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Get More Facebook Fans for Free

Erum Zehra — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:20:22 +0000

Facebook is the leader in social media marketing and one of the most effective sources of generating customers. Facebook Fans of a brand provide more value as customers than non-fans, according to a study from Syncapse. (Source: Marketing Charts)

Following are some very simple methods to get more fans for your Facebook page for free and promote your business to them:

Promote your page on your website
Add a social media icon to every page of your website promoting your Facebook business page to your website visitors.

Promote your page on every blog post
You can add a WordPress plugin to your blog which will add a Like button to every blog post. This will enable your readers to share your posts on facebook. This may not directly add fans to your facebook page but will help in generating traffic via facebook.

Promote on other Facebook pages
Do a search for groups or pages which may be of interest to your target market. Join these communities and promote your facebook page on them. Don’t try to spam them with ads about your business. Participate in the discussion that they are having and in the end of your message link to your page by typing @ name of your Facebook page. This will help bring in visitors to your page from these Facebook communities.

Promote your page on Twitter
You can promote your Facebook page on your Twitter account. Post an interesting tweet with a link to your Facebook page every day. You will get more people to come to your Facebook page.

Invite your Facebook Friends
Invite your Facebook friends to Like your business page. Encourage business associates and customers to become fans by providing interesting content or special deals like discounts and giveaways.

Post interesting content on your Facebook page
Post content which is of interest to your followers and your Facebook fans. This will encourage them to share your posts with their Facebook friends and hep you get more fans. Make sure that you post regularly to your page and encourage participation from your fans. This will encourage brand loyalty and brand recognition for your business from your followers.

The above methods are just a few ways in which you can get more Facebook fans. There are many more ways which we will explore in future posts.

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Free Social Media Icons for Your Website

Erum Zehra — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:17:47 +0000

Would you like to connect your website visitors to your social media pages? Attractive and eye catching icons can help get attention of your website visitors and are more likely to get clicked.

Not everyone is skilled at graphic design and the same goes for me. For quite sometime I have been looking for a social media icon solution to share with my clients and readers. Today I came across a few resources that are definitely worth sharing. Here are a few reasons why all these sets are totally awesome:

They are free for personal or commercial use. You are not allowed to sell or redistribute and a link back is appreciated.
They come in various sizes.
Some even have PSD files making the icons completely customizable.
They are very creatively designed and versatile.
Most are in PNG format with transparent edges.
These icons sets can suit any business website. Take a look and see for yourself.

The following sets are corporate looking, but not in a boring way. On the contrary, they are pretty cool! I have placed individual icons on the page to give you a better idea of how they will look. To view the complete set, please click on the designer’s link given above each set.

Icon Set by Blog Perfume

Icon Set by Elma Studio

Icon Set by Ar-Bent-ing

Icon Set by Elegant Themes

Icon Set by Kadom

Icon Set by Mulletized

Blog posts coming soon on the following social media icon themes:

Fun and Funky
3D
Green
Single Colour
Textured

If you would like to get help for adding social media icons to your website please contact me and I will be happy to help.

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Build Your Business with Social Media Marketing

Terri Seymour — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:44:27 +0000

Social media marketing is extremely important to your business and as this marketing method evolves, so must you and your business. Social media marketing is marketing through online communities, social networking sites, blogs, etc. If you are not already utilizing social sites for your business, you need to start NOW!

Social networking enables business owners to get extreme exposure for very little or no cost. You can use social networking sites to build your reputation, brand your business and increase your customer base. The marketing potential of these sites is phenomenal!

Now you can’t just register, make your profile and then never go back. You have to keep your information fresh, add new content, always be looking for new contacts, etc. Meeting new people, whether they be potential customers, business associates, or just people learning the ropes, can be very beneficial for your business and your reputation.

These sites allow you to make yourself much more accessible than just having your own site. Whenever possible, use your business name as your username to help make your business more recognized.

Social marketing sites can also help you get more links thus increasing your search engine ranking. People who find your content and information helpful and useful will link back to you which will in turn cause your own website to become more popular.

You can also use your social site pages to gather information and feedback from people on your products. This can help you improve your business and improve customer service.

By participating in social marketing you can find partners/associates for joint ventures. You can cross promote and build solid business relationships that can help everyone. By providing good and fresh information, resources and content, you can build trust with your visitors, associates, potential customers, etc., thus building your business a strong reputation. Building relationships is the foundation for a successful business.

Adding pictures of yourself and/or videos can go a long way in making your social media marketing more effective.

The three main steps in social marketing:

1. Make Your Account

2. Always be adding new content, links, products, resources, etc.

3. Add friends, followers, contacts, etc. as much as possible.

This can be very confusing so start slow. Learn from other social marketers. Study social marketing strategies. Take it one step at a time.

