Today’s age is all about networking. By networking people can get to do many things that they cant do otherwise. The pace at which internet related technology has evolved has further fueled the growth of social networking as tool to make friends, get jobs, share knowledge/expertise, do business or just communicate.
However in social networking, there are some rules that one must follow in order to avoid being banned or thrown out of a group. Social networking websites are community based, so its’ important to join community discussions where subjects are to your liking and level. Participating in a community to add value should be the first aim while joining a social networking community. In social networking sites the more valuable content you contribute, the better is your chance of getting higher placement in search engines like google, yahoo, msn and others. Read the rest of this entry »
Before going into specifics of Social Media Optimization lets make something’s about social networking clear. YouTube is the 2nd most popular search, and Twitter and Facebook are replacing Google among core users as their primary source for search. Facebook is replacing Google as number one source of reference traffic. Having a search engine optimized website is important, but as focus shifts to social landscape, social media websites are gaining importance. As such companies and organizations are trying their best to be visible in places preferably social places where their audience are searching and communicating including photos at Flickr, videos on YouTube or Vimeo, events on PlanCast, checkins on FourSquare or Gowalla, updates on Facebook or LinkedIn, tweets, diggs, reviews on Yelp. As such adding value and context for audience to take note is important. For example a video posted on YouTube backed by keyword-rich title, a keyword-rich description, and tags will definitely attract audience to the video.
Building a social media presence can be intimidating for most businesses as they have to build and distribute widgets, make payroll, return phone calls and do everything else so that it has an impact on community. However, not just creating content but also interacting socially with audience, customers and even competitors is of critical importance these days. SMO helps in the distribution of social objects and its ability to rise to the top of any related search query, where and when it is performed means that SEO + SMO deliver advanced visibility on the internet. As such companies have developed both a search and a social media strategy to increase their online visibility, find new customers, and stay ahead of the competition.
The internet has evolved from being informative source to being a participative one not only in India but worldwide. The participative nature of the internet can be recognized from the wide range of forums, social bookmarking sites, blogs and social network websites its helping the businesses and brands to grow faster. As conversations move faster online participation tailor made Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) solutions are helping clients to reach out to maximum clientele. So its important to know the core aspects of Social Media Optimization and marketing which are:
1. Increase your linkability through fresh, informative and eye catching content
2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy through implementation of Social Bookmarking buttons on your blogs and important pages
3. Reward Inbound links
4. Develop content for presentations and submission on social sharing websites.
5. Encourage mashup
In the end from an SEO point of view, Social Media Optimization (SMO) if done in the right manner can provide a variety of benefits such as increased traffic, increased number of quality backlinks, and consistent rise in page ranks.
Making money through blogging is a new chapter in blogging mania that has gripped the whole world. As the internet evolves, bloggers are trying to find out newer, better, and easier way to make money from it. Though there is no hard and fast rule as to how to entice more visitors to blogs, the more the visitors, the more the money. Adding directories , websites, blogs to own blog definately helps to generate revenues as well as viksitors. However there are few more steps people can opt for that will certainly help them make more money through blogs. Bloggers however need to be clear in their mind as to what they are, professional bloggers or amateur bloggers. Next comes method to increase visibility followed bynecessary steps to regularly make money.
Get Own Domain
Professional blogging is one of the hottest alternative careers today, but the best way to blog is to have your own domain address. The secondary blog addresses like http://yourname.blogspot.com don’t help much in making money. With own domain name that costs less than Rs 500, bloggers can start blogging professionally.
Get Customized Email
One of the best marketing tools to promote a blog is to have own email address. A email address that reads ‘yourname@yourname.com’ promotes not just the blogger, but also the email and . Every time a blogger sends a mail, he/she promotes the website in a subtle manner, thereby promoting themselves which will ultimately help them make more money. A tip, use gmail for domains, that will allow you bloggers to avail all the best features of gmail yet retaining own identity.
Publish URL in Stationaries
Publish URL with email signatures, on business cards on letter pads and everywhere else where it can help the blogger promote himself and his/her blog.
Add Blogroll
Sign up with websites like blogrolling.com. Add up all the frequently read blogs on the linklist and manage them together with ease.
Activate Ping
If using blogger.com, activating the ping option is the best bet. Pinging allows other websites to know that the blog has been updated. Pinging allows blogs/websites to draw maximum attention for freshness of content.
Register Blog At Directories
Its important that blogs/websites are seen always. So the easiest way to do this is to list the blogs in every possible web directory like dimoz.org. Though directory submissions have to be done manually these web directories are really helpful in enhancing the profile of the blog/website in search engines.
Provide RSS Feeds
Many people use newsreaders to subscribe to their frequently read blogs. Bloggers need to make sure that their website has RSS feeds to enhance their frequency of visits by other blog readers.
Update Daily
Its’ important for bloggers to regularly update content on their website/blogs, as people when they visit their blogs they should be able to find the updated content. The visitors wont come to a blog/website if they find stale content. Updating content requires time, so bloggers need to keep aside some time exclusively for updating content if not daily then atleast in every 2-3 days or maximum once a week. Its a small price to pay to keep viewers/visitors interested in the blog/website.
Comment on Other Blogs/Sites
Bloggers should post comments on blogs/websites that have topics that interest them. Writing comments on the comments section of other blogs/websites is an effective way to introduce their blog/website to others can help in creating fellowship with other bloggers. join a blog community, and follow them through discussion threads. However, bloggers should refrain from commenting for numbers’ sake, rather engage in a healthy discussion. Also bloggers should not type in many URLs after comment. Apart from this writing insensitive comments or plagiarizing other blogs’ content is a strict no-no.
Keep Posts Short, Smart and Sharp
No one likes to read long posts. If long post are necessary, its better to break them into smaller paragraphs and provide sub-headings. Bloggers need to use common sense before sharing personal details. Bloggers should stop chasing, grasping, strangling, or struggling for traffic, through search engines.
Maintain Contact
For a professional blogger regularly checking e-mail, replying to them and checking whether anyone has linked up to blog via trackbacks as well as check RSS feeds is important. Professional bloggers earn through strategically placed ads on their blogs, in tune with the nature of posts. A new blogger can make anywhere between Rs 500 - 5,000. The initial months can be tough but once the blog gets going as a business venture the earnings will go up sufficiently. One can earn anywhere between Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh a month. However professional bloggers should take care to never mix personal and professional matters to ensure regular traffic.
Learn Blogging
A professional blogger mostly learns on his own. However professional new media courses, however, provide a foundation for professional blogging by teaching online web authoring, designing skills and how to use advanced multimedia and software. Using the internet for reporting and writing along with online journalism ethics, backed by proper images and videos. All this training will go a long way when writing own blog. Asian College of Journalism, Chennai offers a postgraduate diploma in New Media. The Indian Institute of New Media and Journalism, Bangalore also offers a graduate and postgraduate diploma in New Media.
