Sacrilicious Marketing

So, if you have been following along the past few days, you have learned how to SEO your Facebook Fan Page, but did you know you can also SEO your Twitter profile? Social media is not immune to SEO and there are a few very simple and a few not so simple tricks that can help you to get the most bang for your buck out of your Twitter account in Google searches.

Most people think about social media in terms of socializing, but forget that it can be a powerful tool for SEO. Your Twitter account can be optimized for search engines so that you get the best possible value out of your profile. Here are a few ways to turn your Twitter account into a searchable work of art:

1. Pick a Username & Actual Name

Select a twitter user name that includes the keyword you wish to rank high in. For example, if you want people to find your Twitter profile when they search for Real Estate, make sure that ‘Real Estate’ is in your name.

Example:

@XYZrealestate

*NOTE: Do not use any dashes and make it short and simple to remember.

You can use your actual name for this or include the keyword again if it is appropriate (this doesn’t help with personalizing your account to you though).

*NOTE: If have an account already, you can fix this by logging into your Twitter account and clicking “Settings”. From there, change your ‘Name’. Do not change your ‘Username’.

2. Shorten Your Website URL

To accommodate Twitter using only the first 20 characters of your url, shorten it with bit.ly and get rid of the www. This will allow people to see the link before they click on it.

Example: http://bit.ly/ayacXC

If you need to change this, go into your Twitter account and click “settings”. From there go to the “Account” page and scroll halfway down the page.

3. Create a Bio

Be short and to the point, but make your personality stand out. You have 160 characters to make your personality stand out, so don’t waste your time with words that have no search value. Your bio should be a representation of who you are and how you want others to perceive you. This can make a huge difference in people deciding to follow you or not. Sometimes Google will include your location, so make sure that you provide this. The more exact the better!

*NOTE: To fix your location log into your Twitter account and clicking “Settings”. From there, change your “One Line Bio”.

4. SEO Your Profile Picture

Did you know that you can SEO your profile picture? You can’t add tags but, you can rename the photo before you upload it that way when it shows up in the URL it will have the keywords that you named. Be careful not to add spaces. Doing that will not translate the link very well. I don’t recommend changing your profile picture but, I would recommend changing the name of the profile picture and re-uploading it. You can do this by clicking on “Settings” and then “Picture”.

For example, rename your image ohio-real-estate.jpg and upload it and voila – you have a keyword rich url right inside your avatar picture! Sneaky but effective and your image will be indexed better in Google’s image search.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 50% [?]

To continue yesterday’s top secret tips on optimizing your Facebook Fan Page for Google and other search engines, here is Part II!

6.     Use Static FBML Tabs to Add Content and Call to Action Value

Since adding lengthy static blocks of keyword rich text and links is limited on your wall tab (Facebook’s default tab) you can use FBML application to build custom pages with additional text, links and images that can augment the content value of your page! I personally, advocate adding rich media like images and call to actions to not only interest search engines but get fans and visitors to more readily convert to your website and lead generation pages. Adding content boxes or tabs with FBML to your Page can be a great way to boost the content density score of your Page (note, however, that each tab lives at a separate URL in Google’s eyes).

* Power Tip – remember “alt” and “title” tags for images are great ways to add additional relevant keywords into the code and content in addition to helping your images get indexed! It’s also not a bad idea to use a service like PhotoBucket to host your images and make sure your images are names with keyword rich names since PhotoBucket retains the file name better than Flickr.

Resource: Custom Facebook Fan Pages

In order to add a custom content box or tab to your Page, follow these steps:

• Go to the “Static FBML” application on Facebook.
• Click “Add to my Page” on the top left side, and choose the page you’d like to add a custom content box or tab to.
• Once you’ve chosen one, close the dialog box, go to your Page, and click “Edit page” under your Page’s profile picture.
• In the applications list on the resulting page, you should see an application called “FBML 1″. Click the pencil icon on the right, and choose “Edit.”
• You’ll be taken to a page with 2 fields: “Box Title” and “FBML.” Enter the name you’d like to give the box or tab in the “Box Title” field. Enter the HTML you’d like to use in the “FBML” field (FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language, and is a subset of HTML.), and then click the Save Changes button.
• Once changes are saved, click the “Edit” link at the top of your Page to return to your Page’s application settings page. Click the pencil icon next to the name of the FBML application you just created, and choose “Application Settings.”
• If you want to add the FBML you just entered as a box, choose “Add” next to the Box option. The custom FBML box will by default appear on the Boxes tab, so if you want to move it to the left side of your Wall tab, you’ll need to then go to the Boxes tab, click the pencil icon on your FBML box, and choose “Move to Wall tab.”
• Or, if you want to add the FBML you just entered as a tab, choose “Add” next to the Tab option. The custom content should then automatically appear on its own tab on your Page. Note, however, that Facebook truncates tab titles after 10 characters, so you’ll need to choose a short title.

