My phone rings and on the other end of the phone is a panicky voice. Melissa (name changed out of respect) tells me how they hired a local SEO firm to help drive traffic and increase page rank. She was blunt force honest with me and told me that she didn't always pay him on time and she told me on occasion when she didn't get her way she would insult him telling him that SEO guys are a dime a dozen and on occasion gave him unrealistic expectations. Though this kind of honesty is rare I just sat there and listened to her story. She did tell me that he was occasionally late in calling her when he was supposed to and even sometimes he didn't get to her site in days. So between her threats and degrading comments and his lack of "on-time" response, they decided to part company and Melissa ended up doing a charge back on him.

I asked her the following questions to get a better idea of the situation:

Question: How many hours did he put into the project that you are aware of?
Answer: 56 hours

Question: You told me this happened several months ago, has your page rank increased?
Answer: Yes, by two points

Question: Did he get all the work done that you hired him to do?
Answer: No he did not

Question: Why did you do a charge back on him?
Answer: Because he did not get all the items done that I paid him for, he was slow and I got tired of his attitude. He came highly recommended to us and I cant believe this is what I got.

Question: How much did you pay him and how many hours where you supposed to get for what you paid for?
Answer: I paid him $3000 dollars and i was supposed to get 80 hours of SEO from him.

Question: So he basically was working for $37.50 an hour?
Answer: Yes

Question: How long did it take him to complete the 56 hours he did give you?
Answer: It took him about a 3 and a half weeks?

Question: What was your page rank when he started:
Answer: We didn't have a page rank

Question: How long from the time he started to the time you got a page rank of two?
Answer: About 2 and a half months

Question: Have you experienced any other problems at all with him?
Answer: Yes, that is the reason I am calling. We are not sure what he did, but we have had an enormous amount of spam, over 200 hundred a day hitting our inbox and now when you Google our site, there are about 17 sites that are talking bad about our company, bad reports and bad comments. It has pushed us from page one from where we were for a short while to page 3 and we have lost all sales from our site. What do we do?

Melissa is the 7th person in the last year that has contacted The Turn Group with a similar story. I cant tell you how serious of a problem this is. From our perspective both the SEO firm and Melissa are at fault. As a web based company ourselves, building long-term relationships is the number one key ingredient to success. How this SEO company handled their client is appalling. They should have been in constant communication with their client giving status updates, recommendations and setting the time expectations for results. Not getting back with Melissa is a BIG NO NO. If you all knew how many companies operated like this it would literally drop your chin to the floor.

However, Melissa was at fault too. By her own admission they did produce 75% of the work they agreed to do. He did help increase their page rank and overall hits to the site. Admittedly, they seriously dropped the ball on their customer service, however, Melissa decided to charge back the entire amount as if the SEO company had not done anything for her which in this situation is not the case.

To build a good online reputation can take years to create, to destroy it can happen almost over night.

Another thing that I noticed when asking her questions was his hourly rate. What Melissa and allot of other people do not realize is that as we progress to an online society, what separates you from your competition is the amount of money and time you put into your site. The more SEO work, the more money, the more research, the more articles that are published are what make sites either succeed or potentially fail. Most SEO specialists charge $125.00+ an hour if they are any good. The second thing that I noticed about this particular conversation is her demeaning comments to her service provider. Though I do not condone the SEO Specialists actions, generally speaking there is always a cause and effect principle at play. Hence why this company sabotaged her business beyond repair for the most part.

In a world that demands politically correct personalities, comments and gestures, the truth is usually the smarter the developer, the decrease in social skills. Most geniuses are arrogant, have haughty attitudes and a well deserved chip on their shoulder. Finding someone that can deliver on what they promise, has the expertise in a certain niche and that has EXCELLENT customer service skills is about 2 in 10 ratio.

