Popular Articles on Business 2 Community |
- Google+ for Your Business
- Five Powerful Offline SEO Tactics
- You Must Bust These 10 Social Media Myths Right Away!
- There Is No More B2B Or B2C: It’s Human To Human, H2H
- Optimize Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
- Does Your LinkedIn Profile Read Like A Best-selling Book?
- Using Social CRM for B2B Marketing
- The 10 Best WordPress Plugins You’d Be Crazy Not to Install
- An Engaging Twitter Feed Is No Longer an Option
| Posted: 27 Jan 2014 06:33 PM PST
Google+ has an estimated 300 million active users – very far from the ghost town so many people believe it to be. Statistics also show that Google+ is the second, most actively used, social platform boasting users in over 31 markets. But, the most important reason to use Google+ is to improve SEO results for your business, even if none of your clients actually use Google+ itself! Remember that Google+ IS Google! Google+ activity directly affects SEO. Google treats your Google+ content like another website page. Basically, when it comes to SEO and social media, Google+ content trumps content on any other social platform. Your Google+ posts allow you to capture real estate on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) as they appear on Google search page results. Your audience may find your Google+ content through a standard Google search. Google+ content also has a longer life and appears in search results over a longer period. Google+ posts can still appear top of SERPs, sometimes with posts being over a year old! So Google+ means better search engine results for your business! If you have a Google+ Page and someone searches for your business (despite if they follow you or not), your Google+ Page and its most recent posts will be displayed on the right side of their personal search results. These search engine rankings alone make Google+ an important social media platform. Statistics also show that Google+ is used by a whopping 40% of marketers and two-thirds of this 40% plan to further increase their activity on this social platform. Tips: How to increase Search Engine Optimization with Google+
It's really easy to set up a business Page on Google+. It's similar to making a business Page on Facebook in that you need to have a personal Google+ page to make a business Page, categorize your business, add your location (very important for Google Places) and so on. When you're creating your business profile:
Get a custom Google+ URL: When your account is ready, you'll receive an e-mail asking you to claim your Google+ URL. Google automatically reserves one for you based on your name. Another way to check if your account is ready is to visit your profile page and look for a banner across the top asking you to confirm your vanity URL. Eligibility requirements to get a custom URL: 1. For Individual Users:
2. For Local Google+ Pages: Must be a verified local business 3. For Non-local Google+ Pages: Must be linked to a website Read this excellent blog post by Social Media Examiner on how to setup your Google+ Page. Its easy, and make sure to include these important components and steps:
Claim Google Authorship with your personal Google+ profile. When you've claimed your Authorship, your Google+ profile photo will automatically show up next to each of your posts in search results and attract greater visual attention on SERPs. This enhanced search result listing with Google Authorship helps readers identify your content at a glance and help you build authority and influence.
Read Moz.com on how to do this.
The +1 Button is used 5 million times a day and websites that use the +1 Button increase page traffic by 350%. Make sure you add it to your website. Here's how to do this.
