Search and Social Results

I just wanted to give you an update on my life. PFSweb is doing well – my department is growing by leaps and bounds. I decided not to go to Hawaii due to the fact it was V-day weekend and extra expensive because of that. I do think I’m going to go to New York for Blogworld in June and maybe Austin for SXSW in March.

I invested in a bunch of silver last weekend. I bought some in 2009 at $18 an ounce and now it’s at $33. That’s a 55% increase! If only I would have bought a heck of a lot more and not have sold it when I needed some cash. You live and you learn. I still believe it’s going to go way beyond $33 due to several factors and likely to double within the next 12-24 months. With the amount I bought this last weekend I’m a highly committed silver  investor now. Playing with this compound interest calculator got me pretty excited as long as I keep consistent and continue to invest each month.

On average, over the last eight years silver has gone up 24.3% and 29% over the last three (change graph to see silver). The guys I follow say you should allocate 75% silver and 25% gold for liquidity and if under $5k.  Of course gold is killing it too and I’m about to go all in with that once I have stocked up on the recommended amount of silver. I found the best way to buy silver I think. They make what they call “rounds.” They have a design, but are not legal tender, so you’re not paying extra for a pretty designer coin, the face, or numismatic value.

ILiveInDallas.com is now at 45,000 visitors in the last 30 days. We are going to get hit 100,000 in a 30 day period this year and I plan on writing a self-published eBook on how I did it. I recently paid someone from elance.com to write a 7,000 word blog post (has not launched yet) on 101 Dallas Attractions. I’m going to turn that into a book as well and sell it on the site after I get images for it.

I have two more speakers signed up for my meetup group in-which I’m priming them to speak at a seminar I’ll be having. I’ll fwd you the email I sent to my group that I used as a teaser. One of the guys I pitched on packaging his LinkedIn knowledge and doing a product launch. He’ll be the trial run on a partnered info product like I’ve explained before.

I’m finally wrapping up my karaoke article and boy I’m glad that’s almost over. I’m renewing my lease for nine months at my apartment because I dig it here.

This is an email I wrote to my parents. To be successful in life, I recommend expressing gratitude on a regular basis to family, friends, significant others,  co-workers, teachers,  mentors, and the Universe.

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Date: Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 1:55 PM
Subject: A Quick Note of Gratitude from Your 30 Year-old Son

Hey Mom and Dad,

I was just reading the book Master Your Money by Ron Blue,
a book Dad gave to me, and I found a note that was being
used as a bookmark probably 15 years old. It was in Mom’s
handwriting and it had listed “Aaron’s car $x,xxx” and “Neil’s
car $x,xxx.” It also had some CC balances. This morning, I
felt overwhelmed with gratitude that you raised my siblings
and I with love and support as we were growing up and
continue to now.

I talk a lot about marketing, success, my theories, business
stuff, and my future goals. You guys probably get tired of it,
and it probably seems like the only stuff I think about. It’s not.

Being 30 and in a different place than you guys and my siblings
were and are in life at this point as far as their own families go,
I feel like this subject is one of those things I feel most comfortable
in relating since you may not be able to relate to my current life.

(Mom, I know we tend to have more to talk about, and you seem
happier, when I have a current girlfriend.)

I wanted to let you know despite all the business stuff, without a
doubt, I value relationships and family above all. Also, I wanted to let you
know I am a very happy, well-adjusted, and balanced person.

I have so much to be grateful for with my family, friends, and my
freedom. I’m wealthy in this regard.

My finances are a work-in-progress and a lifelong work. We don’t
always have our families for all of our lives, so I wanted to express my
gratitude to you TODAY.

I read a lot of bios of business people and rock stars. Guns N’ Roses
are coming to town and I looked up the lead singer’s bio on Wikipedia. I
read how sad Axl Rose’s upbringing was with abandonment and abuse,
and again felt gratitude that I had such an incredible childhood with
great parents and a brother and sister.

Although, I’m always pushing in my life for growth, new experiences,
doing and considering doing unconventional things like: couchsurfing, world
travel, living by choice as an unattached bachelor, hypnotherapy school,
studying spirituality, psychology, the occult, and the Illuminati, despite
all this stuff that may seem foreign and weird to you, you have raised
a well-adjusted, happy, sane, somewhat-normal person, that’s doing
great in life.

My actions and words may also seem like unrest to you, but I assure you
I’m fine. At the end of the day, I’m a truth and experience seeker. Having a
wife and family will not change that, and it’s not for lack of that that I am how
I am currently in my life. My gift to my children someday
and the world at large will be my story and what I can
teach them, so I plan on making it a good one and having a lot to teach.

One thing I’ve learned about my personality type (like I didn’t already know)
from standardized psychological tests is, I have a verbally quiet, yet adventuresome-in-action spirit. I seek thrills and spontaneity and my ultimate core value is: freedom/independence. Followed by these.

