Archive for February, 2006

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Small Business Blogging Teleseminar

Monday, February 20th, 2006

Blogwild_cover2_3Tomorrow night I’ll be interviewed by Andy Wibbels, author of the upcoming book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging. We’ll be talking about small business blogging issues and why he got a book deal and I didn’t.

Judging from Andy’s past shows he’ll do a little one-on-one interview, then throw it open to all callers. If you’ve been wanting to ask some questions on how to plan, build and promote a blog for your small business, this is your chance. This is a free teleseminar.

Date: Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
Time: 7:30pm EST
Call in number: 1-712-432-2323 (Iowa)
Participant Access Code: 60657

Hope to hear you there!

Rich Brooks
Small Business Blogger

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, flyte news, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Technorati: How (and Why) to Claim Your Blog

Sunday, February 19th, 2006

If you’re a blogger, especially a business blogger, you’re going to want to "claim your blog" at Technorati.

Why would you want to claim your blog?

  • You can include your name, photo and description next to your blog on any Technorati search results. (I chose our company logo over my mug.)

    Technoratiresult

  • You can list your blog in up to 20 categories for Technorati’s Blog Finder, increasing your visibility.
  • You have a chance at being a featured blog appearing on Technorati’s home page.
  • You can get "cool tools."

How do you claim your blog?

  • You’ll need a free Technorati account.
  • Log into your account and click on "Blogs" at the top of the page.
  • Enter your blog URL into the Claim a Blog! box.

    Blogclaim_1

  • Certain blogging platforms, including TypePad, support "Quick Claim". This means you can just type in your blogging username and password (not your Technorati info) and have your blog claimed.
  • If you’re not on a platform that supports Quick Claim the next page will give you some HTML code that you can add to your blog, even if you don’t know any HTML. As detailed as the instructions are on this page…

    Technoratilink

    …they do neglect to mention one important fact: make sure you’re in "Edit HTML" mode rather than "Compose Post" mode, otherwise it won’t work.

  • Once you copy-and-paste that code into your blog and publish it come back to this window and click "Claim Blog Now".

    Technoratichecking

  • Once Technorati has confirmed that you own the blog (or have successfully hacked it) it will be "claimed." At this point you can tweak your blog profile:

    Technoraticonfigure

  • Although Technorati does a pretty good job of pre-populating your 20 available tags that will help your blog be found by the Blog Finder, you should add some of your own as well. In this screen you can also add some Technorati graffiti to your site, including a search box, a link to blogs that link to you (according to Technorati), your Technorati profile and your photo.

    To enable these tools you’ll need access to your templates, and a basic understanding of HTML.

  • Finally, success!

    Technoratisuccess
    Now all I have to do is climb my way over the backs of 34,645 other blogs to be king of the blogosphere!

Rich Brooks
Blogging My Claim, Claiming My Blog

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Web Marketing | 24 Comments »


Watch Rich Brooks on Wi-Fi Segment

Saturday, February 18th, 2006

WifiWCSH channel 6 posted their Wi-Fi segments that included a brief interview with yours truly. Although it pains me to watch myself in this segment, maybe you won’t feel the same way.

They combined the 6pm and 11pm segments into one, and I only appear in the 11pm segment. The 11pm segment starts 3:43 in, my laptop shows up at 4:50, and I appear at about 5:15.

However, I’m completely upstaged by the 9-year-old with the PSP who has a video podcast on wardriving. Check out his blog for the link.

Rich Brooks
Wi-Fying It

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Posted in flyte news | No Comments »


Technorati: Business Blogging Tools for You

Thursday, February 16th, 2006

Yesterday I consulted with a couple of clients who wanted to get more out of their blogging experience. During our meeting I showed them the ins and outs of both WordPress and TypePad to make sure they knew how to use them.

We talked about newsreaders, such as Bloglines and NetNewsWire, how to create email feeds for blog visitors who didn’t understand RSS feeds, and blog search engines like Technorati.

One of my clients asked me, "how do we get the most out of Technorati?"

Wow, I thought. What a great question. That’s definitely worth a few posts.

To that end, I decided to create a series of posts about getting the most out of Technorati from the blogger’s perspective.

Technorati_1What is Technorati?
Technorati is a blog search engine. It searches the blogosphere and returns results based on relevancy and immediacy.

How do I use Technorati?
Whether you’re a blogger or not, you can visit Technorati’s home page and enter a search, click on a "top search," find a blog on a specific topic, or check out some "hot tags," among other things. (More on tagging later.)