So, set up your Google+ Business Page today! Here are a few things to consider when doing this: 1. Your Target Audience Make sure you do research on Google+ to find your target audience. Make a list to identify them and then go after them. Include them in your Circles, reach out to them, and they will return the favor. In September of 2013, it was recorded that 28% of millennials (between the ages of 15 and 28) use Google+. Here's a breakdown of user demographics. 2. Resources
3. Commitment Like with Facebook and Twitter, Google+ needs commitment in order to yield results. Consistent daily posting over a long period of time will give you positive results, so don't give up after a couple of weeks. Also remember to keep the quality of your content high, relevant and engaging. Summary:Taking all these facts, numbers and statistics into consideration, it's hard to ignore the fact that Google+ is growing at a rapid pace. Even if you cannot be active on your Google+ Business Page every day, make sure you set up a Google+ Page to improve your SEO. Setting up a Google+ Business Page does seem like the next logical step and Google+ needs to be integrated into your social media efforts! Subscribe to get my blog in your inbox regularly for latest social media and marketing trends, tips and best practices in 2014. As you can see, I like to keep it practical and useful so you can stay ahead of the curve!  |
| Five Powerful Offline SEO Tactics Posted: 27 Jan 2014 10:17 AM PST SEO is not just something that you do through a keyboard. There are many offline tactics and actions you can take that may help with your website’s search engine visibility.  Registered Trademark: Kansas City SEO® 1. Register your trademarks with the USPTO. While there is no data or study correlating higher organic rankings with trademark registration, there is substantial data and many studies that point a possible correlation between online brand strength and search engine rankings. Search is all about text based queries. While most of search is based on actual dynamic text, even videos, images and voice recordings are often directly rendered into text based code (example: YouTube automatic captions) that can be processed by search engines. Since organic search is 'word based' it only makes sense that companies should make every attempt to protect the words that they own. It seems reasonable to assume that Google will one day be able to use USPTO trademark data as a ranking factor – this is the ultimate citation for a brand. Let's face it, when users search for a specific brand name on Google, they expect to see the official website(s) of registered trademark owners listed near or at the top of the organic search results. The USPTO previously announced a partnership with Google to provide bulk patent and trademark data to the public and you can actually see and download trademark data from Google here. It's easy and affordable to register a trademark. It can also be a smart preemptive tactic to trademark your brand name(s) before a competitor does. Assisted federal trademark registration services can be purchased through companies like LegalZoom for under $500 and the process usually takes under a year. This is SOOOO economical, that many businesses can afford to trademark their company name and perhaps even several of their primary products & services. You (of course) may want to consult a trademark attorney but this is something every business should investigate.  Custom Branded QR Code 2. Use QR codes on printed materials. Quick Response Codes or QR codes should be used on all printed advertisements and printed material – including your business cards. You can have custom and branded QR codes (see example) to point wherever you want, including a video, website address, squeeze page, social media page or online review page. You can also create easter egg style QR codes that point to a discount or freebie landing page. Not only will this help you to boost targeted traffic, you can structure QR marketing in a way that will generate social signals and subscribers. 3. Leverage captive audiences. If and when you host seminars or workshops, try to find unique ways to get the audience to visit your site or interact with one of your social media accounts while they are in front of you. For example, you can create a post on G+ for a workshop, have participants visit the post while you are speaking and then encourage them to submit follow-up questions on the actual post. You have a captive audience – give them a reason in person to like, follow, plus, tweet or subscribe to your content channels while you have their attention. 4. Make a habit of capturing & publishing offline content. Getting business owners to add relevant content to their website is a challenge for many SEO and online marketing companies. Yet every company is a goldmine of great content. It's just a matter of finding easy ways to capture content in the everyday routine of business and having the discipline to publish it in the right places online. Taking pictures of new products, job sites and projects is so easy. Better yet, making 60-90 second flip cam videos or web screen videos discussing projects or industry articles are other great ways to capture and easily publish search engine friendly content. 