Online Internet Marketing Strategies

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(If you were here earlier and the post read Sunday, all I can say is I really thought it was Sunday LOL!)

This morning I was over at BlogCatalog trying valiantly to get caught up on friend requests, and visit blogs I’ve missed out on all week. Working my way down the list was a request from TheBostonBachelor.

Not knowing what I’d have in common with any of his tags (sex, women, relationship advice (okay maybe that one), dating advice, boston, celtics) nor his description, “What your girlfriend doesn’t want you reading…” I headed over to his blog (maybe in spite of all that LOL!).

Trolling down the page, I saw one of my all time favorite cartoons: Read more »

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Today’s post comes from a culmination of a week’s worth of events. In fact, I’m shocked to see that my last post was this past Sunday; this isn’t like me at all!

So what’s been going on to keep me from my passion of posting? Could it be the needs of those in my household? An abundance of work online? Or both?

I have noticed there are many subtle ways your Read more »

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This morning I started to test out BlogExplosion (yes a blatant use of our affiliate url lol!). And here are my thoughts on is this worth your trouble or not…

Read more »

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So you’ve finally done it. You’ve written that book (or report or ecourse) that’s been hovering in your subconscious for months (or years). You are proud of your work and can’t wait for the world to see it, too!

But, instead of struggling now with writer’s block, you’ve found yourself running into the concrete wall of marketing.

Read more »

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Returning visits to our visitors, and visiting those who I follow in many of the social media communities, is an activity that I not only enjoy, but make sure I do on a daily basis.

Depending on my schedule, I may visit many in a short span of time (always allowing plenty of time for their pages to sit open in my browser to avoid penalizing them for my visit - no short visits please!). I try to schedule this portion of my day (or bits and pieces throughout the day) so I can relax and enjoy my visits, read, and comment, comment, comment.

Read more »

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Tonight I’m reviewing and recommending two ebooks for everyone unfamiliar with, or not getting the most from, Twitter and MyBlogLog.

Denise Hall and Kathe Lucas, who call themselves the “Wacky Sales Team,” have put together two premium guides to making the most of these very popular, and potentially lucrative, social media communities.

Read more »

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It’s amazing what you find when you believe you are searching for something else, and today was no exception.

Actually I was busy checking up on our bloggers using Whole Hog Blogs, doing some backlinking research, etc., when I stumbled upon Blog Carnival (thanks to Linda at ForcedGreen. She may not be aware, but it was tracking down her search engine placement that led me to this unusual website).

So with all the preamble, what is BlogCarnival? The best way to describe it may be to tell you what it ultimately “looks like” with the finished product.

Read more »

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love my job!

Reading blogs is an amazing way to keep up with that worth keeping up with (say that 10 times fast), and today is no exception.

While over at BlogCatalog, I ended up twittering a bit (it has been a while, but I’m doing an experiment now).

Which lead me to today’s writeup. Discover Niche Social Networking by Katy Castro.

Katy makes several very fine points about using social media to market, and why you may or may not be seeing the “results” you were hoping for.

Read more »

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Today is a double whammy with a new resource that gets listed quickly in the search engines (along with those sought after “indented” listings), and a link out to more information on how BlogCatalog can boost your search engine rankings.

First let’s take a look at Jumptags:

What is Jumptags and Why Should You Be Using It?

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Today, May 15th, is Human Rights Awareness day and bloggers across the world are uniting to bring situations and issues to light through their blogging.

We are no exception.

However, after pondering for days which travesty to write about, we decided to go a positive route and do our awareness part with our writeup of Amnesty International.

What or Who Is Amnesty International?

Read more »

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In our continuing quest to bring you viable ways to bring traffic to your website and/or blog, tonight’s writeup is about Spottt.com (do note the THREE t’s in Spottt).

While many believed that banners were dead - a complete waste of time to use to draw visitors to your website (website also meaning “blog” of course) - our stats prove that nothing could be further from the truth.

Read more »

Last week we wrote about testing out SpicyPage, and how quickly this website got listed in Google in connection with our Online Internet Marketing Strategies (OIMS) blog. Well, this morning, while tooling around dropping Entrecards and commenting on other people’s blogs, <!–more–>I visited one of our static websites, Stress Relief Management. While I marveled at the PR4 reading I was getting (with zero on Alexa - but that’s another post down the road), it triggered me to go check our Whole Hog Blogs listing in Google.