Freedom – Able to move about without bounds or restraints, liberty.
Truth – A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like.
Kindness - Friendly, caring, liking.
Knowledge – Subject matter expert, education via experience or study.
Growth - Investing in lifelong learning, personal development, self-education.

I still have a child-like thought process that I can do anything and be anyone
I want. I am a dreamer (thanks Dad).

I’m extremely fortunate in many ways with all that has come my way with what
others have given. One thing I’ve realized is, some of the most successful people are
good not only as givers, but good receivers. That’s something which good, and even
Christian, people overlook and it can hurt them spiritually.

You have to accept and feel worthy of what others do for you, otherwise you
rob them of the feeling they get from giving and the energy force they are passing
along. Acceptance, even of substantial gifts, without guilt or feelings of obligation,
is fine as long as there is gratitude (override the unfounded feelings of guilt, obligation,
and the Law of Reciprocity).

As long as you’re always giving value to the world and aren’t worried about
getting back, you shouldn’t feel guilty when it comes back (it’s a Law of the Universe).

I’m fortunate to have the abilities you have passed on to me such as: being hospitable,
friendly, a connector, and having a strong character.

I know we fancy ourselves a creative family, but Mom your analytical genes have
helped me with logic and the business side of my life. I do more number crunching than
I ever thought I would do in my career, and I’ve learned to embrace it, because it stands
to represent something I’ve done that others value…results. Dad, your warmth and sincerity
in your writing style, which may have passed through genes and rearing (Nature & Nurture),
has been of huge help in my professional and personal life.

I always say in interviews, that I have both analytical and creative sides (which is
perfect for what I do), since my Father was a photographer and Mother did the books
(accounting) for him (among other things such as sales). My strongest suit in life is writing
with a purpose: teaching, motivating, and being persuasive in print and in person (sales).
Being good at all of these take both sides of the brain, analytical and creative.

Thank you for being there. I love you.

Neil Lemons

==== END of Email=====

Giovanni Gallucci is well-known in the social media community locally and nationwide. In Google+ Tips and Tricks in Social Media Marketing, he will be comparing and contrasting the different features of Google+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and more while making recommendations for regarding which platform can serve you and your online marketing needs best. Giovanni will discuss topics like Google+ Circles vs. Facebook Friends Lists, Google+ Hangouts vs Video Calling, Google+ Huddle vs Twitter, Google+ Location vs Foursquare, Integrating YouTube into Google+, and much more.

For location & time, join Social Media Marketing Mastermind:

RSVP Event Link: http://www.meetup.com/dallas-social-media-marketing-mastermind/events/36386702/

When you leave this presentation you will have a better understanding on how/where Google+ fits into your online marketing strategy. No matter who you are, you’ll walk away  with plenty of new strategies to try out on your social media campaign or your clients’.

About Gio

Giovanni Gallucci lives a double-life. On one hand he is a recovering .NET programmer turned online evangelist and internet troubadour. On the other hand he is a professional, natural-light photographer who focuses on music, fashion, events, and candids.

Giovanni develops strategy for online marketing and audience development for top musicians, production companies, internet personalities, celebrities, and forward-thinking companies interested in breaking new ground online. He also teaches how social media and SEO aligns with offline marketing and pr strategies at bootcamps and private workshops across the great state of Texas and around the world. His speaking style is vibrant, frank, humorous, energetic, and personal. Have a look at the testimonials directly from those who have seen him speak at a conference or attended his full-day workshops at http://gallucci.net/testimonials.asp

Websites:
Company site:
http://gallucci.net/
Blog:
http://blog.gallucci.net/

A Few Clients he has Served:

American Heart Association, The American Cancer Society, American Airlines, Belmont Hotel, D Magazine, Dallas Morning News, KDGE 102.1 FM, Microsoft Corporation, Nokia, Nortel.

See 100s more http://gallucci.net/clients.asp

For location & time, join Social Media Marketing Mastermind:

RSVP Event Link: http://www.meetup.com/dallas-social-media-marketing-mastermind/events/36386702/

THIS MEETING WAS HELD IN AUGUST 2011 and is not ongoing.

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I had the game MASTERMIND when I was a kid and the tagline says it all, “Easy to learn. Easy to play. But not easy to win.”  This is the same with affiliate marketing. “Winning” does take strategy, but also brute force, persistence, and a willingness to do what it takes.

Tonight will be a working session at:

Panera Bread

Only come if you are interested in doing hands-on work for what I’m about to describe ( I know it’s not for everyone in social media or online marketing).

I won’t be talking as much, but collaborating more. This session is about making $$$ and SELLING via email, not from SEO services, but from endorsing high value products that others have created and sending offers to your email list.

