Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a way to optimize websites so they would be more easily connected or interlaced with online communities and community websites. SMO tactics can drive huge amounts of people to a website and can also determine whether a startup, website or idea will make it or not.

It involves driving traffic to a website through new channels because search engines aren?t the only sites that drive big traffic anymore. The result is more visibility, more exposure, inbound links and increase in targeted traffic.

SEO and SMO goes hand in hand in my opinion.

It is best not to rely on one source of traffic — imagine if 80% of your traffic comes from Google and the change in their algorithm causes your site to lose its ranking. That’s 80% of your traffic wiped out!

SMO is a strategy that has emerged that has the potential to create huge amounts of traffic for the site. Doing SMO can complement your SEO efforts.

One tactic — creating linkbaits or great content that people will naturally link to — people will tag, link, mention in blogs and put in their del.i.cious can boost your link efforts tremendously.

Plus, the heart of SMO is creating GREAT content — which is also the main ingredient in a successful SEO effort.

SMO can help rethink how to do SEO. Instead of webmasters buying software to automate the request for link emails, they simply need to create great content that they can leverage in social media optimization.

I don’t think social media optimization will replace SEO, but augment the free traffic companies want. In fact, new websites can benefit from the traffic from SMO until their SEO efforts mature.

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Recently, a client of mine began to offer his feedback about some autoresponder emails I had written for him. His complaint: I had not included enough features and benefits in the email.

Before I addressed my client’s concern, I thought about how to respond. I concluded that my client and I had two differing views on the purpose of email. Before we could reach agreement, we had to reconcile our opinions.

What is the purpose of email anyway?

My client seemed to think that each email should be stuffed full of sales copy. That no features or benefits should be omitted. That the email should do the entire sales job, so to speak.

It’s my opinion that my client was expecting an email to do what a web site should.

The real purpose of email marketing is twofold:

1. To pre-sell your product or service.
2. To get a click to your sales page.

That’s all an email should do.

If an email pre-sells the product or service… and creates enough curiosity to persuade your reader to click a link… then the email has done its job beautifully.

It’s then the web site’s job to “close the deal” and collect the money.

After all, you can’t process credit cards inside an email. Your reader must go to a secure web site for that. So it’s the web site’s responsibility to get the order and capture the person’s payment information.

In your email writing, remember the ultimate purpose of what you’re trying to do: pre-sell and get a click. That’s it. Let the sales copy on your web site convert your interested prospect into a paying customer.

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Okay, so you’ve got your clickbank ID and it’s time to start making that mega money you’ve been reading about that’s out there hanging on the internet money tree waiting to be pruned by you, right? I’m sure you certainly hope so.

Clickbank is one of the hottest affiliate programs on the web. The saturation of the clickbank market alone makes earning the mega bucks these money making “gurus” are promising you virtually impossible. Just check any of the search engines and see for yourself how many advertised websites include the word ‘hop’, ‘clickbank’ and so on.

This is pretty much unavoidable since you have to have your clickbank ID included in your link to receive credit for any of the purchases. Nevertheless, these sites scream, “Someone’s trying to get rich off my hard earned money!”. Now some consumers aren’t offended by knowing a portion of their purchase is going into an affiliate’s pocket but some are.

Here are a few tips that may boost your clickbank profits:

Use A Unique Clickbank ID Don’t use your name or nicknames as these draw attention quickly to the fact that it’s an affiliate link. Try ID names like: “xyz123″, “webfacts567″, “netsearch2″. ID names similar to these don’t sound as personal as: “trina1979″, “djones05″, etc.

Incorporate Your Clickbank Links Into Your Website If you’re fortunate enough to have your own website, this is an ideal arena to promote your products. For example, if you have a page on your site dedicated to webhosting, this would be a great place to list some of your clickbank links related to webhosting packages. There are a number of different categories for clickbank products that can be placed throughout your website. Be creative.

Check the Page Rank of The Websites/Products You’re Promoting Before choosing a product to promote determine how popular that site has been with internet traffic. Example: If your affiliate link is www.ilovemusic.com/?hop=clickbankID, simply type in www.ilovemusic.com. This is a great indicator of the demand for this particular product or products the site is offering. Downloading the Google Toolbar which includes page rank for all sites is an awesome way to obtain this information.

Shorten Your Clickbank links Shorter links are more appealing to some. Here are some sites that can help you shorten your affiliate links:

http://Snipurl.com http://www.makeashorterlink.com http://metamark.net http://compacturl.com

Everyone is tapping into the enormous potential the internet offers for making money online. Good planning, creativity, and patience will certainly improve the odds on you being one of the many that capitalize on this opportunity!

