2008 April

I’ve been a long time fan of Twitter, mostly to keep up on breaking news and find out what my friends are doing, however, this morning I read a great article which made me realize how powerful of a tool Twitter actually is. James Buck, a UC Berkely student, was arrested in Egypt. Instead of a phone call, Buck used his phone to post a message to his Twitter account: Short and simple, it read, “Arrested.” Within 24 hours, Buck’s Twitter followers had managed to involve UC Berkely, the US Embassy and get him freed. Another young life spared, thanks to modern conveniences of Social Media.

Twitter, ironically enough,isn’t just for busting yourself out of the clink. It can also help you save the life of your business. Twitter is a microblogging platform which allows users to post 140 character ‘tweets’ to hundreds of their closest friends…or whoever chooses to follow them. More and more companies are using Twitter to monitor their online reputation. Using Twitter tools like TweetScan you can set up alerts to email or text you if and when your business name is mentioned on Twitter.

American Airlines suffered a PR nightmare last week when it cancelled over 3000 flights. You can just imagine the amount of negative twitters which were tweeted during the whole debacle. The negative press and online complaints forced American to shift into reputation management mode. They quickly reacted by starting a blog, addressing customer concerns and issues.

By monitoring what people are saying about your business online, you can be pro-active in your reputation management, fending off naysayers as the arise.

Are dust and cobwebs clogging up your web rankings? Take a breath of fresh air with these sure-fire SEO tips.

SEO Audio Episode 28

Alright, so many many people are out their saying it. But we won’t. Nuh-uh. Not the “R” word.

But, say, hypothetically speaking of course, that such an unnameable thing WAS happening to the economy. How would this affect your web strategy?

If you’re smart, you’d say not at all. Even better, you’d say, I’d put more money towards my web campaigns.

Why’s that? Because dollar-for-dollar, web marketing is far more cost effective than traditional advertising. You can look at analytics, site data, SERPs and your bottom line and see tangible benefit for top organic search rankings, good social media exposure and effective paid search campaigns.

SEO is also a low cost-of-entry service. We’re just one of thousands of SEO and marketing blogs out there providing tips on how to make your site work for you. We certainly don’t advocate going at it alone (reading a book on mechanics doesn’t mean you’re ready to rebuild an engine) but your good understanding with our seasoned experience combines for brutally effective marketing strategies for your business, even during tough times.

It also provides the ability to adapt quickly, identify opportunity, and go with what works while shucking what doesn’t. A television or radio campaign may cost thousands to set up, and changing the message mid-stream is nearly impossible. Changing your Google AdWords keywords, ad, landing page, target market and spend takes seconds. Far-reaching sweeps in organic rankings take more time, but keeping any eye on Analytics allows for a hawk-eye view of the future.

Let’s face it. Even if spending money is short, the internet’s not going anywhere. Of all the places to invest in your business, making sure you’ve got a solid future on the internet — from its organic face to its reputation via links and social networks — is the most effective way to stay stable even if the ground should wash out.

This week, we continue answering questions from the “Way Beyond SEO” webcast with a look into XML and HTML sitemaps — what they are, and why they matter. Doused in charm, gaffs and your usual dosage of SEO insight from Fred and Chrystie.

SEO Audio Episode 27