I’m referring to the dark side force of social media that keeps you up at night worrying about growing your business and leveraging the superpower of social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Are you listening, responding and engaging your target market?

What are people saying about your brand, your products and services?   Are you paying attention? Have you claimed your business listings on Yelp.com?  What about the other opinion and ratings websites?  Do you have filters set up using www.Hootsuite.com to monitor keyword topics from Twitter?  You can use social media websites to listen to the buzz in the market place as it relates to your industry, the competition, your prospects wants, needs & desires, and your products and services.

Social Media offers so many benefits, but it can be a huge waste of time without the right plan and actions steps.

Understand that your website and social media websites are just communication tools. The purpose of communication is the response it elicits. Are your social media efforts eliciting the responses needed to connect and engage your prospects?

If not, we can help.  Prime Concepts offers social media networking action plans and a host of other social media marketing services, including customized branded backgrounds for YouTube, and Twitter, integrated Facebook Pages that capture “likes” and encourage interaction.  We can help you transform your LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn company branded pages too.  LinkedIn is often overlooked, but it’s designed for business networking. It’s amazing for research, connecting to people you don’t know through those that you do know, and much, much more.

Get the inside scoop on LinkedIn at one of our other websites… www.LinkedStrategies.com   It has a free LinkedIn Quickstart Guide and a few other resources. Check it out.

Be cautious of those so-called social media experts who claim they know everything. 

No one does and those mediums are changing all of the time. It’s crazy how many people have jumped on the bandwagon to offer social media advice, how-to products, and services. Many don’t have a clue about customer engagement, value propositions, and using these sites for business.  Make sure you do your research first, check their testimonials and case studies to ensure they know what they’re doing or hire a company like Prime Concepts that understands how to find, attract and keep your customers.

To help us stay current on the every-changing world of social media and inbound marketing we’ve partnered with Hubspot.  Now we’re providing our clients with the exact systems to leverage and monetize all of their inbound marketing efforts.   This is a “done-for-you” type system that will produce amazing results for you and your business.  Remember, each social media website has specific advantages and not all of them may be applicable for your particular business.

Don’t make it harder than it has to be. 

Make a spreadsheet of all of your websites and social media websites, including user names, emails used for the accounts and the passwords associated with each login. Do I really need to tell you to keep this file password protected or encrypted and in a safe place?  Keeping it organized and in one place makes it easy for you to manage and helps you when you’re ready to integrated modules, add-ins, programs and plugins, from site to site.

Have you established the performance benchmarks for your social media efforts?  It’s not about the quantity, it’s about the quality.  For social proof, having thousands of fans looks good, but who cares if they aren’t engaged or helping you grow your business.   Are you just tossing crap up against the social media wall to see what sticks or do you have a plan?   Sure, by now you’ve most likely set up a few profiles, but can you trace any leads or new business from social media websites?  We certainly can… and not because we’re so special, but because we understand how to match the right marketing message with the specific medium.  The better the match… the better the results. It really is that simple.

In summary, social media has a ton to offer your business and doesn’t have to be nightmare.

Use it to monitor your brand, get top search engine rankings, lead generation, customer service, damage control, inbound marketing, connect with new prospects, engage your customer base, and generate sales. 

What’s your biggest question related to social media? Post your question below and we’ll respond here and on future posts.

You should also consider your keyword placement and keyword density on the body of your web pages.  Think specific keyword phrases– not “keywords.”  Why?  Due to the extreme amount of competition for general terms in the search engines, you stand a far better chance to rank well for specific phrases where there is less competition.

Check out some of these tips for using keyword phrases:

1.)  Work Through Elements

Search engines completely ignore elements like punctuation and line breaks, so you can too.  If you have a three word key-phrase, there’s no reason you can’t end one sentence with the first two keywords and then start the following sentence with the last keyword.  Work through elements and get noticed by the search engines.

2.)  Form Quotes from “Personal” Key-Phrases

Incorporate quotes in the first person into your content since many people search in the first person.  For example, if you offer leadership training like our recent client, Greg Schinkel of Unique Training and Development, you could say something like, “Many managers wonder, ‘How can I engage and motivate my employees?’”  When someone types this question into a search engine, you have a good shot at getting them to your site!

3.)  Include Opposite Key-Phrases

So what if a really good key-phrase you’ve found doesn’t apply to your business?  How can you incorporate these into your content?  Find a legitimate way to use the key-phrase—even if it’s a page telling a client why the key-phrase is a bad idea or doesn’t apply to your business.

4.)  Add Other Words

So maybe you’ve tried to incorporate key-phrases into your content but it just ended up sounding clunky and uncomfortable.  The solution is to add other words to the beginning or end of the key-phrase.

For example, one of our recent clients, Agadia, offers “prior authorization software” for healthcare management.  Using “prior authorization software” repeatedly is no good.  Instead, they can incorporate other words before the phrase, like “web-based” and “feature-rich.” Or, they can incorporate other words after their phrase, like “solution.”

5.)  Consider “Stop” Words in Choppy Phrases

If the key-phrase you need to use isn’t complete or wouldn’t make sense in a sentence, consider adding “stop” words.  “Stop” words are words like “of,” “the,” “a,” and “for” that the search engines weed out anyway.

But what if your website has already been built and you don’t have a new website planned anytime soon?  You can still incorporate keywords and keyword phrases into articles, newsletters and blog posts you put on the web.

For more Internet marketing techniques to help you increase search engine rankings and generate more traffic to your site, check out the “Internet Profit Kit for Information Marketers: 101 Proven Tactics & Tools You Can Use to Build Your Business.” Visit http://www.internetprofitkit.com for details.

That’s why I put together some time-tested and proven tips and strategies designed to give you a big boost in growing your business.  I think you’ll find a lot of value from the quick-read ideas presented in “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business,” which are designed for easy implementation.

The practical marketing approach and proven strategies will help you to:

• Create the Marketing Mindset
• Create Explosive Growth in Your Business
• Utilize Marketing Secrets of the Masters
• Measure Marketing Success
• Design Profit-Rich Marketing Materials
• Write Copy Like the Pros
• Build Your Online Money Machine
• Drive Targeted Traffic
• Use Blog Marketing to Build Your Business
• Monetize Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

Get more details on my “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business” and leave us a comment to let us know some of the ways you’d like to improve your business.

