There’s always discussion as to what is the best way to present your product or services to prospective clients. A company without a web site is rare. Only the smallest of main street businesses can survive without a web site… possibly. As people turn to the web, rather then the phone book to find the service they need, an online presence seems to be necessary to survive. From haircuts to juice bars, unless you are in a great location that guarantees constant foot traffic, you need to be found by other methods.

With newspapers and magazines dwindling, not to mention the cost of ads and television advertising, the web offers free marketing for any firm. The question is; what is the best venue? The answer is; what does your company need?

What Is The End Product/Result?

Recently a friend of mine needed help for an event he was holding. He wanted an eFlyer, web site, Facebook page, Twitter account and anything else I thought would help get the word out about the event and aftermath.

After a discussion of his needs and desired results, I sent him a creative brief that suggested a digital flyer that could be posted to sites, Twitter and emailed to his mailing list. It made sense, as this was a limited, time-sensitive project. It would have the build up to the day it was held, occur and then have some photos and comments. After that, it was a dead issue. I suggested a Facebook page to reach more people within the demographic, a Twitter account to keep people up on the event and undisclosed location as well as reach more of the demographic through the use of hashtags and I told him to forget a web site.

For this need, a static web site, even one updated regularly, including a blog section was just a waste of time and effort vs. what is available through Facebook. He insisted on both but his ability to dedicate the time needed to keep all accounts updated and fresh was limited, so the idea of the web site and blog was dropped.

The eFlyer was designed and he had friends and contacts post it on their Facebook pages, pointing people to the fan page of the event. The eFlyer was also posted to his Twitter account with the appropriate hashtags and the Facebook page garnered close to 4,000 hits in the first week.

It was easy to keep up with the two basic accounts, Twitter and Facebook, for news and blurbs leading up to the event and within the month leading to the event date, the fan page had over 10,000 hits.

Would a web site draw the same attention? Possibly but it would have to draw on the addition of the Facebook page, which would be an extra step in his daily posting schedule. For one person servicing all of the social media needs, it was a time drain he couldn’t handle.

This fit his needs but what fits YOUR needs? If you are a Fortune 100 company, you have a team of marketing/social media people to post all over known creation and that is where you need to be. If you have a small service-oriented company, such as being a freelance designer, hair dresser, house painter, plumber or limo driver, just to name a few, you certainly don’t need both a Facebook page AND a web site. A web site alone will do better for you with the proper SEO so customers will find you easily.

With Facebook…

A Facebook page will allow a small business to update information quickly and has tie-ins with Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest and Instagram. If you want to announce daily specials to your followers, show new product offerings or encourage inbound marketing and interactive response, a Facebook page is ideal for businesses that don’t have a lot of time for social media management or paying a web master to update a web site.

Facebook also has a “close proximity” factor for gathering and tracking followers.  This means that people are logged in and concentrating on their timelines. If your information is viral on Facebook, you are part of these figures:

• One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook (this number is calculated by dividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users).
• People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
• Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site.
• More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices.
• More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook.
• 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month.
• 300,000 users helped translate Facebook into 70 languages.
• People on Facebook install 20 million “Apps” every day.

The use of viral images and information, you can grab a part of Facebook users. With the tools that are a part of Facebook, as well as those that have sharing integration with Facebook, you can keep your social media marketing organized with a minimum of time needed to use multiple channels of social media marketing.

An interesting use of Facebook marketing which actually relies on Twitter for the main social media element. A local food truck announces its daily location via Twitter and then Facebook and allows for recommendations and reviews, along with fan interaction via a Facebook fan page. They have no web site and probably won’t need one unless they decide to park in the same place every day.

So, Why Use A Web Site?

There were an estimated 2,459,646,518 internet users worldwide as of February 2012 (representing about 30.2% of the population worldwide), according to Internet World Stats data. The figures grow every day as technology allows more people to gain access to the internet.

Those figures aside, there will always be a need for a company or individuals to have a web site. Again, it depends on your needs.

When you have a web site, aside from the morals and taste factor of society, which isn’t really much these days, Facebook has rules and privacy settings (although no one seems to be able to figure those out) and will place ads on your page which may very well compete with your product or service, so owning your own web site gives you complete control over content (although you need to read the terms of service of your web hosting provider).