Food for thought, when it comes SEO, its never a good idea to get services from an SEO Specialist and then not pay them. Its always beneficial to work out the differences the best you can and to pay for what you got and move on. If you anger, upset, piss-off or do not pay your bill or waste an SEO's time, he can literally send your website to the bottom of the search engines in a matter of a couple clicks of a button and a little effort.

How to protect yourself
As I mentioned before, this is the 7th person in the last year that have called us with a similar story. The company didn't deliver, the client charged them back, the company gets pissed and ruins their online reputation (most the time over night). How do you stop this from happening to you?

First and foremost, for those of you that believe in getting services first and then paying for them afterwards, is not going to happen. For the most part, nobody works like that. You cant repo time. So if for some reason you don't like what is produced (sometimes its not the service providers fault) sometimes its yours, you decide after they spent 40 hours, you didn't like what you got, you decide not to pay them. Possibly, they delivered exactly what you asked, you just didn't like it for whatever reason. This does not mean that the person providing the service shouldn't get paid. All to many times, we get phone calls from individuals like yourselves that explain to us that you were not happy with the end product even though the product that was produced met your exact requirements. There is always risks, the service provider cannot always bear all the risk.

So how do you get around dealing with companies when you are not sure of the results? Track record is a good indication of future services. Someone once said, (based on statistics that state most people don't change) "that your past performance is a good indication of your future performance." LOOK at their portfolio, ask to contact a couple of their clients, research what the company has done in the past. This is pretty good indicator of what they are capable of. Its not a bad idea to pay them 50% up front and the remainder at a specified date and time or when the project is complete. Of course there are variables that will determine payout but that is how most respectable companies work. Set your expectations upfront and define the scope before they begin and limit changes during the process that would extend deadlines.

Melissa went on to say that she had done this, she had researched their company, he was really good at what he did. Their other clients were happy. Why did he drop the ball on me?

Well Melissa, in this case it appears that this specific individual had a chip on his shoulder, he was good and he knew it which often times brings on the arrogance. Sometimes, you just have to deal with that (especially when working with individuals oversees). It just happens. Melissa also told me that she kept making changes to the scope, kept adding additional tasks to his plate. Again, not at all condoning what he did, but I am not condoning what she did either. 

Rule of thumb: More often than not, when you are trying to find someone to produce for you a golden egg when you are only willing to pay for green beans, chances are you will get screwed in the end. If you want real results, most the time you have to pay a premium price to get them.

Please, let me hear your stories or comments.

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We want to thank our clients for helping us reach this awesome achievement. We could not have done it without you.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/joomla_web_development/joomla_website_developer/prweb3911814.htm

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How do I find the right keywords for my website or web page?

There are three general ways that people search for something they need or want. They open up their browser, go to Google, Yahoo or Bing and they either type in a keyword, keyword string or they ask the search engines a question. Keywords Strings are the #1 determining component of a successful returned result from the search engines. Questions would be #2 and a single keyword would be next in line.

Example of what someone would type if they were looking for boots:

1. Keyword - boots
2. Keyword String (also knows as keyword phrase) - red leather boots
3. Keyword Question - where can I buy red leather boots in kansas city

How do keywords work | Understanding the Nature of People

If we look at the Internet as the worlds solution provider you can better understand how you react with your target audience. People are looking for solutions to their everyday wants and needs and thus interact with the search engines in the same manner. Products are the prime target for keywords and keyword strings and services though they do target keyword strings and keywords, they do allot better by addressing the problem with a solution they offer in the form of a question.

Scenario 1 - For example, someone might be looking for a "plasma tv" which would bring up a huge result. If you are selling plasma tv's then this is a keyword you would want to target. However, they might me looking for something more specific like a "62 inch plasma tv" thus is your keyword string. If you are a plama tv service provider you would get more results with creating a page focused around "how do I setup my new plasma tv" then you would targeting the keywords by themselves.

As we learn to think like our target audience it becomes more clear that just a single keyword might not cut it. We have to think like the person on the other end of the search engine and try to anticipate what they would type in to find YOU.