For those of you who may have missed the Social Media Influence webinar, you can now watch the live VIDEO replay of the event, download the presentation slides (.PDF), and even get an Audio MP3 version of the recording at:
www.ProfitRichResults.com/social-influence/replay

Many people submitted questions and with almost 1000 people registered it was virtually impossible to get to all of them. Look for those questions to be answered here on the blog. Subscribe to the RSS Feed to be notified of new posts.

This was a free and action-packed webinar on Social Media Influence and you’re encouraged to send the replay link to your other team members, associates and friends that are interested in growing their businesses and leveraging social media.

Didn’t ask your question yet?  Add a comment to this post and it will be answered shortly.

Each day you’re faced with new opportunities and the challenges of how you are going to spend your time and money. Whether you’re the CEO, entrepreneur, or the person responsible for increasing results from marketing and sales efforts, you already know that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find, attract and keep your customers.

The good news is—there is no need to panic! The sky is not falling… these economic times have actually created many new opportunities—if you know how to capitalize on them.

I wanted you to be one of the first to know about this event so you can mark your calendar and get registered for the Las Vegas Event in September 2011.

Watch the video above or visit the Business Growth Summit Event Website for more details.

Earlier this year, I read a column about how several colleges and universities were no longer distributing email accounts to new students.  The rationale behind this was that the majority of millennials are plugged into social media sites like Facebook, and these “instant gratification” users think email is too slow.

Email is too slow?  Makes you wonder if this new generation of users even knows what “snail mail” is!

Facebook has already rolled out so many new features this year; users are still focusing on forming “groups” and trying not to get lost navigating “places.”  Now, they’re giving us another inbox to check!

Or are they?  According to the brainiacs behind Facebook’s new email strategy, their new “messaging” system will deal with the dilemma of having to communicate with different people through different channels.  In essence, it will do the thinking for you… so you only have to send your message one time, to one place.

Let’s say you’re sending a “grand opening” event invitation to your contact list.  Do you send it through email, SMS, Facebook or all three?  This new feature promises to answer that question for you… you send out the message via Facebook and it figures out the best delivery route for each recipient.  So, while a 21-year old may receive your announcement instantly via SMS, a 51-year old customer might receive an email.

In true Facebook fashion, this new feature will extend well beyond email.  In addition to the seamless messaging, it also promises to keep a conversation history.  This will be a log of all communications you’ve had with a contact, regardless of the platform used.  Not to worry, they’ve also come up with a feature to delete the history entirely from their server.

Your new “social inbox” will even come equipped with fancy filtering features; since Facebook already knows who your “friends” and “friends of friends” are, they’ll prioritize those messages over ones from spambots.  It even designates an “other” folder for the non-social stuff like bank statements and automatic payment reminders.

Visit Facebook messages to learn more about what they’ve got planned.

Social media is a game changer. We’ve seen it affect how we interact and share with friends and family, make decisions, hear and spread news, market, and much more. It even affects the way people hunt for jobs and the way companies look for potential employees.

Rather than just listing a job opening in your local newspaper or posting it on your website where limited audiences will see it, social media allows you to reach a much wider, much more diverse audience. By posting job opportunities on social media sites and reaching more candidates, you will be more likely to find the person who is exactly what you are looking for and a perfect match for your company. Because of the viral effect of social media, news of your job opening will spread fast, helping you fill roles more quickly.

Here are some ways you can use social media to find that perfect candidate to fill the role at your company:

LinkedIn

Because LinkedIn profiles should be set up like resumes, you can check out applicants’ profiles to see what kind of experience and recommendations they have. You should also make you’re your profile is updated in the same way in case potential job candidates check you out to make sure you are a renowned and trustworthy company to work for. Your contact settings should be set to include that you are interested in job inquiries so people know it’s okay to contact you via LinkedIn regarding employment opportunities.

You can post job openings in the job section on LinkedIn, which people can find by searching for a specific location, field, job title, and several other options. People are more likely to trust a job posting on a professional networking site like LinkedIn than they are on a random job listing site they find on Google. Many people also use the headline portion of their profile like an objective on a resume, stating exactly what kind of job they are looking for and specific qualities and certifications they have to make them a good candidate. You can use this to do your own searching and seek out exactly who you are looking for and contact them about an opportunity to interview with your company.

Facebook

People often will use Facebook to let the world know when they are searching for a new job and you should also use the same method to get the word out there that you are looking to fill specific roles. This will not only let people know to contact you if they are looking for a job themselves, but also keep you in mind if they see that someone else they know is looking for a similar job.

You can also use Facebook in the hiring process to check out a candidate’s profile to see if they are an influencer and know how to effectively and professionally use Facebook. Having someone who will use their social media influence to spread the word about your company could be very beneficial in increasing awareness and establishing credibility.

Twitter

There are more than 190 million Twitter users. Among those millions, there are always many actively seeking jobs. Use the opportunity to search this large community for people to you’re your team as well as publicize that you are currently hiring – in this economy word about job openings will spread fast.

While Twitter users send more than 75 million tweets per day, Twitter search allows you to look for people tweeting specific terms or keywords relevant to what you are looking for — For example “copywriting jobs” “administrative assistant positions” etc. The reverse can be done with your tweets: People looking for jobs can type in search terms and pull up any of your tweets that contain those words – so make sure you are using keyword rich terms in your tweets.

Blogs

Not only can you use your blog to advertise the fact that you are looking for certain candidates, but many other people would be willing to put your job postings on their blog if it’s relevant. For example, Mashable lists jobs in the social media industry for companies throughout the world.

You can use social media sites to not only post job opportunities and how to apply, but you can also look for people who are using these sites to promote themselves as potential candidates.

How have you used social media in the employment process? Leave a comment below and let me know.

You see examples of social proof everyday… beyond client testimonials, case studies and customer reviews; it’s in the star ratings on Amazon, the number of likes of Facebook, the video views on YouTube and followers on Twitter.

Be recognizing how social proof affects buying behavior, you can look for ways to leverage it to establish trust and credibility for your products and services.

