com)
(SAME AS REGISTRANT)
Status: Locked
Name Servers:
ns1.tagged.com
ns2.tagged.com
Creation date: 10 Mar 2004 19:55:52
Expiration date: 10 Mar 2016 19:55:52 (WOW - THEY APPEAR TO BE READY TO SPAM UNTIL 2016!!!)
Can We Do Anything To Combat Companies Like TAGGED.com?
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
"Jessica Tagged You!"
Guess You've Figured out Tagged.com Is The Scammer Spammer
More than likely, you have gotten an email that appears to have come from a buddy or business acquaintance of your through Tagged.com. It is not.
Tagged.com is phishing for your personal information by duping you into participating in this social-networking fraud.
Do NOT enter or provide Tagged.com with any of your personal information if you want to protect your privacy and the privacy of your entire address book! Tagged mail will not ask you if you want to send email "tags" to your friends. They are kind enough to send a "tagged" email to everyone in your address book without bothering you with asking permission. Isn't that nice of them? Note: insert sarcasm here in case you aren't a sarcastic person.
In addition to this, IF you have a Google account of any kind (Google Analytics, Google Adsense, Google Mail, etc.,) they have devised schemes to attempt to get you to enter your account information for your Google accounts. I can not tell you how bad THAT is.
We want you to know who "Tagged.com and Taggedmail.com" is.
IP Addresses - 64.125.115.5 and 64.125.115.6
Provided By: Tagged, LLC
Contact: noc@tagged.com
Domain name: taggedmail.com
Registrant Contact:
Tagged.com - Technology Department (NOT A REAL PERSON)
Fax:
P.O Box 2863 (NOT A STREET ADDRESS)
San Francisco, CA 94126
US
Administrative Contact:
Tagged.com (NOT A REAL PERSON)
Technology Department (support@tagged.com) (NOT A REAL PERSON)
(SAME AS REGISTRANT)
Technical Contact:
Tagged.com
Technology Department (support@tagged.com)
(SAME AS REGISTRANT)
Status: Locked
Name Servers:
ns1.tagged.com
ns2.tagged.com
Creation date: 10 Mar 2004 19:55:52
Expiration date: 10 Mar 2016 19:55:52 (WOW - THEY APPEAR TO BE READY TO SPAM UNTIL 2016!!!)
Can We Do Anything To Combat Companies Like TAGGED.com?
Sure you can! Join me in complaining to Tagged.com's ISP/hosting company (Internet Service Provider, the company that puts their website on the internet). Abovenet Communications, Inc
OrgID: ABVE
360 Hamilton Ave,
White Plains, NY 10601
Email: abuse@above.net
Phone: 888-636-2778
Send a copy of the email to the following addresses also to make sure they also take notice:; noc@above.net and arin@above.net
Avoid Tagged.com at all costs.
Reply directly to any of your friends who send this to you, telling them yes, you are their friend, and send them a link to this blog ;-). They'll be glad you did.
Follow me on TWITTER! http://www.twitter.com/karendhill
Also look for Karen D. Hill on Facebook.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Zen Marketing With Something Useful
Giving Away Other People's Stuff Works FOR You
If you don't happen to be a programmer that can whip out a little application or widget to pair with Twitter, My Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace, etc., then try to partner with others that do have these little applications that they give away or let people use for free.
Piggy-Back Marketing Is Fun
If you arrange mutual agreements in order to promote cute apps for a development company, your exchange will not cost either of you any money but the benefits can be tremendous. There are plenty of applications that are tools or widgets that you already have free license to use (just so long as you don't try to SELL them). It's already posted to use the apps for free.
Normally, you can look at something and write about it much more objectively than the person or company that developed it can. This approach gives the product an "honest review" in fresh words for use in marketing and posting on the Internet. You will be doing a great favor to those trying to market their development skills.
How Does Piggy-Back Marketing Benefit YOU?
Well, if you have exhausted writing about your goods and services to the point of tears, then it is time to focus on things that your clients would be interested in. Forget about competition - what you are working to build is brand recognition and credibility. These two things are worth their weight in gold.
So, you should look for Internet apps that would compliment your web site and step away from your traditional marketing just for a short while. Just to get re-energized. Just to give yourself some space. Then you come back to your own marketing with refreshed confidence and hopefully new ideas. While taking time to refresh marketing approaches for your own products, your evaluation of other items or applications that are beneficial to your clients will build the close rapport and credibility that you so richly deserve.
When provide your clients with links to free things (relevant to your own market industry of course) or useful things that you do not personally sell, then you are showing that you are a fair business person that cares about what their customer wants and needs. You aren't out just to make a sale. You are here to serve.
How Do You Find Complimentary Apps?
Plenty of programmers post open-source apps all the time for the public to use. I'll give you an example of how to work an "angle" in order to find something that will work for you.
I have a client that has a gift site that has been in existence since 1999. Their 10 year anniversary is coming up. So - coupled with the 10 year anniversary press release announcement, they are launching the use of an app on their site (free app) that is a gift registry and a wish-list service. The programmer of the application gets a generous mention on their very high-traffic site and the gift site provides a new service on their site that is worthy of press release exposure because it has value for the readers. Free value.