Need help with this? Hire Sacrilicious to create your customized high impact Facebook Fan Page!

You can set your new FBML page to be the default view for new visitors before they become fans by editing your Fan Page and changing the “Settings” by selecting the name of your new FBML page in the drop down menu.

* Power Tip: ALWAYS name your new FBML page something relevant that will get clicked after an initial visit. So, “Search Homes” or “Special Offers” or “Menu” or “Concert Schedule” or “New Music” would be more valuable in terms of clicks than “Welcome” or “Become a Fan.” You can always change the name of the tab after it is created by editing the Page and then editing the FBML application.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Most people forget that social media is more than socializing and lead generation – it can be a great source of SEO. Your Facebook Fan Page and Profile can be optimized for search engines so you get the best possible value out of your profile and updates.

1.     Pick a page name with keywords

Select a name for your page that includes keywords people would likely be searching when looking for your service, product or business.

Example:

Colorado Springs Real Estate

Celebration Florida Town Tavern

Capital Grill Boston

*NOTE: once you pick a name for your fan page, you CANNOT change it so select wisely.

Nobody is searching for “you” unless you are a celebrity so don’t create a fan page in your name unless your name has existing brand value. Use keywords that describe your product or service or if you have a physical location like a store-front include your location. For popular bars, restaurants and clubs, you should use your business name and location (town/city). Also, be aware you cannot give your page a generic name like “Boston” or “Real Estate” – Facebook has recently been disabling updates for generically named Pages – effectively neutering their ability to reach their Facebook fans.

2.     Select the proper category for your page

When you create a page, Facebook allows you select a specific category for your page – always select the MOST relevant category to index your page within. READ THROUGH ALL THE SELECTIONS BEFORE MAKING YOUR CHOICE. This is how Facebook will index your company, brand, celebrity personality so be very thoughtful when making your selection.

3.     Use the Vanity URL Feature

Facebook allows you to choose a vanity URL or as Facebook calls it, a “username” for your fan page once you have 100 fans. This is hands down the most valuable SEO tool you within Facebook, so select your vanity URL wisely.

Example:

www.facebook.com/coloradospringsrealestate

www.facebook.com/papajohnspizza

www.facebook.com/capitalgrillboston

This is where you have a better opportunity to include generic keywords than the page name, so be sure to include your most valuable keyword but still be sure to keep the vanity url short. The best solution is to combine your business name with a relevant keyword.

Usernames can be selected at www.facebook.com/username

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Over the past few years, it seems many marketers, especially new media marketers, have gone soft on list building and list marketing. We’ve been so bombarded by permission and inbound marketing dogma that many of us see the idea of targeted non-permission based email marketing as old school and spamming. However, monetizing a list for immediate and long-term income is best accomplished by combining a specific offer with a conversion landing page, marketed through permission and non-permission based targeted bulk emailings.

Example:

Last month I used a combination of inbound, permission and non-permission based marketing with targeted lists, my results were as follows:

4 Steps To Having a Successful Mailing that Nobody Talks About

1. Define your offer on both a landing page and an HTML email

A solid email offer should be concise and specific. This means, forgo long, rambling text for short, call to action copy with vivid graphics. Also, make sure you explicitly explain your offer, give examples of your product or service and provide pricing. The page and email should offer the ability to immediately convert a reader to a lead or customer by directing them to your sales page. But the most important thing you must do is call people to action with either an amazing deal or a time limited offer. Ideally, you want to create the need to buy with an irresistible offer.

Good examples of offer-based conversion emails/pages:

Groupon

Jet Blue Deal of the Day

My Example: Sacrilicious Marketing Facebook Fan Page Offer

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Everybody is so caught up in the idea of blog to book deals, but really when you look at the Internet fame deals recently they have more in common than just blogging. They are mostly consumer centric, driven by the micro content phenomenon and appeal to the Gen X/Gen Y demographic. Now, let’s dissect that statement.