Just the other day, I was searching ITunes for movies to download to my Ipad for a cross-country flight.  I was considering a few new releases and realized I was making my selection based on the number of stars a certain movie had.  Then I thought to myself “I don’t know these people, yet here I am letting their opinion impact my decision.”  In reality, their opinion may not mean squat about whether or not I’d like the movie.  We’ve all been to 4 star movies that were crap and we’ve seen movies that were one star that we really liked.  Even so, the star ratings of the movies influenced my selection.

Recent statistics tell us that 74% of consumers trust peer recommendations (social proof) and only 14% trust advertisements.  Even if you don’t agree with the stats, you’ll agree that you’re influenced by what your friends, peers and independent recommendations say, more than advertisements.

Testimonials

It’s hard to ignore the power of these recommendations from people with whom you’ve done business.  Buyers want to purchase from someone they feel they can trust; by displaying testimonials on your site, your prospects are getting a third party endorsement which helps them feel confident they’re making a sound decision.  Testimonials can come in multiple formats, from text, audio to video and I love to use short video testimonials because it captures the authenticity of the client.

You can capture them with a video camera, Webcam or even a simple Flip® USB camera.  Post them on your website or on a video sharing site like YouTube. Testimonials should be used like spices… salt and pepper them throughout your website, product landing pages, use them on thank you pages, auto-responders… just don’t overdo it.

Media Exposure

Without going too far off topic, it’s important to recognize that “media exposure” can be categorized into two main types… Social Media methods and Traditional Media.  Social Proof includes both types.   When your prospects read your name in print, hear you on the radio, or see you on TV, it helps to influence top-of-mind awareness.  They come to regard you as an expert resource, and ultimately, someone they might like to do business.

Visible Buzz

If you’ve been published or featured in traditional media sources, then showcase it (tactfully) on your website.  You can do this in a number of ways. Create a news release or add the appearance to a media section or media page on your website, or by displaying the source and media logos on your website… Yes, get permission or take your chances.

Mystery Searching a.k.a., Mystery Shopping

This is a simple exercise that you can do right now. Just go to your favorite search engine, Google™, Bing™ or Yahoo™ and type in your keyword phrases to see what shows up on the Search Results Pages (SERPS).   For example, if you search for “Ford Saeks” you’ll see that it’s impossible to not be able to find out more about me than you care to know. My websites come up first, followed by Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, Naymz and various articles and blog postings.  Yes, that’s easy because my name as a search term is unique and there isn’t much competition on that keyword phrase.

Top rankings in the search engines are only part of social proof.  Research shows that more people are now concerned more about how many followers they have on Facebook pages, comments posted to their blogs, re-tweets on Twitter, connections and recommendations on LinkedIn, and views on their uploaded videos.

So what about You?  Go back and look at your level of social proof that you have on your website, on social media websites and throughout traditional media sources and create your action plan to step up the volume.

I’d love to hear what you think about social proof; post your comments below.

Here’s the conversation… add your opinion too.

F. Feather: It is the dot-com bubble all over again.  Most of the SM sites will vanish.  There will be a few large players. Social media will evolve into something quite different, with different classes of platform, and segmented special interest platforms — as happened with old media.  But the way in which it is used will be quite different from today.

K. Harris: I think Social Media is becoming necessary for businesses to reach people they were unable to reach before. I think those that are against social media just don’t know how to use it effectively.

D. Shay: Hi Ford, I don’t believe it is all hype – the young generation lives by social media.
I have a saying that I like to share: “Social media will do for marketing and sales what the printing press did for newspapers!”

M. Retallick: Social media has been hyped well beyond its actual usefulness. Shakeout soon to follow.

R. Krastoshevsky: It’s half & half. People who know how to handle SM do it very effectively and get lots of sales from it. People who just “heard of SM” waste their time posting useless messages, not going anywhere. The majority belongs to the second category, because without the know-how SM is ineffective.

S. Hamer: Hi Ford, it is getting hyped up, and seems to have the dot com bubble feel about it, but that’s just a shallow perception of the truth, mostly by people who do not immerse themselves in it, and do not fully understand it…The difference is that it is a useful tool for individuals and businesses to share, inform, communicate and assist with marketing of their products and services. Therefore since it has a useful function it will thrive. What will change is the power of the user as the growth curve starts to level off.

D. Maskin: those who actually put the time and energy into social media and social networking sites can find much business success… The problem occurs when folks don’t understand that they must spend lots of time networking, which many aren’t prepared to do.

G Hedges: I agree that it will inevitably consolidate to a handful of social media (SM) sites but the social media world is here to stay. We are already seeing how sites like Yelp are integrating with FB and how tools like Twitter are integrated with several SM platforms. I believe several so-called SM sites now will just be functions and tools of the larger sites. Plus, it is true, the younger generations are plugged into it and their thought patterns, behaviors and habits will keep SM alive.

How have you made social media work for your business? Let me know what strategies have or haven’t worked or just sound-off by posting your comments below.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “I know I need to be using social media, but I just don’t have the time.” Or “I have Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts but I can’t manage them all.” I have a simple answer for them: Aggregate and Syndicate.

By that I mean, using one tool to manage all of your social media sites simultaneously. There are a lot of Social Media dashboards out there to help you sort through and send out messages to your fans and followers, but I use Hootsuite.

Hootsuite allows me to pull all of my streams from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and several other social media sites so I can keep track of everything going on in all of my networks, in one place. It also lets me send a message to any and all of them at the same time so I don’t have to log in individually to each site and post the message.

What are the benefits of using Hootsuite? You can:

• Easily check stats and track results. For example, you can see how influential you were on Twitter in the last day, week, or month. See which of your tweets were popular so you know what type or topic to send out more of and which to avoid. You can also see what influencers have mentioned you so you can continue to build relationships with them. This feature really helps you with the Test – Track – Repeat cycle in your marketing.
• Get your team involved. If you have multiple people that help you with your social media, you can give them all unique log in information so they can access the account without sharing passwords. You can also assign tasks, such as delegating a certain team member messages you want them to respond to, etc.
• Schedule your updates. Leaving town for a week? Schedule your updates to go out at certain times and dates to make sure you are maintaining your online presence while you are gone. Or, just get them scheduled so you don’t have to worry about sending out the messages, all you have to worry about is monitoring the responses.
• Easily manage multiple social media accounts. Send out messages to multiple networks at one time and keep track of mentions of your brand or key terms on any of the sites you have integrated with Hootsuite. You can also look at the live feeds from people you are following on Twitter, friends with on Facebook, etc. so you can keep up to date with everything and know when your input could be helpful.
• Use your smartphone to manage your account. Not only can you log in straight from your computer, but you can download the app for your Android, iPhone, or other smartphone and update and manage your Hootsuite from wherever you are, whenever you want to.

