Lakenetwork.net Web Sites That Work » Social Media http://blog.lakenetwork.net Web Site Design and Marketing Blog Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:23:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Website Gardening Techniques III: Tools for Engagement http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-techniques-iii-tools-for-engagement/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-techniques-iii-tools-for-engagement/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:15:34 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=260 QR CodeThere’s an annoying piece of graffiti I see almost every day on my running route in Tremont. “Don’t believe the hype,” the graffiti says. So I start thinking, “What hype, which hype?” The graffiti annoys me because I do know that some hype is actually relevant hype; some hype is about new ideas or technologies that actually have utility in the real world.

And I bring this up with respect to QR codes. You may have seen them already on flyers, on posters… they look like weird bar codes.

A QR code can be read by your smartphone using an app. You run the app, point the smartphone’s camera lens at the code and it can scan it and take you to a website.

The utility of QR codes is that they eliminate a lot of typing on tiny cell phone keypads. From a marketing perspective, using QR codes on your printed material shows that your business or organization is on the leading edge with a popular, useful trend.

You can receive the most benefit from QR codes by using them wisely and in contexts where they make sense. For instance, Lake Metroparks has started to use them on outdoor plaques. Their code conveniently links to maps and a lot more information about nature, helping the park district to make these outdoor signs much more interactive.

You can generate your own QR code here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.

This is a win-win situation because it doesn’t cost much (just a voluntary donation) to use QR codes.

There are many other win-win tools for engagement out there for organizations and businesses, such as Facebook, Google Places, Groupon and Foursquare.

So how does one sort through all this and decide what to do? When you evaluate whether to invest your organization’s time and/or money in technology, you might want to think about these factors:

Is the business providing or assisting with the technology local?

In today’s economy, it is a good idea for local businesses to do business with each other when possible, and there are distinct advantages to this. Local businesses can respond more to your needs and provide more personal relationships. The longevity of the local business is a good factor to consider as well.

Is the technology sound?

Does it work well on multiple platforms if this is a criterion for the application of the technology?

Is the technology reasonable for your business’s or organization’s application?

Place yourself in your potential customers’/web users’ shoes and think how they would use the technology. Is it difficult to use? Easy? Intuitive?  Does it make sense for your business or organization, or is it just gimmicky?

Is there a long-term commitment to supporting the technology?

Invest your efforts in a business that focuses on its core offering. Even if a business is huge, such as Facebook, this doesn’t necessarily translate into a long-term commitment toward a technology. For example, Facebook stopped its Facebook Deals program after running it for only four months.

Does the technology have a strong developer base? 

Some free tools (such as WordPress) are successful because they have a strong developer and user base, even though the offerings are free.  The more users and developers a particular technology has, the more likely it will be around for a long time. If you are not familiar with current web trends, it may be difficult for you to determine if there is a strong developer base. In this case, consult with a web professional before investing a lot of your time.

In conclusion, there are plenty of tools for engagement in the Web world. Evaluate them carefully, then go ahead and engage!

 

* With respect to QR codes, do keep in mind that there have been some concerns about cell phone use and radiation. It is probably beneficial to moderate use of cell phones especially around one’s ears and pockets, and children should probably not use them. Even some cell phone manufacturers have asked people to hold cell phones an inch or so away from one’s head when using them.

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-techniques-iii-tools-for-engagement/feed/ 0 Website Gardening Part II: Blogging and Thought Leadership http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-part-ii-blogging-and-thought-leadership/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-part-ii-blogging-and-thought-leadership/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:42:40 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=251 GardeningThis is part II of a series of articles about approaching websites as gardens one can cultivate.

In his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust, Chris Brogan spends much oxgyen expounding upon the concept of "thought leadership" and how it applies to building up one's business. The term was coined by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the magazine Strategy & Business.

A thought leader is someone who has helpful information and makes it available to the public. This applies to small businesses and organizations in several ways:

  • Sharing useful information helps your customers and/or readers and potential customers better use your products and services.
  • Sharing useful information helps your business or organization by fostering trust.
  • Sharing useful information helps your business or organization by fostering its credibility.

Blogging is a great and inexpensive means of providing one's thoughts to the public, but has other dividends as well:

  • It increases traffic to websites via direct and indirect means such as a greater likelihood of being found in search engines, providing information that prompts people to share blog entries, and subscription to blog entries via tools such as feedburner.
  • It provides a means of organizing the blogger's thoughts which can result in more focused, higher quality business practices.

Where to start

I recommend WordPress as a blogging platform. It's free and very versatile, and can be easily installed in a subdirectory on your existing website. It can be used to manage your entire website if you wish. It is completely customizable, so your web developer can create your own theme that has your own specific design without any technical constraints from WordPress's end other than the time to code the theme.