Top 10 Best Micro Content to Fame Deals

Recent Micro Content to Book/TV Deals

1.     Shitmydadsays (TV Deal)

2.     Fakeapstylebook (Book Deal)

3.     Fmylife (Book Deal)

4.     Texts From Last Night (TV Deal)

5.     F U Penguin (Book Deal)

6.     This is Why You’re Fat (Book Deal)

7.     Chuck Norris Facts (Book Deal)

8.     I Can Has Cheezburger (Book Deal)

9.     Stuff White People Like (Book Deal)

10.  Fail Blog (Book Deal)

Resource: Exploiting the Blog to Book Deal: A Guide

Resource: From Blog to Book, How 6 Authors Did It

1. Consumer Oriented

When you think of publishing fame do you think Seth Godin or JK Rowling? Seth has penned 12 best sellers but only sold 20 million copies, has an ad network/wiki called Squidoo and a social network called Triiibes. On the other hand, JK Rowling has penned a mere 7 bestsellers, sold over 400 million books and yet her fortune exceeds $798 million, ranking her the 12^th wealthiest woman on earth… The difference? Mr. Godin writes to marketing professionals, businesses and entrepreneurs while Ms. Rowling writes to a family friendly consumer audience of children and adults. What this should tell you unequivocally is that producing something you can market to the mass consumer market is more profitable than producing content you market to the business market.

Resource: Squidoo: Seth Godin’s Purple Albatross?

2. User Generated Content

The user generated model has really taken off within the micro content community with Fmylife and Textsfromlastnight. Each has successfully built a very robust and engaged community of commenter’s, voters and contributors. The product is simple. Hilarious situational humor coupled with a standardized format. The lesson? Find a universal situation or topic that all people can relate to and experience and open a micro forum where they can share their experience and interact with other similar experiences. The Fmyscript script can help you create just such a forum. It’s your responsibility to come up with the situation, the standardized format and populate the first few posts then spread the site among your inner circle. With any luck and good idea, it should go viral quickly.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 50% [?]

About 6 months ago, Seth Semilof, the publisher of Haute Living Magazine contacted me through my good friend and client, Kevin Tomlinson. Seth, who has long had a very successful magazine for the elite, Haute Living, wanted to create a premier luxury living online property. His idea was brilliant, he wanted to call upon his rich and famous friends like fashion designer, Catherine Malandrino and Denise Rich (infamous philanthropist and Grammy nominated songwriter for Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Diana Ross and Mandy Moore) to provide personal city guides of Miami, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles with recommendations of where to eat, drink, get pampered and stay when visiting. The idea was to create a network of luxury information from exclusive bloggers and the printed magazine content and couple it with premium level city guide content to drive the largest luxury living online network. Launched earlier this year, the site www.hauteliving.com has catapulted itself through a strategic SEO campaign and content building program to the top 50K of all US website traffic and built a very involved and loyal readership. The launch of the Haute Secrets, component earlier this month and the collective clout of the rich and famous names associated with it have further built the websites reputation and buzz and has helped to grow the sites traffic by more than 210% in the past 3 months.

Feel free to check out the Haute Secrets Guides in your city here and find out where Sir Richard Branson dines and Katherine Malandrino goes to get pretty…

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony pull YouTube’s Teeth Out by Deindexing Their Video Content and Placing it on Their Own Proprietary Networks, Hulu and Vevo.

As music labels, film studios, newspapers and other traditional publishers struggle to survive in the ever changing landscape of the Internet and it’s “free content” model, 2009 ushered in the world wide war against free content. Most pundits initially looked upon Ruppert Murdoch’s “Crazy Eddie” strategy of de-indexing all News Corporation content, including both the New York Times and The New York Post as a bullying tax collector strategy of old that would not suit the new media model. But, as it turns out, it worked! That content has value. Google and Bing wanted it badly enough to pay for it. And over the past few months, as the model has shown increasing promise, most major publishing houses including those in film, television and music have taken note and found ways to work similar deals. While Sony, Universal and EMI have launched Vevo a video music network with the help of their YouTube/Google partnership, Warner Music Group joined it’s mother company, Warner Bros in the long list of music, film and television companies embarking on deals with Hulu. The end game solution for publishers is to de-index their existing video and textual content from major hubs including search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and YouTube, publish it exclusively on their own networks and charge the engines for access to index that content and push traffic back to their own networks. The value for the publishing houses is that now they have a central and controlled domain where they can aggregate all their copyrighted content. This means that publishers are now generating income for the indexation of content and pushing traffic in bulk back to their proprietary sites where they can sell advertising. It allows they greater control over their copyright information and, overtime, will help them to build large scale branded networks to feature their data on. Essentially, these publishers are building their own on demand TV, Radio and News networks where they not only generate revenue from advertising but also from the indexing of their content. This should be both a boon for publishers and content producers.

Resource: Hulu Tops 1 Billion Streams per Month!