Even if you’re not a blogger and have no intention of becoming one, you can still benefit from Technorati. You can use it to receive up-to-the-moment information on breaking news stories, find out the latest buzz in your industry, or even find out what people are thinking and saying about you (assuming you’re a big enough fish to generate some gossip.)

How do I use Technorati as a blogger?
The first thing you want to do is to sign up for a free account.

Why would I want to sign up for a Technorati account?
Well, according to Technorati,

As a Technorati member, you’ll get to add your photo, claim your blog (and trick it out with Technorati tools), create a profile page, and get a super cool Watchlist where you’ll be the first to know what’s up with the subjects you care about. And membership is free!

Although take it from me, adding your photo to your Technorati account can be a real bitch.

Really.

OK, that’s enough for now. Go sign up for your Technorati account and play around a bit. In future posts we’ll discuss how (and why) to claim your blog, how to add your photo, how to find like-minded bloggers, how to track your success, and how to set up watchlists, among other things.

I’ll even tell you how (and why) some bloggers add "tags" to the bottom of their posts.

Rich Brooks
Business Blogger

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Help Needed with CRM/Email Solution

Thursday, February 16th, 2006

I’m putting out a call for help. I have a client who’s looking to have one place where they can send out email blasts to a wide variety of users as well as run some listservs for specific groups.

Normally I would suggest an email service provider (ESP) like Constant Contact or Topica, but I’m not sure that they can offer everything I’m looking for. The solution maybe some sort of online CRM system instead. Here’s what we need:

  • Ability to capture a wide variety of contact information on each customer/user.
  • Ability to tie our programming into their system. (We have done a lot of backend programming for this client, including some research surveys that help with specific diagnoses. We want to require visitors to subscribe to the mailing list for access to these diagnostic surveys.
  • Ability for users to self-select interest areas, i.e., are they interested in general news from the client, research findings, products and services, etc.
  • Double or confirmed opt-in and the ability to unsubscribe.
  • Ability to run listservs in addition to the mailing list.
  • Ability to send HTML emails to users with personalization features such as Dear [First name].
  • Ability to import large numbers of users from their database and delete dupes.

I think that’s it. Anybody using a system like this now?

Rich Brooks
Let Me Know What You Got

Posted in Email Marketing, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »


Web Marketing Seminar – Portland, Maine

Thursday, February 16th, 2006

If you’re interested in an in-depth Web marketing seminar, mark your calendar for Thursday, April 27th, 2006.

The seminar is being put on by the Maine Crafts Association, but is open to the public. There is a fee involved, but I don’t have that info yet.

It will be held at the Space Gallery, and my workshop will be on from 1:15 – 4:30pm. Since this is longer than I normally speak I’ll be combining parts of different Web marketing seminars I put on, (search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, etc.) as part of an overall package.

Watch this blog for more info as I have it.

Rich Brooks
Maine Web Marketing

Posted in flyte news, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Article Marketing Brings You Business!

Wednesday, February 15th, 2006

Just got this nice note from my former–but excellent–business coach, Nancy Powers.

Rich

Just wanted to send a big Thank you for you recent newsletter entitled, "Search Engine Success through Article Marketing".

As you suggested, I posted several articles on iSnare for $10.  I noticed emails notifying me that they were being posted on various websites almost immediately. Within one a week a Russian woman who moved to Australia contacted me from an article and hired me to be her coach for $600.00 a month.  It was a very worthwhile investment of both time and money and I was truly amazed at the global reach my article had.  Thank you again for your valued suggestions, you are truly on the leading edge of technology and how anyone can benefit from it.

Nancy Powers

I did a quick Google on one of Nancy’s articles, "How to Attract Everything You Desire Effortlessly!", and I see that there’s already over 260 references. My own experience has been that this will only grow with time.

Now while I was talking mostly about how article marketing can help your search engine rank, Nancy’s experience shows that a well-written article can also drive new business.

Rich Brooks
Article Marketer

Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Search Engine Optimization: A Working Example

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

GerzonI had an interesting conversation with Robert Gerzon, author of Finding Serenity in the Age of Anxiety, and one of my first clients.

He had contacted me about search engine optimization (SEO), and what he could do to be found for such searches as "life coach," "therapy," "therapist," "holistic counseling," and "anxiety."

I was about to explain that any of those would be pretty difficult because they are so vague. However, on a whim I decided to Google "holistic counseling," and was amazed to see Robert ranking number four for this keyphrase.