About the Author

Roschelle Nelson is the founder and publisher of WAH4life.com. She lives and works at her home with her husband and two sons. http://www.wah4life.com

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The word podcasting is used often around the internet these days, although many people are still not exactly clear on just what a podcast is!  Simply put, a podcast is a blog (web log) that is made available in audio format.  The audio portion is a standard MP3 file that contains a program or show that can be created by anyone.  Think of it as a radio talk show that can be transmitted from a computer.

The word podcasting is used often around the internet these days, although many people are still not exactly clear on just what a podcast is!  Simply put, a podcast is a blog (web log) that is made available in audio format.  The audio portion is a standard MP3 file that contains a program or show that can be created by anyone.  Think of it as a radio talk show that can be transmitted from a computer.

The podcast transmission uses Real Simple Syndication (RSS) technology.  It may seem complicated but, as the name implies, it is actually fairly simple.  There are many resources available to help people learn how to record and set up a podcast.  The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow.  In fact, with just a few easy to learn skills, some low-cost (or free) computer programs, and the basic computer equipment and internet connections that you probably already have, YOU can create a podcast and host your own show. 

In addition to setting up a podcast, youll also want to provide a written blog that offers helpful, supplemental text for your podcast material.  For example, you may briefly mention a topic in your podcast and then tell your listeners: For more information on this topic, please see the web site.  In this way, you can expand the amount of information your subscribers receive from your transmission. 

When you have set up a blog and website, anyone with an internet connection can subscribe to your show.  Listeners will use an RSS aggregator, such as Doppler or Ipodder.  Both of these are FREE downloadable program that allow others to subscribe to any podcast of interest.  Theyre easy to set up and can be pre-configured to check for new podcast updates at set intervals.  In this way, a subscriber doesnt have to be tuned in to your podcast at a certain time; he can just receive notice of an update that is automatically downloaded to his computer and then listen to it at his leisure.  Subscribers listen to these files just like their music files, using Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any other similar audio program that is compatible with MP3 files. 

Needless to say, the topics of a podcast are limitless.  For example, maybe you have a special interest (even expertise) in fly fishing.  What a great idea to have a podcast devoted to the art and adventures of this great sport!  You can share techniques, stories, and even take live calls during pre-set transmission times.  Podcasting offers you the opportunity to become a true internet personality.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Email Marketing - The End Is Nigh!

 by: Robert Palmer

Consider if you will the resources, the time and the financial investment given to attracting new web traffic. Banner advertising, link exchanges, search engine ratings, affiliate schemes and the list goes on. Yet when it comes to retaining a customers future business or even a return visit, we simply hope that they will opt-in to a newsletter mailing list and everything will be okay.

Of course the truth of opt-in email marketing is far from okay. For a start, people, especially private individuals, frequently change their email address. For many people, email addresses are a disposable accessory, which should be replaced every few weeks when the Spam starts rolling in. I dont know about you, but I have enough trouble keeping up with the email changes of my friends and family, let alone a list of a few thousand customers and potential customers.

Typing email marketing into Google will return literally thousands of software products and services all promising to make your email campaign more successful and slick. Of course it doesnt matter how much or how little you expend on your email newsletter, it will still be one subject line of possibly hundreds, all screaming for attention.

 Average email click through rates fell from 5.4% in 1999 to just 1.8% in 2003 (Source eMarketer)

 27% of emails never get opened and of those that are opened only 23% are read thoroughly (Source: J Neilsen)

 Average open rate for B2B emails has fallen by 42% since 2001 (Source eMarketer)

Although such statistics make grim reading, worse is yet to come. Some industry experts are predicting a total collapse of the email infrastructure within the next five years due to the shear volume of traffic. A technology dating back to the 1960s, email was developed as a means for geeks to communicate with other geeks, about something they had seen in the alt.freakygeek newsgroup. It was never designed to cope with the demands of mass marketing which have been inflicted upon it since the arrival of the WWW. So with that in mind, it is something of a miracle and a credit to the technology of yesteryear that it continues to work at all.

Recent research commissioned by Yahoo revealed that the average British PC has nine sick days a year, two more than the average for human workers. Six of these days are lost battling against Spam, while a further three are taken up combating viruses.

The Yahoo findings went on to reveal that nearly half of British computer users find dealing with junk e-mails more stressful than traffic jams and the majority want service providers to act.

But Im no Spammer, I hear you cry! No, but your legitimate email is going to have to share the same inbox as the volumes of Spam and with only a Subject Line to stand out from the crowd, is it any wonder that email is becoming so ineffective as a marketing tool?