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

How to build a brand online with social networks

There is a school of thought on the Internet that says if you want to build a community for yourself –go out and find the fringers and give them a place to connect to you and each other through your brand. Find the outcasts and unite them. I say NO! No. It’s simple. The popular kids never give tutorials on how to become popular. And they never go out and sit down at the loser nose pickers lunch table and make them their tribe. If you want to be a prom king brand or product on the internet you need to build your clique from the top down with two distinct types of users.

Read also: You Are Not My Friend: Why consumers only want to hang with the prom king

1. The celebrities/influencers

These are people that everybody already knows and respepcts. These are celebrities’ in their industry. The household names. They have the ability by simply mentioning your product/brand/website once in a blog post or using it to influence a large number of people.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 50% [?]

Truth be told, your social networking started back in kindergarten. You know how you are supposed to learn all kinds of crap in kindergarten that will serve you later (All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten). Well, making friends, sharing, keeping in touch, those are valuable skills you learn way back when. They are also the key components of social networking! So, the very skills you would use to make and keep friends offline are the very same ones you need to use online.

I want to make this clear, the Prom Queens among the glut of geeks in social media are people who are unafraid to network up and be as hated by some as they are loved by others. We win the social media lottery every time because we are social people- we are fun, witty, wise and know how to make real friends and keep them and know when to let some go. We know to use our real offline network of friends to help build a whole new network of online friends. But there are rules to this process…

Rule 1: Collect Fascinating Friends Offline and Connect With Them Online

I learned a long time ago to collect fascinating friends. Friends that have never been beaten down by life and always maintain a lust for experience! It makes for wonderfully irreverent stories and the most satisfying friendships and networking experiences. Now, I don’t know about you but I still have friends from first grade. In fact, one of my dearest and oldest friends , Bernadett Vajda (yeah yeah- the face, the legend, the model, the macaroon maker and Hungarian Princess (she also grew up next to Jay Leno’s mother)) is one such friend that I have known for so many years we can say a single word or phrase and burst out laughing. We have the kind of legendary stories that we can’t get through without busting out into incoherent laughter. Then, there are all the wonderful ladies from my Girls night Out Club in Orlando which includes Courtney Neitzl (Playboy Golf Model) and the ever wild and crazy mommy extraordinaire, Rachel Lovely… And, of course, there are all the wonderful rockstars I know like Bahnz Selby and the boys of The Enemy Lovers. The people you collect in your life should be diverse and interesting and allow you to expand your personal Dunbar Number so you can network most effectively.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

This is a repost by popular demand. So, last year I wrote a really scathing post about Trulia blackhatting SEO and getting banned.  It was, shall we say, riddled with sarcasm and I may or may not have used the term “flock taco” to describe their SEO. Hint, I definitely did. In any case, it resulted in about 200 direct messages, emails and IMs that could only be described as “break ups.” I personally found them hilarious and had to repost them with my own commentary. When I decided to restart this blog, it was a post that people kept begging me repost – so without further preamble…

So, the great Trulia post of 2009 made such a hit on Twitter and AR, I received over 100 “break up” tweets, emails, comments and messages. Who knew so many people felt like they were basically dating me? I was also told by Rich Jacobson of Active Rain that I need to get God/Jesus/Restoration in my life. Seriously, even God got dragged into the conversation! God, really? I need God cuz I use the F word? That has an awesome factor not even I could have seen coming and I know awesomeness. OK, I need to pull in an outside opinion on this one – Winston Churchill said “Profanity is only a crime against polite society not God.” And I think Winston told Hitler, Himmler, Lady Astor, all of India and a whole slew of other peeps and countries to “flock off” and he totally saved England, so I’m gonna go with that as sage advice. Although, I do apologize for ignoring the AR TOS, but hey- I break rules, it’s what I do. I promise to not break it again in the same way.

Now, since I am actually a connoisseur of hate mail – I have a special folder for it and I love to read it over and over because it makes me laugh that someone who doesn’t know me at all would spend so much time telling me all the ways in which I am a complete douche bag, why they hate me and why they will never listen to anything I ever say again even though I keep seeing their mug on MyBlogLog widget. I kind of look at hate mail to people you don’t know as the equivalent of sending a Porn Star fan mail with the request for a date and glorious professions of love. You know, pathetic. So, without further ado – my top 5 tweets from people that “broke up” with me yesterday and today.

1. TWEET – You’ve changed, unfollowed

WHAT POPS INTO MARY’S MIND WHEN SHE READS THAT TWEET? – Who the flock is this person? How do you know me – I don’t know you and if you don’t know me how do you know I changed? I am so bloody confused, my mind can’t even handle the circular loop it has found itself in after reading this.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]