Tag : mistakes

  • Are You Making These 10 Social Media Business Blunders?

    Posted Aug 26th, 2009 By in Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Networking With | 10 Comments

    Small business owners are discovering the power of social to promote their products and services every day. While tweeting or stumbling can be an excellent method of getting your business name out there and gathering fans, it is really only powerful when used correctly.

    Unfortunately, many small business owners are eager to take part in this free method of promotion but fail to understand exactly how to make use of it. Here are some of the most common blunders made in social media.
    1. Bookmarking every single blog post. Stick to promoting the best content you have and people will pay a lot more attention. As a side note, you should be bookmarking other people’s great content, too, not just your own.
    2. Asking for help to promote a website or blog post. This is usually done once the post has been submitted to every social bookmarking site under the sun. Again, stick to only your best posts or people will quickly become jaded.
    3. Add everyone as a friend. Having the most friends doesn’t mean you’ll get more clients. It does mean you will sort through more spam and if you spam thousands of people, you could destroy your business reputation.
    4. Advertising in blog comments. Everyone loves a comment on their blog, but when you leave a business ad instead of a legit comment; many blog owners will just delete it or mark it as spam.
    5. No image branding. Not only is your profile picture important on social media sites, but some allow you to have a background image that can be put to good use, as well, such as Twitter. Make sure you use the opportunity.
    6. Leaving holes in your profiles. Completing all your social media profiles with all the important information (hobbies, your business info., etc.) helps you attract like-minded members but it also shows people that you’re not only here to spam.
    7. Not interacting. Social media, by its very definition, requires interaction. If you are just posting and ignoring everyone else, you will end up with fewer interested followers.
    8. Taking on too much. There are hundreds of social media sites, but you won’t be able to effectively use them all, or even a percentage of them. Stick to just 2-3 quality sites or get some help.
    9. Hard selling. Direct marketing can work in social media, but you need to create the relationships before you try and call on them. If you immediately start selling, no one is going to listen. You will be know as spammer and damage your reputation. Trust me, you cannot afford to do that with social media because the news spreads fast online.
    10. Not measuring your results. You need to review your strategy and know what your goals are. Then through your metrics you have to see if you are meeting these goals. Otherwise, there really will be no reason to jump into social media.
    Social media can make or break your business. With more and more consumers online these days, it is the perfect opportunity to present your small business as a human business and offer your services to a willing audience. Doing things the right way will pay off.
    What other social media blunders you have seen businesses make?
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • 7 Worst SEO Mistakes

    Posted Aug 12th, 2009 By in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) With | 2 Comments

    These days, everyone knows that SEO is important to running a successful website, but not everyone is aware of how to implement search engine optimization successfully. Could you be sabotaging your website’s search engine ranking? Read on to find out.

    The 7 worst SEO mistakes are:

    1. Using Flash or JavaScript. It might seem like a great idea to use JavaScript or Flash to set up your site navigation, but the truth is that this simply makes your site a black hole for search engine spiders. The spiders can’t follow these “invisible” links, meaning your website will be invisible to them and thus impossible to rank. Your best bet is to use CSS or XHTML, but if you do decide to continue using this type of navigation, just be sure to add in real text links, too.

    2. Not using ALT text. If you only have one or two photos on your website, this isn’t a big deal, but when you rely on graphics to carry your business, you could be in trouble. Minimal content could cause your website to be ranked lower by search engines, unless they realize that your photos are also content. Using ALT tags to add keywords to the photos can help boost rankings.

    3. Reciprocal linking. Note that this is certainly not a terrible thing, but reciprocal links get you virtually nothing. Instead, look for real one way links that you can build up. There are several ways to get these links and they are infinitely more valuable than linking to a site which links right back to you.

    4. Poorly formatted anchor text. When link building, it is in your best interest to use keywords as part of the anchor text. So why is it that so many links simply say “Click here”? Part of the reason is fear, but any SEO expert can tell you how to adjust your anchor text to give you maximum exposure without being slammed by Google for spamming keywords.

    5. Using black-hat techniques. You know it’s wrong, but if it works and you don’t get caught . . . Too many people have discovered the hard way that trying to fool Google simply doesn’t work, at least not in the long run. If you’re tempted to use the latest trick to get that coveted #1 position, think again. Using evergreen SEO techniques will get you there and keep you there, without fear of being discovered.

    6. Using more than 65 characters. If you look at the top listings in Google, you’ll notice that almost all of them have relatively short titles that fit into the 65 character limit. Most search engines will cut you off after this, so it’s important to format your title correctly . . . something most website owners and bloggers neglect to do. If you go over the limit, be sure to make those first 65 characters count so they can stand alone.

    7. Not staying on top of the latest guidelines. Search engines are constantly changing their guidelines and rules to help keep spam off the front page, but if you aren’t aware of these changes, you could be doing precisely the wrong thing for your website.

    Reading blogs like this one is a good way to ensure you won’t fall behind and end up using outdated SEO techniques that could end up dropping your site into the depths of the search results.

    Are you making any of these mistakes? The good news is that they are all completely fixable. With careful attention and the right SEO techniques, your site can rise to the top.

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
  • Page 2 of 2«12

Copyright © 2011 MirnaBard.com