5. Distribute online review instruction forms. Getting positive reviews for your business can be difficult because these days, people expect to get great service at a fair price. They DO NOT expect to have to write a nice review after every purchase. If consumers had to write a review for every purchase, they would not have time for anything else. Negative reviews, on the other hand, are easy to get. If you provide a customer or potential customer with a negative experience, they are more than happy to write a detailed account about a negative experience. The system is geared for collecting negative reviews. Period. While most online review sites prohibit or advise against soliciting for or providing incentives for reviews, there is nothing wrong with asking customers for feedback and showing them how and where to provide feedback. A great way to do this is to provide customers with a printed form that shows them how and where to post feedback. You can include links to and instructions for Google Plus, Yelp, Angies' List and even the online review form on your site (if you have one). Online reviews are very powerful in that they not only influence purchase decisions, but also the rating information and content within the reviews contribute to search engine visibility. Business owners simply must take an active role in managing their online reputation vs letting the review flow "just happen" to them. Using a review form instruction sheet is one way you can restore some fairness to a system that is geared for collecting and publishing negative customer experiences.  |
| You Must Bust These 10 Social Media Myths Right Away! Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:23 AM PST There is no shortage of advice (some of it not very helpful) about the role Social Media Marketing should play in a company's online marketing plan. Social Media has become a rampant part of company's growth strategy these days, but there are still some misconceptions about how to use social media to drive sales and which services are worth the investment of company time and resources etc. Thus we at DI have decided finally to put these social media myths and have listed the 10 most common myths we read/hear about all the time. If you believe in any of these, it will be a fair decision to bust them right away! 1. Social Media is FacebookOften it seems as if the only social marketing that matters to marketers is Facebook. Given the amount of users on Facebook is most dominant compared to other platforms 1.15+ Billion users. Businesses rush to advertise their products and lay emphasis only on this platform, thinking their users are all on this platform due to the amount of users in this platform! There are many other social platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ etc. it is important as a marketer to research thoroughly which platform your audiences reside and market your brand accordingly and leverage the platforms effectively, so to all the marketers who think social media is Facebook! It's time to throw away your blinkers and look at the other platforms that are waiting to be leveraged. Also read: Why Businesses should use Twitter over Facebook 2. I don't have time to sit in front of my PC 24×7 to be social4.2 Billion People use their mobile phones to access social media sites. I hope this statistic alone has busted this myth. You do not have to sit in front of the laptop/desktop to be available or social with your users 24×7. Most the websites are mobile centric as users access their favourite sites on-the-go. As a business even you can manage your daily functions via Smartphone's or tablets and don't need to worry about not being connected with your users. 3. Your agency made a mistake, delete it ASAPSometimes brands posts updates on social networks without seeing if there is a mistake or some are not happy with the negative backlash their post is receiving. And they think they can 'Undo' it all by just deleting it. They are highly mistaken it provokes your audiences more, if it is deleted doesn't mean the cached copy isn't there on Google and maybe one of your followers may have taken the screenshot of it. So don't delete the post to try to cover for yourself it would only make it worst. Rather follow some procedures and come out victorious in the negative situation. Also see: How to handle complaints on Social Media 4. Social media connections are not realA lot of people think that the social media connections made are all virtual friends only and not real. That is not true as we at DI have made a lot of global connections and we are proud of being connected with them. To take your connections to next level and make it an offline connect as well- there are so many social meet-ups, webinar, hangouts, and other parties happen that allows you to meet your online connections. 5. Social Media is all about Me, me and METhis is the most common mistakes brands make, they only talk about their products and are obsessed with themselves. To make a connection with your audiences who are your potential customers, you need to engage in conversation with them. When it comes to social media, the phrase "engage your customer" always seems to be at the forefront. However, just engaging prospective customers is only part of the story. It does not mean you have successfully driven them back to your site and converted them to paying customers. You need to entice them slowly and gradually once you build a relationship with them and make sure they become your paying customers. 6. Buy your Fans/FollowersBrands are obsessed with numbers, and they think having a certain amount of fake Fans/Followers will showcase their success on social media. But they are forgetting a very important point these numbers are not going to buy their products, but real fans/followers will! So they need to engage with their audiences and create real relationships with organic content. 7. Who cares about brands on Social Media? I am here for my friendsFriends like having the good experiences their friends are having. So when you friend someone on social media, you see their profile page and the activity on it. When you see them commenting, sharing about a certain product/brand and if it interests you, even you get influenced and then ultimately get connected with the same brand/product. So this way brands can cast a wider net by attracting more audiences. 