I know SELLING is a bad word and SPAMMING is another bad word, but we’ll be ethically treading the line of doing what you have to do to be a successful Internet Marketer if you don’t just want to sell your time for dollars forever. If you’re not comfortable sending emails to people you know asking them to check out information products or videos, don’t come tonight (I will understand).

In the Internet Marketing and Social Media world, services for others are a great place to start. I’ve done it for six years, but the evolution of the Internet Marketer eventually includes making money not by selling hours, but by exchanging value via products, others’ products, then your own. The key is you have to build a list of people who trust you, who want to consume your content. Give them HIGH VALUE content to consume on a regular basis, then, from time-to-time, you endorse products via email, in which they can buy.

Often you have to make yourself out to be a “guru” and build a following in order to do this (this is not for the faint of heart).

So I told you about affiliate marketing. Well, I like to use a specific style of affiliate marketing. What I sell ARE NOT consumer products like razors and shampoo. Most of these products are what they call “information products.” They are online video modules, training courses, ebooks, DVDs that TEACH A SPECIFIC SKILL or BUSINESS MODEL. Knowledge is power and that’s what I like to endorse, empowering others to gain the skills necessary to make money, and be a force in life. I don’t sell or endorse products that show you ‘how to make money online,’ which in-turn just tells you to sell to others ‘how to make money online’ products. These are real products that contain knowledge that can be acted upon in the real world.

Are you with me?

Being an affiliate marketer via email is an incredible thing if you think about it.

• No product inventory
• You send out an email and make money
• You don’t have to deal with returns
• There is no cost for ads
• Others do all the product creation work for you
• You’re bringing value to others with the products & learnings they receive

I’ve made some money doing this, but I am in the process of learning HOW TO make REAL money doing it. It all comes down to some core things and doing them over and over. My first goal (and the only way this works), is setting up systems to bring EXTREME VALUE to a large list of people BEFORE giving them an offer.

I actually think I know the HOW, it’s just a matter of doing it. That’s what this session is about and I’m learning just as you are, but I will tell you what I know so far.

We’ll be discussing while doing:

• How to build a LARGE list of targeted people who want to consume YOUR content
• Creating follow-up Autoresponders & using Email Platforms
• Who the affiliate and information product players are and who’s lists you should sign up for/products endorse
• Joint Venture Partnerships and how to approach them
• Together we’ll brainstorm list-building strategies & start creating and growing our lists TONIGHT
• We’ll send out an email offer TONIGHT

-Neil

I placed this ad on Linkedin back in September 2010.  It attracted seven to ten inquires of interested people.

Over the next three months I consistently mentored three of those people. The reason I decided to do this was in order to prepare myself for teaching, consulting, speaking, and creating information products.

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Internet Marketing Veteran Seeks Passionate Mentee Wanting SEO/SEM Experience

I’m taking applications for one, possibly two mentees for a hands-on Internet Marketing mentor/mentee working relationship. These individuals need to be passionate about Internet Marketing & advertising, not just social media. If the psychology of influence, increasing click-through rates, keyword conversion rates, A/B split testing, and dissecting long tail query strings excites you, read on.

In the last six months, more and more companies are requiring not only social, but search skills (SEO/SEM), causing social media strategists to take a back seat to veteran search pros who’ve happened to pick up social media as the job market has changed.

Although, many claim to know SEO, it’s a little tough to fake when the rubber meets the road. Savvy SEOs and SEMs get paid well for bringing in targeted traffic with high returns for their clients because there is a direct correlation with the bottom line.

If you have SEO, SEM, and Social Media expertise, you can command more upfront & move up quickly.

If you want to learn skills that pay the bills, but haven’t been given the chance to work with client names to put on your resume, this might be for you. This industry has allowed me to work with some of the nation’s most well-known brands, as well as have enormous success with local clients.

If you’re passionate about direct response marketing, want an in-depth education in pay-per-click advertising, SEO, blogging, traffic manifestation and lead generation for real local clients, let me know. You will be working on actual accounts. At the end of the program you’ll have several more talking points on
your resume and a world-class Internet Marketing education that they have only recently started teaching in universities.

Must live in Dallas. Three month commitment. Work at home three-five hours per week. One-two hour meeting once a week. Send me a personal message with why you would be a good fit and some of your career/entrepreneurial goals.

—————

I followed up with this message.

————–

I’ve already had a GREAT response to this so far and have already started teaching what I know to several mentees. I’ve decided to open this up to more local people wanting to improve his/her skill set. Below are the topics I will be and have been teaching. At the end you’re given each of these materials to take home and study.