Lo and behold, a comment I had made THIS MORNING praising a blog in SpicyPage was already showing in Google! Here’s proof:

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I just witnessed something so strange I had to write to tell you about it!

We have two cats, Sammy (a Persian stray) and Sweetie (a Siamese also a stray). Sammy is the sweetest cat you’d ever want to meet. Even my father thinks so, and he’s not cat lover lol!

Sweetie is also just that, only she’s got a bit of the devil in her. While she can, and does roam, the neighborhood (never too far), Sammy has supervised walks outside since some s.o.b. declawed him way back when and then abandoned him.

Okay, enough preamble…

Just now I was at the back of the house looking out the slider, and Sweetie had just stepped every so carefully around me to go out to lay by the pool. Or at least I thought that was her objective. Then suddenly I hear her making soft, sweet, consistent “calls.” Thinking something might be wrong I stood very still to try to discern what sort of sound this might be. I didn’t have to wait long (and her eyes are much sharper than mine). There was a dove perched on the wall and she was IMITATING the bird, as she crept closer and closer. The bird almost appeared to be waiting patiently for her arrival! (Yikes!)

Well, of course, I stepped in and put a nix to that, but wow! Hypnotic or what??

(Maybe this is where I throw in how to NOT be hypnotized into false beliefs online when it comes to marketing…?? Sorry couldn’t resist!)

As for arcades… Later today, I’m taking two 17 year olds and a 16 over to the Las Vegas strip to our local GameWorks. My son turned 17 on Wednesday and they are all impatient to go spend money like there’s no tomorrow playing even more games then they all typically play in a week’s time cramped into a few hours It’s very odd to think your kids (or kid in my case) can attain such a great age in such a short amount of time!

As for what’s coming up…

We’ll be writing about several other marketing methods and services we are using that are building our backlinking to this blog in record speed (see yesterday’s post for one) this coming week.

Granted, I’m sort of jumping around here, so in closing on this gorgeous Saturday I just want to slip one fine point in here. By now you have got to have read about and been advised repeatedly (not only here but everywhere - blogs and static websites alike) - of the fine art of building your business (blog or website or…) by using blog COMMENTING to your advantage.

Yet I sit here shaking my head. I visit a TON of blogs daily for ourselves and our clients, and while I do not comment on all of them, I would say on average I manage at least 10 comments per day. Good, well thought out, or hearty thank you comments. Yes I have the Google PR and Alexa Rank plugin on my trusty Firefox, but it does not keep me from posting ANYWHERE I really appreciate the information I’ve received. Whether it’s a cute/funny picture, a resource I needed more information about, or just a person’s “this is how my life is going,” taking the time to comment does MORE THAN build backlinks, it helps (and lets) other people know YOU exist.

Don’t let this wonderful opportunity continue to slip through your fingers. A comment a day - three minutes of your time - and you will be AMAZED at the results - yes with just ONE comment a day!

How easy can that be???

Enjoy your Saturday!

In our continuing quest to extend the reach of Online Internet Marketing Strategies, our Whole Hog Blogs system and service, and assist our clients with their blogging, we scour the internet for likely social media and internet marketing websites to list these blogs.

We’re happy to report that SpicyPage is one of these spots you should not miss!

Late yesterday, I signed us up for this service, fumbled my way around inside for a bit, listed a few sites, visited and “thumbs up” where appropriate other people’s blogs, and made a few new friends (notices of others wanting to friend us arrived almost instantly!).

Then we sat back to see how long (if at all) our SpicyPage would take to appear in the search engines (we watch Google primarily).

Lo and behold, this morning doing a quick backlink check, here’s what we found!

Go ahead, click on the image. It will take you right to our listing in SpicyPage! And the nice people there are already voting and commenting.

[Please do VOTE FOR US using the voting widget is in our left hand sidebar at the top.}

And, this service doesn’t stop there!

If you want to pull in some cash with your blog, there are blogger/advertiser opportunities you can investigate and sign up to do (we haven’t gone that far yet, we’re pretty busy LOL!).

Here’s a bit from the SpicyPage About Us page:

“Founded in September of 2006, Spicypage is the social online community where anyone shares, talks about what websites or blogs they discover on the net. It is a friendly community that allows everyone to find easier ways to spread the notable sites or blogs when stumbled upon them.