8. Social Media replaces a WebsiteWe can't stress enough about how important it is to have a website separate from your social media accounts. I will tell you only one thing; when you talk about Sales, it happens only on Websites, not on Social Media. Social Media is a channel to boost your sales and awareness. 9. Social Media is not for my type of businessesThink of it this way, if you have a strong social media strategy and invest some time and money into it, social media will transform your business into a way of keeping your audiences closer. They would read about your latest information on your social pages which would keep them abreast of information regarding your company and keep them informed as well. It is a great way to be connected with your fan/followers in real-time and build relationships with them. 10. Social media is freeOne of the most common misconceptions about social media is that it is free. Sure, setting up brand pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and just about any other social channel can be done in almost no time without spending a dime. Social media marketing does involve spending money on it depending on your marketing budget for it; you can accordingly allocate your resources. But the most important investment is that of time and effort! Like Rome was not built in a day, similarly your social media presence will grow step-by-step with time and effort you will achieve your desired results. Social media platforms are the perfect places to create a space for your business and showcase it for current and potential customers, you just need to leverage them effectively and that means knowing the truth behind some of the common myths we unleashed today. Your turnSo what do you think about the social media marketing myths we mentioned? Any other myths you think we may have missed from this list? Do share your insights with us in the comments section below. image courtesy : image 1 | image 2 | image 3 | image 4  |
| There Is No More B2B Or B2C: It’s Human To Human, H2H Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:18 AM PST It used to be that marketing was segmented into two categories; business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C). This was done (I assume), to separate specialties, audiences and segments in an effort to more highly target the groups of people who ultimately would consume a brand's message. What it really did, however, was create an unnatural language for marketers – with words like "synergy" and "speeds and feeds" – to tell the stories of products to their buyers and partners. It's become like one massive game of telephone, where by the time a message gets to the person actually buying the product, the things that make it special have been swallowed by marketing vernacular. Consumers are confused. Why can't we make it simple for them to understand what we're selling, to share their experiences and the value they felt with others? More importantly, why is it that what we're marketing most often does not align to actual consumer experiences? The fact is that the lines are so far blurred now between the two marketing segments that it's hard to differentiate between the two anymore. We all need to think like the consumers we are, putting ourselves in the mindset of the buyer instead of trying to speak such an intensely sophisticated language full of acronyms and big words, in order to sound smarter. Marketing increasingly strives to become one-to-one, with solutions to collect and wrangle the big data about us to serve up more personalized offers and experiences. On the other hand, social has become a more public and vast medium, where the things we share skyrocket quickly to a "one-to-many" experience. The dichotomy between marketing and social has actually flipped… and it's out of balance. Social and marketing need to work together to personalize individual conversations, as well as deliver shared global experiences that crowds of common values can benefit from. This is what our social and digital mediums have gifted us, and how humans interact and feel more compelled take action. So, this is how I see it: But people are also humans, and with that comes mistakes. Missteps. Failures. As humans, it's in our nature to say the wrong thing, get embarrassed, and not realize the consequences of our actions. The rise of social media has given a digital platform to the dark side of anonymity, both as individuals and as crowds. I say it's time to lay down the virtual pitchforks and torches and bring this behavior back into balance. The delightful side of humanity holds with it empathy, understanding, and forgiveness, and when remembered in our communication, it ties us together as a common group. Communication shouldn't be complicated. It should just be genuine and simple, with the humility and understanding that we're all multi-dimensional humans, everyone of which has spent time in both the dark and delightful parts of life. That's human to human. That is #H2H. KEY TAKEAWAY: Human beings are innately complex yet strive for simplicity. Our challenge as humans is to find, understand and explain the complex in its most simplistic form. This means you, marketers. Find the commonality in our humanity, and speak the language we've all been waiting for. If you like this concept, you also may want to check out Mark Schaefer's book "The Tao of Twitter" where he describes P2P (Person to Person) or watch my interview (click here) with SAP CMO Jonathan Becher who also believes B2B marketing is not relevant today.  |