My three favorite social sites are:

Twitter.com

LinkedIn.com

Facebook.com

Come on over and see me sometime!

Social marketing has made its mark and it is here to stay. You need to utilize these sites to make your mark as well.

Web Hosting Checklist – How to Find the Right Provider

Glennette Goodbread — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:50:16 +0000

Choosing a website host is an important decision. Affordable service is a primary concern but you also need to ensure that the web host you choose has a server that meets your needs as far as what features and functions. Use the following checklist to find the most appropriate web host for your website and your needs.

(1) Be sure the control panel is user friendly. You are probably going to spend quite a bit of time in the control panel so you want one that doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out. I recommend using a host that has cpanel.

(2) FTP transfer is an absolute must. You will need a reliable way to upload and download files to and from your website. Be sure to check with the web host you choose to find out what port they use for ftp. As a security measure,

(3) Review the plans and make sure there is one that meets your needs for space and bandwidth. Keep in mind that most hosts offer a lot more than you need to increase the perceived value of the plans.

(4) You should be able to easily upgrade and downgrade from one plan to another. For example, you should be able to contact their support staff and let me know you want to upgrade. The account shouldn’t have to be moved or recreated.

(5) Ask the potential web host about security. No server is 100% hacker proof but the web host should be making every effort to ensure that your site doesn’t get hacked.

(6) As I mentioned in the intro to this article, you need to ensure that the plan you choose has the appropriate features and functions i.e. ftp, e-commerce, email, mysql databases, statistics, etc.

(7) It’s also important to look at reviews of the provider done by actual clients. Google the company name and find out more about them to ensure they have a solid reputation in the industry. Look at how long they have been in business. Ask the company if they own their own server or if they are a resellers. There is nothing wrong with signing up with a reseller as long as you realize they’re the middle man when it comes to more complex support issues.

(8) The last thing to look at is price. The reason I listed it last is because even though it was probably first on your list, it shouldn’t be. There are lots of cheap web hosts out there and you typically get what you pay for. Personal attention and exceptional customer service are important too. Price is a factor but it shouldn’t be your primary one.

Bottom line: Spend some time doing your research. Find a web host that offers a 30 day money back guarantee and try them out.

And now I’d like to invite you to check out my acclaimed web hosting services.

I hope these tips have helped you. Be sure to visit Premium Web Design for web hosting done right.

How to Write Search Engine Friendly Meta Tags

Erum Zehra — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:09:05 +0000

Inserting search engines friendly Meta Tags in your web pages can help your rankings. Meta tags are inserted at the top of your web page source code, between the head tags. Some tags discussed here (Title, Alt) may not strictly fit the definition of Meta tags but carry a lot of importance for ranking your web page.

Keyword Meta Tag

Before writing your meta tags, you need to determine your key words. You need to think of words by which your web site should be found. You can check out the sites of your close competitors for ideas. Identify a few important key words and focus on them.

Different search engines give different limits for the keyword tag. They range from 200 to 1000 characters. This amounts to around 10 to 150 keywords. Try to concentrate more on keywords that you have used in your web page content. This will contribute towards your keyword density.

Try to include key phrases in your keyword meta tags. These are a combination of keywords that the users may search for. For example, if you have an online jewelry store, you may want to include: handcrafted designer jewelry, online jewelry store, buy jewelry online. Someone who is searching for jewelry is likely to type in the above phrases , as a search for only the word “jewelry” will give too many search results.

HTML Title Tag

Title of document

The HTML Title tag appears on top of your web page. This tag is given extreme importance by Goolge when a web page is being ranked. Avoid using proper nouns (like the name of your company) in your title tag, unless you are a very well known business concern, and expect people to search for you by name. Instead make the title descriptive, including your most important keywords in it.

Inclusion of keywords in the title will have positive impact on keyword density and search engine ranking. Don’t repeat your keywords more than twice in the title and don’t use all caps. Title case and lower case Title tags are seen to have a better impact on rankings as opposed to upper case tags.

Description Meta Tag

The description of your website will be indexed by search engines and used by directories in your website listing. The description must be short and typically 200 characters long. Do not use marketing slogans or hyped up language in the description. Instead, concentrate on telling the reader about how they will benefit from visiting your website. Try including as many of your keywords as possible in the description. Make sure that the keywords included in your Title tag are there in the description tag as well.

Alt Tags

If you have a web store it probably includes a lot of product pictures. Search engines generally index text and not images. Hence a website with more pictures than text is likely to get a lower ranking. One way of countering this is by providing descriptive and keyword heavy alt tags in your HTML coding.