I wrote an article called "How to Create Quick Landing Pages that Drive Traffic". In this article I talk about how to get your keywords that you want to rank for (could be 200+ words) and to create quick landing pages for those words. This is a great keyword strategy but I am now convinced more than ever that combining those keywords in a question format returns more results with better conversion rate then just a page with one to two-word keywords targeted.

Scenario 2 - We provide Joomla Web Development Services. Yes we rank for lots of Joomla keywords and yes they bring traffic but at the end of the day are they causing us to convert those people into customers? So I tested this theory and created a page called "Why Joomla". This was a keyword that was targeted by thousands. In this article I talk about the benefits of the Joomla Content Management System. This page has brought quite a bit of traffic. Yes, I admit, though this page is original content, its like some many others out there. So in evaluating this page, I decided that I was not providing the answer to the real question that my audience is asking. What they really want to know is "Why should I choose the Joomla CMS for my Website Development Needs versus other Content Management Systems? Notice, I still have the keywords "why Joomla" but I added more. This is going to give me two benefits.

1. It gives me more keywords to rank for instead of just "why Joomla". Example: They may also find me if they search for "why Joomla website" or "why Joomla cms"
2. I am now answering their real question, providing statistics and then offering a call to action for them to call to discuss their website needs.

Bottom line - My theory was correct and I am getting 75% more hits on my second page which asks a question versus my page that only targets a keyword.

How do I choose the right keywords for my site?

There are three steps to take to getting the right keywords for your site.

• Step 1 - Breaking down your product and service offerings
• Step 2 - Research what your top 10 competitors keywords are
• Step 3 - Using a keyword tool to get your keywords

Keyword Strategies - Click images below to view

         

Step 1 overview - I wrote an article once about buying a multi-sized universal usb charger that had several type end-extensions. Before I wrote the article I had to think about why someone would buy this and how best to grab their attention. Once I began to think who would buy it and why, I pulled out a pen and paper and the list followed us such.

People interested in buying a universal charger:

• might be looking to buy it for when they travel
• might be needing it for their mobile office
• might have several devices such as cell phone, camera, external hardrive
• might be a tool for a computer technician

This type of thinking helped me to put myself in my potential buyers shoes. Again, people are looking for a solution to their need so this type of forethought helps gage the direction of your web page with they keywords used in online search queries. This line of thinking also helped me come up with keyword terms I would never have thought of. Its not as important to have a page called "USB Charger" with this keyword throughout your page as it is to solve the problem of the person that is searching for a "USB Travel Charger for on the go Cell Phone Charging".

• Jotting down my thoughts on who wanted to buy a usb charger and why they wanted to buy them, I was able to break down keywords into categories. Category 1) Business Travel, 2) Mobile Office, 3) Technician Tools and 4) Usability (such as computer tools, travel charger, car charger, office, business, cameras etc). Grouping your keywords in this way can help narrow the categories down that you'd wish to derive keywords from. So now in step 3 below, I can use a tool like Google AdWords: Keyword Tool to search these specific categories for keywords.
  
  
• Using the tool I came up with several possible keyword combinations (usb drives, laptop charger, mp3 charger, quick charge, bluetooth, computer, video camera, etc) that I may not have thought about on my own. Even if I don't use all these phrases as my main keywords, I can still work them into my article as synonyms and alternate terms so that people searching for them will find my article.

Step 2 research - Its always a good idea to find out who your direct competitors are and to view the page rank of their web pages and the keywords and strategy they use on their website. If you are serious about getting your keywords right the first time and aligning yourself with your competitors then I would highly suggest a one months subscription to SpyFu. This is an unbelievable and easy to use SEO tool that will help you define what your competitors keywords are and how they are using them. Remember, the only way to outrank and climb the latter to the top 10 search on Google is to mimic what your competition is doing and then do it better and more of it. You can do this with SpyFu.