©GL Stock Images

When planning a web site, the first thing to consider is how it will be built. Will you use a ready made template, a WordPress theme or hire a web designer to build the site from scratch to your particular specifications. All will cost money but make sure it’s money well spent. When hiring a designer, it’s best to let them use their expertise at understanding your needs and then allowing them to design your site without interference.

If poorly designed and developed, your site won’t work very well with your users and search engines. Getting involved because you believe design is simple or you need to control the process or, worse yet, you want to brag to friends that you helped design your own site, you will end up costing yourself prospects via lost SEO and a site with bad navigation or designed poorly so people surfing the site won’t stay to view your products or services.

A no-nonsense site is best for a business that offers a product and pricing information that is available to the casual shopper, 24/7. In this case, a well designed website will help you sell more. The website can become a powerful visual aid for your business and a knowledgeable, convincing and tireless virtual salesperson who will always be there when your clients want more information to make the buying decision.

Because of this 24/7 digital salesperson, you will save time and money. Your website will be always available online, even after hours, so won’t have to answer the phone as frequently because now people have another way of getting the information they need about your business: through your website.

With a digital presence, you can reduce or even eliminate the costs for printing and distributing flyers, brochures, newsletters, etc. Including a digital PDF on your site allows prospects to download all of these at no cost to you and they can be updated at any time.

With a website, your business can be listed in various online directories including the web directories of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other business-specific online directories. For your customers, these are like on-demand phone books that will come in handy. Specific searches from local prospects can bring customers right to you.

Show Your Work Process And Successes!

Facebook allows for quick updates to show projects and how they turned out. The same can be used on a web site and will boost customer confidence. With a web site, you can place reviews where they will be the most effective. A big project for a big client will bring big SEO for your site.

One way to encourage a new customer is by showing the transparency in your work process. Tough economics, competition between companies and the cost of services has clients worried…not that they weren’t worried before but now it has become imperative to waylay the client’s fears with a lot of “hand-holding,” explaining what will happen when, how, and why. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it makes perfect sense.

By showing the process, in detail on your web site, before a project even starts, both parties should understand the milestones and what can and should be expected by BOTH the client and the supplier. By simply stating, “this is what my company does, and this is what it typically costs,” it eliminates a lot of the needless bartering and wasted time crafting custom proposals for clients. By defining what you do for a client, and what you don’t do, it’s become easier for you to determine costs.

When prospects see examples of your successes, they will also be inspired for their own projects. Often, if they see what they like, they will ask you to repeat the same project. They may see a style or process they like and ask you to provide the same for them as they now have confidence you will deliver their vision without guessing at the end results.

Yes, these can be added to Facebook, too, using the photo album function but, once again, on your own web site, you can control placement and impact.

What Price For Fame?

There’s been endless discussion about price lists on web sites. The internet, technology itself, has changed the way we all do business. The rise of Amazon.com and the effect it has had on certain retail sectors (i.e. retail toy and book sales). We have gotten use to the ease of point-and-click buying. Personally, I prefer to hold the product in my hands before buying. I like looking at the package, flipping through pages, trying on clothes and shoes BEFORE considering the purchase. Unfortunately, that option is disappearing.

Some would say that’s a con and not a pro but apparently society doesn’t agree as evident in the bankruptcy and closing of retail stores and chains. There will always be the projects that need the personal touch. The meetings, the briefs, the back and forth and the negotiations for the fees involved…followed by the arguing and non-payment thereof. With a posted price, the prospective client or buyer knows what the product or service will cost and is more likely to pony up the entire cost up front. If not, payments split into two or more with milestone payments are still acceptable to internet shoppers with a final payment due upon delivery, which, thank goodness, will erase the “30 day” payment period. As a friend once said, “30 days is a jail sentence and not a payment term.”

©GL Stock Images

People argue the notion of price lists on a web site as “too rigid” and “unchangeable.” Companies that post products would scoff at that. If you are in a product oriented or service industry that can post a flat fee or price, they can be changed albeit by a person who can handle the web site and needed changes. You have to ask if there will be frequent changes to your prices and costs. If not, placing prices on your site may put you ahead of competitors when prospects are shopping around the web.

As mentioned in the opening of this article, it’s up to you to know your business plan before jumping into social media. Your business plan has to consider the demographic of your targeted consumer and what will reach their needs when marketing your company. Jumping in blindly is a bad business decision and a savvy businessperson will know that planning is the first step in execution.