The amount of time you spend on your social media efforts is up to you and your schedule. No matter if you are a super user or a once a day user, Hootsuite makes it much easier to manage multiple accounts at once to make sure you are monitoring conversations about your brand, responding to customer inquiries and comments, and sending out valuable updates to your networks.

How do you manage your social media profiles? Leave a comment and let me know.

This isn’t just an issue in the financial services industry. Clients in certain industries have their hands tied when it comes to using social media to communicate with their clients. While I recognize the need for regulation, organizations like FINRA who are in charge of setting the boundaries need to understand that the Internet itself is a social medium so the lines are pretty blurry (from my perspective) when it comes to defining what people can and cannot do on “social media websites.” They are tools vital to the communication between companies and their clients… and it’s not going away.

People are recognizing the problem, leading to creation of sites like linkedFA, which is a social media site in beta mode for financial professionals and their investors and may be a good alternative if you are looking for a way to connect but don’t want to risk violating the regulations.

When NEXT Financial Group, Inc. approached us with questions regarding the use of social media, I referred them to FINRA’s Social Media Web Sites Regulatory Notice for detailed information on what FINRA suggests they do and don’t do on blogs and social networking web sites.

Make no mistake, FINRA is monitoring the use of social media and will crack down on what they deem misuse.

So while you can participate, do so carefully – The key is to create your own procedures and social media best practices to prevent violation of FINRA’s regulations and other compliance organizations. This concepts applies to anyone that works in an industry with regulations on the use of social media.

Quick Disclaimer: I am not a Financial Services Provider. I help organizations grow by helping them find, attract and keep their customers.

What they can do: Websites like Linkedin are great for doing research and professional networking.  They can set up Google Alerts to monitor keyword phrases related to their topics, brands or competitors.  They can leverage Youtube by having educational videos. They just cannot solicit, endorse a product or make an offering, and should set the privacy & profile settings to prevent comments.

(Again, I am not using this post to express what FINRA allows or specific instructions for companies like Next Financial Group, but rather want to get YOUR opinions on the unrealistic regulations that prevent businesses from using communication and relationship building websites.)

Companies like Next Financial Group, Inc.,  a Houston based company, and their many Independent Broker Dealers & Financial Consultants can still benefit from using the social media sites for research, listening to the communities and competitive intelligence.  From what I’ve been told, they cannot have any profiles, blogs, or pages that allow for visitor feedback as that feedback may be construed as an endorsement.  However, they certainly should be able to publish educational material just like they approve content they deliver in teleseminars, webinars, hotel presentations, radio interviews and through ezines.

I also was told that any communication used through electronic mediums from financial consultants to anyone needs to be kept for seven years.  Good luck with that one on social media websites…

What are your thoughts on industry regulations on the use of social media? Let me know by leaving your opinion or comment below.

Geolocation applications like FourSquare, Gowalla and the recently released Facebook places are the latest social media trend and the next big thing for businesses and advertisers to use to connect with prospects and customers.

So what exactly are geolocation applications? A whole category of apps that are based around phones that are smart enough to know your location. If you have a smartphone, you can use these geolocation applications to check in to places, let your friends know where you are, and see where you friends are. You might see the use in this if you’ve ever gone somewhere, only to discover later that your colleagues or friends were there too. Beyond simply knowing where your friends are, on Foursquare and Gowalla you can also see tips left by people who have visited that place before you, for example in a restaurant you might find a tip about what to order.

So how can you take advantage of the growing popularity of these geolocation apps to grow your business? Here are some tips for using Foursquare to attract new customers and increase the loyalty of your current customers:

• Make sure your venue is listed on the applications. If not, add it. By having your business listed, when people are close to your building using an app such as Foursquare, you will be listed as a nearby business. Or, for example, I have my company tagged under “website development” so if someone in my area using Foursquare searches for website development, my company will come up.
• Reward your customers by offering discounts and prizes when they check in at your venue. By doing this, they are helping you by creating more awareness about your business and you are helping them by giving them something of value. This will not only bring in new customers through awareness, but will also create loyal customers who come back so they can earn rewards.
• Take advantage of the real-time venue stats. You will get a better idea of who your customers are, when they are coming in, and what they are doing. This will help you create more targeted marketing. Check out the business page on foursquare for more details http://foursquare.com/businesses/

Not only can you use geolocation applications to create direct business, but you can also introduce your brand to new consumers and increase brand loyalty with existing consumers. Your customers are already using these apps and they are free to use, so make sure you get on board today.

To sign up for Foursquare visit http://foursquare.com/ where you can also get a better idea of how this application works and how you can download the app to your phone.

To get started on Facebook places, you’ll need the most recent version of the Facebook application for iPhone. You also can access Places from touch.facebook.com if your mobile browser supports HTML 5 and geolocation. You can find out more about this new feature on Facebook.

Find out more about Gowalla.

How have you seen people using geolocation applications for their business? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

The other day, I posted a blog with Social Media Networking Statistics and received several phone calls from people wanting help and a social media action plan. In this blog posting, you’ll find three tips to help you make sure your social media marketing efforts are headed in the right direction to help your business grow.

