Blog, Web, Domain, and Business Online Articles

Social media alert: Domain name ‘FriendonFacebook.com’ for sale
The URL reflects the most popular marketing phrase in the world. Could it fetch millions? These days in social media circles, who doesn’t ask someone to be their friend on Facebook?

Commtouch Launches GlobalView URL Filtering for Mobile
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Commtouch Launches GlobalView URL Filtering for Mobile, Industry’s First Android URL Filtering SDK Enables Secure Web Browsing, Parental Control and Compliance

Create Short Aliases for Frequently Accessed Pages by Telling Chrome They’re Search Engines [Timesavers]
# timesavers You can trick Chrome into thinking that any super-long URL is a much shorter one by adding it to the list of “other search engines” in the browser’s Preferences pane. One great use for this is to get to frequently-used Google Docs files, like in the image above. More »

There is no doubt that blogging is qucikly becoming popular and there’s no stopping its popularity. The fight for supremacy heats on. The battle for the highest ranked blog or the most frequently visited blog is now at its peak. It is also no surprise that blogs now are becoming popular because of its use as a vehicle for earning extra bucks.
What do you need to increase your blog’s traffic? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. That’s right! No need for additional special skills – just plain old networking skills. So how do you start?

First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online.

Advertise your blog online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online. Advertise your blog online. It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills.

That’s right! No need for additional special skills – just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. That’s right! No need for additional special skill, just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well.

It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

All you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog contains.

You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

In short, social networking is the key to improve your blog’s traffic

You should link together your blog and social media marketing accounts.  You want to create a network of resources that brings together your various marketing efforts.  Linking your blog to your social media accounts is essential.

 

1) Blog Postings on Facebook and Twitter

 

You can set up your social media accounts including Facebook and Twitter so that they automatically show a link to your blog postings.  This automated technique makes it easy to update your Facebook pages and Twitter account with your new blog postings.

 

One of the goals of all social media marketing plans is to keep content updated and fresh.  If you update your blog frequently you will be automatically updating your Facebook and Twitter account as well.

 

Make sure the titles of your blog posting are eye-catching and you can drive traffic from the social media sites onto your blog.  A short, catchy title will capture the attention of someone you are friends with on Facebook or who is following you on Twitter.

 

2) Add Social Media Links to Your Blog

 

People who find your blog may not know that you also have social media accounts and pages.  Make sure that your blog prominently displays an invitation for them to become a fan on Facebook and a follower on Twitter.

 

As a blogger you want to give people a ample opportunity to learn more from you and about you.  Linking your social media accounts to your blog creates these opportunities.

 

Web 2.0 is all about users participating on websites and networks.  A blogger needs to think about inviting participation on their blog and beyond their blog in order to create an overall user experience that builds loyalty.

 

3) Off Blog Feeds

 

When you set up your blog you will have the option to arrange a blog feed that other people can pick up and add to their site.  Basically your blog postings will be displayed on any site that adds the feed to it.

 

A blog feed can open up new traffic sources and revenue streams with no additional effort on your part.  You should also add your blog feeds to directories and other resources that people search in order to add fresh content to their site.

 

Remember, fresh content is a key to success online.  Your blog can become a source for content for other websites which means your blog and their website wins.  Link your blog to your social media accounts and blog feed resources for maximum impact.

 

4) Blog Set-Up – Plug-Ins

 

When you are setting up your blog you will have the option to add plug-ins.  There are many add-ons or plug-ins to choose from.  Some of them can be quite useful and some of them can be quite useless.

 

Since WordPress is the most popular blog choice we will focus our examination on plug-ins with WordPress blogs.

 

5) Blog Plug-In: Akismet

 

SPAM is a serious issue on the web including on blogs.  Akismet is a plug-in option for WordPress blogs that helps eliminate SPAM before it can appear on your blog. This free plug-in is essential and is considered by many bloggers to be their most important weapon against SPAM.

 

One of the first plug-ins you should add to your blog is Akismet.  Make sure it is up to date and properly installed on your blog.

 

6) Blog Plug-In: Add to Any

 

Social media marketing has transformed the Internet.  The vast majority of bloggers also have social media accounts.  Bloggers are typically quite actively engaged in social media sites and social bookmarking.  Add to Any is a plug-in for social media marketing.

 

Adding this plug-in to your blog makes it easy to add blog postings to your social media sites as well as to bookmark your postings.

 

7) Blog Plug-In: All in one SEO Pack

 

The all-in-one SEO pack for WordPress blogs is an important plug-in.  This SEO pack incorporates the essential SEO elements needed to help your blog appear in search results for relevant keyword terms.

 

Many search engine optimization experts add the SEO Pack to every blog they manage.

 

Blog Plug-In:  Backup Wordpress

 

WordPress offers a backup plug-in that automatically backs up your database for security purposes.  This feature is an important safety feature that will protect you if your blog loses data or that data gets corrupted.  Hackers often target blogs so having the right security in place is important.

 

9) Blog Plug-In: Super Cache

 

The Super Cache plug-in helps your blog postings get indexed quickly in the search engines.    Indexation is important because it helps people find your website.  This plug-in is often considered part of the list of SEO plug-ins but it is not part of the All in One SEO Pack described above.