Step 3 keyword tool - This free Google Keyword Research Tool is invaluable. It allows you to enter in a keyword you want to rank for and then it returns all the variations of that keyword. It also shows you how many people have searched for those keywords. Tip: when you get your list of keywords from Google, its as important to write articles for keywords that had a few searches as well as the highly searched keyword terms.

• From your list of researched keywords that you have now, narrow down your main keywords to two or three keyword strings or phrases. These will become your main keywords that you're trying to rank well for.
  
  
• If you're looking to find the maximum number of readers for your article, then you'll want to sort your keywords according to volume. If you run ads which relate to your article, then you'd want to choose keywords that have a high earnings potential (CPC). In most cases, it's best to have a middle-of-the-road strategy and choose keywords that have a good amount of volume and pay well. The actual numbers that work well for you will depend on your niche and SEO goals.
  
  
• The most important place where your top-primary keyword needs to go is the title tag, description tag and the first paragraph on your web page. Next up is the sub-title or lead paragraph, where you can usually put your secondary keywords. Use your keywords in other prominent places of your article such as sub-headings (h-tags), anchor text links, images, as well as the first and last paragraph of your article.
  
  Using these simple steps, you can choose keywords that not only rank well and pay well but also use those that are human reader-friendly and natural-sounding in your article. Your keyword research will hit the mark if your reader benefits from your article and your client (or your blog) benefits from targeted and relevant traffic.

At The Turn Group, we research competitors and keywords all day long. With time, success and failure, research and testing you can implement your own keyword strategy or we can assist you. If you would like for us to analyze your website for feedback and suggestions we would be more than happy to help. Contact us to help you find the right keywords for your website or web pages.

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Landing Page Strategies and Tactics

In this lesson we are going to learn how to create a Successful Internet Presence that ensures on-going results within the search engines by creating Quick Landing Pages that are specifically designed to drive traffic using a re-direction tactic to your core services or products pages.

How many of you sit on your custom built back-porch overlooking the ocean with wind in your hair and a margarita in your hand because your business ranks #1 on Google and you have more business then you know what to do with? 

I thought so!

Climbing to the top of the search engines can be a very tedious task and converting those who do hit your site to make a sale can be even harder. Unlike your car, house or even your dog, getting insurance for lost revenue, declining page rank, increased bounce rate and lower conversion rates on your website is NOT going to happen in this digital life time. The only way to stay ahead of the never-ending and ever changing algorithmic curve of the search engines is to stay constantly proactive in keeping with the flow of information based on the needs of the viewers, or should I say "the opinion of the search engines" of what the viewers want.

So lets take a look at creating "Quick Landing Pages" and how they can boost your traffic.

Content

We have all heard before, Content is King and that couldn't be more true. In comparison, content is your insurance policy. So we are on the same page, lets define content.

Onsite Content
Title Tags
Description Tags
Landing Page Articles
Links
Pictures
Alt Tags
Actual Page Articles
News Articles
Blog Articles
Forum Articles

Offsite Content
Blog Posts
Forum Posts
Ezine Articles
Press Releases
Videos
Social Posts and Articles
Backlinks

Now that we have established what content is, let me show you how to implement your own Landing Pages that will drive large amounts of traffic to your website.

Landing Page Strategy - How to ensure that you continually drive traffic to your site.

In this Blog Post we are going to cover the first three parts of Onsite Content which is  (Title and Description Tags in association with Landing Pages). I will cover the other topics  of content in the up coming weeks.

I am sharing a Landing Page Strategy with you that works for me time and time again.  One of the first things I tell my clients to do is to create their core set of products or services. Without your core services you can not properly drive people down the strategically planned path that leads to a sale. Note: With products, this can be a tad more difficult due to the amount of products you may have. So in this Landing Page Strategy we are going to talk more about core services even though the methodology is the same with the sales of products.