Three Things You Need to Know about Monetizing Your Social Media Efforts

1. Recognize that you cannot ignore Social media and Web 2.0 user generated websites. Beyond the obvious sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook… there are several ratings websites where people’s opinion of you can either hurt or help your brand. You need to monitor and manage your online reputation. You need to know how far and wide your digital footprint is on the web.  Start with setting up Google Alerts. Then Google your company, your products and leaders of your company to see what shows up on the search results pages (SERPS).
2. Social Media is about Relationships. Your goals and focus should be to build relationships, engage your customers, encourage feedback, and offer value. Don’t blatantly promote by continually spamming your friends, followers, or subscribers. Do I really need to explain that in more detail?  Of course, once you’ve added value and fostered the relationship you’ll be able to tactfully introduce solutions that lead to increased traffic to your website and more sales.
3. Based on your Internet marketing goals, get the help you need from qualified and experienced social media experts. Use caution because there are way too many people claiming to be “experts” and it’s a very broad field of information.  Decide your goals and if you are either going to do it yourself (DIY) or hire someone to help you monetize your social media efforts.

   1. Doing it yourself. You can certainly learn everything you need to know on your own if you’re willing to take the massive amount of time necessary to read, watch, and review the online tutorials on each of the social media websites. Then spend months experimenting to see what works and hopefully in the process not get your account banned or irritate your target prospects.  Not Suggested. However, if you want to learn what works yourself, then get Mari Smith’s Quick Start Social Media Kit. This package is ideal for small business owners wanting to ramp up their social media success significantly.  Even though we are experienced social media professionals, we’ve learned a ton from her.
   2. Hire a Social Media Professional. Prime Concepts can help you get all of your profiles correctly setup with congruent branding, integration and aggregation. Then we’ll show you how to make the most of your efforts in the shortest amount of time.

Remember, you cannot just hire someone to do all of your social media as it requires participation, content, views, opinions and expertise that only you (or your company) possess.  You can hire the setup, configuration, branding, custom backgrounds, links, and integration. The success of your efforts is then dependent upon how much you participate on the various social media websites.

Start your Social Media Link-back strategy by posting your comments, questions or opinions on this post.

Compelling facts from the video. While it was no doubt Erik Qaulman had it created to promote his book Socialnomics, (no I’m not an affiliate) it opens your eyes up to the massive opportunities created by these new web 2.0 mediums.   Social media isn’t a fad.  It’s growing exponentially and you better get with the program or get left behind.

I remember way back in the CompuServe and AOL days when people thought that the Internet was a fad too.  They waited to get their website going. Same thing happened again with blogging.  Now it’s Social media that has so many business professionals confused on the best practices to use to grow their business.

Social Media offers unique opportunities to build relationships, listen to the marketplace, get higher rankings in the search engines, gain consumer insights, and yes, get more sales. 

Businesses today can leverage social media by creating a social media action plan.  First, understand that even if you aren’t very active on Social media websites, you already have a presence because your customers are blogging, tweeting, linking, commenting  and rating your company, products & services, and employees.   Don’t believe me… go check for yourself. Go Google (or Bing, Yahoo search) your name or products.  Go to Facebook and search keywords. Then LinkedIn…. and even YouTube.  You may be very surprised by the results. 

If you want to get monetize your social media marketing efforts then give us (Prime Concepts Group, Inc.) a call or check out our Social Media Services.  We start with an analysis of your digital footprint and work closely with you on your goals and outcomes. Then we’ll make sure that all of your main profiles are branded, congruent, integrated, and aggregated.  Along the way, we’ll help you and your team understand how to make the most of your social media networking and social media marketing efforts.

For those of you that want the Do-it-Yourself (DIY) social media training, I recommend Mari Smith’s Quick Start Social Media Kit (Yes, We’re an affiliate, but we never endorse anything that we haven’t used ourselves with great results.)  If you’re not prepared to dig deep and take the time to learn and implement the strategies then hire professionals that can help. Otherwise, you’re just going to waste your time and money.

The social media revolution is already well underway… have any questions, opinions or comments?  Post them below and I’ll respond on future blog posts.

What’s really cool about it is that EVERYONE who participates will get their photo in the November issue of Fast Company! http://fcinf.com/v/bdtg

Here’s where you can upload your photo to Fast Company

Spread the word! This is a great example of viral marketing.

Ford Saeks

Make it a point this week to revisit your profiles on the social media sites you’re involved with to make sure you are taking advantage of their options and you have a keyword-rich compelling profile.  Start with YouTube, Twitter, Facebook profile and company pages,  LinkedIn personal and company profiles and remember that “keywords drive traffic”.

Social Media Marketing Profile Tips:

1. Do your research. Take the time to explore each SMM site and see what profiles you like and dislike and ask yourself, “Why?” Then look at your profile and put yourself in the mind of the visitor. Does it represent you and your brand properly?  Is it a disorganized mess or missing content?
2. Use your keywords. We’ve talked about this before, but it’s so important, especially when people are searching for topics, groups, people and solutions. Just like the first tip, search each site for your topic areas of interest and see what comes up. Then review their profile for hints on what you could model.  If you want to supercharge your keyword research go get my Keyword Secrets audio in the store. It’s 60 minutes filled with non-technical, valuable and relevant keyword research training that will help you select the best range of keywords in your sweet spot.. .not too much competition on the keyword phrase and you can capture all of the traffic.
3. Avoid sensationalism. People are smarter than ever before. And hype – blatant promotional efforts or sales tactics will most likely backfire or cause your account to be terminated altogether.  Again, don’t spam your users, followers or friends. Add value and they’ll figure out if they want to contact you for business.
4. Stick with regular formatting. Don’t use all CAPS or aggressive formatting tactics. Keep it clear and information benefit oriented.  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.  I’m talking about using multiple fonts, many colors and sizes and making it hard for readers to get the point.
5. Create your own profile for your business or topic of focus. This account would be for you to use as your main business related account.
6. Create a private “persona” account. This can be an alias or private personal account that you can use to explore anonymously, test new features and keep confidential. It’s better to make a mistake with your persona account than it is with your main account. Accounts at most of the social media sites are free so this can be a way for you to learn the easy way.
7. Add links back to your website. As obvious as this may sound, it’s a common mistake business people make when using Social Media and setting up their profiles.

That’s all for now. Go visit your Social Media Profiles through the eyes of your prospects and then fix them with the proper keywords, content and links. Have other ideas or questions?  Post your comments in the reply box below. Thanks!

I‘m not that political, I’m just a business owner that loves to help my clients.  I pay in plenty in payroll, social security and unemployment taxes.  I guess you would call me a conservative.

