Aira Bongco

Perhaps you may have heard about this method so it is not really that new to you. But who would have thought that this marketing method can be so effective that it took one of my websites and let it soar up to Google’s front page.

I would just like to share how you can get the same effect on your website and how easy it is to do.

1. Look for the right forums

Go in Google.com and type in your niche + “forum”. The results will show a list of relevant forums to your niche. Why does it need to be relevant? Well, we want our links to work not only as a backlink but also as a traffic driver. You cannot really attract significant traffic from a non-significant website.

2. Activity is the key

The next thing you need to do is look at the site’s activity. If your niche is too specific try typing in broad terms. For example, if your niche is “Toenail Fungus” then you can search for health forums instead. I doubt that there will be a forum dedicated to discussing toenail fungus with members being actually enthusiastic about it.

3. The Signature is your friend

Try to remember that you are signing up to forums for a possible backlink. Do not make a mistake and post on forums that does not allow signatures. Though some forums only allow signatures when a member creates a certain number of posts, that does not matter. What matters is that they allow signatures for you will be doing this as a long term promotion method.

4. Participate

That word could not have summarized it enough. Even if you have entered the forums to simply get a backlink and some traffic, be sure to actually contribute to the forum’s discussion. Spam will get you banned and forum moderators can smell spam even if it is a mile away. Use this area to contribute new knowledge to other people and learn from them as well. If you are really passionate about your niche, then this is the time to really tell people about your expertise. If your profile has a “friend” feature, try to add friends and join groups. This will also increase your network.

The magic of forum posting lies on one thing: the anchor text. Even if you try your hardest to build the largest network in social media if you do not do your homework and target your keywords, you will never see your website ranking for anything. Although I will not argue that social media is a very powerful tool for getting traffic, it does not, however, play a very huge role when targeting keywords.

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I read a recent report from Bill Tancer who is the General Manager of Hitwise that the actual figures does not necessarily translate to the claimed success of Twitter based on market share.

Hitwise Manager showed some statistics that there is a significant decline in Twitter’s market share. The steady increases in visits and “Twitter” searches have significantly stopped to rise as of April, 2009 and it is now moving merely in an up and down fashion as shown in the graphs.

This means that Twitter is not gaining traffic as quickly as it did before and this is what Bill called “user saturation”. He attributed it to new user traffic. Since there is a decrease of new users from Twitter’s rise to popularity, the traffic rates are not growing as well.

If one will take the time to understand this, this means that Twitter is losing returning users. The market share is only the difference between new users and returning users. With this, can you imagine what will happen if the level of new users dropped significantly?

There is also the need for Twitter to address why there is a lack of returning users. I have interviewed some of my peers and some of them think that Twitter offers no use to them. They have tried it out but they do not see the importance of seeing small updates of other people. There is therefore a need to reiterate Twitter’s purpose.

I think this is a call for Twitter to increase the conversion of new users to loyal users. It seems like the majority of Twitter’s market share is only from new users. This may be treated as crucial information because of recent news on issues on Twitter funding.

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Google search results have always aimed to provide the most relevant content to their users. And today, they chose to take relevancy to the next level by providing other links in their site description. One is the relevant deeplinks with anchor texts which is stated in the Google Webmaster Blog and the other is the so-called “jumplinks” which lets users jump to a particular section of the page based on the anchor text of the link provided.

However, not all pages are given the same treatment. One must remember that Google always treat results based on its algorithm. The Google Webmaster Blog gave two tips. First is to ensure that multi-topic pages on your website are properly structured and second is to sort out the anchor texts of each section through a proper list of “table of contents”.

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Being an aggressive marketer is an admirable trait. It means not sitting behind and doing nothing but approaching your prospects with something to offer. According to Encarta, being aggressive is “characterized by or exhibiting determination, energy, and initiative”. It shows that you know what you want and you will get it no matter what it takes.

