In this WebProNews video from the SES on capitalising on social media, Converseon CEO talks about how search engines give social media significant weight, which means that negative feedback in blogs and other social media about your company or product could make up 60% of the top ten search results.

Monitoring the social media for brand reputation can help you “find the ripple on the water before it becomes a tidal wave.” The number of journalists reading blogs is phenomena, says the interviewl. I know this from personal experience because I’ve been interviewed twice by journalists who found me through my blogs.

The panel also discusses the ethics of incentivized word of mouth marketing and how flogs (fake blogs) are not the way to go for companies looking to include social media in their public relations strategy.

I wanted to share a brand new site to help you leverage the power of Web 2.0 (social networks, bookmarking sites) to bring new traffic to your websites.

Web 2.0 Secrets is a 6-week teleseminar series detailing every single trick, tactic and technique the experts use to drive a massive amount of free visitors to their sites every single day… and how you can do the same.

In it you’ll learn how to capitalize on the blazing fast growth of Web 2.0 companies like Myspace, Technorati, Digg and others to instantly attract an unlimited supply of new prospects and customers to your websites for free.

Listen to this audio interview on Web2Secrets.

Although it may seem like a distant memory, there was a time when people relied primarily on human-compiled directories to navigate the internet. These directories tried to categorize information to make it accessible to users.

The inherent human bias in the process, combined with the rapid growth of the internet, however, made the directory model an ineffective way of cataloguing all of the web’s offerings. Soon, search engines based on programmed algorithms and utilizing robot web crawlers began to displace the traditional directory.

Although internet commerce was still in its infancy, those who benefited the most from the transition to search engines were the people who saw the trend developing and who made an immediate effort to capture great placement in search engine results. Search engine optimization pioneers were able to grab substantial market share in a field devoid of well-organized competition.

Today, various search engine weaknesses are leading many users to seek out yet another means of finding information Social Bookmarking. They’re relying on social bookmarking services with increasing regularity as their tool of choice. The millions of people using social bookmarking services including Technorati, Del.icio.us, and others are proof that this is the “next big thing.”

Although the growth of blogs has spurred the increased use of social bookmarking services, the phenomenon is actually much richer and more nuances than that. The success and likely massive future growth of social bookmarking isn’t just a matter of blogs being hip. It’s based on the very reasons why people use the Internet and continues to grow as an alternative means of information organization.

This new user-driven means of categorizing and ranking resources is fluid, flexible, non-hierarchical, democratic and GROWING. It defies our usual expectations about how people can find products and services online.

Millions of people are abandoning traditional search engines and directories in favour of social bookmarking services. Marketers who ignore this trend do so at their own risk. Not learning about social bookmarking is nothing short of surrendering to a changing online world.

Those who “get it” will undoubtedly prosper. Those who don’t might just find themselves expending more and more effort competing for a shrinking portion of the search engine pie. What makes matters even sweeter for those in the know is the fact that successful mastery of the social bookmarking scene has search engine advantages, too.

For more information check out The Complete Guide To Social Bookmarking.

Check out this video from the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference where Andy Steggles of SitePR Tracker talks about the true value of PageRank, and what it should and shouldn’t mean for your site.

Andy stresses that PageRank in and of itself is not a tool for boosting search engine rankings. It is, however, a good barometer to gauge how Google perceives the quality of your pages, an issue that is becoming increasingly important as Google tweaks its algorithm for calculating quality score, and consequently adjusting minimum bid values based on the findings.

One of the major PageRank killers is duplicate content. If your site’s content is mirrored in a good number of other online sources, your PR will drop faster than Kevin Federline’s net worth. Therefore, it is vital that webmasters pay as much attention to the originality of their content as possible. If you have other users that submit content to your site, encourage them to put their own spin on things instead of simply scraping text from one site and pasting it on yours.

Above all, however, don’t invest the majority of your time obsessing over PageRank as the end-all, be-all of tools for achieving high search rankings. PR is only an indicator of quality, and therefore is just one cog in the wheel that drives the machine of search engine optimization.

Check out the video here

As I explained in my article here, one of the most important differences between businesses (or articles) that succeed and those that fail is the ability to understand what their audience wants, and give it to them the way they want it.

Accurate market research is the foundation of a successful business. Any search marketer worth their salt knows that market research is the basis of a good search marketing strategy. The Digital Point keyword suggestion tool is one of my favourite tools for conducting quick market research and creating lists of keywords to target.

It’s also recommended by Wendy Boswell, About.com’s guide on Web Search, who puts the reasons for conducting market research in simple, succinct terms here:

In order to create a searchable site, you must know who you are writing for. Your target audience knows what they want and what they are searching for, and you must know what that is before you can deliver what they want.

For researching and writing articles, simple tools should suffice. But when you’ve put advertising dollars on the line, the quality of your research becomes paramount to your success.