Another example: I personally like using My Yahoo. I happened upon a little App that I knew a friend and marketer would be able to use to give to his subscribers and followers since they enjoy training for triathlons, working out with kettlebells, long-distance biking and the like.
The application I ran across is free to use and is developed by Brian Ellin. The app is "Velog", a social cycling log - Velog. It's a simple place to log your bike rides, and connect with others in the cycling community.
Here is Brian's MY YAHOO posted info:
Email: hidden
URL: http://brianellin.com/
Yahoo! Technologies that Brian E works on:
Y! OpenID Service
The Zen of Giving
Now, since Brian is giving away useful applications like the biking log app Velog, he is serving the community by giving away examples of his superior development capabilities. I, in turn, recognized that a marketing colleague would LOVE this type of app to pass along to his constituents, so I shared that information with Brett, owner of http://www.triathlonjones.com, who also has just had an article featured on Leo Babauta's site Zen Habits (www.zenhabits.net) which has a following of loyal 100,800 subscribers.
Brian doesn't know it yet - but he has just been royally ZENNED!
Hopefully he'll return the favor ;-)
You see, the point I am trying to make is that giving is a lot more powerful in building relationships with your online community than trying to talk your way into getting something. Old, sensationalistic forms of writing and advertising are becoming transparent and trite.
Practice giving.
Everybody wins.
To you marketing success!
Karen D. Hill
If you don't happen to be a programmer that can whip out a little application or widget to pair with Twitter, My Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace, etc., then try to partner with others that do have these little applications that they give away or let people use for free.
Piggy-Back Marketing Is Fun
If you arrange mutual agreements in order to promote cute apps for a development company, your exchange will not cost either of you any money but the benefits can be tremendous. There are plenty of applications that are tools or widgets that you already have free license to use (just so long as you don't try to SELL them). It's already posted to use the apps for free.
Normally, you can look at something and write about it much more objectively than the person or company that developed it can. This approach gives the product an "honest review" in fresh words for use in marketing and posting on the Internet. You will be doing a great favor to those trying to market their development skills.
How Does Piggy-Back Marketing Benefit YOU?
Well, if you have exhausted writing about your goods and services to the point of tears, then it is time to focus on things that your clients would be interested in. Forget about competition - what you are working to build is brand recognition and credibility. These two things are worth their weight in gold.
So, you should look for Internet apps that would compliment your web site and step away from your traditional marketing just for a short while. Just to get re-energized. Just to give yourself some space. Then you come back to your own marketing with refreshed confidence and hopefully new ideas. While taking time to refresh marketing approaches for your own products, your evaluation of other items or applications that are beneficial to your clients will build the close rapport and credibility that you so richly deserve.
When provide your clients with links to free things (relevant to your own market industry of course) or useful things that you do not personally sell, then you are showing that you are a fair business person that cares about what their customer wants and needs. You aren't out just to make a sale. You are here to serve.
How Do You Find Complimentary Apps?
Plenty of programmers post open-source apps all the time for the public to use. I'll give you an example of how to work an "angle" in order to find something that will work for you.
I have a client that has a gift site that has been in existence since 1999. Their 10 year anniversary is coming up. So - coupled with the 10 year anniversary press release announcement, they are launching the use of an app on their site (free app) that is a gift registry and a wish-list service. The programmer of the application gets a generous mention on their very high-traffic site and the gift site provides a new service on their site that is worthy of press release exposure because it has value for the readers. Free value.
Another example: I personally like using My Yahoo. I happened upon a little App that I knew a friend and marketer would be able to use to give to his subscribers and followers since they enjoy training for triathlons, working out with kettlebells, long-distance biking and the like.
The application I ran across is free to use and is developed by Brian Ellin. The app is "Velog", a social cycling log - Velog. It's a simple place to log your bike rides, and connect with others in the cycling community.
Here is Brian's MY YAHOO posted info:
Developed 3 application(s)
with 22647 downloads/visits
Developer Info:with 22647 downloads/visits
Email: hidden
URL: http://brianellin.com/
Yahoo! Technologies that Brian E works on:
Y! OpenID Service
The Zen of Giving
Now, since Brian is giving away useful applications like the biking log app Velog, he is serving the community by giving away examples of his superior development capabilities. I, in turn, recognized that a marketing colleague would LOVE this type of app to pass along to his constituents, so I shared that information with Brett, owner of http://www.triathlonjones.com, who also has just had an article featured on Leo Babauta's site Zen Habits (www.zenhabits.net) which has a following of loyal 100,800 subscribers.
Brian doesn't know it yet - but he has just been royally ZENNED!
Hopefully he'll return the favor ;-)
You see, the point I am trying to make is that giving is a lot more powerful in building relationships with your online community than trying to talk your way into getting something. Old, sensationalistic forms of writing and advertising are becoming transparent and trite.
Practice giving.
Everybody wins.