However, let me share with you my experience as I have been a victim of aggressive marketing today. Someone approached me at a local mall and offered me a raffle ticket for a contest to win $10,000. I thought I should give it a try not because I want to win the money but because I want to find out how these types of businesses work. I am well aware on my percentage of winning. After all, I may learn something new at the end of the day so it will not hurt me. She told me they are doing this only for promotion purposes and there is absolutely no payment involved. I just need to go to their office for a presentation about their services so I followed her.

At first, the woman who entertained me was really nice. She talked to me and asked about my life. I feel like a million bucks because it makes me feel that she actually cares about me. The same happened when I got into their office. I was passed on to another person and greeted by a lot of their employees. When I got inside I was asked to sit down and was even given some drinks. The guy talked to me about their business briefly then began relaying their services one by one. I thought my job is only to listen. I was happy because I learned about that guy’s life because I keep asking him questions as well. That is until they asked for my card. I thought they will only use it to confirm my identity then they began swiping it in the cashier. With that, I stopped them.

Right from that instant, my perception about them changed. These people are being nice to me not because they like me but because they see me as money and not as a person. The moment I told them that I do not like to proceed, the guy kept on repeating the same thing over and over again and I know that he will not stop until he closed the sale. When I was not convinced, he then left and he was substituted by another sales person. That sales person asked me how the other guy did. I figured he is his manager so I told him how nice he was. But this guy asked me why I did not convert and proceeded with the transaction. I told him I was not ready then he told me that it only means that I did not like the other guy. I liked him as a person but that does not mean I have to pull out my money to prove it.

From that moment, I began to get tired. The guy who first talked to me disappeared and they started to treat me like I am nothing. They asked me to wait and they wasted my time. And all of that is for the simple reason that I cannot close the sale. I told them that I will seek their services when I need it but they told me that I have to close the sale today. While it is true that they may get a sale at that instant with me, it will only be because I got drowned in sales talk and not because I found their services really valuable to me. And since they pushed me away, the next time I need their services, they will be out of my options with the way they treated me.

This little story on what happened with me today is an example on how businesses can lose customers by being too aggressive in their marketing. I am not against being aggressive altogether. Just look at what happened to me. I am also a potential customer. But they only treated me as such for a short time. If not, they make me feel like I am nothing. With that, they are out of my options when I do consider their services in the future.

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You may have been a very active social media user. All of your friends and networks know what you are doing at any time of the day and you keep them updated not only through microblogging but also through creating articles or blog posts. However, have you ever thought of really touching your audiences’ lives?

Social media is here to help. It is created so that information can be easily shared. Just imagine how you can instantly share your latest photo shoot and the last party you have attended. It also allows you to share what your life is all about. This is your chance to get a share at the spotlight but being too blinded by the spotlight and too focused on yourself will only make you feel empty afterwards. Now is the time to focus more on other people and less on yourself.

So how can you integrate social media with real life? Here are some things you can do.

Meet People with Similar Interests

The ability to search through networks is amazing. You can simply type your interests and you will instantly see a list of people who are interested in the same thing as you. The best part is that you can connect with these people. You can talk to them and touch their lives without being physically beside them. Utilize this power of social media rather than merely piling on numbers. Quality will always be better than quantity.

Aim for More than Just Connecting

Some people think that social media is merely chatting with strangers. But it will only become like that if you let it. Aim for more than just connecting. It is better to have friends whom you actually talk to than to have thousands of online “friends” whom you do not even know or talk to. Use social media to build networks but keep those relationships real and not only for show.

Helping others will Help You

Believe it or not, helping others will help you. Not only will it build your network, it will also make you happy as well. If you know something, do not keep it to yourself and race to the top. Instead, teach it to someone else and work together to the top. Just imagine if you had 10 new friends today. That will give you 10 authentic comments on your blog along with 10 promotional tweets and all are done from the bottom of their hearts. As you meet people in social media, get to know them and help them.

I came up with these ideas simply because I see the transformation of social media from authentic relationships to anonymity. I hope we continue to utilize social media for its intended purpose and that is for us to meet other people. Do not let social media be an anonymous tool. Use it to create real relationships with other people.