| Optimize Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, you know content marketing is the BIG thing in digital marketing today. But, do you know how to optimize content marketing strategy to reach your goals? I ran across this infographic the other day and thought it made a good start on how to optimize content marketing strategy and it's only 7 steps! 7 steps to optimize content marketing strategyStep 1. GoalsAny marketing strategy revolves around your goals so your first step is creating goals — preferably SMART goals. You need goals related to market performance, such as leads and sales, but you also need goals related to your marketing funnel. A marketing funnel reflects HOW your network gets to the point where they're a lead or sale. Here's one example of some factors you might include in your goal setting as they impact market performance. At this point, it's also a good idea to create KPI's (key performance indicators) that you'll use later to evaluate how well your content marketing strategy is doing. Step 2. ResearchNow it's time to research your target market. Develop a deep knowledge of the folks who are likely to buy your product or service — what's important to them, how do they live their lives, in B2B you need to also understand who is involved in buying and what the process looks like. Then, segment your target market into subgroups — segments — if appropriate. We talk about creating personas to reflect these segments. You'll later create content for each segment. For instance, a client sells novelty t-shirts. His target is primarily teens and young adults, so we create content they'll find interesting and using language that resonates with them. We also create content for their parents who we attract to buy the shirts as gifts. Obviously, this content is different. You'll also want to research what others are talking about in this space, as this helps in creating content. Note, this research is an ongoing part of an optimized content marketing strategy because you'll want content that's topical. Use keywords that represent users searches to optimize your organic search traffic and even help with paid search. Step 3. PlanI find a content marketing calendar invaluable in creating consistently high quality content on a frequent basis — normally 2-3 times per week. The more detail contained in your content marketing calendar, the easier you'll find the next step — creating content. I like to include a working title (which may change before publication), keywords optimized, target market, desired actions and outcomes, and images I'll use in creating content. A good content marketing calendar ensures you don't face a blank screen, which often creates writers' block and makes content creation harder. But, don't be afraid of varying from this calendar as outside events dictate. Step 4. Create contentValue should be the overarching goal in your content marketing strategy — value for your audience. Only after you provide value can you THINK about gaining value from your audience. Most experts recommend an 80/20 distribution between content your audience will find valuable and content you'll gain value from. I focus most of my attention on creating content for my website since that's where visitors can perform in ways that help reach my goals — such as becoming a lead or consummating a sale. I use Slideshare and YouTube to host content I'll share on my website. I use Instagram to host videos I'll upload to other social networks as part of my content creation strategy. Curating content is equally important. I scan my RSS feeds daily to schedule content for shares on my social networks. Again, focus on value. Plus, content curation helps build a network of folks you can use to help amplify your content. Step 5. ShareYou'll want to share your content across your social networks. Ensure you optimize content marketing for each social platform and don't over share your content, which just looks spammy. Step 6. PromoteCarefully promote your posts using email marketing, paid promotion on social networks, and PR. A more successful strategy involves energizing your social network to amplify your content. Often, this involves a tit-for-tat after you've shared their content or provided some other service. Engaging your audience is also a good way to amplify your message. Step 7. AnalyzeUse the KPI's created earlier to monitor your performance. Keep doing things that work and tweak things that DON'T work or get rid of them. Need help?Do you need help to optimize content marketing strategy for your business? Whether you need a complete content marketing strategy, some help with Adwords, or some consulting to optimize your existing social media marketing, we can fill your digital marketing funnel. We can help you do your own social media marketing better or do it for you with our community managers, strategists, and account executives. You can request a FREE introductory meeting or sign up for my email newsletter to learn more about social media marketing.  |
| Does Your LinkedIn Profile Read Like A Best-selling Book? Posted: 26 Jan 2014 09:08 AM PST Your LinkedIn Profile needs to be like a book on the New York Times bestseller list. In fact, it needs to read like a best-selling self-help book for you to be successful. Don't write it like it's your biography so a recruiter can find you. Craft it in a customer-centric way, so your readers understand how your background and skills can help them! If you write it this way, then you will both be helping yourself! Your customers, prospects, and connections are guilty of judging a 'book' by its cover. They HAVE to pass quick judgment since there are so many sales professionals, self-proclaimed experts and alternative- sources to what YOU have to offer. If you wordsmith your social media profile in this customer-centric way, then clients will find you, want to 'read' more about you and finally 'buy' you! And, with over 1 billion annual searches on LinkedIn, you need to be on the top of the stack of searches to break through the clutter. How To Create Your LinkedIn Profile As If It Were A Best-selling Book