Step 1) Creating your Core Set of Services: This initial step is paramount in your overall SEO Landing Page Strategy. Its very important to get your core services pages perfect. This is where conversion takes place. As a rule of thumb, you want to keep your core services to just a handful. If you find that you have alot of core services then break them down into 3-5 categories. You do not want your customers being overwhelmed and YOU DO NOT want to come across as the end-all-be-all service provider. Less is always more!

Our Core set of Services are:

• Joomla Website Design

• Joomla Website Development

• Joomla Hosting Services

• Joomla Support Services

• Joomla SEO Services

These are what we call our meaty pages and they also just so happen to be keywords we want to rank for. However, there are approximately 200 other various keywords variations with the terms "Joomla" we want to rank for other than those listed above. Now, if we had all the time and money in the world we would create Juicy, Meaty and Keyword Rich pages with lots of content for EVERY keyword term people search for with the word Joomla in it. However, this is really not practical. So step one would be to define what your core services are, make sure they have been written correctly, have the appropriate amount of keyword density and anchor tags within the article and finally a "call to action" at the end of the page. First rule of sales in any industry has always been, "ask for the sale".

Step 2) We are going to focus on one of your main keywords. Go to the Google Keywords Tool found here http://www.google.com/sktool/ and input your main keyword string. Note: Keep your keywords to no more than a three word keyword string. This should produce anywhere from 100 to 300 different variations of your keyword. Now this may be a tad bit time consuming but jot down each variation that you would like to try to rank for and create your list. You can either write them down or select them and export them into a text file. Either way is fine. The most important part here is building a LARGE list of keywords.

Now that you have your LARGE list of keywords you want to rank for its time to build what I like to call Landing Pages. 

Step 3) Here are a few rules for each Landing Page you create. First and foremost the Title Tag of your page needs to be one of the keywords you are trying to rank for. Dont add anything more to the title tag then the keyword itself. In your Description tag of your landing page you may add a one to three word variant. For Example:

When we entered our keyword string of "Joomla Website Design" a keyword variant that came up was "Joomla Designers". So our Title Tag would look like:

Title Tag: Joomla Designers

Now we need to create a Description Tag for this page adding a small variant to it. So our description tag would look something like:

Description Tag: Need a Professional Joomla Web Designer to create your Dream Website?

Notice how we added the keywords "Professional, Web and Website"? We also added the word "Designer" thus removing the "s". That way if the end user types in something different then "Joomla Designers" such as "Joomla Web Designer" we will still be found within the search engines. Or they just as easily could have typed "Joomla Website Designers" we still would have been found. However, its important to remember that our main focus in this example is "Joomla Designers" because when searching for our keywords using the Google Tool we found that 10,000 people this month have typed that keyword in.

Step 4) Now we need to create content for this page. Since I have 200 landing pages to create I do not want to have to come up with an entire page of content. I definitely want to rank for this keyword and have lots of traffic, but I either don't have the time, money or resources to create a 700 word article for each of these Landing Pages I am creating. So here is what I do. I create a 5-6 line paragraph designed solely for the keyword "Joomla Designers". Within this one paragraph I talk about our Joomla Designers and use this keyword 3-5 times. Here is an example:

The first thing in my paragraph is the H1 Tag. This is very important. So I start the article off with a H1 page title and then I highlight the word and create an anchor tag. Then I create one paragraph about Joomla Designers such as:

Joomla Designers

"At The Turn Group, our Joomla Designers have a combined experience of 18 years. As a Joomla Designer we know what it takes to produce a Joomla Design that is not only eye engaging but also converts clients to sales. At the end of the day your Joomla Designer needs to know how to help guide your target audience to a call to action. Joomla Designers are a special breed combining not only the latest in trendy look and feel but with the functionality of the most robust content management system on the market. Our Joomla Designers don't stop there. They also know how to incorporate SEO Strategies into the Joomla Design itself leaving our clients with an instant edge over their competition every time. To see what our Joomla Designers can do for you choose one of our Core Joomla Services below".