As an entrepreneur my entire life I don’t understand why big government wants to increase taxes on small businesses.  From my point of view, albeit limited, if government cut taxes for small businesses, they would hire more people or pay their current employees more which would mean that they would spend more and everyone would win.  Okay, back to using Social Media Marketing to help with your job search.

Those that know me will attest that I live by the credo, “Add value and make a profit”.  If you’re reading this blog then please understand that while I recognize the understanding for unemployment benefits, I also recognize that it’s killing the economy.  Just think of what it’s doing to millions of Americans by making them even more co-dependent on the Government.

Unemployment benefits are supposed to cover the gap, not be a solution to income.   There are too many stories of people that are milking the system, working for cash and collecting unemployment.  How long do you think this system will work before it’s drained dry?

I believe there are plenty of jobs and a ton of ways to create value to generate an income. I don’t believe it’s a money problem… I believe it’s a lack of creativity and ideas. If you want more money or a different or better job, then get creative and start focusing on what value you bring to the situation.

Using social media allows  you to research, connect and network with virtually anyone in a wide variety of industries.

LinkedIn: Use Linkedin to research people and companies.  It’s designed to be for professional networking. Create your professional profile, connect with more people and spread the word what type of value you can add.  You need to market yourself in today’s competitive marketplace to stand out above the competition.

FaceBook: You can use FaceBook to learn about new areas of interest, participate in group discussions and network in that community too.  There are over 400 million people on FaceBook.  It’s more than a place to post erroneous data about your self.  As a business owner, I’d caution you what you put on FaceBook and other social networking sites for that matter because it could influence  a future company’s hiring decision.  Make sure you set your privacy settings properly so that things you want private stay that way.  A good rule of thumb is don’t post anything that you don’t want shared.  Go back through your profile and make sure you’re communicating the value you bring. Then let the word out what type of position or opportunity that you’re looking for.

YouTube: (and other video content sharing websites) If you want to learn a new skill or enhance your current skills you can start with searching Youtube for video training.  There are millions of videos online on every subject imaginable, including how to prepare for an interview, so make your list of needs and get going.  The answers are just a few clicks away, but you have to take the initiative.  You should also create your very own YouTube channel and create your online video resume.  Then when you email new prospective companies you could include a link to your YouTube channel so with a video describing your talents and value that you offer to an organization.   The days of the old copy cat boring resume are coming to an end.  I’ve read hundreds of resumes and very few are prepared for today’s methods of communication.   They are lifeless, lack-less, boring, and insulting.  The closest anyone every comes to perfection is on their written resume.    Creating a video resume shows your communication style which is key for most hiring situations.  Don’t know how to create a youtube channel or create a video resume. No problem, go search for those keywords and you’ll get many solutions.

Twitter: A micro blog of 140 characters or less. This one is a bit more challenging for job searching.  This really depends on if you’ve built a following already. If not, you may want to skip Twitter, but if you have a following, then you could use twitter and other twitter aggregaters and to create, monitor, influence conversations and prospect for a new career opportunity. You can also tweet links to your YouTube videos and your video resume.  You can literally reach thousands or even millions of people with a few keystrokes.

There are many other online resources like CareerBuilder, Monster and other employment search and social media websites that can help you look for that new job.  It’s a digital age and the old style way of circling help wanted ads and mailing resumes is a tough way to make things happen for you.

Have a great suggestion how to get people off of Unemployment? Agree or disagree with this blog post:  Enter your comments below.

Twitter is everywhere.  New Twitter applications, additions, and syndication tools have made communicating your value and creating relationships amazingly simple.

Simple, but not necessarily easy. I’m sure that most of you already have a Twitter account, but are you leveraging it?  I only tweet a couple of times a day and I’m not a twitter fanatic, but certainly see the value in growing your followers.   Randy Gage, a colleague “@Randy_Gage” has really leveraged Twitter. He sent out a tweet and within an hour he had 150,000 people visit his Prosperity Blog.

Here are a few tips to help you leverage Twitter as a professional.

10 Tips for Leveraging Twitter

1. Create a custom background image and set up your Twitter Profile properly in the settings tab. Your bio information is vital when people are making a decision to follow you or not. Tell people what you do and how you help or work with others.
2. Focus on adding value and topical relevant tweets. Don’t make it all about you and your company and don’t post the same type of update over and over. Post useful and helpful information that others will see has value.
3. Don’t tweet that you’re at Starbucks, because unless you’re famous (and I’m not talking about just in your own mind) nobody cares.
4. Respond with a direct message when someone sends you a personal direct tweet.
5. Retweet other tweets  you think are interesting. Not only is it beneficial and flattering to the person you are retweeting, but it is another way of sending your followers relevant, helpful and valuable advice and information. Just remember to add your own voice as well.
6. Make sure you share a variety of information in your tweets. Talk about your business, but balance it out with tweets that will help people get to know you as a person.
7. Get a desktop or smartphone application to help you manage your Twitter account. If you are serious about social media marketing and follow more than 100 people, you’ll need an app likeTweetDeck .  I use Tweetdeck for my laptop computer and for my Iphone I use Tweetie. Twitter Apps have many benefits, including ways to organize people, messages, and other information that might otherwise be overwhelming. The wide variety of apps available today assures there is one that is right for you and your purposes.
8. Follow people. As you follow more people, more people will follow you. That’s just the way it goes. People are interested in Twitter Friends – those they can follow and who will follow them back. There are services that will let you automatically follow those who follow you. Check out Socialtoo or socialoomph. Also, services like www.Twellow.com, the yellow pages of Twitter, are a great place to find people to follow.
9. Don’t send “Auto Thank You” direct messages to people. The only thing they are good at is annoying people. It also gives many people a reason to UNfollow you because you appear more like a robot than a real person.
10. Join in Twitter conversations with others by sending replies to interesting posts, or even a direct e-mail or message.

Post your Twitter Tips and comments below… You know how important “link-backs” are…

It’s NOT working until you engage in conversations, spread your expertise, and most importantly “add value.” With hundreds of social media sites out there, it’s hard to maintain focus and really add value and stay active on every site.

So, start by focusing your efforts on these top five social media sites.  Here is a brief overview.