Can you identify another way your LinkedIn profile needs to be like a New York Times bestselling book? If so, then please share below. Or, reach out to me directly on MarketingThink, on LinkedIn or on Twitter. Looking for a self-help reading assignment to improve your profile? Check out this collection of quick self-help and how-to reads:
Many books make the New York Times best-selling list because they are interesting, easy-to-read, relevant to the reader, and come with many recommendations. Use this post's analogy to model your LinkedIn profile after a best-selling book and you might become one of the best sellers in your company! Picture source: New York Times  |
| Using Social CRM for B2B Marketing Posted: 26 Jan 2014 06:35 AM PST The days of "spray and pray" are over. Today it's not enough to blast out a single marketing campaign to all your prospective customers and hope it connects with a few of them. Thanks to social media, individualized marketing campaigns can now be targeted at highly select groups and even individuals. What's more, marketing is no longer a one way street where companies dictate how they want to engage with customers. Today, social media lets customers decide how they want to engage with vendors. No wonder then that Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become so popular. It's no longer a question of "why use it" but "how". Below are some great ways to use Social CRM to improve your company and products and boost sales. Listen and LearnAt its most basic level Social CRM is about listening. The new online conversations allow companies to listen in on what prospective clients are saying about their industry, products, competitors, clients and more. Most importantly listen to what they are saying about your own company. You'll be surprised. Customers today are commenting not only about your products and services but also your website, ads, ordering process and more. Gathering information on social media could potentially be done manually. The real value of Social CRM however is achieved by using new surveillance software that will enable you to gain key insights by carefully filtering the web and social media. With dedicated Social CRM technology you can track different combinations of topics across multiple platforms. It can also search sites like LinkedIn for specific professions in precise industries and build you a list of prospective clients. By automating the process you'll spend less time searching and more time selling. Get EngagedIt's not enough to merely gather information. Once you have mined the social media websites and forums for data, use it! You need to turn it into actionable business intelligence that will help improve your company and sell better. One of the hardest tasks for sales reps is simply to score face-time with clients. Surveillance software can pinpoint specific questions customers have on a given topic. Armed with this information, sales reps now have a specific reason to contact the prospect. They can approach them online and answer their questions directly or send them a link to an article or video they may find interesting. Later, after building up a relationship, online sales reps can call up these prospects directly. Micro-Targeted CampaignsUsing social media you can aim ad campaigns at highly defined groups. For instance, via Facebook you can micro-target campaigns at people who work at a specific company or organization. Get Out the VoteFor a product manager, gathering and sifting through marketing data related to new products and features can be extremely difficult and time consuming. A much easier way is to use social media to get customers to vote on new ideas you may have for a product. Better yet, let customers vote on ideas they themselves have come up. This is a very fast way to find out what features and products are most desirable to the consumer. Customer CommunitiesThe old way to get customer service was to search endlessly through a company's website or place a call to their customer service line and wait on the phone for hours listening to bad music until someone graciously agreed to take your call. Now companies are fielding service calls online in real time on Facebook and Twitter. Another great option is setting up a customer community forum where customers can help each other with similar problems they have faced. After all, if one customer has a question chances are others have the same one. Why answer it privately dozens of times when you can post it once for everyone? Allow customers to create searchable support cases and receive help from other customers and staff. You will end up creating your own wiki like online help.  |
| The 10 Best WordPress Plugins You’d Be Crazy Not to Install Posted: 26 Jan 2014 06:20 AM PST Ever come across that plugin that completely changes how you manage or run your WordPress site? There are so many plugins out there that it can be easy to get lost in all the technicalities and difficult to find the one that does what you want it to do. Below I list the best WordPress Plugins I've come across and why they've helped make WordPress better than ever before. 