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Symbols may mean a lot to people and even more to an organization or corporation. In Google’s endeavor to be the primary search engine, it transforms its small search box to a bigger one.

Here is a picture directly from the Google Blog.

It may be a small change but it is a change that emphasizes the company’s focus on search. Also, a bigger search box means bigger letters as well. Marissa Meyer, Google’s Vice President on Search Products and User Experience, said “Over the past 11 years, we’ve made a number of changes to our homepage. Some are small and some are large. In this case, it’s a small change that makes search more prominent.”

However, reactions of the users vary. Some people like it while others don’t. Matt McGee of Search Engine Land did not like the new search experience. “I’ve been using it for the last hour and … well … I don’t feel like I’m having more fun.” He said.

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Facebook was so excited when they released the new Facebook News Feed which will help people keep up with their network by adopting a feed of their lives. However, this has gained more frowns than smiles.

With this, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to users for their violation of the users’ privacy. They even took a step to counter what had happened by providing a privacy control system. This will help the people have a control over what information gets into their feeds.

The problem with this is that the damage has already been done. Putting up a privacy control system will not reverse the destroyed reputations and information released. It simply cannot reverse time.

Also, there is a need to educate Facebook users to alter their privacy settings. People just do not have the time or interest to fiddle with privacy controls. It will be better if it is just turned off and then the user can turn it on if he wants people to know about his life. But then again, having control as to what information is released and stays hidden is great. I just wish Facebook will now be more sensitive of their users’ feelings.

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Face it. No matter how much you love Google you just cannot ignore this new search engine that has been releasing interesting features since its launch. But contrary to other web developers who rest up a bit when the traffic starts coming in, Bing has only the word “improvement” on its mind.

And with this, Bing is coming up with “Bing and Ping” where you can integrate Instant Answers with sharing information to your friends. The great thing about Bing is that they understand what is happening in the online world right now and that is how social media are becoming a very important aspect in connecting. Bing and Ping allows sharing and searching in one.

So how will this happen? Bing will integrate itself with Twitter and Facebook so that it can reach your contacts. By using the search engine, you can share the results to your friends who need the information the most.

However, some people are wondering why Twitter and Facebook are chosen by Bing. Why did they choose these sites and did not include their very own Windows Live? Well, the answer may well be the traffic and usage rates of the said websites.

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A domain age is the span of time a particular domain is registered. This has been a very important factor not only for SEOs but also for domain sellers. But as Matt McGee from Search Engine Land recalls the past debate on this matter, it seems that Google do not worry about it to much.

This is actually not a new issue. One of the problems of a lot of new people who want to do SEO is that they tend to over-focus on factors such as domain age. What they do not understand is that SEO is a play of various factors and domain age is only one of them. While it is true that domain age can be a proof of a website’s authority, it is just one part of the proof.

Phil Payne of Google Webmaster Central could not put it better

“Domain age is perhaps part of the “trust” factor. There are supposedly over 200 factors in site ranking – a history of good behaviour may well be one of them. Not age of itself, but a track record of being properly handled during that time. Sitemaps with accurate and useful meta data, proper resolution of canonical issues, that kind of thing.”

Another interesting point of view is that expressed by Ann Smarty of the Search Engine Journal in her article entitled “Domain Age: How Important Is It for SEO?” She says that domain age cannot be a proof for a website’s quality because of three factors.

(1) domains can be parked
(2) domains can be transferred
(3) domains can be redirected

She then resolves the qualifying factor of domain age by giving three more points.

(1) Domain age is not important, it is website age.
(2) Domain age plays a part but does not take center stage
(3) Domain age only matters because of backlinks

So I hoped this article has helped you think twice about purchasing that old domain with dreams that it will do wonders for your SEO campaign. Domain age may still play a role but it is really not that important to be worried about. As Google’s Matt Cutts said, “My short answer is not to worry very much about that [the number of years a domain is registered], not very much at all.”

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This week has been magical. I have been talking to a lot of people with various interests and it turns out that a lot of them love to express their opinion and write yet they do not know how to blog. I thought blogging is such a common thing nowadays but it seems like there is still a need to create this post for those people who are hungry for that information.

