Social Media: Marketing King?

Is Social Media The New Online Marketing King?

Lately there has been a lot of shifting in the internet marketing community. Google is slapping overly optimized affiliate websites out of existence. Facebook has taken over as the most visited website online. It seems like more and more that social media is the weapon of choice for online traffic. Has social media marketing become the next online king?

In the past the most popular marketing strategy was search engine optimization. The problem with SEO is that it is not interactive and it definitely is not viral. A website still needs to be optimized in order to rank online, but when a visitor arrives on the site, they are now influenced by social signals.

The power of social media marketing is exhibited by its viral nature. The “like”, “Google +” and the “follow” button is more than just a click of the mouse. Every time these buttons are clicked, the message is made visible for all friends and followers. The search engines have also join the social media bandwagon by tagging search engine results with social signals as well.

Web developers can no longer ignore the power of social interactions. That is the reason why any website online today is not complete until social media buttons are implemented. When a visitor arrives on a website to notice that a few of their friends have already “liked”, are following or “Google +” that site, it is the equivalent of a personal recommendation.

This trend has also spilled heavily into the business world. All the top businesses including CNN have social media pages with Twitter, Facebook and now Google. The businesses that are not taking advantage of these tools for whatever reasons are leaving money on the table for their competitors.

The reason why social media has taken over the business world is simple; People like to do business with people they know. Socializing online helps to bring a human side that a website alone can not bring. When a business owner post pictures of their family on their last vacation, or a joke of the day, it helps to give a potential customer a personal insight into the people they will be doing business with.

Furthermore, news networks have become reliant on social media for more than just branding or marketing. Social media websites in some instances have also become the first source of news that is happening right now. This was truly evident during some major news events like the Haiti earthquake. Many of the images were sent via Twitter and Facebook.

In my opinion, social media is the undisputed king of online marketing, branding and breaking news. For all the affiliate marketers that are being slapped by Google, have no fear. The clear answer is to create quality content that people would want to “like”, “Google +” or “follow”. Once you follow those guidelines, the search engines will not have a choice but to rank your site high in the rankings because the people have spoken.

Marc Marseille has been marketing online since 2006. He currently is the owner of Front Page VIP an internet marketing consultant company for local businesses in Atlanta. You can read more about Marc’s online marketing techniques by visiting http://optinemaillists.org.

A Review Of Our Priorities

When Delay Allows Us to Review Our Priorities

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” ~ Robert Browning, ‘Andrea del Sarto’

One of the most common frustrations of ministry is our desire for things to happen faster than they usually do. We may think they should go faster (and perhaps according to some standards, they should), but they don’t.

How do we react? Do we redouble our efforts? Do we work to motivate staff to do more? Do we take projects away from volunteers and staff and drive them forward ourselves?

It is hard for us to recognize and cope with the fact that the delays may be of God. ―God’s timing‖ truly ―may not be our timing‖ as much as we hate to hear it.

Ted Engstrom has a good reminder in the old classic ―Renewing Your Church Through Vision and Planning‖ from the Christianity Today ―Library of Leadership Development‖ series.

Engstrom notes that when he became frustrated with ―the gap between what we think should be done first and what we can actually do, it usually arises from the pull between priorities and our ability to move the resources needed to attack the priorities.‖

He talks about his three foundational priorities in his life.

1. Bedrock for Engstrom is his relationship with Jesus Christ. (as I hope it is for all of us).

2. Second is his commitment to the Church.

3. Third is the work that God has given to him. That work ―rises directly from my commitment to Christ and his church.‖

Engstrom notes ―Usually, if I appear to have a conflict, a clash between what I think I should do first and what I’m actually able to do because of the people involved, I need to examine these levels to see if my priorities are in the right order. This forces me to put people before programs. If I find myself frustrated in driving toward a goal, I need to check and see if I have put level three before level two. Have I put the work of Christ ahead of the body of Christ? That’s very easy for any of us to do, especially in light of the fact that our families are part of the body.‖ (p. 160)

Here are four red flags Engstrom uses to keep us out of the ditch of misplaced priorities.

1. Are my motives pure? Why do I want to accomplish a particular task or promote a program? Will it make me look good? Will it move me up a rung or give me a little more leverage?

We may frown at the idea that we could be less than sincere, but motivations are complex. We all struggle daily against the desire for recognition and power. The same program, for example, that will comfort the sick may also score points for the pastor. This is where our human reasoning often fails us, and we need to ask the Spirit of God to search our hearts. This is a time to pray as David did, ―Search me, O God, and know my heart … and see if there be any hurtful way in me‖ (Psalm 139:23–24, nasb).

2. Do the goals of the program fit my theology? Time magazine told about a church in Florida that runs a bar in its parish hall. The pastor believes it brings people together in a good setting and contributes to the life of the church. That’s an extreme example, and most of us would fault the practice. But the issues are often more subtle, and while we’ll always have well-meaning people who will think up off-the-wall programs, we must test all proposals through the grid of our theology. If we don’t—and find ourselves stymied along the way to implementation—perhaps we have skipped this important question.

3. Will the program enhance the lives of the participants? A ministry to the medical complex might change the lives of many patients, but it may also jeopardize the workers. We have to ask whether this or that program will put novice Christians in leadership roles,

tempt the weak with celebrity status, or pull mothers and fathers away from their children one more night of the week.