This paragraph took me about 5 minutes to write. I have included our keyword (including the H1 tag 5 times). I have also added a couple of variant keywords a few times as well. These keyword variants are "Joomla Designer (without the "s") and "Joomla Design". Notice how I also bolded the keywords and underlined the keywords. One last thing, there are a total of three anchor tags on this page (that you can't see). I anchored tagged Joomla Designers, Joomla Designer and Joomla Design. Now, notice how the last sentenced had a call to action. The last strategy for your Landing Pages is to direct them to your core pages. I do this with graphics and links. View this landing page I just created here. 

You will see the H1 Tag, the paragraph and I even took the time to add a picture to the left of the text. Note: If you add a picture, make sure you add the alt tag to the pic using your keyword and also go as far as naming the picture using your keyword.

 At the bottom of our paragraph that we add to EVERY Landing Page is a graphical representation of our core services. So bottom line, this page took me 9 minutes to create, directed them to my core services and I will rank for this keyword in less than two weeks time. Though I really don't care for this keyword it will drive large amounts of traffic to my site and this Landing Page Strategy can do the same for you.

One last thing. You might be asking, where and how do I link to this page once I have created it? You don't want to link to this page from your main menu, you don't want to add this page under your services. I (ONLY) link to this page from my sitemap. This is just a Landing page. I probably will not be making changes to it but I do want the search Engines to index this page. So on all my Landing Pages I only link to the page from the sitemap. I have found doing this actually gets the page ranked a tad bit quicker. Now if you want to get crazy (like I tend to do) I will run over to Google real quick, create another Landing Page using their free website service and then create a link from the Landing Page on Google to the first anchor tag I created (which happens to be my H1 Page Title) on the Landing Page. But that is just me!

Strategy of a Landing Page

The strategies of a Landing Page are designed around 4 main principles. These principles, if carried out correctly produce a viral effect. However, we will get around to that in a minute. First and foremost, Landing Pages are designed around your targeted keywords. If the page is setup as demonstrated above, it will provide the long-term click through to your site that you need which brings us to principal number one.

Principal 1) Attract Visitors - Getting the click to your Landing Page will come over time, but once they get to the page they have got to want to read more to produce an action. That is why the Landing Page Tactic that I use (small paragraph) does not overwhelm your visitors. Its straight and to the point. More often than not, users are attracted to the "Core Set of Services Graphic" that we provide underneath our paragraph. So, the first principal is attracting your visitors and driving them to an action.

Principal 2) Convert Visitors to Customers - This principle is directly affected by principal one. Having your visitors follow through on an action whether that be by clicking a link, filling out an optin, signing up for a newsletter, picking up the phone and calling you or purchasing a product or service is the next step. We convert visitors to customers by providing their exact need. Converting a visitor to a customer is done by providing something of value for giving their name and email address, entering to win a contest, a reduction of price or something of value that will lead them to the next principle.

Principal 3) Retention and Growth of Customers - Retaining your clients comes from the value that they get from the product or service offering. The best customer is the one that a) comes back and b) bring others with them. Your Landing Pages are what draws them in, however, the meaty pages, core services  or products that you are driving them to is really where they care going to get the true value. Some of the Landing Page Tactics that I use to grow my customer base are: 1) setting up ppc campaigns targeting my Landing Pages, 2) create posts within my social communities driving them to my Landing Pages 3) create offsite Landing Pages using the free website networks to link to the anchor tags on my onsite Landing Pages and 4) depending on your Landing Page Setup you can use affiliate networks to drive traffic to them. All in all, for this particular strategy I don't spend time driving traffic to these types of Landing Pages. These pages are specifically used to draw in traffic based on the specific keywords. This why I create hundreds of them.