Given that, I have come up with 10 easy steps you can follow. It is pretty straightforward and if you follow the instructions closely, you will be blogging in no time.

1. Choose a Topic

A common assumption when they think about blogging is that it is an online diary. Well, yes. It is an online diary. But it must revolve around a particular topic for it to be interesting to a lot of people. Unless you are some kind of celebrity, people will not care what you ate last night or where you have gone with your friends. What they are interested in is what you can offer them.

With that aside, choose a topic that can be interesting to other people but is equally interesting for you. A usual topic will be a hobby you are currently passionate about. I used the word “passion” in here because it is very important. Just imagine that you are going to write about this topic everyday. If you are not interested in it, then you will not enjoy it. Remember that blogging must not be a job. It is something you can enjoy.

2. Transform the Topic into a Brand

After choosing a topic, it is now time to turn it into a brand. Research for other blogs or businesses with the same topic. These are your competitors. Of course, you do not want to be just part of the crowd. You want to stand out. To do this, you must brand yourself to be different from other people.

The key is to see what people like and then altering it slightly. Some may go crazy and even provide a mascot into their brand. That is okay. Think on how you can blog about the topic in a different way. Do not merely repeat the information that is out there. Contribute something new to the blogosphere.

3. Research the Demand

Now that you know where you stand, it is time to research if other people are really interested in your topic. There must be a significant number that is interested in what you have to say. Do not choose topics that only cater to a small number of people. We are creating a business here and not merely a blog.

4. Assume a Personality

This, again, is part of creating a USP or a unique selling proposition. When you blog, you are the product. Your thoughts and opinions are what you sell and that is what people want. It is very important to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

To do this, think about how you want to be perceived. That is the magic of the internet. You can actually control how you want to be perceived. Now take on that personality in the way you blog. It will make a huge difference.

5. Create the Content

Now is the time to create your content. You know how you wanted to sound, you know how you want people to see you, and you know what to put into the content. Now write it. When you are starting a blog, It is advisable to write a good 10 posts scheduled to get the site running. So create this first even before setting up the blog.

6. Now Create the Blog

Now a lot of people are putting in extra steps in this. They always say to sign up to a domain, get a hosting and install Wordpress. But the truth is, Wordpress is only one type of CMS (Content Management System). It is not the only way to blog. There is blogger, typepad, livejournal and even your social networking blog at Multiply, Friendster, Facebook and the likes. Although some may argue that installing Wordpress will make things easier for you, it does not matter. But I will recommend to blog in a site where you can put up advertisements if you are planning to make money out of this. Blogger is okay. I have seen an equal amount of people earning from Blogger as there are earning from Wordpress.

7. Promote, Promote and Promote

Now after getting the blog running, that is not the end. You have to tell the Internet world that you exist. It is not enough that you simply create content. That will mean nothing if no one reads it. So how do you do this?

Well there are lots of methods. You can comment on other blogs, promote through your signature in forums, put up your link in social media profile pages, tweet about your site on Twitter. There are lots of them and you may research more. But one thing you must remember that it is better to promote consistently with a few promotion methods than to promote rarely with lots of methods.

8. Update and Maintain

Also, do not forsake your site. Blogging only starts when it is maintained on a regular basis. This will also help the friendly search engines to pick up your content. Give something new to the blogosphere everyday and you will be rewarded.

9. Reach Out

Being a blogger is not an anti-social task. You also need to network with fellow bloggers in your niche. Learn how you can reach out. Do not be a robot and keep churning out content for your blog. You are a human being so learn to talk to other people. Who knows you may learn something new.

10. Go Offline

Perhaps the best promotion is offline. Seek your family and friends and ask them to view your site. The personal network can also be very powerful. Aside from that, you can also promote your brand everywhere. Make an effort to get your name out there.

Well I hope this little guide has helped you with starting out on blogging. Blogging is not hard. It is very easy. And all it takes is that you make the first step.

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