Alt tags are used to describe images embedded in a web page and can play an important role in ranking websites, with search engines, that recognize them. Alt tags not only make images accessible to search engines, they also help the visually impaired in navigating websites.

Merely readjusting your meta tags will not guarantee you a high ranking on the search engines. Web page content and link popularity are also known to be major contributors. Keep trying and you will definitely reach the top.

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Free Social Media Marketing Ebooks

Erum Zehra — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:30:38 +0000

Social Media Marketing is the buzz nowadays, but some of the marketers still don’t have a clue about how to go about social media marketing. During the course of my research for latest content on the subject, I came across some very informative and impressive ebooks that I would like to share with you:

A Social Media Guide From the Edge

This is an impressive ebook containing a lot of solid and interesting content about social media marketing. I especially loved the case study about Mommy bloggers.

Oh My God What Happened

A must have social media primer by Innovative Thunder. It is currently selling for $15 at Amazon but you can get it for free at the above link. All you have to do is Pay with a Tweet or post on Facebook.

The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing

This ebook shares latest research about the success criteria for face book page marketing and gives some important recommendations about how facebook page marketing should be done.

Social Media books by Brian Solis

This page lists a number of amazing free ebooks by Brian Solis, a noted PR guru, in both PDF and Word formats.

7 Ways to Market Your Business on Facebook

Danny Brown’s ebook about Facebook marketing gives some quick and simple strategies exploring Pages, Ads, Search, Apps, Insights, Groups and Facebook Marketing Solutions. You have to join his facebook page to download the ebook.

Generating Small Business Customers With Social Media Marketing

Learn from the experiences of other companies using social media. This ebook from Hubspot showcases four small businesses experiencing social media success.

How to use Facebook for Business

This free ebook from Hubspot explains the basics of using facebook for business .

I hope you are able to read the above ebooks and learn more about social media.

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How to Get a Great Business Idea

Erum Zehra — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:03:12 +0000

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Have you always dreamt of being an entrepreneur but don’t know what to do? Unique and workable business ideas with potential for success aren’t always easy to come across. Here are a few suggestions to help you come up with your dream business idea:

What do you like doing?
Your business is something you will be involved in constantly. To make sure you excel in it you must work with passion and devotion. You can’t feel passionate about your venture unless you love what you are doing. Turn your hobby into your profession, and you won’t have a single working day in your life. What can be a better way to earn your living?

Who would you like to work for?
Another approach to coming up for an idea is to determine who your customers should be. These should be people you like working with, and whom you can relate to. Observe them closely and interact with them on a regular basis. You will easily be able to identify a need within them which you can fulfill.

For example, you may belong to an email discussion group where you hear people complaining about how time consuming it is to submit ezines to directories and to keep track of those submissions. Aha! Maybe you can start an ezine submission service!

Search for clues of unfulfilled needs. What do they want which is not being done? What are they dissatisfied with? What problems do they want solved? The answers to these questions may lead you to a winning business idea. All successful businesses achieve success through satisfying an unmet demand, the right way.

Research your idea
Don’t plunge into a business immediately after identifying a need that you can fulfill. Research and test your idea with your target market. Ask them if they think this is a good idea and how much they would be willing to pay for it. It is not unusual for people to have a need and yet be unwilling to pay for getting that work done. Taking the ezine submission service example again, people may think promoting ezines is a big pain, but would they be willing to pay someone else for doing it?

Also, people might be willing to pay, but is that amount enough for you? Can you earn a living on it? You may need to make some changes and add more value to your business idea to make it more suitable to the needs of the people, or to increase their willingness to pay. Search for services or features that you can add to your offering to make it appear more valuable and beneficial.

Ask questions about anything you are unsure about from your acquaintances as well as current and prospective customers. Even if you think you are sure about a decision or idea, a second view point is always a great help. It provides you with a new way of thinking.

Observe the competition
Once you have identified a need within your target audience, you must observe how other entrepreneurs are fulfilling similar needs. Perhaps you want to be a candle maker. Observe the other candle makers around you. How are they managing themselves? How are they differentiating themselves from other entrepreneurs? Is there something unique about the packaging, candle shapes, colors or fragrances that they are offering? Are they satisfying their customers? Is there something that you can do better than them? If they are doing something very well then maybe you can copy them.

Make yourself stand out
There is always room for something new even in a very competitive field. For example, there are thousands of web designers on the web today. Can there possibly be room for more web designers? Sure, why not? There is still a need for web designers who are dedicated to maintaining quality of wok and services for their clients, and meeting deadlines. There would always be room for specialization as well. For example, web designers who specialize in building web sites for churches, or web sites related to animals, etc.