1. YouTube.com

This is the most popular video content sharing site. If you’re new to YouTube, go get your channel, which is to say go sign up for your account  – your account name is your channel name so select it wisely. It’s better to have a keyword phrase or your name than it is to have your name with a number or something obscure. For example, I have a few channels, but my main channel is www.youtube.com/primeconcepts (go subscribe now).   I also have www.youtube.com/fordsaeks, but too many people spell my name wrong so I send the traffic to the Prime Concepts channel. There are several other popular video sharing sites each with their own theme, but master YouTube first.  Then you can leverage your efforts on other video sharing sites, using sites such as www.TubeMogul.comfor starters. Share value-added content and watch your business grow.

More on Youtube marketing on future postings…

2. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular “social community type” site.I’m sure that most of you reading this have your Facebook account by now. If not, join the 350 million people currently using Facebook and get with the program. Set up a Facebook Fan Page and join groups that focus around your subjects of interest. Start by visiting, listening and exploring. It’s about participation, community, and networking. Set your privacy settings accordingly and don’t abuse your friends list with constant promotions about your latest product or event. You’ll monetize your efforts once you participate in guiding connection and encouraging relevant dialogue.

3.LinkedIn

Another important type of social media site is focused around professional networking. www.LinkedIn.com is a great business development tool with it’s own unique advantages. Again, get your account, set up your profile and invest in creating a network of professionals that can help you make new contacts. Sure, you can add your buddies and coworkers, but you should think beyond that to the types of clients you want to reach. For example, one of my clients wanted to reach the CEO of a top name brand company – traditional methods had failed. I sent a Linkedin invitation to connect and within 15 minutes was accepted into this CEO’s personal network, was able to start a dialogue that is now leading to a multi-million dollar proposal. Go to your profile now and make sure its updated and create new connections.

4. Your Blog

You have one… right?  If not, why not?  Preferably you have a wordpress blog as part of your regular website because of the popularity and the many add-ons that are available for syndication and ease of use. If you can e-mail, you can blog.  The key is to use multiple forms of content, from text to audio and video, which inspire thought, encourage comments and link backs to your blog. Your blog also has huge search engine optimization benefits if you title, tag and post valuable content.  It’s better to post shorter targeted posts more regularly than long posts monthly.  They become great content management systems (CMS) that you can manage without the high costs of web developers.

5. Twitter

Then there is the  micro-blogging site www.Twitter.com. Sure, you probably have an account, but how effective has it been for you? A great resource is the book by Joel Comm Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
”

If you build your follower list and tweet something your followers can use at least once a day, you will quickly establish your position as an expert and the go-to person for advice and information in your field.

Post your favorite SMM site and why?   Or let me know what your biggest question is about Social Networking and I’ll address it on future posts.

Are you using the social media sites correctly to send traffic to your website?

Are you linking to your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Youtube or other social media accounts from your website?

With more than 400 million active users on Facebook, 30  million accounts on Twitter, 100 million U.S. viewers on YouTube, 50 million users on LinkedIn, and 200 million blogs, I’ll assume that you are actively participating on some level with at least a few social media sites.

Beyond using this medium to connect with new groups of people in unique ways, you should be making sure they want to learn more about you and what you have to offer so that they’ll either Google your name or just follow a link-back from the social media sites to your website.

What will visitors  see when they come to your website?

Will they be impressed and want to continue to connect with you or will they get lost in a cluttered mess of confusing layouts, poor navigation and content that reads as a cure for insomnia?

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid and think that you can abandon your regular site and just focus on using the the social media sites to connect with your target market.

Today’s Facebook is yesterday’s My Space. Google is king for now, but Bing.com is gaining ground. We’re still in the infancy stages of social media and web 2.o sites. Sure they’ve been around for a few years, but many businesses haven’t figured out how to monetize their Social Media Efforts and many people are clamoring to claim their space and figure it all out.

Think about it – why would you put your business and career 100% into the hands of a third-party site? You wouldn’t. So that means you have to get your site into top shape so that when you attract new visitors and they come to your site looking for social proof and credibility that you are the expert resource they are looking for.

What’s the one thing you could do this week? Go back and look at your website through the eyes of a prospect. Is it clear what you do? Is the focus around YOU or are you clear that the purpose of your website is to be beneficial to the user?

Remember, they don’t care about you until they know the benefits and the problems you can solve that they’ll pay to make go away.

Do you have great copy that’s compelling and solution-oriented with specific action steps on every page? Get your site in shape through the eyes of your prospect and make sure it’s designed from a marketing and sales perspective and not just pretty graphics.  And if you know that your site sucks and you’re ignoring it, what’s the point of driving traffic to it just so it can become a sales-prevention tool?

I used to suggest that you don’t confuse your site visitors and try to avoid having links that take them off your website since you want them to stay, subscribe and buy.  However, now customers are using the social media sites to help make decisions to do business with you, to get to know you better.

In any event, check your website analytics and make sure you have Web 2.o and social media strategy. If it’s not working…. make the changes!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnC_toMJTY[/youtube]

Click to the link below to read more and post your comments

Now while that video may be disturbing to some people, the point is that you need to use caution when using the Social Media Networks.

This is not to say you should not participate on the Social Media sites, you just need to learn to be safe online.  Now, thanks to an IT security professional who made it his mission to make the Internet safe by 10/10/10, there is a Web site that can help you take a few simple steps to make yourself safer online.

Families, children and Internet users in general now have the opportunity to learn to be safer online with the free Internet safety tips and tricks found on http://www.learntobesafeonline.com. This site offers simple, short how-to videos that everyone can understand. Each tutorial has information for both Apple Mac users and Windows users on topics such as: Facebook Safety, Anti-Virus Tips, Twitter Safety, LinkedIn Safety and Wireless WiFi Security.

The sole purpose of this web site is to protect Internet users from the small number of people making the Internet an increasingly dangerous place for everyone else. The “Learn to be Safe Online” Web site is a meaningful tool for all Internet users who want to protect themselves, their families and their information. The philosophy behind “Learn to Be Safe Online” is that since we all use the Internet, it should be a safe place to work, learn and play.

Take a few minutes out of your day to watch a couple of the videos found on http://www.learntobesafeonline.com. If you learn even one tip you can use to protect yourself or your family, your time was well spent.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BIucJi7juI[/youtube]

Okay, now go and make sure your online passwords are unique and secure.   Then get back to your marketing efforts!