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I recently just started doing SEO for a client who didn’t have a company twitter account, so I had to start from scratch. I didn’t want to spend much time on twitter, but at the same time I wanted to yield it for all it’s worth. Here’s a simple 4-step guide to automating your twitter account to tweet about the things you want, and the best part about it is that it won’t take you more than 15 minutes! Over time, the people/companies in your niche will take notice of your tweets, and this can be the first step to connecting personally with each of them.

Identify influential bloggers

They don’t necessarily have to be the cream of the crop in your niche, but rather just the ones you want to start building relationships with. Once you identify them, make a list of all of their RSS feeds in a simple text document.

Use Google Alerts

If you’ve never used Google Alerts before, it’s a tool to help you monitor the Web for any keyword or phrase of your choosing. For example, if I wanted to know whenever the phrase “link building contest” was mentioned, I could sign up for a daily Google Alert & get it sent to my email or by RSS feed. In this case, set up a couple alerts and have them be created as RSS feeds. Make sure you add these RSS feeds to your text document list.

Combine the feeds

By using RSS Mix, you’re able to combine any number of RSS feeds into just one. This will bypass some of the fees you would have had to pay in the next step.

Use Hootsuite to tweet the RSS

Hootsuite is an awesome tool to stay on top of twitter, and luckily for us it’s free to use. Sign up for an account, sync your twitter account, and then add an RSS feed to your account. The RSS feed you’re adding is the combined one we created in step 3. Set it up so each new item is tweeted via your twitter account.

The reason we combined the feeds in step 3 is because Hootsuite’s free plan allows only 2 RSS feeds, so if you wanted to use all of the ones individually through it, you would have to pay $6/month.

I don’t recommend this as a full time option for your twitter account, but rather as a great way to get started. By tweeting about the most relevant content in your niche, you have a great chance as being one of the twitter authorities. Also, make sure you’re tweeting about your own content too, whether it’s adding your feed to the mega feed we created in Step 3 or if you’re doing it manually.

This is a guest post by Jon Cooper from Point Blank SEO. If you’d like to keep up to date with the latest news & content on link building and relationship building, add Point Blank SEO to your Google+ circles, or follow Jon Cooper on Twitter.

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There are many platforms that allow individuals to communicate. Of course, the social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace are the most popular; however, forums and web discussions are becoming increasingly popular as well. These platforms allow users to discuss various topics and it is very possible that, depending on the subject you are interested in, there is some type of forum that exists that specifically targets that subject. The process of creating a forum or web discussion is dependent on the skills the person has within web hosting and code. Forums and web discussions are still not quite as popular as other social networking sites, but they have the versatility to become anything the creator wants it to be, which is making it popular among individuals.

Who are social networking sites for?

Almost everyone has some type of social networking site and businesses are now creating their very own which would allow them to connect more deeply with their customers. By creating such sites, businesses are now able to see what their customers truly think in a relaxed, comfortable state. Individuals and businesses alike want a social networking platform that is easy to use and popular.

Here are the top five social networking platforms:

These five social networking websites are in the lead over all other social networking sites online. One may wonder how the rankings for the top five social networking platforms are decided. The decision is based on a number of factors. These factors include:

• Profiles
• Security
• Features for Networking
• Support
• Friend Focus

These few factors are what determine whether or not the social networking platform is a success. Profiles are the most essential factor because this is how a user expresses themselves and who they are to the public and to the people who they know. On a profile, users can talk about their likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests, and literally be themselves. Users value being able to have a profile that is easy to use and allows them to talk about themselves and what they are into. A user profile should be easy to set up and understand, but also decent enough to allow the user to show who they are and their personality through their profile.

The Importance of Security

Security is definitely another major factor on what makes a social networking platform successful. Users value their privacy and security. Who would want to be a user of a social networking website that didn’t value the security of its users? Surely, no one would. Each and every successful social networking platform should have security options for its users. These options include giving the users a block button so that they are able to block anyone they want, especially people who may be bothering them online. Users should also be able to block off certain parts of their profile from other people if they wish.

Available Features

The features for networking are definitely an additional bonus. If a social networking platform wants to have success, it will need to offer tons of features to its users. It is important that social networking platforms remember they are in constant competition with others. Features that should be offered to the users include picture updates, video update, groups, status updates, and tons of other features that the users want.