Customer profiles, surveys and focus groups are essential tools in the marketer’s store, but asking the right questions of your audience, and making sense of the data gathered, is an art by itself.

It was only after I listened to some audios by a guy called Glenn Livingston, that I began to gain an understanding of the nuances of conducting good market research. Glenn was recommended to me by Perry Marshall, who states that he’s “reduced marketing to a nearly exact science.”

He’s developed a system that shows you how to use market research to dramatically multiply existing profits, and how to save ridiculous amounts of time and money entering new markets by finding out exactly where the “bulls eye” is before you invest your marketing dollars, and even before you ever develop a product. This is seriously good stuff, and I urge you to check out his ideas here.

But market research is just the start of a good marketing strategy. It takes more than that to attract the kind of audience you need on the internet. Wendy recommends you remember these three things when developing your target audience internet marketing strategy:

Do your research. Don’t automatically assume that what you search for is what your audience searches for.

Get involved. Man is not an island. Network with people in your field or industry to truly understand what might be in demand, and then you can target your audience accordingly.

Write good content. Easier said than done, but I guarantee that the more time you spend researching key phrases and writing thoughtful content, the more people will be able to find your content.

Read more about market research strategies here

How to Research Your Business Idea (Entrepreneur.com)

Market Research for Small Business on a Shoestring: Surveys and Focus Groups (StartUpNation.com)

Market Research Basics and Terminology (Elance.com)

Writing articles for the internet is not the same as writing for print media. There are some common mistakes that writers make online that are likely to lose them potential readers and traffic.

Writers need to understand that people have very short attention spans while reading online. If your article doesn’t address their immediate concerns or is difficult to read, all they have to do is click away - and you end up losing a reader.

If you’re a writer who wants to leverage your articles to get maximum traffic and ensure that your readers enjoy reading it online, here are some guidelines you should follow.

1. Find Out What Your Readers Want

The best way to boost your visibility online is to provide specific information that people are searching for. While researching topics for your article, input your root keyword into the keyword research tool here to find out what keywords people enter into search engines while researching your topic. Keep a list of these keywords handy when writing your article and use them in creative ways.

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

Search for information using keywords related to the topic you plan to write about on the sites below, and see what other people are writing about it.

http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.technorati.com

Get familiar with these resources. They will help you focus your writing around the needs and interests of potential readers. Write articles that address those specific needs and your traffic and visibility will skyrocket.

2. Give Your Keywords Prominence

I recommend that you never stuff your article with keywords. It doesn’t work anyway, and it will make your article unreadable and useless. Always write your articles with the reader in mind.

However, do remember that search engines give more weight to keywords that are included in specific locations in your article (a concept known as keyword prominence). So while writing your article, it’s good practice to include your keywords in the following locations in order to leverage them for maximum visibility.

Article Title: Try to include your primary keywords in the first half of your title.

Article Sub-head: Use a catchy subheading for your article and try to include synonyms for your keywords.

Paragraph titles: Include specific keywords related to your topic in your paragraph titles

3. Get More Readers With A Catchy Title

A catchy, topical or provocative title will always attract more attention and get you more click-throughs and readers, but always en sure that it corresponds with the theme of your article. Titles that are catchy but misleading are not appreciated by either publishers or readers.

4. Boost Readability For All Your Readers

There are two kinds of readers online those who read an article in detail, and those who scan through it. For the sake of the latter, break up your articles into paragraphs, each of which makes a point, and use a title for the paragraph that effectively sums up the points you made in the text.

Write a catchy title for each paragraph. Keep your paragraphs short. Long riffs are difficult to read online. I usually prefer a maximum of 2 to 3 sentences per paragraph, but longer is acceptable. The use of bulleted points and numbered lists also boosts readability.

5. Follow Good Language Guidelines

Unless your audience comprises other writers and poets, few readers appreciate long-winded and pretentious prose online. Remember that the average visitor online reads at the level of a sixth-grader. So keep your sentences short. Use words that are simple and easy to comprehend.

Write complete sentences, but keep your tone conversational. Write as though you were talking to a friend. Avoid the use of slang, colloquialisms (unless necessary to make a point) and swear words.

Always check for blatant grammar and spelling errors using a spellchecker. If possible, get a second and third opinion on your article before sending it out to publishers and article directories.

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Copyright © Priya Shah

Priya Shah is a partner in the blog publishing company, Connect10 and writes an internet marketing blog. Visit Article Writing Tips for more article marketing tips and tools.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

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If you want to learn more about how social media is going to influence the future of internet business, check out this podcast of Dave Fish, CEO of IMN, interviewing Paul Gillin, founding Editor-in-Chief at Tech Target, who is currently working on a book titled “The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to Social Media.”

Some takeaways from the interview:

Small is the New Big (that’s the title of Seth Godin’s new book). The future of media is in small markets. Small communities, engaged people who are really interested and who want to interact with other people who have similar interests and those are very good people to get your message in front of.