Learn more about how to protect yourself online at www.Learntobesafeonline.com

If you ever attended one of my Internet Marketing Seminars then you know that “Keywords Drive Traffic” is my online marketing mantra.  This short blog post is focused around the importance of using your keywords (and keyword phrases) for social media marketing.

This starts with understanding that keywords drive traffic, but with social media marketing it’s not the typical usage of driving traffic to get people to buy a product or service.

In fact, if that’s all you’re trying to do with social media networking than you are approaching social media with the wrong perspective and will waste a ton of time.

Social Media Marketing is all about relationships, adding value, joining the conversation and getting and giving feedback.

With Social Media the words you use in your profiles, account names, tags, blog titles & descriptions, user groups, and other posts all help you expand your digital footprint.

The top 5 Social Media sites that I recommend you focus your efforts are Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn and Your Blog. There are thousands of others and depending on your niche or focus area, there may be a few others that you want to leverage, but how many more in-boxes and accounts do you really need to manage?

Okay,  first thing about keywords is that you should be focusing on keyword phrases of at least 2 to 5 words. Most people search for at least 3 or more words so they get better search results. So when you are on the user account settings screen in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and YouTube, make sure you take the time to completely fill out your profile and use keywords so that your account will get properly cataloged and make it easier for people to connect with you.

When you post a video to YouTube (subscribe to my YouTube Channel www.Youtube.com/primeconcepts for other internet marketing videos), make sure you work your keywords into the video title and video descriptions don’t try to manipulate the listing, just use compelling copy and work in your keywords. Tags are critically important too and tags are just keywords to help users find related content. In YouTube make sure you put quotes around your tags when you have multiple words. For example, if I use a tag with my name Ford Saeks, and don’t use quotes, the site engines see FORD as a single word, and I don’t sell cars or need unwanted traffic, so use quotes for multiple words to make the keyword phrase tag the search element.

On Twitter, make sure you go to the settings screen and fill out your Name, URL and Bio line. Especially if you have a more common name. That way, when others are searching to find YOU, they can identify which twitter account to follow.

When you make tweets, and use keywords, you’ll attract readers that are searching for or following the same topics.  Same goes for Facebook and Linkedin, you need to revisit your profiles and update them with keywords so other people can find and connect with you. And of course, when you blog, you should work in your keywords into your titles

Jot down your top 25 to 50 keyword phrases. Keep the list handy during your Social media networking. And most importantly, Always write for the site visitor FIRST, and then for the search engines. If you have great content, share it, and engage in conversations you’ll be well on your way to monetizing your Social Media Marketing Efforts.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

With all of the Social Media Sites growing exponentially, I’m frequently asked if they can really help build a business… Yes, they can. Sure you have to take the time to learn the unique nuances of each site, their purpose and how the community interacts, but Social Networking is here to stay and is only going to get bigger.

I’ve focused more on Youtube, FaceBook, and LinkedIN, but lately, all of the buzz has been about www.Twitter.com

I set my account up months ago but didn’t Tweet (post) much at all. Today, after presenting for the Publicity Society of America (PRSA) at their national convention I was amazed how many people were talking about how they were using Twitter effectively. View it at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

So tonight I updated my Twitter profile, created a custom page background, posted a few Tweets, linked a few favorites and downloaded a small application to my Iphone.

I searched for my name “Ford Saeks” and found several people that had tweeted (sorry, I’m not used to that term yet) with quotes from my presentation. From there, I found more blog postings about me too. What a great way to stay connected to your customers and more importantly your “brand”. (watch Twitter Video >>)

Twitter feeds help you keep your customers, prospects and suspects engaged and up to date too. It’s not a replacement for a blog or your site, but it gives savvy marketers and thought leaders another way to stay connected and build their brand.

So, for those of you already Twitter experts, I compliment you on your efforts. For the rest of you, start now, but to get a quick explanation on how to use twitter watch this Youtube Video. It explains Twitter in Plain English…

On Twitter? Follow me at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts Also, tell me what you think? Post a comment on this blog below.

Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines.  It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.

The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.

Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content.  Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic.   Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.

Here are a few tips for keyword success:

1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.

Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract.  Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.

2. Do your research.

Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now.  We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.

You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales.  Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits.  The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions.  The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.

Two of my favortite Keyword tools are:

Google Keyword Tool Sandbox:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

and the WordTracker Free Keyword Tool

There are several other sources for keyword research and they all offer specific advantages and benefits. WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool and  Google’s Sandbox Tool will keep you busy for a while and help you create a nice list of keywords.

3. Use your Keywords on your website content, blog headlines and postings, articles, media releases, and social media website profiles.

Remember, keywords… sorry scratch that… The right keywords, meaning most relevant keywords that your prospects would type into a search engine are what you want in your content.  This includes the content on your website and any content that you place on other people’s website.

For exampke, if you have your company profile or products listed on directory sites or association listings you want to include relevant keywords.  If you have a blog then your blog headlines and blog postings or comments you place on other people’s blogs should include relevant keywords.  If you are using Social Media Marketing Websites — like FaceBook, Linkedin, YouTube, MySpace, and many others to grow your business — then you need to include your relevant keywords in your profiles and postings.

Make certain that your webmaster understands the proper SEO elements necessary for top rankings so you can take advantage of your keywords.  Or hire an SEO Specialist like me, Ford Saeks, to help you and your organization dramatically improve your search engine rankings and make more money. There are 7 critical places you must place your keywords to get top rankings.  One of the best places on your site is the PAGE TITLE and it must be unique on every page.

I explore over 10 other keyword research and SEO strategies going into much more detail on finding the best keywords, including the seven critical places you must use your keywords to increase your targeted site traffic on Keyword Secrets: 60-Minutes to Simple Keyword Success Audio.

Also, WordTracker offers a 7-day free trial and 7 free keyword videos and a Keyword Basic’s Guide that you and your webmaster will find extremely helpful.  I guarantee it!  

Start Now. Add a comment below on this blog posting with your top keywords and put a link to your website.  This will give you an in-bound link that also helps your site rankings.