Support is a necessity especially for those who are new to using social networking platforms. The last thing that a platform should want to do is to leave a user feeling unsure and left out. The platform should offer support and advice to new users and there should always be a section available to users that answers some of the most frequently asked questions.

Connecting with Friends

Last but certainly not least, friend focus is essential and it is the main way that a social networking platform will grow. Users want to be able to connect with their friends and family members. If a social networking platform wants to be successful, they have to make the friend focus easy for users to keep in contact with one another.

In Conclusion

Overall, it seems as though Facebook has mastered most of these features because it is number one on the list of top five social networking platforms. Facebook has received a 4 star rating for security, support and friend focus. Facebook also received a 3 star rating for profiles and 3.5 stars for networking features. Facebook currently takes the lead as the number one social networking platform, but the website does have some fairly stiff competition.

MySpace comes in as a close second. The website received a 4 star rating for all features except for the friend focus feature. When it came to friend focus, MySpace received a 3 star rating, which is what put the social networking platform at number two in the list. MySpace is in constant competition with Facebook for the number one spot. If Facebook wants to keep its number one spot or if MySpace wants to reach that number one spot, changes will need to be made on both ends. The same goes for the other three social networking platforms and all of the other platforms that have not been able to make it within the top five.

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In the Beginning:

It all began with Usenet and the creation of “threaded” conversations held on bulletin board services.  This allowed people to have interactive conversations and keep them organized so that information was easier to find and easier to understand.  To this day, Usenet still exists and is blooming with hundreds of thousands of new messages every day.  Usually grouped by interest, a Usenet group would be listed as, for example, rec.games.computer.quake for discussion of the PC game Quake.  There are Usenet groups on just about any topic you can imagine from fan groups for Janet Jackson to discussion groups about knitting.

Fast forward a few years to 1998/99 and the introduction of Open Diary and LiveJournal.  Open Diary was the first to recognize that there were many people out there who were using word processing software to make online diaries for themselves, which at the time was difficult and often expensive, as web hosting was comparatively more expensive than it is now.  With this knowledge, the founder who goes by the handle “TheDiaryMaster” created a service wherein users would sign up for an account, choose a template and start publishing from the services interface.  It streamlined the process and also added on many other features that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for those who were publishing on their own. Open Diary introduced security levels so that posts could be friends only or public as well as options for changing fonts and allowing visitors to leave comments on your posts, something that until this service was not available anywhere.  Also available on the service was the ability to add friends, so that you would have a type of reading list to keep up with your favorite diary writers. In fact, Open Diary can be seen as the first step that the world took towards social networking.

In 1999, a newer service came to the forefront with even more options available to users called LiveJournal.  At its inception, it was an exclusive club: you needed to know someone to get an invite to sign up.  There was a point where people were selling their invite codes for $25-30 apiece!  LiveJournal offered much in the way of customization of your individual space, ability to host photographs and other multi-media creations as well as also having a friends list and commenting abilities.  The biggest draw to LiveJournal in the beginning was their new “community” feature which allowed a user to create a group journal where ongoing conversations could be held by multiple users (up to 500 at a time).

The dawn of Web 2.0

While it is a hotly disputed topic of when “Web 2.0” became a reality, it is well known that the term was coined at the 2004 O’Reilly Mass Media Web 2.0 convention in late 2004.  What the term has come to mean however, in everyday terms is that the web instead of being a place where a person seeks out information, like in a library catalogue, it has become interactive. People have real experiences through virtual worlds and text-based chat rooms, and even now through video conferencing.  Thanks to file sharing sites and services, people are trading music and books and any other type of media imaginable.  The experience of Web 2.0 has moved to also take place on our cell phones where the new Android, iPhone and other devices are allowing for remote access to email, websites, navigation and news all at the tip of your fingers wherever you happen to be.

Of course, with the invention of ever greater technologies we come face to face with some of the problems of these opportunities. More than ever, privacy and identity protection are at the forefront of everyone’s minds as they use credit cards to purchase items for themselves and their loved ones, subscriptions to online video games and even use online services to send and receive faxes and attend university.  This concern is a very real one as sensitive and private identifying information is shared over the network of the Internet and opens users up to identity theft and fraud like never before.  While the Web 2.0 has made life simpler and more streamlined for the legitimate users, it has also made life simpler and more streamlined for those who would steal your information to use for their own ends.  This had led to a rise in the creation of privacy, anti-virus and other security software.  This has become a thriving occupation all on its own from websites offering virus protection scanning and programs to fix problems found to people who have taken the time to get training to do it manually and will come to your home and fix your computer for a fee.