Examining the link, I realized this wasn’t pointing to Robert’s home page, but rather to his page on Holistic Coaching. Now, admittedly, this was the most specific term of the bunch he sent me, but he was still number four out of over 4 million possible results. (A search on "holistic counseling", quotes included, pushed him to a still respectable fifth position out of almost 40,000 results. It’s more likely the quotes would be left off, however, pushing him back up to number four.)

When I talk to clients about why I believe content drives search engine success, this page is a good example of what I’m talking about.

  • Use a Keyword Rich Title. Although the title tag, <title>, could (and will) be improved to something like "Holistic Counseling and Holistic Coaching" it does include "holistic coaching," a term that’s in the same family as the search phrase.
  • Follow Up with a Keyword Rich Header. The header, in an <h2> tag, supports the theme referenced in the title tag and uses the exact term "holistic counseling."
  • Finish with Good, Supportive Body Copy. There’s great keyword density as the phrase "holistic counseling" appears five more times within the body copy, often close together. At the same time, it’s not being overused, so the search engines (rightly) don’t feel like Robert’s cramming the phrase into the body copy to rank artificially higher.
  • Create Intra-Site Links. There are several other pages at Gerzon.com that link to this page with the words "Holistic Counseling" as the link; this helps cement this page’s focus on the theme.
  • Optimize Web Pages, Not Web Sites. You probably have several products or services you offer; trying to optimize every page for each item will dilute your message and your rank. As you can see, it’s an internal page that drives Robert’s success here.

Although I couldn’t find any links from other Web sites to his page, oddly I did find several sites that spelled out the URL without creating the link. However, this post, with it’s holistic counseling theme,  now links to his page and should help its rank, all other things being equal.

So, if you’re looking to rank higher for a given keyphrase, use Robert’s page as an example of how to do things the right way.

Good search engine rank is the outcome of good quality content on your site. Yes, you should understand what search engines want so that you can best present the content, but you can’t succeed with out good, targeted, focused content.

Rich Brooks
Holistic Web Design

Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Web Copywriting, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Maybe I’m Just a Little Cranky…

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

…after all, I haven’t had my morning coffee yet. Still, this bothers me on so many levels.

I get my share of "comment spam:" people (or automatons) leaving comments on my blog posts that have nothing to do with the post itself, but rather a way of creating links to an offshore casino or pharmacy.

However, this time I got two pieces from one Craig Wilkinson of Pennsylvania Field and Creek Stone Quarries. (I’m not linking to their site, just Craig’s email. I’m not sharing my PageRank with a comment spammer!)

Here’s a guy who’s seemingly running a legitimate business selling fieldstone. So why is he using something as unethical as comment spam to promote his business? He’s not even trying to disguise his intention by wrapping it in a compliment, such as "I really like your blog! It’s certainly helped with my fieldstone business!"

Maybe it’s an out-of-control search engine optimizer he hired, but as his home page states:

Craig still stacks the stone that he offers and as he puts it "I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that he (sic) isn’t willing to do himself."

So I’m guessing this was Craig’s own idea. Why would you try and promote your business by plastering graffiti all over someone else’s business? It just doesn’t seem like something a legitimate business person would do.

Craig also misspells his own name on his home page as well, but now I’m just being mean.

OK, time for a cup of coffee.

Rich Brooks
I Hate Comment Spam!

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Business Philosophy, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Internet Dating: Is Online Dating Right For You?

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

Tonight I again play the role of "tech guru" on Maine’s best evening news program, 207. The topic is Internet dating and it will be on at 7pm EST, Valentine’s Day, 2006.

This was a tough assignment for me, as I’m happily married and my wife wouldn’t let me go undercover so that I could get a better understanding of the topic. Happily, a number of my friends have used online dating sites in the past and were happy to share their experiences. My friend Tom Cannon, in fact, wrote a psych-soc paper called Internet Date: Evolution or Revolution, which you can download as a PDF (60K).

Here are some of the other links from the story, and some back up material:

Popular Dating Sites:

Dating Site Reviews and Advice:

My tips (based on research) for a successful online dating experience:

  • Be honest, but expect some white lies from others
  • Trust your gut: if someone’s giving you the creeps, move on
  • Everyone has an ideal of their perfect mate. However, all the best online success stories were when people dated someone outside of these parameters. If you only date jocks, give a geek a chance. If you only date college graduates, try dating someone who started their own business right out of high school.

Rich Brooks
Happy Hunting!

Posted in flyte news, Off Topic | No Comments »

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