Profitable Pay-per-click Marketing Methods

21 AdWords Mistakes Small & Medium-Sized Business Owners Make & How to Avoid Them

A Guide to Web Metrics Terminology & Five Key Reports on Google Analytics

How to Rule the Ranks & Win Conversions through Business Review Sites & Local Results

24 Proven Linkbuilding Secrets & Strategies for Better Search Engine Rankings

21 Best Practice Blogging Principles for Better Search & Social Results

How to Get a High Paying Job in Your Field Through Resume Optimization & Personal Branding

How to Win Clients & Influence Prospects through Guru Marketing

And other subjects crucial to SEM, SEO, and entrepreneurship.

Contact me if you can make the one, to one and half, hour commitment each week, with three to five hours of off-site hands-on learning a week. Students will be chosen at the end of the three month commitment for management opportunities of their own clients on a part time basis at home (or anywhere), where they will get paid for the life of the account.

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Fast forward to May 2011. I’m still working with one person, another has gone on to have his own business making 70 – 80k. I am now coaching a new crop of mentees. I’ll speak more about them in a future post.

Have you ever heard the buzzword “crowdsourcing?” It’s popular among bloggers and business start-ups that create tech products or content for mass consumption. Even Microsoft uses this method. Basically, they put out a beta version of whatever product they have created and then use the minds and input of 1000s of software engineers who volunteer to improve the product. Some may call this “the wisdom of crowds,” which is also the title of a book by James Surowiecki.

Developers and users of software may use the term “open source” for software that is free and is continually being improved by 1000s of volunteers, aka the “community.”

For every major piece of software or framework that has had a huge impact in the last 20 years (Windows, Adobe Photoshop, easy FTP programs, blogs, website builders) there is usually a premier open source alternative to the most popular paid one. The most popular content management (CMS) systems or website builders are open source, or free to those who know how to use them: WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.

The opposite would be having to pay a website company monthly for access to a custom CMS or proprietary system to manage content and create pages. For the slightly less technical, he/she may just generalize this to thinking they are just paying hosting fees.

How to Use Expert Sourcing to Blast off Your Blogging Efforts

How does this relate to improving your content? Content is currency on the web, which takes time, energy, and thought to create. You may have heard the more common term “user generated content.” Major social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have this as their business model.

Only their framework would exist if users were not constantly adding content, and there would not be much value. The value AND the growth come from users propagating and interacting, by, you guessed it, creating content.

I remember hearing a joke a few years ago that went like the definition of a social networking website business is, “We create all the content, they keep all the money.”

I’m not a big fan of being considered someone else’s user generated content. Similar to I don’t like how a specialized expert or subject matter expert in business is called a “resource.”

I’ve coined a term in blogging and content creation which I hope will take hold. I feel is much more respectable for achieving the same results and more accurate. I call it Expert Sourcing.

In my method, EVERYONE benefits in a win-win for all parties: the blog owner, the contributor, and the audience. By targeting key people who have their own agenda or want to build credibility in their respective field and need exposure, writing quality content may be a small price to pay.

Five Types of Expert Sourcing that Make Your Content More Sharable

1. Email Interview with Experts
2. One Question, Multiple Experts’ Opinions
3. Collaborative Guest Posts
4. Article Augmented with Two or Three Quotes from Different Experts
5. A pure guest post

Why do these make your blog post more sharable? It’s simple. Value. There’s value in an expert’s opinion, there is a multiplier effect in having several expert opinions in the same article. This makes the article’s value greater than the sum of its parts. The higher value, the more likely it will be shared.

Case Study: Expert Sourcing for Blog Content Using Collaborative Guest Posts

Some of you may know, I am the Co-founder of a hyper-local digital magazine called ILiveInDallas.com, or ILIVE as I will refer to it for this example. Three months ago, I had the idea of creating a collaborative article. For every collaboration (or confabulation : ), there needs to be a story leading to why something was done.

Having a “reason why” is one of Robert Cialdini’s's minor weapon of influence hypothesized and thoroughly tested in his book Influence:The Psychology of Persuasion.  Here was my story, which subsequently opened the article.

“It started with an email and a mission. After hearing the news that one local Dallas magazine had proclaimed that Bolsa was the “Best Restaurant in Dallas in 2009,” I had to do an investigative search of my own. When I realized Dallas has nearly 7,000+ restaurants I’d have to try, I thought a faster and possibly more accurate alternative to make my 2011 “have to try” list would be to ask five local Dallas foodies for their five best restaurants in Dallas. None of these foodies saw each others’ list before this article was collaborated and one restaurant made two of the foodie lists.”

The article then proceeded to have five sub-articles written by the foodies. Key points:

Each foodie had a blog, or a reason to want to participate.

It was a fun, subjective, topic in which there could be several valid opinions.

There was a team attitude about the whole thing, which made the participants feel like he/she was contributing to a bigger idea (and they were).

The organizer of the post takes on the burden of adding images, consistent formatting, and making sure all elements are in place (bios, author photos, links).