Principle 4) Measure and Optimize - There are two ways to handle this step. You can do what I do with these specific designed Landing Pages and leave them be and use them only to pull in traffic from the keywords we chose, or you can monitor the hits they are getting, the bounce rates and make adjustments to them as necessary. There are many types and ways to build Landing Pages depending on your specific use for them. I personally do not monitor them anymore than to check the hits. I do not look for problems because there are just to many to keep track of if you follow my suggestions on quantity of these type pages. 

Organic and Viral Result - Creating these type of Internal Landing Pages does two things. 1) they will give you the natural organic rankings within the search engines that you want and need and 2) depending on the type of Landing Page you create the viral effect will be your customers forwarding on either your Landing Page or your site. The more relevant pages you create on your website, the way in which they are built and the value that you offer greatly determines if your site gets forwarded to others. A good note to remember, the more value you offer, the better chance you have of others forwarding their site to people they know.

Bottom Line, if you follow this methodology for all your keywords on your list, two things will happen, 1) you are adding daily content (or weekly, depending on how often you are adding Landing Pages) to your site which the Search Engines LOVE and 2) you are insuring your online Internet Presence will produce and benefit you in the days to come by expanding your site to more end users looking for your products or services.

If at any time you have any questions about the Landing Page Strategy or if you need help to implement this Landing Page Tactic, please do not hesitate to contact us for a FREE Web Quote.

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Believe it or not, Facebook is not just for teens, tweens, and young adults. Actually savvy marketers have taken this popular social networking tool and turned it into a powerful component. If you are selling any type of good or service and you do not have a Facebook account, then you need to start an account in short order. Facebook accounts are free; and, they are easy to set up. Now, if you already have a Facebook account here are some good tips to help you maximize your Facebook account in order to get more exposure for your product or service.

First things first, you need to become familiar with the site and how it works. So, start small by inviting your friends, business contacts, and relatives to be your “friends.” This is the easiest way to create a quick network. Since, their friends now have access to your page and can also add you as a friend. At this step you should also become acquainted with the new applications in order to keep your page appealing. It would serve you well to get into the habit of updating your page regularly with product or service information, company updates, and other important information.

Secondly, after you are comfortable doing different things on the Facebook site, it is time to start thinking about your marketing strategy. Now, if you have an idea of your target market than reaching these people will be pretty simple on Facebook. However, if you are unsure of the audience that your product or service appeals to, then you need to take some time to think about your ideal customer.

Facebook has an application feature that allows you to create a Facebook Page. You can use this tool to reach your target audience. Yet, before you dive in, do a quick search to see if there are any groups out there that are similar to the one you would create for your product or service. Now, create a group of your own where you can showcase your product or service. Once you create your Facebook Business Page, begin updating your page with information about your product and service. Adding things such as pictures, product, service, or company website, and media files will make your group stand out from those that are similar.

Once, you are satisfied with the applications and information on your group page. It is time to start inviting people to join your page. The most obvious place to start is with the “friends” that you have on your profile. Then consider sending an invitation to some of the members of similar groups. Creating a Facebook Business Page gives you a great target market for your product or service. There is a News section that allows Facebook to inform all of your members of any updates that you post. So, here you can post sales, new features, and any other information about your product or service.

Yet, you need to do everything that you can to prevent your Facebook Web Page from becoming inactive. Try to visit your page regularly. Do not let a week pass by with out any activity on your Page page. And, encourage members to invite any friends they feel would be interested in the page or your product or service. Remember to be involved. The key to social networking sites is the personal feel and direct contact. So, be sure to respond to any message in your mailbox, acknowledge the birthdays of page members, and routinely send out Facebook application smiles, hugs, etc.

Depending on the type of product or service you are marketing, consider creating a Facebook event to highlight a sale, new feature, or new product or service introduction. You can invite friends to your event, which is also viewable by the entire Facebook community. So, it is also a great way to introduce many potential customers to your product or service. You can also do a workshop or teleclass on topics that relate to your product and service. These tools are great ways to attract new friends to your group and therefore your product or service. But, they also serve to give your page positive things to discuss about your product or service. And, this will ward off inactivity and the loss of interest in your group and your product or service.