To you marketing success!
Karen D. Hill
What Are Online Marketers Ignoring That Catapults Customer Response?
Free Advice From A 20 Year Marketing Veteran
I successfully consult for a living and have for over 20 years. My services span world-wide and have directed online marketing successes to new heights. Clients have experienced growth in web site sales that tops a 400% increase in sales within 24 months.
Guess what? You too can experience unbridled success!
Biggest Obstacle of Online Marketing Success
So what is it?
Lack of personal involvement and going the "extra mile" for a customer. If you don't have your company contact information at the top of every page in your site, re-design to make it happen. Make it easy to contact you. If you don't have a picture of you and your staff available, get those out there too. Make your business real for your customer!
Customers like being catered to. Particularly in a "down market", customers want to know that their hard-earned dollars are appreciated. They want to know that they are valued.
Did you know that you can increase customer retention and repeat business by doing three simple things?
3 Things To Grow Customer Retention and Repeat Business
The main reason marketers are losing customers almost as instantly as they gain them online is simple. Old customer retention techniques are being written off as ineffective, boring and "a waste of time" when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Marketers resist the "List of Three" above because the age of the Internet has dumbed-down communication between the seller and the customer. The customer is no longer "catered" to. This is a mistake.
Personal communication is KEY to growing any business. There are so many scams on the Internet that people are getting weary of being targeted as gullible, faceless, nameless buyers. When you communicate on a personal level with your customer, you are establishing a relationship. You are removing the perception that you just want to take their money and run. You establish that your business is in this for the long-haul and you care about their happiness and satisfaction.
Marketers also think that personal communication is not necessary in this "new age" of e-commerce. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I have MORE calls and compliments by doing one simple thing for my clients. When they sign a contract with me for my services, my new client ALWAYS gets a big box of quality chocolates with a personalized note to welcome them and show them that I appreciate them. It also shows them that I am fully committed to taking care of them and catering to their wants and needs. You want customer loyalty? You have to realize that the customer wants to know that you are loyal to them. That should be your # 1 priority.
Next Blog - 3 Easy Steps To A Happier Customer
To Your Marketing Success!
Karen D. Hill
Karen D. Hill has been a successful online marketing consultant, guest speaker, radio personality, trainer and practitioner since 1996 with national marketing expertise spanning 20 years.
Follow Karen on Twitter! Karen D. Hill
Karen's business website - JITweb.com - Web sites Just In Time!
I successfully consult for a living and have for over 20 years. My services span world-wide and have directed online marketing successes to new heights. Clients have experienced growth in web site sales that tops a 400% increase in sales within 24 months.
Guess what? You too can experience unbridled success!
Biggest Obstacle of Online Marketing Success
- It's not the economy.
- It's not lack of funds.
- It's not selling to a limited niche market.
So what is it?
Lack of personal involvement and going the "extra mile" for a customer. If you don't have your company contact information at the top of every page in your site, re-design to make it happen. Make it easy to contact you. If you don't have a picture of you and your staff available, get those out there too. Make your business real for your customer!
Customers like being catered to. Particularly in a "down market", customers want to know that their hard-earned dollars are appreciated. They want to know that they are valued.
Did you know that you can increase customer retention and repeat business by doing three simple things?
3 Things To Grow Customer Retention and Repeat Business
- Follow up on EACH and EVERY sale with an email
- Follow up on EACH and EVERY sale with a phone call (YES - a phone call!)
- Follow up on EACH and EVERY sale with a direct mail piece, announce new sales and include coupon incentives - and make your packaging attractive, bright colored, and with a hand-written note.
The main reason marketers are losing customers almost as instantly as they gain them online is simple. Old customer retention techniques are being written off as ineffective, boring and "a waste of time" when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Marketers resist the "List of Three" above because the age of the Internet has dumbed-down communication between the seller and the customer. The customer is no longer "catered" to. This is a mistake.
Personal communication is KEY to growing any business. There are so many scams on the Internet that people are getting weary of being targeted as gullible, faceless, nameless buyers. When you communicate on a personal level with your customer, you are establishing a relationship. You are removing the perception that you just want to take their money and run. You establish that your business is in this for the long-haul and you care about their happiness and satisfaction.
Marketers also think that personal communication is not necessary in this "new age" of e-commerce. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I have MORE calls and compliments by doing one simple thing for my clients. When they sign a contract with me for my services, my new client ALWAYS gets a big box of quality chocolates with a personalized note to welcome them and show them that I appreciate them. It also shows them that I am fully committed to taking care of them and catering to their wants and needs. You want customer loyalty? You have to realize that the customer wants to know that you are loyal to them. That should be your # 1 priority.
Next Blog - 3 Easy Steps To A Happier Customer
To Your Marketing Success!
Karen D. Hill
Karen D. Hill has been a successful online marketing consultant, guest speaker, radio personality, trainer and practitioner since 1996 with national marketing expertise spanning 20 years.
Follow Karen on Twitter! Karen D. Hill
Karen's business website - JITweb.com - Web sites Just In Time!
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