The Future of the URL Shortener and All Those Links We Are Creating

Posted by Steinar on Jan 17, 2010 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

Everyone is getting into the URL shortening game these days. Google, YouTube, and Facebook are just a few joining the likes of the established players such as Bit.ly. And now Microsoft is jumping in. But there’s something weird about their URL.

via Fa.il: Bing’s URL Shortener Is Longer Than Bing’s Own Domain.

Seems like every link you see these days has been shortened by one of the popular URL shorteners, such as bit.ly or tinyurl.  These services are great, especially when using a social network like Twitter where messages are limited to 140 characters.

It was inevitable that Microsoft would get in on the game, but it raises an important question.  What happens to all those links when one of these URL shortener services goes under?

I see a couple major implications:

1. all your links old become broken
2. any search engine optimization benefit you enjoyed would now vanish

If you are a casual user of the Internet and social media, this is probably no big deal.  But companies or individuals investing in the business of driving traffic online should beware.  The rapid proliferation of URL shorteners should be a clue that ultimately some will not survive.

And then what?

Do you use URL shorteners?  Have you considered the potential risks of handing control of your links over to a 3rd party?

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Facebook Via – Twitter Retweet Meets Facebook Allowing Friends to Easily Share Content

Posted by Steinar on Jan 16, 2010 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

It was only launched last night, but I’m already seeing use of Facebook’s new share feature or “via”.  It basically allows you to share links from your friends’ posts, add your own commentary and give credit to your friend’s original post.

Generally speaking I think this will go over well, due to the limited nature of the simple “Like” feature and closed in nature of “comments.”  By allowing friends to share and comment on each others’ content, Facebook is encouraging many-to-many conversations, like those taking place on Twitter.

We’ve long speculated as to when Facebook might get its own version of Twitter’s Retweet, and it appears that the time is now. This evening, the site rolled out a “via” feature that lets you repost another user’s shared items, with a “via” link attached for attribution.

via Facebook’s Version of the Retweet Has Arrived.

No doubt, anyone who owns a business should be delighted by the improvement if you’re leveraging Facebook to grow your business, since most of the updates businesses post on Facebook include a link.

What do you think?  Have you tried the new “share via” features yet?

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5 ways to leverage social media to better engage customers

Posted by Steinar on Jan 6, 2010 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

Engaging customers through social media is not a trend, it is part of human nature.  People simply want to feel like they have a voice, especially when dealing with a company they do business with.

This quote from  eMarketer reinforces the idea that companies marketing on social media platforms need to take this to heart and make the extra effort to truly engage with their market:

Most businesses have realized that when it comes to social networks like Twitter or Facebook, simply broadcasting content isn’t quite enough. Consumers want companies to engage with them on social networks — not because they want to have a relationship, per say, with a brand of soap or shampoo, but because they appreciate the opportunity to give feedback on products, receive meaningful information from brands, and catch the occasional bargain, among other things.

via The eMarketer Blog.

Simple ways to engage customers with social media:

1. Actively search Twitter for people asking questions about your niche.  For example search “how do i” [insert industry keywords].  Think of other leading indicators to surface questions and answer them directly.
2. Set up a blog search alert on Google and respond to any blog posts that mention your company name or brand.  Include a link to your website or social media platform of choice.
3. Blog about your industry and your market.  Invite customers to comment.  Don’t edit the comments. Don’t hide the comments.  Make the dialogue open and honest.
4. Setup a site similar to my Starbucks Idea and invite customers to provide innovative ideas.  Make your customers part of the solution.
5. Reward customers that actively engage with you online somehow.  Don’t make it some formal program.  Make it a surprise and don’t publicize it.  Let them do the promotion for you.  That’s the power of social media

What do you think?  How can companies leverage social media to better engage customers?

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Leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog (Audio)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 14, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 0 comments

Listen or Download

Upcoming events are a great opportunity for you to leverage keywords related to that event and drive SEO traffic to your blog.

If you can, research an event within your niche and identify 2-3 long-tail keyword phrases that a potential reader might use to search for information on Google.  Write a few blog posts about the event and use these keywords in your title, post text, meta keywords, and meta description.  Follow up your post with a link in Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and your other favorite social media and bookmarking sites.

In my experience, if there is little competition for the event I can usually score a top 3 position in Google if I choose my keywords correctly.  There are several tools to conduct keyword research, but I suggest starting with Google Keyword Tool to familiarize yourself on the topic.

Although events come and go, the benefit of optimizing for them is the ability to attract new followers within your niche.  Give it a try – it’s actually a bit fun.

What’s your experience leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog?  Any success or other tips to share?

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Twitter Search RSS Feeds to Find Customers and Blog Content (Video)

Posted by Steinar on Dec 10, 2009 in Blog, Marketing | 2 comments

In this video I show you how to use Twitter Search to find people in your niche, answer questions, and find new content for your next blog post.

In particular I illustrate how to:

• search twitter for leading indicators of questions
• use exact phrase match to narrow in on the right tweets
• save the RSS feeds to your RSS aggregator
• leverage Twitter questions to build your following, knowledge, and business

UPDATE: if you want to exclude Tweets that include links, simply add -http to your search.  This will weed out Tweets that look like user questions but are potentially links to an answer of some sort.  Here’s an example:

I hope you found this useful.  I know it’s been a great approach for me.

You else do you conduct real-time online market research?  What other techniques can you share that work?

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