Side Benefits For Expert Sourced Articles for the Blog Owner

- Contributors or interviewees will promote the article to their own network outside of yours.
- You’re more likely to be asked to guest post, or to be interviewed by doing so first resulting in links and better SEO for your website.
- Constantly creating content is tough, you get to take a break for a day.

The first benefit mentioned above was one huge key to the success of the article. This article resulted in a the highest two day traffic rush from social media ever experienced on the site:

The Results

- 2500 visitors in 48 hours
- Over 340 Facebook Shares
- Over 100 Retweets on Twitter
-40 backlinks in two weeks

The article continues to bring traffic from keyword referrals/people finding it on search engines for Dallas restaurant-related terms. That’s the power of Expert Sourcing.

This post is a part of a series called Better Business Blogging & Audience Building Secrets you can get free by subscribing here. You’ll receive exclusive email & member’s only content on the latest audience building techniques. You’ll also receive updates on the state of search, social media, and Internet Marketing for more customers.  Neil Lemons is a Dallas Internet Marketing Consultant who has been blogging and creating  SEO content strategies for businesses since 2006.

Yesterday, I noticed something quite major.  The Google Map, powered by the Google Places pages, have commandeered organic search engine results for local searches. I noticed this while searching for listings of three of my clients. I’m checking other local searches in niches I don’t currently serve, and it seems to be true as well. I’m not just talking about the 7 pack Google Map dominating the search engine results, like it has for the last three years. I’m talking about a fundamental shift in ORGANIC results and visibility.

This could be “just a test” or Google has replaced the top three to five search results (or websites) with Google Places pages. It makes sense why THEY would want to do this (it keeps traffic in Google’s loop), but it’s somewhat of a slap in the face against the democracy of the Internet and search engines.

In some instances, the Google Places pages have taken over a specific organic listing, in others, Google is combining with the regular organic listing with the places page, showing images and a variety of reviews. These reviews Google has scrapped from other business review sites (also included in the Places page).

With the perceived importance credibility of reviews, Google most likely feels this is a better user experience. People don’t believe what companies have to say about themselves, they believe what others like them have to say about companies. Savvy marketers have known this for a long time (Check out  TheCluetrain Manifesto, and Influence by Cialdini).

Try some searches of your own.

City name + Service Oriented phase

Service Oriented phase + City name
Google Places is now THE indexed listing for local searches not only on the map, but in the ORGANIC listings. The map has been shifted to the side, and the Google Places pages are becoming the ACTUAL listings.

This also changes the game for search-based pay-per-click. The Google Map, which has traditionally dominated the results for city-based searches for the last few years, has been pushed to the upper right side. The upper right is where positions 4-6 would normally sit. When the users scrolls down the results, the map moves with him/her, covering up those positions.

Update: As of today (Oct. 30th), the map is now static in the 4-6 spot. I’m sure Google got a few calls on that one.

Fortunately, I’ve spent a lot of time making sure my clients had well-optimized, Google Places pages. I feel sorry for those who have not paid much attention to the Google Places/Local Map Listings and only on their organic website listing.

This maybe just a test, or it may be permanent.

I saw the way things were moving a few years ago and wrote a post on a company blog I used to work. The techniques for OPTIMIZING your listing and dominating the results still remain true today: Seven Ways to Raise Your Local Business Listing Rank in Google

If you haven’t optimized your Google Places listing, it would be a good idea to do it NOW. If you don’t know how to optimize it, find someone who can!

If you want to know the BACKDOOR to winning on Google Places check out this post I wrote awhile back, when Google Places was called “Google Local Business Listings.” The Ten Pack is now the Seven Pack, but based on what’s just happened, it may also become the top ten organic search results.

Six Local Business Review Sites Influencing Your New Customers

There is a HUGE window of opportunity for organic placement via Google Places. Don’t miss out.

For almost five years, Dallas Internet Marketing Consultant Neil Lemons has worked behind-the-scenes to help create exposure, traffic, leads, and sales through major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Calling upon his diverse background in copywriting, advertising, marketing, and sales, he has been learning traditional SEO and SEM tactics since 2004 and implementing since 2005.

This is a guest post from Dallas-based Social Media Strategist Danielle Glick. She owns and operates the company DG Design. I asked her to analyze Roots’ on-site Social Media efforts in order to get an outside, objective opinion for one of PFSweb, my current employer’s, clients. She did an excellent job and I highly recommend her social media marketing services for small businesses.

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Social Media Report Card; A Case Study with Roots International

What is a Social Media Report Card?
A social media report card can be used to grade a company on how well they are using social media channels, either within their company’s web site, an external social media network, or their entire network of online social media channels. In the case of this article, we will use Roots International as a case study example.