Smart marketers will target communities either by demographics or by interest and identify the areas where they can reach those people. For example, MySpace is dominated by teenagers, and the MySpace model is going to be taken into many other smaller special interest communities in the coming years, and marketers should really be tuned into where that’s happening in their area.

It is important to be direct. Deception is considered uncool in blogging and in social networking. Fake blogs and false communities are bad for business. It’s better to be open about your commercial role as a sponsor rather than infiltrate a community under the guise of a participant. It’s best not to try to deceive people because once they find you out, your name will be mud forever.

There are communities developing in many B-to-B areas; marketing is one example. Companies are interacting with each other using social media tools, but they’re doing it out of public sight, through extranets and intranets.

Web 3.0 will be the Video Web. YouTube is the poster child in that area, but there are many other sites coming about. Web 4.0, or whatever follows the video, is going to be driven by this small community trend - a devolution of the MySpace model into hundreds of small, special-interest communities.

youtube; Myspace; social networking; web 2.0; web 2.0; Blogging; Marketing; social media; Blogs;

If my last post about self-destructing email got your spirits down, don’t lose hope. Email marketing is not dead. And you can learn to make the most of it by attending Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Summit planned for March 2007.

You’ll join MarketingSherpa and 650 of your email marketing peers in Miami March 4-6th (Sunday-Tuesday) 2007. Attendees will have access to four interactive labs on email marketing, a bootcamp training program, Case Studies and a lot more.

- Discover the latest research and practical, real-world tactics to improve results:

- How to grow your list faster — with names that respond

- How to tweak your creative design for better results (including A/B and multivariate test Case Studies.)

- How to automate personalized, high-impact campaigns including welcome series, purchase reminders, lead nurturing, loyalty generating, etc.

- How to avoid filters and improve delivery (for permission mailers only.)

- How to better measure engagement, test results, true delivery, and value-per-name (far beyond the open and click.)

- Fresh content ideas to give your email newsletter new life

Includes: Bootcamp Training, 4 Interactive Labs, 25+ Case Studies, & Loads of Networking

No boring speeches. Instead, MarketingSherpa brings you two and half days of useful training, lab tests, Case Studies and peer-networking. Here’s how:

#1. Bootcamp Training:

Arrive early on Sunday March 4th for a half-day intensive bootcamp on email marketing. It’s perfect for marketers who want to train a team or bring themselves up to speed before the big expo. Bootcamp training is included *free* as part of your Summit ticket.

Your instructor will cover all the basics, including:

- Email Laws
- Opt-ins and list management
- How to measure campaign success
- Frequency and content guidelines
- Creative design and copywriting tips

#2. 25+ Case Studies & Peer Panels:

Over the next two days, you’ll hear more than a dozen Case Studies and attend peer panels — presented by real-life marketers such as CareerBuilder, Nature Made, IBM, Match.com, Doubleday Entertainment, Metropolitan Museum of Art and 20 more. You’ll discover how the smartest email marketers are testing and using advanced tactics — often on lean budgets — right now. Ask them your toughest questions and get real-world, been-there-tested-that replies.

#3. Four Interactive Lab Sessions (including on-site eyetracking lab)

Come ready to test your own campaign tactics. Four large interactive labs will be set up featuring technology, expert consultants, and real-life testing for:

- Creative

- Growing your opt-in list (with responsive names)

- Delivery past filters

- Integrating measurement - from email to Web analytics and beyond

- Eyetracking (yes, you can participate in a live eyetracking lab and see the results immediately.)

#4. Networking, networking, networking:

MarketingSherpa’s Summit is the biggest gathering of email marketers anywhere in the globe. They make networking easy with:
o Welcome cocktail party Sunday night
o Gala Awards party Monday night March 5th at Bongos Cuban Cafe, Miami — owned by Gloria Estafan.
o Networking breakfasts and lunches
o Booths to meet 31 top vendors on show floor
o Private networking lounge when you want to chat quietly with a fellow attendee one-on-one

Quick Location Info:

MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit & Expo will be held at Hotel Miami, a vibrantly chic hotel located in Miami’s new Performing Arts District just minutes from South Beach.

Sick of internet marketing JVs and squeeze pages? I just found this neat little email thingy that creates a self-destructing email address for you. Here’s how the 10-minute email works.

By clicking on the link below, you will be given a temporary e-mail address. Any e-mails sent to that address will show up automatically on the web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.

Why would you use this? Maybe you want to sign up for a site which requires that you provide an e-mail address to send a validation e-mail to. And maybe you don’t want to give up your real e-mail address and end up on a bunch of spam lists. This is nice and disposable. And it’s free. Enjoy!

Well, it looks like list-building just took a blow. Especially the sneaky kind! I can just imagine all sorts of other people using this - terrorists, spies, perverts who signup on dating sites.

Via Michael Campbell