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Today, I received an email from Search Engine Land with an article by Greg Finn, Director of Internet Marketing for 10e20. Go to their website, sign up for their updates! It will keep you in the loop!

Now, on to the article!

You could be the next “Will It Blend” but if nobody knows about you, then it doesn’t matter how creative and awesomely original you are. One of the most important factors in social media is the promotion of your content, and this often leads to annoyance. There are many annoying social media habits, but perhaps the most annoying come from the promotion of social media. Avoid the following social promotion pitfalls to become a less annoying (and more effective) user:

The Impersonal Users. If asking for a favor, make it personal. Social media is supposed to be all about relationships, yet so many people are lazy and make things impersonal. Great, I’m glad you found my IM name in my social profile, but my full name isn’t ‘Can you Digg this for me,’ so find some manners and use them. This is the same for all social mediums. Instead of direct messaging “friends” and telling them to share something in 140 characters, take the time to chat with them on IM, talk about the story in mind, and inquire if they would be interested in passing information along to their friends. The more time and genuine effort that you out into something, the better it will come out – I guarantee it. Read more »

Cell phones aren’t just for phone calls anymore, and with the new and improved cellular products vastly available (to anyone who’s willing to pay for them), your cell phone can do so much more than send a text message or take a picture. Many cell phones have the ability to navigate you through GPS, find a restaurant near you to eat, make appointments, take videos, listen to music, and even watch TV!

Social networking is all about time and communication – 2 things that cell phones have made so much easier. Many people are in a hurry now-a-days (who isn’t?), and cell phones have the ability to help keep you updated when you’re on the go. You can send e-mails through your phone to important clients or schedule an important meeting that you can’t forget in your phone’s calendar. You can even use the internet on your phone, whether it is looking up information or just checking your Facebook. There are many applications a phone can offer, but everything comes with a price.

So no matter who your carrier, here are a couple of great options for keeping you in the loop while you’re on the go!

Read more »

Are you having trouble keeping all of those little status updates current? I mean, really – there’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace… and it never ends! By the time you update your third website, the first one is already outdated!

There have been a lot of new widgets and applications that you can add to your blog, website and other social media places that will feed directly from your twitter account – but some are still incompatible, like LinkedIn.

So what’s a gal to do? Check out ping.fm! Ping is a free service which allows users to post to multiple social sites simultaneously.

As social media grows in popularity, more of these “hybrid” sites are popping up, allowing us to pull all of our other websites together with one simple interface. Ping is one of the most inclusive sites, with the easiest level of usage and broadest range of coverage.

Read more »

If you are like me, you already have tons of phone calls and emails to keep up with. Just the thought of adding more online to-do tasks like updating LinkedIn and remembering to “tweet” routinely on Twitter is mind blowing!

Here is the good news. It gets easier. Several months ago I made a dedicated effort to be more active with social networks and here is the secret; using social media is just like any other habit you want to cultivate, make it part of your daily routine and it happens.

Read more »

Don't Be A Jurassic Adaptor!

If you are really interested in the topic of Web site design, I highly recommend Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think.” I read the first edition several years ago and it became my bible for good Web site layout and design. I recently re-read the second edition and recommitted our team to developing sites that never ever make visitors “think”!

eMarketing research indicates visitors spend less than 27 seconds per page and they leave in less than two minutes if the Web site makes them think.

A good benchmark for your site is a five minute visit length with seven to eight page views. Of course, the larger the site (number of pages) the longer the visit length should be and the more pages they should view.

Read more »

Twitter Icon

Wondering where to get the social media icons to proudly proclaim you are now on Twitter, Facebook or Wordpress? Look no further! I found a great source at http://www.iconspedia.com/. This site offers more free icons than you can possibly download! I found the categories in the left side navigation difficult to use and not particularly intuitive, but the search feature works very well. From Facebook, Google to Twitter,  just type the name of the icon you are looking for in the search field and it comes right up. For the purpose of posting icons on a Website or in an email signature, I recommend downloading the PNG file type and either the 32 X 32 or 64 X 64 size. The icon in this post is the 128 X 128 size so you can get a feel for that size. Click on the size you wish and then click save. The download will start and either automatically save to My Documents/My Pictures or to a file you designate manually. Make a note where you saved the image so you can find it later when you upload it to your site. I hate it when I forget where a file is! Read more »

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristen Weaver,  a web marketing expert, on how she is using social media to market new homes in the Orlando, Florida market. Kristen has pioneered social media marketing at her company and is one of the most progressive social media marketers in the industry. She is also a professional photographer and all around marketing maven! Her blog is the  www.thenewhomesalesguru.com and it describes her journey as a first time homebuyer. Check out our video interview and enjoy learning what Kristen does and how she does it!

Read more »