 

When setting up your blog, make sure you install the five essential plug-ins outlined in this article.  There may be other plug-ins that interest you as well but these are the five most important WordPress plug-ins.

If you’ve read a few of my articles you’ll know I recently reviewed a URL Scraper from Affportal called the Batch URL Scraper. In this article I’m going to look at another URL Scraper, and there’s yet another one to be discussed after this. We’ll get into that later.

For now I want to tell you about the Social Media URL Scraper. But before I do I want to emphasize how important a good URL Scraper really is in case you don’t already know.

The thing is, if you do any PPV or CPV (pay per view/cost per view= same thing) you’ll know how important it is to have a diverse list of URL targets. But if you’re pulling your URLs from the same place everyone else is, or you’re using the same URL scraper they are, you’re essentially fishing with the same bait.

This is where the Social Media URL Scraper and other URL Scrapers from Affportal come in. First, there aren’t a million members using Affportal. That’s good because you’re setting yourself apart by using “bait” very few others are. And yes, the masses use the big cost URL Scrapers because they work, but at what cost? And success comes when you differ yourself from the crowd. Second, you don’t just get one URL Scraper with Affportal, you get three. And third, let me tell you about the Social Media URL Scraper because I’m overdue on discussing that now.

The Social Media <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://affportaltools.com/social-media-url-scraper/”>URL Scraper</a> does what no other URL Scraper can: it digs results from YouTube. This is great because of the amount of traffic YouTube gets, but it’s also great because no one else has it.

You give the tool your keyword phrases and tell it how many pages of results you want. The tool just grabs all the URLs for videos that have descriptions, file names, or tags/keywords that you want.

Want to know more about another Affportal <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://affportaltools.com/tag/url-scraper/”>URL Scraper</a> in action? Stay tuned and I’ll show you.

I think that Affportal has a great set of tools at a very fair price. See for yourself.

Emergency management organizations and agencies that are restricting social media from their networks may be doing more harm than good. 

Allowing access to social networking sites may actually boost productivity if not morale. Many large organizations use social media to boost sales, encourage team work and generate information and helpful leads. So too, can emergency managers find these tools to be productive. Agencies can quickly share lessons learned and other helpful information, faster than can be done even by phone or email. While there is obviously a need for a social media policy to avoid the posting of inappropriate messages, (see a cautionary tale here) the ability to instantly communicate with other emergency managers as well as the public is invaluable. 

Additionally, there is value gained in using tools like Twitter to put out EXACTLY the message you want to your followers. Why not advertise? Does your organization’s web site home page have a link that says, “Follow Us on Twitter” yet? Why not? As overwhelming as the world of social media can be, on the other side of that anxiety attack is the most control we’ve ever had as emergency managers to manage the conversation. Want to know what people are talking about on Twitter? The real value from this social media wonder IS NOT the status updates – sure that’s cute for funny quips and posting tiny URLs, (wondering what a “Tiny URL” is?) but the real value in Twitter is the search capabilities. Try the Twitter Search (www.search.twitter.com): plug in any topic and you will get a list of the most recent tweets about it. Want to know what is REALLY going on during a disaster? Search it on Twitter rather than Google…you will be surprised how many people are tweeting from the actual scene! (Hint here: they’re not all responders) If you’re a public figure, you should be doing a Twitter search on yourself every day – want to know how you’re really holding up in the public poles? 

Gone are the days where the work we do can be done in a silo – everything we do as emergency managers is open to public scrutiny. But this is a good thing! This level of accountability should motivate us to take all of our planning and preparedness initiatives to the next level. Our co-workers are no longer limited to the locale we serve. Tweet about your highs and lows. Connect with colleagues and coworkers on LinkedIn, create fan pages and group pages for initiatives and projects that would be better served with more input or a different perspective. Worried about input overload? Don’t; you’re still the project manager. Use the information to your benefit. Worried someone might steal your ideas? Good; that means you must be doing something right! Emergency management is only effective if everyone is on the same page and working toward the same finish. 

Don’t know how to manage all of those status updates, groups and fan pages? Try a handy utility updating site – my favorite is www.Ping.fm.  Here you can update one status and all of the other social media sites you manage will automatically be updated with the same message…or you can make groups of your sites, just like with your email. Utility sites can manage anything from the usual suspects like FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace, to the more obscure or lesser known sites like Yammer, Plurk and Ning (here’s a ridiculously long, but probably not exhaustive, list of social media). AND, unlike anything else you do in emergency management, it’s ALL FREE!                                                                                          

The point being, rather than shy away from or limit access to social media, embrace it! Chances are your people are already using it anyway; why not encourage it and use it to your benefit? Anyone who has ever had a web security page pop up while trying to get through a Google search at work can tell you it’s beyond frustrating; it’s usually blocking something related to the job at hand.  Ultimately, employers who are trying to reduce the amount of time workers spend socializing rather than working may really be doing the opposite. And if you’re that worried about your employees goofing off and not being productive, you may want to reconsider your hiring practices.