SpicyPage lets you post, comment on, vote on, share your favorites sites or blogs with your friends and others like you. SpicyPage is a new way of web-ranking solution to determine the best sites or blogs, 100% powered by its members. Discover and bookmark the new and the best sites/blogs out there and connect with people of the same interest as you.”

On top of all that, it is of course free for bloggers to sign up.

Don’t miss this social media marketing opportunity to promote yourself and your blog(s). We definitely are giving this one the thumbs up!

Or When Do You Stop “Learning” and Start Doing?!

Unless you are in a position to inherit money, get continuous cash gifts from relatives, or win by chance in Las Vegas (after parting with your own money first on that chance), nothing comes to mind where a person can sit still and rake in money (okay nothing legal that is).

Not offline. Not online.

Even the money making programs out there that tell you “no this” or “no that” don’t really mean it at all. The fine print, if they even bother to put fine print on the page, would read, “But the more effort, time, and money you put into this, the more successful you might be.”

End of story.

Same goes for the ever popular “guru following.” Now I am not slamming gurus, they are actually some of the smartest people on the internet. They know. They share some. They anticipate you will return to get the next piece. And the next, and the next, and the… well you get the picture. Granted, information. But will you ever really get going doing what you need to be doing or will you fear you need more pieces and do nothing (and nothing could be further from the truth).

Very few people on the internet say, “Here you go!” and give you everything you need. Very few people will continue to give you even more information to learn more or stay current with rapidly changing online techniques without some expectation from you.

Some would tell you that it is because one person cannot possibly want (or need) to “know it all at once.” (Pure fabrication)

Others will never tell you outright, but the truth is if “it” is given to you in bulk, will there be any reason for you to return? They fear your fickleness.

And, to be perfectly honest, people are fickle.

Witness the statement made at the top of this article. Where else in the world would you really think to yourself, “Oh good, I’m gonna get rich by not doing a thing!” Go ahead, re-read that. Sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous.

That’s not to say there are not great programs out there to work. The emphasis, of course, lies on your willingness to become active and engage in the process to make it happen.

[A word of caution: If you are lazy and broke, do not exacerbate that condition thinking the internet will solve your problems.]

If you are able and willing, the internet can bring you wonders you never dreamed possible. No where else is it possible to meet and make friends with others from around the world. Friendships just as solid as if they were your next door neighbor (and maybe even more so in some cases).

There also are numerous methods to use when you’ve chosen a project to work diligently. Advertising and marketing online abounds, but again caution is in order. Throwing money at something, without a passion for that something, is no better than walking into a casino and handing your money to the doorman (if they had them), turning around, and leaving.

As you study your options online, all sorts of traffic-driving techniques may intrigue you. Many with (false) promises of the ease and viability with which it can happen. After a decade online, and in the marketing arena itself, I can with all honesty say there is nothing that does not require effort on your part - physically and economically - to make it happen. In particular - time and money.

Money is obvious, some services and methods are going to cost the green stuff. Time, however, and the concept of “I want it (or expect it) now” can be mind boggling. Ask yourself, do you get every job you apply for in the real world? Didn’t you have to prepare for the interview, dress the part, interact with others, and then wait for the phone call that might mean you got it? Time does not mean something else online, it’s just that… time. And being online means alloting proper amounts of it from all angles.

Okay, if you’ve made it this far (and I thank you!), then you deserve a reward. The key is to combine what you love with what you join and use both traditional and web 2.0 techniques to tell the world, “Hey here I am! Come visit me!”

Ah, there’s the rub. But it can be done in an amazingly short period of time - like visitors arriving today if you do it right.

Will they buy from you? Ask yourself instead, “Should they.” If you are willing to engage your visitor and give them a reason to come to you, really care that they do come, referencing to “time” above and the answer is yes.

Visitors arriving immediately. Staying and returning to talk with you. Yes the adage, people buy from people they feel they know is very true. You just need to help them discover who you are.

Yes, it really can be done and there are honest people out there willing to help you on the right road to doing something you love - now and forever.

Change fickle to “finally!” and learn the skills to get your job done.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Theresa Cahill and her partner Jeff Greer publish their OIMS blog under the pen name Diane Scott. They cordially invite you to see for yourself how to increase website traffic using a combination of how to strategies and you. Visit today, stay for life.

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