Who is Roots International?
Americans may recognize Roots as the official apparel brand of the U.S. Olympics Team. Ironically, they are a Canadian company who also makes handcrafted leather bags and wallets, designer leather messenger cases, leather iPad cases and sleeves, full zip hoodies, men’s wrist watches, ladies wrist watches, and shoes. In other words, they make what you need to look athletic, rugged, and stylish.

What the Grades Mean
We will grade each aspect on a scale of 0-5, followed by a comment that explains why it was graded at that level.

0= does not exist, could not be graded
1= poor
2= mediocre
3= average
4= good
5= social media honors
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Social Media Report Card: USA.Roots.com & Canada.Roots.com
These two web sites are essentially the same site. We will be grading them in terms of how well they incorporate Root’s other social media channels. To get a complete view of how well any company’s web site incorporates social media, you can’t look at just their home page, you need to analyze landing and detail pages, plus any social media links and blogs. Here we’ll be analyzing four key areas that make external social media channels effective on a .com site: visibility, sharability, content, and response.

The Home Page

Topic: Social Media Sites’ Visibility
It turns out that Roots has a lot of social media channels, including: Facebook fan page, Twitter, YouTube channel, Flickr, two blogs (Roots Buzz and The Source), and a custom feedback community (“Your First Roots“). Would a user realize all of this after skimming Roots’ home page? Let’s see…

Visibility of social media network links: 1

A 5-rating would be a web site with easy-to-spot logo icons for all of the social media channels used by this brand. These logos should be in either the global header, footer or other fairly prominent place. On the Roots USA home page, Facebook and Twitter logos are entirely missing; however, buried in the massive footer area is a nav bar with social media links and a “Connect with Roots” section that links to all of the social media channels. The best thing going for social media here is that the main feature graphic of the site incorporates a video thumbnail about Roots history and leather shoes and links to an internal page that enlarges the YouYube video. The problem with this is that Roots bypassed a huge opportunity to encourage subscribing to their YouTube channel or to alert you in some way that they even have a YouTube channel with more videos available. (At least the video content is engaging.) Overall, the social media visibility on the home page is almost non-existent.

Visibility of blog link: 5
“Blog” is part of the global main navigation bar. Hooray! The only slight negative about this is that Roots has two blogs, and this link only takes you to one of them.

Dedicated conglomerate social media page: 2
The best way to promote your social media sites on your main web page is to add a conglomerate social media landing page and use it to pull in live feeds and links to all of your other social media channels. Roots has a “Connect with Roots” section buried in their footer, but they don’t have a landing page for these social media links (although their blog sort of serves this purpose).

Topic: Sharablility
Sharability speaks to the ease and number of options by which users can spread their favorite web site content to other social networks. Does Roots prompt users to share content…?

Includes Facebook Like this button: 0
Includes Tweet this button: 0
Includes conglomerate share feature (i.e. ShareThis): 0
Includes Facebook Connect: 0

Love Roots? Too bad, they have no easy way to share their home page with any of your friends.

Landing & Detail Pages

Sometimes, a web site does a good job of promoting social media on their home page but falls apart once you click one or two levels in, and other times the home page has no social media links while individual product pages allow you to share and leave comments. Let’s see what Roots does…

Topic: Social Media Sites’ Visibility

Visibility of social media network links: 1
Visibility of blog link: 5
Dedicated conglomerate social media page: 2

There is no improvement from the Roots home page when it comes to the social media, blog, or congolmerate links on product landing pages, such as this page showing leather messenger bags.

Topic: Sharablility of Individual Products

Includes Facebook Like this button: 0
Includes Tweet this button: 0
Includes conglomerate share feature (i.e. ShareThis): 0
Includes Facebook Connect: 0
Easy to comment: 2

If you look at a product page such as leather fanny packs and click on any of the products, you will see zero links to share each item. However, you have the ability to write a review and rate the product, which is akin to leaving a comment. First though you have to create a Roots account, so there’s nothing positive here about the ease of leaving a comment or sharing your opinion to other social media sites.

Blog
Roots has two blogs, and we’ve already analyzed how one of them has almost no visibility (“The Source“) while the other has a prominent place in the main navigation (“Roots Buzz“). Now let’s examine the social media effectiveness of these blogs themselves…

Publishes at an appropriate rate: 5
They write new blogs almost once a day, a rate which keeps their site content fresh, provides new information for people to share, and is difficult for most companies to keep up with.

Balances info vs. advertising: 5
Their blogs balance informational/news content with new products and events (advertising). There is not a sense that they are pushing you to buy their products.

Includes calls-to-action: 5
These links serve as effective calls-to-action, that help users get more contextual meaning from the blog.

Cross-promotes their other social media sites: 4
Their main blog, Buzz, incorporates iconic links to all of Roots other social media channels and includes the live feed from their Twitter account. They could have improved this aspect by also including their Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube feeds. However this would turn the page into more of a social media dashboard, or conglomerate page, which we already discussed above that they are missing.