What you see is what you get:

Thanks to the introduction of Web 2.0, the life blogging that has come with it, we are now seeing the Internet open up to new users at an amazing rate. Anyone who wants a website can pay a few dollars for a domain name of their choice and the majority of web hosts have a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that requires no programming knowledge whatsoever.  This brings the world of website building to the newest computer user and for fans of the most obscure hobbies.  As time goes by, the World Wide Web looks to become more and more interactive.  Eventually one day, perhaps, a person will not need to leave their homes at all to conduct their daily business.  It is an exciting and uncertain time for people everywhere as regulations are imposed and new ways of communicating are built.  Pull up a chair, dear reader and come along for the ride!

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Tweet is the word for posting up a status, which can only be 140 characters or less at a time. The point of Twitter is to allow people to socialize and network but also allowing those people to get to the point with what they have to say. Many people have realized that Twitter can be used for business which means more and more of these people are making Twitter accounts in hopes that they can network and become more successful with their business ventures.

There are tons of ways to market yourself on Twitter. Below are just a few things that you can do:

• Network
• Tweets With Links
• Follow Business People
• Create Your Personal Bio

Network With Twitter Users

Networking is a great way to spread the word on Twitter about your business ventures. Once you begin following people and receive followers in return, you will be able to reach a target audience with your tweets. Networking is a great way to run a successful business and is definitely important for businesses today because networking is a fantastic marketing strategy.

While many people think of Twitter as a means of chatting with friends and keeping in touch, it is so much more than that and can actually help someone receive more business or land positions for jobs that they are interested in doing. Twitter is especially ideal for freelancers who are looking for work because they will be able to network with clients and other freelancers to find work opportunities.

Post Your Tweets With Links

One of the best features of Twitters will enable you to post links in your tweets. A tweet is much like a status update but is just about 140 characters in length or less. This means you have to get to your point quickly but it will work to your advantage since people will more often read your entire message. You can post links to your business, portfolio, or some of your work in your tweet for all of your followers to see. If you are following business people and clients and some of these people are following you, they will see your tweet on their homepage when they log into Twitter. This will help you to drive more traffic to your website or various links full of work or your personal portfolio.

When you have more traffic and visitors to your particular links, you will likely have much more success with your business or with finding the job that you are looking for. In fact, there are many people who have been able to find jobs through Twitter and continue using the social networking site as a means of networking.

Follow The Right People

It is important that you think wisely about who you follow. It is understandable that you might like to read about what your favorite celebrity is doing but if you want to follow celebrities, it would be better to make a personal account aside from your account that is made for business purposes. On your account for business, you should follow people who share common interests as you. You will find that there are lots of business people, private clients, and freelancers on Twitter and these people are all networking with one another. You can join in and become followers of these people and they can choose to follow you as well.

Networking with one another can lead to open doors and a number of possibilities and opportunities that can come your way. There are many people who have found job opportunities by following this route and networking with people who, like themselves, are looking to network and market themselves or their business.

Update Your Personal Bio

When you have a Twitter account, you should always make sure that you set up your personal bio section with accurate and truthful information. Honesty is policy especially when you are using Twitter for business. What should you put in your personal bio? Well, because you are using Twitter for business, your personal bio should include short yet informative information about who you are and what you do. You should include your name along with your business or what types of jobs you can do or are looking for.

For example, if you are a freelance writer, you might want to briefly talk about being a freelance writer and what type of experience you have in the field of writing. This can benefit you tremendously especially if a client is looking to hire a write and comes across your Twitter page.

Conclusion

In a world where technology has become so popular, it is logical to fully utilize this highly rated social networking website that will allow you to keep in touch with clients and other business people who can actually open doors for you and help you along the way with your business and goals. Creating a Twitter account is absolutely free and you will never have to pay a cent for having an account.

While there are other websites that allow you to network with businesses and clients, Twitter is a free social networking platform that can help you to do just about the same which is keeping in touch with important people to help you and your business succeed. As a member of the Twitter community, make sure that you are respectful and considerate of other people on the social networking platform. There are millions of Internet users with accounts on Twitter and these people live in areas all over the world. You never know what type of opportunity will come your way.