Clearly, alternatives to email marketing need to be developed. One emerging technology being pioneered by three software houses in the UK is that of One-2-Many Broadcasting. Already employed by the BBC, Visa, and many other blue-chip Net companies, One-2-Many Broadcasting offers a far-improved method of communicating with customers than opt-in email marketing or newsletters and already being hailed as the THE next big marketing tool.

One-2-Many Broadcasting involves the customer downloading a small client onto their PC. The customer can filter and influence what information they receive from within the software client. Once installed the website can then communicate directly with that customer by broadcasting information in a wide range of formats, all of which is attractively presented directly onto the customers screen. Sounds frighteningly, intrusive doesnt it? Well, not according to the millions of people who are already receiving information from the latest news through to film clips of the latest movie releases. One London based soccer club, Arsenal, has reported a phenomenal take-up of their One-2-Many Broadcasting Service, with over 100,000 subscribers in the first 12 months of operating.

So will One-2-Many replace email marketing? Who knows, I suspect that over the coming years a variety of marketing alternatives will appear, of which One-2-Many will hold a share of the market. In developing alternatives to email marketing one of the major factors will and is that of price; emails are extremely cheap. Any alternative therefore, if it is to be successful, needs to be competitively priced and rich in unique features.

To date, One-2-Many Broadcasting has been relatively expensive and financially not an option for most small to medium sized businesses. As the concept of One-2-Many marketing is developed, more and different software is likely to emerge, which will in itself introduce competition and hopefully lower prices.

For more information and reading on One-2-Many Broadcasting:

www.skinkers.com

www.edesktop.co.uk

www.desknet.co.uk

To experience One-2-Many Broadcasting:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70061-1109118,00.html - Sky News Alerts

http://www.arsenal.com/Userincludes/desktopwenger/InstallDesktopWengerNT.exe Arsenal FC

About The Author Robert Palmer is CEO of deskNET Communications www.desknet.co.uk and is a leading architect in the development of One-2-Many Broadcasting software.

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I want to tell you about two steps to get whatever you want. You can use these steps in any area of your life, not just Clickbank. But if you’re reading this article, then you’re interested in how to make money with Clickbank. So we’ll steer it towards Clickbank, but just remember that these steps can be used for you to get anything you want in life.

1) Decide exactly what you want.

This is the first and most important step. It’s been said that the reason people don’t get what they want is because they don’t know what they want.

I’m sure you’ve heard gurus talk about goals, how you need to set goals. Why do you think gurus talk about it so much?

Because it works.

So, let me ask you this: What do you want with your Clickbank business? How much money do you want to make? What kind of lifestyle do you want from your Clickbank income?

You need to get crystal clear on this. How can you hit a target if you don’t even know what the target is?

Start thinking about this. Here are some questions to ponder:

*What Clickbank product am I going to promote?

*What niche market do I want to advertise in?

*How much money do I want to make?

*How will I advertise?

These questions aren’t the end-all. Come up with some of your own questions. The point is to decide on exactly what you want from your Clickbank business.

2) Get a plan of action.

A plan is a list of activities. You need to list the activities that will get you you what you want. This may take some deep thinking on your part. But it’s critical.

The big one is how will you market. Remember, marketing is your main job as a Clickbank affiliate. So really spend some time on this and figure it out.

Also remember that you need to put your plan into continuous action. A plan that’s not put into action is useless.

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As the communication landscape changes and new, cutting edge ways of consuming information emerge, PR agencies and corporate public relations teams around the world must re-think the way they format news and deliver it to their target audience. The social media press release has radically altered the way PR professionals approach broadcasts and announcements.

* What is a Social Media Press Release?

Inspired by Tom Foremski of the Silicon Valley Watcher, a social media press release is a next-generation press release optimized specifically for online distribution and publication, such as placement in blogs, social bookmarking sites, RSS, and other similar mediums.

The social media press release is designed to facilitate rapid and widespread sharing of news, information, images, audio, video, and other content. Unlike traditional press releases that are notoriously packed with hype and marketing-speak, the social media press release is far more functional, focusing on just the most relevant and pertinent facts, and relaying them in a simple, concise, hyperlinked format that will appeal to bloggers and other online journalists.

The typical social media press release includes a summary of key highlights, a few expert quotes, links to background information embedded throughout the text, and tags that identify related coverage and other similar topics of interest ? all written in a style that reflects the way people speak about the subject at hand. As a result, it is much easier for bloggers to post the information, and for online journalists to conduct their research, and find the quotes, references, statistics, and other data they need to write thorough and accurate stories.

Many social media press releases also include images, video, and other visually-oriented content, tying together various multimedia elements in a way that makes them easily adaptable and re-usable.