Feels personal/human: 5
There’s nothing robotic or corporate here. Their blogs are written with an informative, yet personal tone, which tends to be what resonates best with consumer-based blog audiences.

Responds to comments: 0
Despite a left-column section that highlights blog comments, I could only find one user comment, and no one had responded to it. Social media is a two-communication medium, and it appears Roots could be doing a lot more to engage their audience in back-and-forth discussions.

User Feedback Community

In my digging on Roots’ web site I discovered a small link in the footer, “Share Your Story“, and this is the only reference to this page that I could find. This page leads to a page that encourages users to tell their story about their first love of Roots’ products and read about others’ stories. This type of content needs social media sharability and more visibility on the home page to be successful and useful. It’s a great idea with a poor implementation.

Score Card Summary

Home Page: 8/35

Landing & Detail Pages: 10/40

Blog: 24/30

As you can see, Roots does a poor job of incorporating their numerous social media channels into their web site; however they keep an excellent blog.

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This is a reblog of a guest post I submitted & was published on : How-To-Blog.TV

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What’s one of many characteristics power bloggers share that get others to believe and act on the information they publish? They write with authority.

What’s made blogs like Mashable, TechCrunch, Coppyblogger, and even other information websites like Wikipedia and eHow popular and linkable? Right or wrong, the information presented seems to be authoritative, even if it’s not always correct.

On trivia shows like JEOPARDY there are only a few acceptable answers per question, and not much room for interpretation. If you’re a contestant and answer incorrectly, Alex Trebek tells you so, then reveals the right answer. He speaks and facilitates his show with authority.

Channel an Alex Trebek-like persona when writing, and for even the meekest shrieking violet your authoritarian side will flow more naturally.

Put yourself in the user’s shoes, imagine going to Google or one of the other major search engines, and typing in a query. Type in the keyword target phrase for a post you have recently written and see what pops up. You want to make sure what you’re putting out is worthy of ranking well and is BETTER than what you see that’s already there. Plan on your post being the authoritative source above all others by offering as much unbiased, well-researched, and well-rounded information as possible.

One fear bloggers have about blogging with authority is the thought that maybe “my advice is not ‘right’ or valuable.”

This is a valid concern. I’d suggest you look at it from a different angle. Think of yourself as a reporter. You’re just reporting what you know from your point of view, that’s all anyone can do. The first tip below helps limit your feelings of responsibility.

Five Ways to Blog with More Authority & Credibility

1. Quote Credible Sources

By adding “according to” you’re able to suspend liability for the responsibly of “being right.” You’re a reporter, not an all-knowing oracle of expertise. Secondarily, quoting sources with already known credibility have a halo effect on your credibility.

2. Base Your Confidence in the Information Source

You don’t have to base your confidence in “what you know” or your own experience. Just be honest with your readers, that according to your experience and this other person’s experience, this is the outcome or advice you have.

3. Give Your Audience Solutions

Don’t give your audience just suggestions or recommendations. Name your strategies and concepts, and present them in bite-sized pieces with quantifiable results.

4. Write at Least 500 – 1000 Words

Think deep and narrow on one niche topic, not wide and superficial on high level topics. For more pillar content when you’re first starting, 1000 – 2000 words would be even better.

5. Add a Short Author Bio at the end of Every Post
Be consistent with this and you’ll always be reminding the reader of the frame from which you are speaking.

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About the Author

This post is a part of an email-only series called Better Business Blogging & Audience Building you can get free by subscribing here. You’ll receive exclusive, email-only & member’s only content, as well as regularly posted updates on the latest content building and social media marketing techniques. Neil Lemons is a Dallas Internet Marketing Consultant who has been personal blogging since 2001 and blogging for businesses since 2006.

Photo Credit: NationalLampoon.com

Before you sell your expertise, recommendations, and time, you have to sell someone on consuming your media. It’s like dating before you ask someone to be in a committed relationship or for their hand in marriage. You wouldn’t ask on the first date would you? Your media could include blog RSS feed subscriptions through email or a reader, tweets on twitter, status updates on Facebook, or an email newsletter. The more touch points the better. This all starts with having compelling content. Social Media is merely the delivery method for content you’re already creating: blog posts, PDF whitepapers, videos. You should never practice social media marketing in a vacuum without inviting your audience commit to the next step: consuming your content on your website. This is a seduction process that takes time. Since blogging is one of the most foundational and fundamental activities for attracting business, I thought I’d start with some basic reminders.