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There are three primary suggestions on how to research a reliable host including:

• Visit industry websites
• Contact experts on the subject
• Utilize Twitter

By visiting websites and forums specific to the reseller hosting industry you can gain excellent insight into the various aspects of different companies. Also, there are several specialty sites that post industry news and company reviews. Forums are one of the most popular mediums as they allow customers to appraise hosting companies and share experiences with each other.

By contacting experts on the subject of reseller hosting you have access to someone that is much more knowledgeable than yourself. Experts can give you the cold, hard facts mixed with their own personal experiences and help you make the best determination based on your personal needs. You can contact them in person, on the phone or indirectly through an academic journal they have written.

Finally, Twitter can be another powerful research tool. Twitter differs from a regular search engine tool in that it is real-time and uncensored from actual customers of the reseller host you are reviewing. You have the ability to see an immediate view of how that web hosting provider is doing. If there are constant problems with the company, it will appear in a Twitter search.

The most efficient method for using this tool is over the course of a few weeks to acquire accurate information. First, reduce your pool of reseller hosts down to a few. Then search for the web hosting providers name and look for tweets that mention the name. Finally, gauge the writer’s satisfaction level and make your decision.

Research is the key to uncovering the truth about any company. If you want accurate and reliable first-hand experience about a specific topic or company, utilize the research methods mentioned above. This will allow you to be an informed consumer and thus have a piece of mind that you made the right decision.

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The Purpose of .CO Domains

The .CO domains do not have any particular purpose, however they are now being used for all sorts of commercial purposes including but not limited to eCommerce, personal blogging, picture sites, music sites, and video sites, social sites, news sites, sports sites and any other kind of web site imaginable. Twitter is using a .co domain as a link service, however many are under the impression that this site will be used to shorten .co domains, even though it is actually intended to do much more as an overall link service for Twitter that indexes all links and collects information about them for Twitter. They are also supposed to be using the domain as a link shortener as well for Twitter development purposes. Many people wonder how Twitter got a one letter .CO domain when a normal person can only purchase a three letter domain and others are considered invalid in domain registrar databases. According to the news, Twitter paid more than a quarter million dollars for T.CO, its new .CO link service.

Shorter .CO URLs

Twitter in the aforementioned example is just one of many large web sites that are purchasing and utilizing a .co domain to shorten their domain name. Overstock.com also purchases O.CO, which is perhaps one of the most memorable web sites ever bought. Overstock’s search engine optimization specialist stated that he believes the new domain will bring in twice the amount of traffic tot he Overstock web site within the coming decade. It should be noted however that the average site owner will not be able to afford one of these one or two letter domain names, as Overstock paid more than $300,000 for O.CO.

New Brands and .CO Domains

Even though you can’t find a two or three letter .co domain, it is still very possible to purchase .co domains that have very basic keywords in them. For example, it may still be possible to purchase a 6 or 7 letter .co domain that is an actual word or existing product of some sort. Since .CO domains have just been released to the public for sale, there are many .CO domains are available that have .com counterparts. For example, there may be a web site entitled example.com. A couple of months ago you may have been able to purchase example.co, even though you are not the owner of example.com. This would give you the opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of an existing web site.

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Utilizing YouTube’s power to generate traffic to your site and potentially convert that traffic into sales is becoming a mainstream idea. The following are a few tips to acquire additional traffic and promote products utilizing YouTube. These pointers include:

• Posting viral videos
• Posting quality videos
• Including your website logo in the videos
• Video promotion
• Make videos search-friendly
• Create an intriguing profile

Viral videos are useful videos that appeal to large groups of people. If you create a video that becomes viral, others will promote the video for you by word of mouth. This allows anything in the video to be seen and accessed by potentially millions of users.

Unfortunately there are many low quality videos available on YouTube. By posting videos of high quality, you are separating yourself from the pack. Viewers don’t like lower quality videos so they will skip over those not conforming to their viewing taste.

Including your website logo or actual web address in the videos is the best promotional tip to generate traffic because it creates branding. Its best to place the logo and URL throughout the video for extended exposure.

Once this is all achieved, promoting the video to gain viewership is the next step. Its unrealistic to just assume that any video created will become viral. Step up and start promoting in blogs, forums, content mills, email links, or other high trafficked web sites.

Furthermore, allow viewers to be able to easily find your video on both YouTube and search engines. To make the video search-friendly, simply include major keywords in both the title and descriptions and pay close attention to tags.