To be successful you must try to have focus and maintain quality of service at all times and at all costs. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Gradually people will start recognizing you because of the high quality of work you do, and the commitment you show for your work. Success may not be easy to achieve, but it can be done, and it’s definitely worth trying for.

Be willing to learn
The process of learning is perpetual and never ends. Those who have an open attitude and willingness towards learning, are bound to benefit a lot more from the learning process. Read and research as much as possible about your idea. You may discover information which will prove instrumental in your success.

For example, a web designer will need to learn a lot of programming languages and practice a lot to reach a professional level of expertise. Even if you are a so called expert in your field, there would still be room for you to learn new things, and you should avail every opportunity you find to do so. This would ensure that you have an edge above your competition.

Don’t give up
Bad times in business are faced by everyone. Sometimes you feel discouraged and unwanted, and you feel you can’t go on. But hard work and determination forms the basis of success. You may not achieve the success you expect immediately, but if you are determined to make your business work, it eventually will.

So here you go, this is your checklist for coming up and building a unique and successful business. The key to success is dedication and hardwork, and I hope you every success in your new venture.

Credibility on the Web – 7 Strategies to Build and Retain Online Credibility

Admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:03:45 +0000

Appearing credible on the web is a challenge for online businesses but if done correctly, can bring a constant stream of sales to your website. You are not personally present to assure your web customer and build their confidence. Therefore, credibility should be built through the appearance and content of your business web site. These seven strategies can help you in having a credible web business:

Professional Web Site
Both content and design play a huge part on the overall appearance and impression of the web site. While designing your web site, it is important to pay attention to layout, navigation and usability issues. Design your website according to the purpose or goals you have in mind for it, and then stay focused on these goals. Hire experienced web designers who know what they are doing and have an impressive portfolio.

Useful and Informative Web Content
It is important to provide informative and useful content in your website to enhance its credibility. You can create an article section in your website and upload articles related to the theme of your website. This will also get you more exposure from the search engines. Ensure that the content is well written and avoid errors by re-checking and proof reading.

Credible Promotional Content
While promoting your products/services, try to sound confident and sincere in your web content. Stay away from hype and false promises. You will appear more credible if you promote your products/services while sounding informative. Focus on describing what you can deliver and stress on real benefits versus empty promises.

Highlight your expertise
Are you affiliated with a respected organization (like Better Business Bureau) or have certifications related to your profession? If so, clearly state this in the content of your web site. Display the button of the affiliation throughout the website and mention it in the content of about us and/or home page. Use the about us page to talk about yourself and why your customers should trust you.

Include customer references
If you are a product based business it will be a good idea to include testimonials of customers who have bought your products. You can create a “testimonials” or “case studies” page linking to your service page or main menu. If you are a service based business you can include a portfolio page or case studies about your customers. Knowing that you have an existing customer base will make it easier for your web site visitors to trust you.

Give contact/profile information
Make your contact information easily available. Your website should have separate pages for about us and contact information linked through the main menu. If possible, give details about your staff/ management team along with their photographs. People like knowing who they are doing business with.

Regularly update your web site content
Updating and reviewing your web site content often will ensure that it does not include outdated, inaccurate and erroneous information. All of these can have a negative impact on the credibility of your web site. Writing professional and persuasive content takes a lot of time and expertise, and you can hire a professional writer to help you in this area.

FAQs

Admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:31:05 +0000

FAQ

How is pricing structured?
Why have you not quoted the prices on the website?
What services do you offer?

Question: How is pricing structured?

Answer:

Our writing services are charged on a per page basis for small projects. One page contains a maximum of 350 words and is priced at $100.

For big projects or regular content update requests bulk rates are given on a per hour basis. An hour of work amounts to US$50.

Question: Why have you not quoted the prices on the website?

Answer:

An accurate estimate of prices can be made after reviewing the project as the requirements of each client are different.

Question: What services do you offer?

Answer:

Copy Editing
Improving the copy you have written. We can edit articles, ads and web content.

Content Writing
Writing web content from scratch for web pages or blogs.

Meta Tags
Making your web pages search engine friendly

Website Consulting
Professional and experienced advice on setting up a web business and promoting it.

Website Reviewing
Advice on improving your website.

Internet Research

FAQ engine from DiamondSteel

Portfolio

Admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:54:15 +0000

Some of the recent projects we have been involved in are:

LCA Reality - Web content for entire website
Universal Academy of Acting - Web content for entire website
Pak Oman Asset Management Company - Content for monthly newsletter and creation of legal documents
Translations House - Content for website and business strategy
Dotsndashes Website Designs - Web content for entire website
Ecourse Wizard - Web content, free ecourse content and creation of business idea and strategy
Ecourse Web - Web content of entire website
Web Arkitex - Web content of entire website