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Haven’t I told you SEJ Toolset is a one-stop destination when it comes to all types of your web campaigns? This week I’ll show how to monitor your online reputations from the same handy dashboard. Social Media Monitor is a service which lets you track what people are saying about you, your client, or your brand. It aggregates user generated content from across the Internet into a single stream of information. Step 1: Add a search to track social media
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client,
internet,
manager,
media,
search,
search-engine,
seo,
Social Media,
social media marketing,
source,
tools,
user
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This being my debut article on SEJ I wanted to write on a topic that I’m passionate about. As an educator I always try to share my experiences and knowledge to help the community and my students. I figured there would be no better way for me to get started than to help you get started. Today we are going to squash some myths and shake things up a bit by creating a simple, optimized website in under 30 min. Stop Trying to be an
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article,
bluehost,
Business,
hosting,
life,
media,
seo,
small-business,
tools
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When the clock struck midnight on January 1st, I began running. It was a 5k run in Philadelphia, along the Schuylkill River, to be more specific. During this run, I passed a homeless man. Rather than running past him, I stopped. I gave him $100. Later that day, I stopped to think in greater detail about that incident. What was it that compelled me to engage him? I think the answer to that question, in this case, should be fairly obvious. The night was cold and rainy. No person should be outside and homeless, regardless of how they got there. How does this story relate to my thoughts on many folks on Twitter? Before I continue, please understand I am in no way making light of the homeless. I’m simply offering background as to what inspired the following thought: Many individuals all around the social media world are simply asking for handouts. Think about that for a second. How many people do their best to be placed prominently in front of you, but really do very little to offer a value proposition? How many individuals clamor daily about social media strategies, and the need for engagement, yet fail to offer an answer to the simple question of why you should contribute to their success? I find more and more redundancy invading my personal space. Less substance, less value, less originality, more noise. While there is overwhelming concern about those that are not participating in social media ‘correctly’, there is a disproportionate lack of concern for those that are considered social media ‘geniuses’ and really offer minimal value. If you’re going to be successful long term using social media, you must be certain that your product can back up your mouth. With that in mind, follow along and below you’ll find a small list with tips to help you, or your product, offer a compelling value proposition. 10 Ways to Translate Social Media Success into Real World
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cruise-critic,
media,
media-success,
personal,
product,
schuylkill,
seo,
social,
Social Media,
social media marketing,
thoughts,
tools,
virtual,
your-product
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I have previously looks at a few tools to instantly see which analytics package(s) the current site is using . I have also shared a nice tool called “Wappalyzer” that detects which software the site is using and displays it in the status bar. Additionally, I have once looked at some tools to protect your privacy by using public proxies or a number of FireFox plugins and hacks . Today’s tool takes a bit of all that is mentioned above and combines that in a very convenient and usable manner. Ghostery is a FireFox plugin that is aimed to do the following: (1) It detects “web bugs, ad networks and widgets” on every page on the web; (2) It allows to block any detected web bugs trackers and thus protect your privacy. Let’s take a detailed feature overview and see it in action. Start by installing the tool here . After re-starting your browser you should see the tool icon in the status bar that shows you how many “bugs” the tool managed to detect. Click on the icon to see the details: The name of each tracker; (When you hover over the name) The URL to the tracker host, the script source and the invitation to block it: Additionally, you can instantly see the “Alert bubble” each time you open a page or a tab. The bubble contains the list of the page trackers: Of course, you can disable the bubble from options, which also allow to: Hide the bubble after the set period of time; Enable or disable the ghost count in the status bar; Enable the ghost rank (this one helps the tool build its database. It sends data of the ghosts you come across while browsing). The blocking tab allows to enable blocking of the supported bugs: Supported services include (but are not limited to): Google Analytics MyBlogLog Quantcast IndexTools SiteMeter Lijit Omniture CrazyEgg Snap Omniture Statcounter Piwik Mint Facebook Beacon Typepad Stats Lookery HubSpot Yahoo Analytics Facebook Connect Federated Media OpenAds FeedBurner Google Adsense HitTail FriendFeed Woopra ScribeFire QuickAds Doubleclick Wordpress Stats WebTrends OpenAds ShareThis FeedBurner Seesmic AddtoAny, etc. Our verdict : a solid tool that can be used in the following cases: When you need to browse anonymously; When you research competitors’ tactics to see which tracking software they are using; To educate yourself of tracking systems around the web, etc. The tool was reviewed under SEJ policy . Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . See Which Trackers Other Sites Are Using with
Tags:
analytics,
browser,
bubble,
ghost,
media,
search-engine,
seo,
tool,
tools