By now, you are probably wondering why you hadn’t thought of this before, an easy way to reach a broad range of potential customers for free. Maximizing your Facebook account may allow you to cut back on other forms of marketing and save a little money as well. Companies that fail to acknowledge social networking sites as an effective marketing tool are only putting themselves at a disadvantage. Those that are poised to take full advantage of the practically built-in target audience are the businesses with marketing strategies for the new ways of doing business.

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Google has done it again with providing a dynamic content management system, aka “store house of Knol-edge” or what I like to call Googlepedia! This system is designed to showcase professional, authoritative information on any subject. The goal is to provide readers content rich material on any given topic from leaders and professionals in all industries. This new encyclopedia of articles will soon dominate leaving its competitors in the dust.

Who should write a Knol?
This question can only be answered by the person attempting to do so. Yes, there will be amateur writers of all makes and sizes competing for top position within this database. The question will ultimately lie on the Knol Writers shoulders to ask themselves the following questions. Am I a leader in my industry? What information can I provide that will be of value to the readers? Has a Knol already been written about this topic? Will readers benefit from my knowledge? Am I capable of writing this article myself or will I need a Knol Copy Editor to write it for me? All of these questions are valid and should be taken into consideration before writing commences. Remember, when searching the Knol database for information; represent the information in a way in which you yourself would like to receive it.

Why should you write a Google Knol?
There are several reasons to write a Google Knol. Professionals, doctors, lawyers or any profession that has knowledge for the masses, the Knol provides a way to display the information in a way never done before. Being able to do an instant search on a topic that has been written by authoritative industry leaders lends credibility to the article thus giving the end reader valuable information from trusted sources. When a quality article is produced, that opens the doors for Webmasters to harness the ranking power of the article. If I write a paper on Website Design and Development from another source and I link to that paper from an all ready trusted source; that brings credibility to the article. The same applies in reverse. If the article that is written is a Ranked article, then it goes to show linking from that article to my website brings credibility to the website. Another reason I can think of to write a Knol is from a pure learning standpoint. Already fascinating articles are being written providing more knowledge to the general public thus increasing awareness.

How do I write a Knol Article?
Writing a Knol Article is pretty straight forward. The first step is to sign up an account on Google Knol. Once logged in, you can start writing immediately. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Write your article as clear as possible using images, references, links and credits. Linking to references lends credibility to the article.

• Use the available Head Tags when appropriate.

• Break the article up into sections. Reading a long drawn out paper can be exhausting on the eyes. Use bullet points, bold titles and a little color to add something extra to it.

What not to do when writing a Google Article in Knol!
Make sure any content that is written, provides new authoritative information on a subject and NOT to advertise a product or service. Look at is like this, an encyclopedia is an information guide to a particular topic with no agenda of advertisement or re-direction. Google Knol was designed with this in mind. First and foremost, any article written for Knol should provide readers with accurate and authoritative knowledge about whatever it is you are going to write about.

Google Knol is not to be mistaken for a traditional Blog. So writing about personal experiences and passions would not be the recommended topics. Instead, articles should be written from industry leaders, professionals and authors displaying fact, research and methods.

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Ok, so I have a website hosted with Google and I purchased the Traffic Facts for the account. Well the Traffic Facts Program allows for Real Time Stats. To do this you can choose to put a java script code on your website. However, the code they provide does not validate against the Strict XHTML.

Before I tell you how I was able to get the code to validate I must warn you that though this may work with all the code options that you get when you sign up for Traffic Facts, but I only tested it on the one I am using on my website.

When you are in your Traffic Facts Control Panel and you Enable Real Time Stats it gives you 7 scripts. The Script I am using is the unsecured script for a Standard Page. Again, this is the only code I edited to get to validate on my site.

Here is the un-secured code that I received:

If you change the code to this alt=”" /> adding the space and the slash made the code validate for me. That’s it!

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