SEO Hosting Blog

The social media craze is at an all time high, and Twitter is at the forefront of it all. Although most of you reading this probably already have a Twitter account, I thought it’d be a good idea to help newbies get started on this social networking site. Hopefully, after reading this blog you’ll be well on your way to Tweeting to all your friends throughout the world.

What is Twitter?

Before I can help you with getting started on Twitter, it’s probably best to explain what it is. In short, Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to broadcast brief messages (under 140 characters) to all of their followers. The characters limit forces users to get to the point quickly. In short, it’s a great way to get time sensitive information out in an easily digestible format.

Your followers can then respond to your Tweets. One of the great things about Twitter is that responses come very quickly. It’s almost like a mixture of blogging and chatting.

Setting up Your Twitter Account

The first step to setting up your new Twitter account is to visit www.twitter.com. On this homepage, you’ll see a link for getting started and joining the network. Simply click this button, and you’re on your way to becoming a Tweeter.

From there, you fill out a basic form with your username, password, and email address. Consider what you want out of your screen name before you choose it. Is it for your business? Or is your account just for personal functions? Choose a name that best meets your needs.

After completing registration, it’s time to fill in your profile. Like everything on Twitter, brevity is the key. Include a link to your homepage and a short bio about you or your company. Since this is an SEO blog, I recommend placing a relevant keyword or 2 in your bio section. This will help users with similar interests find you.

Finding People to Follow

On Twitter, you “follow” people you’re interested in. I recommend following people who have similar interests. If you go through just blindly adding people, you’ll be forced to browse through a bunch of irrelevant Tweets every time you sign on.

To find people to follow, simply search for what you’re interested in. For instance, let’s suppose you were looking for fellow Houstonians who are into SEO. Search for Houston SEO, and see what users come up. When you find someone who interests you, click the “follow” button to add them as a friend.

Making Your First Tweet

At first, you’re bound to find the 140 character limit to be very restrictive. However, it’s a great way to ensure you’re not using a bunch of filler in your content. It keeps you on point.

I recommend finding good articles that your followers might be interested in reading and linking to them in some of your Tweets. Too many people get caught up in the notion of using Twitter to promote their own content. By linking out to sources other than yourself, you establish yourself as an authority in your industry. It also keeps you from looking like a spammer who is only interested in advertising their products and services.

By now, you have the information you need to get the ball rolling on Twitter. There is a lot more to using this network, but we’ll save that information for future posts. Start Tweeting, and you’ll get a feel for how great this social networking site really is.

Also, feel free to follow me at http://twitter.com/Eric_Brantner

If you want more people to organically link to your website, more visitors to your website and more buzz about your brand, here are ten tips for increasing the viralness of your brand and website:

Don’t Forget About Forums: In the age of Facebook, it’s seems like internet marketers have gotten the idea that they are too cool for forums.  Although Web 2.0 style social networking can be a great way to promote your brand and website, forums are actually more popular than ever before.  As people spend more time on the Internet, they become more comfortable participating in activities such as forums.  The great thing about forums is that they attract people who are really passionate about a specific topic.  Therefore, if you invest some time and become an active member of a forum community, you can begin promoting yourself to the types of people that will go out and tell others about your brand and website.

Create a List: Sure, you may see internet marketing blogs complaining that Top Ten lists are overused, but outside of that extremely small percentage of people, the general population finds Top Ten (or any other number) lists to be very useful.  I mean, this is a Top Ten list and it obviously has your attention!
(more…)

Brand building is one of the most important marketing exercises your company will ever engage in. Without a unique brand that connects with customers, your company will be just another face in an overcrowded market. If you wish to experience true success, you have to build a brand that offers consumers something they’ve been missing.

Traditionally, brand building has been done mostly through advertising. While you can certainly use advertising to gain leverage for your brand, there is another new method many companies are using- social media. Social media has become a powerful tool for communicating information to one another. But how does it perform as a brand building technique?

• Blogs- Usually when we discuss the importance of blogging, we talk about how much Google appreciates the fresh content. But blogging is important for another reason. What you say in your blog directly affects how people view your brand. Your blog needs to be a leading resource for your target audience. Don’t bounce around from topic to topic, but instead stay focused. Use your blog to establish your brand as a trusted adviser.
• Social Networking- Social networking is undoubtedly the hottest Internet trend over the last few years. Millions of people throughout the world participate on at least one social networking site. It’s a great way to communicate with a large group of people who you share common interests with. Social networking is great for band building because it puts you in total control of how you present yourself. Everything from your avatar to the friends you align yourself with is completely under your control. Think about how you want to appear to your target audience, and create a social network profile that meets those requirements.
• Forums- Industry forums provide another great medium for building your brand. You can use forums to establish your company as a leading authority in your industry. To effectively build your brand, comment only in threads where you have something of value to add. Remember, simply throwing your name out there to be seen isn’t an effective way to build your brand. Brand recognition doesn’t equate to brand strength.

Social media can definitely help you build your brand, but you have to develop a sound strategy first. Carefully plan your every move on these social media sites to ensure you’re sending the right message to your audience. 

I’ll admit it: I used to be a feed reader addict.  Although I didn’t have over six hundred feeds in my reader like Robert Scoble, I did have over two hundred.  I felt like the more feeds I could add and follow, the more I could learn, which would allow me to be more productive/successful.

While this sounds good in theory, I eventually had to admit to myself that my feeds were actually having the opposite effect of what I intended.  Instead of helping me to be a better internet marketer, I realized that I was spending way too much time trying to stay on top of my feeds.  Not only was I being less productive, but all of the time I was spending reading feeds was taking away hours that I could have been spending on billable work. (more…)

I have often speculated whether or not having your content submitted or bookmarked into social networks and bookmarking sites could improve your site SEO. I know for a fact that you can for sure increase traffic to the individual pages and sections of your site that have been submitted or bookmarked. However, in doing so, does it actually help your site become more search engine friendly?

It would be silly of me to claim that I am truly an SEO expert. I am honestly not. I have much more experience in search engine marketing rather than search engine optimization. For those who don’t know, indeed, there is a huge difference between the two. A search engine optimization expert is one who specializes totally in making a web site truly a search engine magnet. A search engine marketing expert, in my opinion, is an individual who specializes in writing content for the exclusive purpose of ranking well in the search engines for certain targeted keywords or phrases. (more…)