1. JetpackThis is one of those plugins that make life that little bit easier. The official WordPress plugin allows users to unlock a bunch of handy extras. This includes popular features like visitor stats, social media sharing option, spell checker, forms and so much more. It's the Swiss army knife of WordPress plugins. http://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/ 2. All in One SEOWhere would your site be without SEO? Probably lost amongst all the other websites out in the web. All in One SEO makes SEO easy. It allows you to easily use SEO principles to get your page ranked for your keywords. With features like SEO-friendly titles, homepage description and easy management of keywords. http://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/ 3. AkismetYou've probably seen this plugin pop up in your Plugins section. This is the ultimate spam fighting plugin that your WordPress site must have. If you don't have Akismet installed and running then you're probably still sorting through a never ending pile of spam comments. Keep your comments clean with Akismet. http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/ 4. WoocommerceIt shouldn't be hard to install and run your own shopping cart on your WordPress site. Woocommerce takes all the guesswork out of e-commerce websites. This easy to use plugin guides you step by step to build a professional online store that is easily managed with no background tech experience required. http://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/ 5. Back Up BuddyBackup your files and database with this handy plugin. Trust me, you'll sleep a lot easier at night knowing your site is securely backed up and easily retrieved if anything should go wrong. It's a little at the higher end of the pricing scale, but well worth the investment. http://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/ 6. W3 Total CacheSpeed up your website's response time and make viewing your website a painless experience for your visitors. W3 Total Cache is the ultimate in increasing user experience by improving server performance and reducing download times. http://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/ 7. Slideshow GalleryThis clever WordPress plugin allows users to create professional and stylish slideshow galleries. Perfect for showcasing your work or just a nice feature on any WordPress site. http://wordpress.org/plugins/slideshow-gallery/ 8. WPTouchDidn't get that responsive theme? No need to worry, WPTouch provides WordPress site owners with the ability to scale their site so it fits perfectly to any screen size or resolution. No more zooming in on mobile phones, your site will be easily viewed from any device. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/ 9. Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics has got to be one of the best site-analytical tools available. And now there's a plugin that automatically adds javascript to each page on your site to track outbound links, downloads from your own site and mailto: links. This saves you having to install the code manually. http://wordpress.org/plugins/googleanalytics/ 10. Contact Form 7Contact Form 7 is one of the easiest to use contact form plugins. It allows you to create and manage numerous contact forms while customisable to suit your requirements. http://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/ Did one of your WP plugin favourites not make the list? Let us know your must-have WordPress Plugins in the comments section below.  |
| An Engaging Twitter Feed Is No Longer an Option Posted: 26 Jan 2014 05:30 AM PST Twitter's Magic Recs has been a part of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android since late September. Some people who use the apps don't even know it's there (the Recommendations toggle button in the Notifications setting turns it on and off), but its recognition and use are growing. It could be an important feature for online marketers. (Non-mobile Twitterers can simply follow @MagicRecs to take advantage.) What Magic Recs does
This isn't a new feature of social media — Facebook already does something similar — but it offers social media marketers a new opportunity to reach a wider audience. What it means for marketers Magic Recs is driven entirely by social interaction: Every favorite or retweet your tweet receives inches you closer to being broadcast to a larger audience of people who don't yet follow you. In short, it means that having an engaging Twitter feed is no longer an option but a must. If you want to take advantage of Magic Recs to connect with more people, you need to publish tweets that get noticed, retweeted and favorited. That's what engagement looks like on Twitter. Think about what you, as an individual, favorite and retweet on Twitter. Discount codes? Maybe. Humor? Often. Bites of shared humanity? Controversial issues? Important breaking news? Definitely. How about direct questions? Links to corporate press releases? Not likely. The mundane or commonplace? Nuh-uh. Things a corporation wants you to be interested in? Nope. Entreaties to Like a Facebook page? (Are you serious?!) Advice on how to create and manage a Twitter feed that attracts followers is abundant on the Internet (even on our blog), but it all boils down to a single concept: Twitter is all about people. If your Twitter feed sounds like a formula or algorithm and not like a human responding to humanity, you won't hold the interest of large swaths of followers. Magic Recs can't make you sound more human, but it can help you see tangible results — an increased follower count — from improving how you use Twitter. Image credit: Flickr  |
As promised in my blog post, 
Google+ has to associate your website with your Business Page, so use the code snippet given. Remember to add the same address as is listed on your website for better results. You must also verify your website on Google+, leading to even bigger and better results.
Finally, the use of hashtags in Google+ connects every post to a search on the platform. Read more 
Magic Recs looks at what the people you follow are doing on Twitter. If a large number of them interact with the same tweet or start following the same person, Magic Recs sends you a direct message to tell you about it.| You are subscribed to email updates from Popular Articles | Business 2 Community To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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