* Fast and Wide Distribution

Social media press releases provide faster distribution and wider broadcast coverage than old-school public relations channels can. A recent Pew Research report shows that the public is more Web savvy than ever before, and that Internet use has become a part of the typical consumer?s daily routine.

In fact, more than 50 percent of consumers polled indicated that they create and share content online. With the social media press release, companies are empowered to take their message directly to these consumers via the most popular and preferred formats, making it readily available and instantly accessible not just to reporters, but to anyone who is interested.

Social media press releases can also act as direct marketing and search engine optimization vehicles. News headlines can be delivered via RSS ads, so they are dynamically pushed directly to those who subscribe to similar topics. And, the inclusion of popular key words and phrases (particularly those that potential customers are likely to utilize when searching for the company?s products or services), as well as commonly-used jargon and acronyms, title tags, ticker symbols, and links to other Web content such as blogs and related articles, can give a boost to a company?s ranking in Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines.

* Social Media is Here To Stay

Most of the major wire services have recognized the importance of social media in today?s PR strategies, and have begun to expand their offerings accordingly. PRWeb and Pheedo provide RSS ads, track-back functionality, and the ability to tag and send out press releases via del.icio.us.

Additionally, PR Newswire and Business Wire have launched new social media features such as RSS Feeds. These services also now allow bloggers to access capabilities and functions within their sites that were previously only available to credentialed journalists.

* Social Media Press Release Template

Several PR firms adjust their tactics to take full advantage of the Internet for PR. You?ll notice more social media press releases from a number of Internet savvy PR firms and companies. An online search for ?social media press release template? will lead you to examples, templates and ongoing blog conversations on the pros and cons of this next generation of press releases.

You’ll find that by following a social media press release template you can easily create compelling, highly-effective press releases structure specifically for distribution to media outlets and for obtaining comprehensive coverage.

About the Author:

SHIFT Communications is a PR agency specializing in high-tech public relations consumer public relations and social media. SHIFT has San Francisco and Boston public relations offices.

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Although podcasts allow anyone to quickly distribute information online, audio recordings lack one major element. They can?t be read by search engines. Without the benefit of text for search engines to read and store, it?s effectively impossible to search podcasts using Google or Yahoo the same way that you would search blogs or other online content. Effective podcast producers use three different ways to let listeners search podcasts.

First, many listeners can search podcasts by looking for meta terms and other material encoded into an MP3 recording. When listeners search podcasts at directories like PodcastAlley and PodcastDirectory, the additional information helps them find the podcasts they want much more quickly. Leaving this information out of your podcast recordings could leave your podcast adrift among thousands of other nondescript feeds in the directory servers.

Second, a growing number of websites let listeners search podcasts based on automated transcripts. AOL and PodScope use speech-to-text technology to convert podcast sound files into readable scripts. However, speech-to-text systems still cause a handful of errors in every recording, and not all podcast recordings may be clear enough for the servers to fully recognize each word.

Therefore, many producers are turning to the most effective way to let listeners search podcasts ? providing transcripts of their own. Transcribing a podcast can be a time-intensive chore. Even if you remember most of the words you spoke during your podcast recording session, it can be challenging to keep pace with yourself, especially if you type much more slowly than you speak.

Podcast producers can find willing professionals to transcribe recordings so they can be searched. Many transcript services can convert podcast speech to text for about two dollars per recorded minute. While commercial podcasters might look at those fees as the cost of doing business, hobbyists and creative audiobloggers might cringe at such a price.

Clever entrepreneurs have taken up the challenge of providing affordable podcast transcripts. In addition to the bidders at freelance work sites like Elance and RentACoder, the creators of the CastingWords service offer inexpensive transcripts, starting at 42 cents per recorded minute. At this rate, you can create searchable text for a ten minute podcast for less than the cost of most fast food value meals.

CastingWords uses a unique system to create podcast transcripts cheaply. Using Amazon?s Mechanical Turk to divide the files into smaller chunks, CastingWords can have dozens of independent workers tackle pieces of a project at the same time, assuring quick turnaround for producers that want to let listeners search podcasts.

Marshal Sandler 2006 for all podcast secrets by eContentCafe

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Operating an online business can be fun. Finding the right mix of products and services, and then putting them online is one of the simplest ways to create a business. However, it can be hard to get people interested in going to your site. Fortunately, there are sites to help you.

Squidoo is one of those sites. The site allows you to set up your own catalog. It also allows you to set up a website, but the catalog is what most people are interested in. By posting your catalog in a public site, you allow them better access to your site, and allowing you to sell your items to a wider variety of customers than you had thought of.

Squidoo allows you to set up a site as well, and it can be