These are tough questions, but they provide the checks we need to avoid putting level three before level two.

4. Have we been seduced by our culture? Do we have a numbers orientation? Are we prone to think bigger is automatically better? Has society’s worship of size, success, speed, production, promotion, and glamour crept into our evaluation of church programs?

I don’t like to think along such lines. I LIKE to think that my priorities are always upfront and known to me. But, they’re not. Sometimes God has to slow me down IN ORDER to make me reevaluate. Or simply to have think time.

Or simply to be reminded that He is God…and I am not.

What do you think? Drop me a line & let me know.

Dr. Calvin Habig ministered in local congregations for thirty years and currently does professional coaching with ministers and other value-driven leaders. He lives in Portland, OR. For more information, visit Cal’s website at http://www.calhabigcoaching.com/

A Method To Generate Backlinks

A Powerful Method That Will Generate Backlinks

When it comes to getting backlinks to your site there are a lot of methods to consider. Matter of fact you might  want to take into consideration all the methods that are available to you. I am not referring to blackhat  tactics, but legitimate methods of backlinking.

What some people do is rely on one “magic method”, but when it comes to getting backlinks to your site, there  really is not one “magic method.” There may be better methods, but there is no longer one method to backlinking.  Depending on how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword, you will need to step up your game and implement several backlinking strategies.

First and foremost, unless your article, web page, or whatever you’re trying to rank for is not optimized and  contains great content, you won’t make it very far, and it won’t stay on the top page of search engines for very  long. Matter of fact this is the best method for backlinking. Create content that others will talk about. When  others share your content, then you have a winning solution for any post, article, or webpage.  So if you want a 100% whitehat backlinking strategy, then make sure it involves great content, great onsite  optimization, and allowing others to link back to your site. One way to get your site out in front of people is  by utilizing basic RSS strategies and bookmarking. This is what I will cover in this article. I will show you how  I do this.

However Be Warned: Some backlinking strategies can be aggressive, and in some cases will not be considered playing nice by Google. Remember that Google doesn’t like it when you try to build links with the purpose of getting higher rankings.

Some backlinking strategies outlined by people would not be seen as whitehat by Google, and therefore do carry some degree of risk. While the widespread opinion is that backlinks cannot hurt you, and while that is probably true in 99% of cases, I do feel more comfortable disclosing that there is some risk. The risk is also strongly proportional with how aggressive you get with these backlinking strategies, the overall quality of your site, and promotional campaign.

Just know that whitehat backlinking strategies are generally considered more long term and sustainable, while greyhat or blackhat promotion aims to take advantage of current loopholes, and is much more likely to see traffic dry up or websites banned in the long term. You need to weigh the risks and rewards carefully.

So now that I have scared you, let me show you how to get backlinks to your site using a completely whitehat method. You can use this with any keywords and any site you may be trying to boost in readership.

This is a great whitehat method of getting instant backlinks to anything you place on the internet. This takes some upfront work but once you have it all put together, it runs on autopilot.

Automatic Backlink Formula.

* You sign up at Ping.fm
* You sign up at the high profile social platforms like Facebook & Twitter. This is where your backlinks will come from   automatically.
* You log into Ping.fm and connect those social platforms to your ping.fm account. Ping.fm is able to post to all those accounts in one go. So post   once, and have that posted to several social networks in one go. Unfortunately you normally have to log into ping.fm to do it each time.
* Ping.fm does not take an RSS feed for auto-posting, but there’s a way round this. Hootsuite, which auto-posts to ping.fm, will take an RSS Feed. So you set up a hootsuite account, add the RSS feed (such as the RSS Feed from your website), and connect hootsuite to Ping.fm. Now every time you post on your site, it goes to ping.fm (via hootsuite) which auto-posts to several high profile social networks.
* You get automatic backlinks and exposure from these social networks.
* There are more sites you can auto-post to other than those listed in ping.fm. So you go sign up to those sites individually and add your RSS Feed. Now every time you post you get backlinks and exposure from these sites too, all automatically.

Another thing I have done is created a FREE account with onlywire. This account is connected straight to my blog. So with every post, I get a crazy amount of backlinks right off the bat.

But you are not only getting instant backlinks with this strategy! If you are doing appropriate linking strategies within your posts or articles, what I mean is that you want to have a link about every 120 words. If you do this, then when all these places crawl and bookmark your site, or link to it, then all your links are getting crawled and indexed as well. That means they are now going to those other pages as well, your pages. This builds authority and strength in these backlinks. SO…what you want to do is find a way to bookmark all the places and articles you create, so that you are getting links to links.

Ok I hope this one tip will help you with getting the organic backlinks you need for your site.

 

Phillip Longmire has been doing internet marketing full time since 2008. He his a speaker, writer, and business owner. He works with companies and their marketing projects from all over the world. All his articles, advice, and know how comes from the front lines.

For more information, please click “http://www.philliplongmire.com/” if you are looking to learn how to make real money online. Phillip has been doing internet marketing full time since 2008 and has the Ultimate step by step program that shows you exactly how to make extra money online.

Next Page »