The final tip is while you’re creating and promoting the video, craft an interesting and intriguing profile. This allows viewers to learn more about you. If they read a boring profile, they won’t want to view your content any further.

YouTube and other forms of social media are a gold mine for advertising and generating free traffic. Although there are many videos displaying websites and many advertisements on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace, this is still an untapped, highly resourceful market.

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• How to Use Twitter for Business

How Twitter works for business

As social media outlets go, Twitter is quickly becoming one of the more popular micro-blogging sites around.  The list of businesses currently using Twitter in one fashion or another is constantly growing.  Comcast, JetBlue, and Dell are just a few companies that realized early on that Twitter has great potential to help them get in contact with and support their customers.  Comcast is a perfect example of how a business can use a micro-blogging service to give fast and courteous service to their existing customers as well as garner new business by word of mouth from happy and support customers.

How Twitter lists work for business

Once a business has set up their Twitter account, it is very easy to start racking up the number of users being followed.  At last count, the official support Twitter account for Comcast has over 32,000 users it’s following.  Trying to keep track of that many conversations at once is completely impossible.  So, what is the solution?

Simple – Twitter lists.  Creating a list is a very quick and easy process.  Log into Twitter and click on the “New list” link found on the right-hand side of the web site.  A new window will open up where a name can be typed in as well as the type of list it should be (private or public).  Once the list is created, it’s then a simple matter of going through the “following” list of the account and adding members to the newly created list.

One great example for a business use for a Twitter list is a company that has offices and customers across the states.  If this business wished to group its customers by area, lists such as “northwest_customers” or “Oregon_clients” could be created.  Then, support teams could have direct access to specific customers based on geographic location.

Taking it one step further

Twitter has made it convenient to include user lists within web sites.  By going to the Goodies – Widgets area, one can find the easy to customize Twitter list widget.  Once customized, the code then can be grabbed and integrated easily within a business web site.  This widget provides a quick way to keep tabs on customers and makes it very simple for new customers to join in on the conversation.  The list widget can be placed on a front page of a web site or even within a support section.  Either way, including this bit of coding is a perfect way to generate more business.

Conclusion

Including Twitter within a social media campaign is a smart move.  Twitter is continuously adding new features to make the experience of micro-blogging easier.  The latest addition of Twitter lists is a splendid way to monitor topics and people who matter most and a great way to keep in contact with and give support to customers and clients.

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The Content Management Aspect

The IntelBuilder content management system is developed and maintained by software creator Vesta Digital.  Like most CMS products, the software has the ability to create and manage basic content.  IntelBuilder is geared more towards the inexperienced user, designed to be easy to use and managed.  It makes it simple for administrators to add and edit existing content, delete content and add an unlimited number of pages to a website.  Some of the most notable benefits IntelBuilder offers include:

- Built for search engine optimization with SEO-friendly URLs and meta data management.

- Cross web browser compatibility

- Automatic submission to major search engines.

- Built-in support for Google Analytics

- Integrated reporting and web statistics.

In comparison to other proprietary commercial CMS products, IntelBuilder distinguishes itself through ease of use, a rich set of features and a high level of global compatibility.  Being a new solution, it is uncertain whether IntelBuilder will evolve into the award-winning content management solution its developers think it will be, but so far, it appears to be simple and powerful enough to suit the needs of most users.

The Social Media Aspect

IntelBuilder offers a social media platform that enables users to achieve a goal that is becoming increasingly popular on the web: being able to effectively distribute content.  Once your content has been published, the platform lets you distribute it over popular social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter as well as social bookmarking sites such as Delicious and Digg.  It also allows you to send out content to major guns such as Google News and other prominent news and media outlets.  IntelBuilder gives you the ability to effectively manage your audience of readers and subscribers along with tools for monitoring your website traffic and statistics.

Price and Availability

In all honesty, the features and capabilities mentioned in this article can be obtained from a number of CMS products through various add-ons for free.  However, when going with a proprietary solution such as IntelBuilder, they will cost you some real money.  The software is available in a variety of pricing plans with the most affordable coming at $49.95 per month with a one-time setup fee of $295.  The platform is module heavy and very extensible, but the default installation comes with features such as a text editor, site map, RSS news, search functionality and Google Maps among others.  IntelBuilder could turn out to be worth every penny but before making an investment, we recommend examining the product a little closer to determine if it can suit all of your content management and social media needs.

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