1. Spend More Time Crafting the Headline than the Content -
This is an old advertising rule reiterating headlines are crucial in capturing the reader and keep him/her reading. You have to capture the readers attention first. No matter how cliché they seem, lists work. All magazines from Time to Wired to Fast Company use top 10, even top 100, lists as featured articles to attract readers passing newsstands and online. List blog posts use two irresistible psychological triggers based on classic persuasion principles: specificity and authority. Here are ten more psychological triggers you should use in headlines borrowed from direct marketing industry masterminds: social proof, curiosity, halo effect, stories, a reason why, contrast, commitment & consistency, damaging admission, scarcity, and reciprocation. These headline writing tactics, based on rarely-changing persuasion principles and can have a hypnotic effect on your reader. Having an angle or slant commenting on recent national or industry news or “How To” articles also do very well, and play into the same principles. There are several other variables you should consider when writing your post headlines including alteration, flow, and SEO. You should just start with a brain dump and hone from there. What to avoid: Cutesy, self-indulgent, vague, or pun-laden headlines.

2. Captivate Your Audience with a Compelling or Slightly Confusing Image –
A curious image at the beginning of every blog post can increase the likelihood someone will read it in the first place as well as the likelihood he/she will read the post in its entirety. Readers will read the whole post just to see why the particular image was chosen, like an Easter egg hunt. Picking a slightly odd or weird image, not just a reflection the title, causes a little more brain stimulation. By relating the photo to something in the middle of the post, it triggers a rewarding, “I’m smart” feeling in the reader when he/she finds the connection. It’s like when the name of a song or movie is mentioned in the middle, the viewer/listener goes “ah, hah!” Use Flickr.com and perform an advanced keyword search in the “creative commons” section for royalty-free images. If you use Google Images, at least give a photographer credit. Use at least one compelling image every time you write a blog post. What to avoid: Blasé corporate clip art, stock images, not crediting the photographer.

3. Cite Internal Links Often-
Link to the homepage or interior pages once or twice in every post, and two to three to other authoritative sources. A good rule of thumb is one link per 100 words. When mentioning an article from the New York Times, use a linkback to the article. When quoting that article use the blockquote function on the backend of WordPress. Speaking of citation, you should always cite credible/authoritative sources, when making a blanket statement or using statistics. It not only helps persuade, there is a secondary halo effect, pairing you with the authority of your source. When mentioning a topic you’ve covered before, link to that post using juicy keyword-rich anchor text (the words that link). Once you’re written a dozen or so posts, add “Related Posts” at the end of every post to get three deep links to older posts. If you use WordPress use this plugin to make it easier: SEO SmartLinks
What to avoid: Using non-descriptive anchor text such as “click here” when linking internal pages.

4. Use Your Blog for Original Thought Leadership –
A blog is not the forum for selling or overt personal promotion. In order to build an audience, articles need to be engaging and offer extreme resource and citable (linkable) value to the reader. It should be something which has universal value to your specific audience in which he/she could not help but pass on to others on their networks. Only after the blog has a following should you make a soft sell. The purpose of a blog is not to sell but to be considered a thought leader and expert by displaying expertise in the field. Any press releases should be placed on “company news” section on your website. What to avoid: Posting company news, product specials & press releases. “Me too” articles. Rehashing news already covered by A-List industry blogs everyone has already read, rants or negative thoughts.

5. Attract Links & Build Community -
Creating articles which get shared and passed along to others using social media goes along with this goal. In this day of attention economics, one has to earn comments on his/her blog . This is done by leaving meaty comments on others’ blogs without personal promotion. These articles link back to your posts in an unobtrusive way and you get on other blog owners’ radar. He/she may link to you or quote you from time to time. Find other relevant bloggers in the same industry and network online by leaving comments.What to avoid: Thinking of other blogs in your industry as competitors to be avoided.

6. Write Evergreen Info Until You Have an Audience-
Evergreen topics are information users are searching for every day, all the time instead of time sensitive announcements. Create authoritative posts between 1000 – 4000 words answering and teaching in a verbose way detailing what’s important to your audience, step-by-step. Break up the copy with sub-heads which reflect a well-worded headline. Only after you have built up a loyal audience should you start posting commentary or your opinion on the latest piece of industry news. What to avoid: Doing a half-a** job, and being lazy. You’re not going to win if you don’t have the most authoritative article for a given topic.

7. Research Topics Using a Keyword Research Tool Every Time you Write-
Blog about what’s in demand and shoot for a five to seven word long phrase for ranking every time you post. Make that phrase your headline with one or two buffer words before or after. What to avoid: Guessing based on what you think people are searching without doing the research & targeting phrases which are too competitive.

For half a decade, Neil Lemons has worked behind-the-scenes to help create exposure, traffic, leads, and sales through major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing using . Lemons has also been involved in Social Media sites since 2001, networking, promoting and building community on : Facebook, Livejournal, MySpace, Friendster, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and others. Calling upon his diverse background in copywriting, advertising, marketing, and sales, learning traditional SEO and SEM tactics implementing online marketing strategies since 2005.

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