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This post is a response to BusinessWeek’s recent “ Beware Social Media Snake Oil ” article. I would like to elaborate on a few concepts and misconceptions the article had. Right off the bat, one thing this article fails to separate is social media for small business and social media for large corporations as defined by different goals and objectives. When discussing social media people tend to lump all facets of social media and all social media channels together. However, social media is an all encompassing word for: Content Aggregation Media Sharing Bookmarking Blogging/Micro-Blogging Networking Forum conversation These facets are what define social media and should be treated differently, for each facet can have its own unique set of analytical measurements and objectives. All are tools to an overall marketing strategy though. Risk The article dives right into proclaiming utilization of social media “tools”, such as Facebook and Twitter, to be risky in many ways. Employees encouraged to tap social networking sites can fritter away hours, or worse. They can spill company secrets or harm corporate relationships by denigrating partners. What’s more, with one misstep, one clumsy entrée, companies can quickly find themselves victims of the forces they were trying to master. The article also uses a quote from James Cooper, Saatchi’s digital creative director, stating: Social media [campaigns], by their nature, are unpredictable, which makes them an easy target for critics. “Anyone who says ‘This is going to work’ is either lying or deranged,” he says. He compares the risk model with venture capital, where one bet out of 10 might pay off richly, while the others struggle or even bomb. Rebuttal First and foremost, companies should learn to dedicate resources towards social media. Not just have one of their SEOs or tech guys handle it as part of their already over-piled list of duties. Employees won’t waste time on social media if there’s a system of checks and balances. Rules can be set in to place to dedicate X amount of time each day conducting a diverse array of social media related tasks. If there is a well-defined social media policies and guidelines then there should be little worry over an employee “spilling company secrets” or “harming partner relationships”. Let’s not focus on the medium here let’s focus on the message . If an employee leaks company secrets the secrets will find a way to travel to the masses regardless of which channel the secret was released. Loose lips sink ships. Companies just need to define clearly what employees should and should not discuss both online and offline. What is worse is not monitoring the sentiment about your company and doing nothing. The conversation will happen whether you are there or not to try to control it. To address James Cooper’s point, no marketer knows how a campaign is going to turn out. Isn’t that the beauty of marketing? That it’s a game of successes and failures? One must look at the overall results of several campaign initiatives to judge the overall outcome and ROI. Judging campaigns on a one-off basis is fine to measure results and refine direction but most campaigns are a single node in an overall strategy. Success Metrics and
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Business,
column,
facebook,
media,
metrics,
phone,
search,
seo,
sharing,
Social Media
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Why would one want to use a content management system? The major benefits include: (1) the ability to easily create and publish web content with no programming language knowledge required and (2) the ability to connect multiple websites and multiple users under one handy dashboard. With Pixelsilk content management system we have yet another benefit: easily optimize your website for search engines. No, it is not about SEO automation like you may think: this is about creating clean, SEO-friendly websites – it’s about making the process easier and clearer (even for an absolute newbie), not about automating it. I had a great time talking to the company representative last week who walked me through the whole process of adding and optimizing web content with Pixelsilk CMS, so I am sharing that experience with you today. I don’t have huge experience with web-based content management systems (as I normally don’t use any) but I really liked Pixelsilk for the main reasons: It is very flexible: enjoy full control over your HTML, CSS, and overall SEO; It is really user-friendly and doesn’t take any time to figure it out (so should be easy to get your team work with it). Here’s a quick feature overview (with some SEO focus of course): Create new
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api,
client,
clients,
media,
microsoft,
pixelsilk,
recommendations,
search,
tools
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On Tuesday I will be flying out to Las Vegas for my very first Pubcon! Sounds unbelievable right? Mr. Search Engine Journal has yet to attend a Pubcon over the past 10 years or so, but it’s true. After cutting my teeth on SES, SMX & IM Spring Break, it’s now time for the big show. Vegas baby, VEGAS! My flight leaves Tuesday morning and I’ll be in town and checked in around 11 am in the Treasure Island Casino with the rest of the Search & Social crew including @ davesnyder (my Pubcon roomie), @ jordankasteler , @ ryansammy (Social Media Analyst) and @ scottpolk (our Director of Operations / Biz Dev guy). Dave gets in on Monday and I’m hopeful that our room will still be tidy, and not demolished by the Most Dangerous Man on the Internet . With a kid on the way I seriously doubt I’ll be hitting the tables or the booze (like the 3 day bachelor party I went to in Vegas this summer), so it looks like the main emphasis of this trip will be on business, building partnerships, educating people about SEJ Tools and speaking on a couple of panels. So, being this is my first Pubcon and I’ve been spending Sunday packing, getting ready and watching the Ravens lose, I thought that it would be a good idea to ask some Twitter friends for some tips on surviving Pubcon Vegas 2009, and here they are : 1. Remember afternoon naps, aspirin, jacket (Vegas gets cold at night), & mobile Twitter to get the latest #pubcon party updates 2. Find a “soft spot” in sessions to steal a nap. Good if it borders a lunch for maximum nappability. 3. Bring small multi-outlet power cord. Speaker/media room is woefully low on outlets. 4. #pubcon tip: day 1 go to the ABC Store in fashion show mall (walkable from TI) & get a case of water for your room. 5. Bring lots of $5 and $10 to split costs of cabs to & from Convention Center. [ and $1's work well too! ] 6. Try to increase alcohol tolerance now if you drink, and pack Advil; you’ll need it. [ I did this before my trip to Russia and it worked well ] 7. Take lots of Vitamin C before the conference and during as you’ll probably be exposed to lots of people during cold season. 8. Wear a diaper to cut back on crowded trips to the bathroom between sessions and stay away from @pamela_lund 9. If you see someone from Search & Social, introduce yourself, trade business cards (ours are insanely awesome) and ask us about our BIG NEW PROJECT! 10. Party like a ROCKSTAR! Thanks to @ pamela_lund @ blafrance @ andybeal @ danperry for the feedback. But you know what? Forget all that, I’m just going to get my conference tips from the Most Dangerous Man on the Interwebs! Do Enjoy : See you at Pubcon Vegas! Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . 10+ Tips For a Pubcon Vegas
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back-on-crowded,
Business,
conference,
media,
pubcon-vegas,
russia,
search,
search engine news,
search-engine,
seo,
social,
spring,
summer,
tools,
treasure