Many plugins are available for WordPress, including ones that can help you "get the word out" by facilitating social media sharing.

If possible, install WordPress on the same domain as your website because will help with your domain's informational footprint, or "domain authority." Also, it improves the amount of activity going on on your site. Both are good criteria that search engines such as Google can use to help determine a site's relevancy. (We are in the process of doing this ourselves.)

To be continued…

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/website-gardening-part-ii-blogging-and-thought-leadership/feed/ 0 Google’s New Social Media Platform – Google+ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/googles-new-social-media-platform-google/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/googles-new-social-media-platform-google/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:57:20 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=230 Head's up, social media enthusiasts. In addition to the traditional social media capabilities, Google+ enables one to share richer content, schedules, Google docs, and more. Privacy capabilities seem more intuitive with Google+ Circles, which are akin to Facebook's Friends Lists.

Google+ is currently testing with a small number of people, but it is possible to get an invitation from Google+ once it's ready.

If Google is making the investment in developing this, I tend to trust that it will be a fairly sound and useful social media platform. It looks fun, too!

Business and organization marketers might be interested in the potential application of this technology for SEO and SMO but like any social media platform, the context of sharing should make sense. Social media is a personal experience for many. The marketing messages placed on a particular social media platform should depend on the way the audience opts in to the message stream to ensure a good audience experience.

For those who want to know more, Social Media guru Chris Brogan has been offering a lot of interesting insights about the new platform.

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/googles-new-social-media-platform-google/feed/ 0 Teamwork: Optimization in 2011 http://blog.lakenetwork.net/teamwork-optimization-in-2011/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/teamwork-optimization-in-2011/#comments Sat, 11 Jun 2011 11:08:30 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=224 TeamworkThe algorithms used by search engines to determine your website's placement are becoming more sophisticated. Good results used to be easier to obtain; now there are many more sites competing for attention. Traditional efforts such as tag optimization, well-structured code, CSS, image optimization and keyword density and other such factors are important. However, newer areas of optimization involve teamwork between your developer, you, your customers, and your potential customers. The web presence as a venue nurtured by a team seems to be a good model for success. 

Blogging

The traditional model used to involve you in that you could specify a creative direction for your website developer, offer some initial content, and the developer would code it.

But today you can become even more a part of the team. Not only can you specify the creative direction of your website; you can become more involved in creating and improving your website. 

The footprint of your website, i.e., the amount of information on the website, lends credibility to the site. If your site has a lot of information, it follows that you've invested a lot in it and that it is a good resource for people.

Blogging is an inexpensive and easy way to increase the amount of information on your website. We recommend that most of our customers blog if they can spare the time and if they can write compelling, professional content. WordPress is a great, free tool traditionally associated with blogging. But it can manage not only your blog, but your entire site, and your website designer can code it to look any way you'd like to best suit your needs. As a matter of fact, we've started to code most of our sites with WordPress. 

Incoming Links, You and Your Community

Incoming links have always been a key area that boosts search engine placement. It follows that the more links there are to your website, the more credible your website. We recommend that our customers try to develop their incoming links as much as possible. Ideally this could happen in conjunction with a social media effort and by creating content and periodic articles that people find compelling; articles that they'd like to share.

In addition, you can develop your incoming links by becoming involved in other organizations. Volunteer to write blog entries on their blogs! It is usually appropriate to have a link to your website in your article on their blog, or even an additional couple of links to blog entries you've created for your own website. This is a great way to develop not only incoming links, but to become more engaged in a positive way with a community with which you'd like to network.

Ratings: Encourage Your Customers to Play

Your customers can become more of a part of your team, too. Google seems to need to know that other people care about your business or organization; this makes sense. I believe that business rating tools are becoming more important. I notice that placement in Google Places results seems to correspond with businesses that have been rated well by services such as Citysearch  and the rating mechanism for each place page that Google provides. The more ratings, the better the placement, although this could just be dependent on the general popularity of the site. I have not really started pushing this strategy yet and don't know the result in terms of incoming traffic, but it seems to make sense.

A good approach to this would be to ask customers if they would place a review on your business or organization's Google Place page. That said, we'd appreciate a shout out on our Google Place page if you find these articles stimulating and/or if you are a client!

Be a Good Team Mate

Many variables are critical to the success of your web presence. We recommend being very thoughtful in the coding, presentation, and text content on your site. Ultimately, the key thing is to think like your potential audience and to try to anticipate its needs. 

Consider conversion optimization when creating the core content for your site. Blog entries can be a bit more spontaneous, but the core service pages and home page of your site need to orient your potential client and give them a reason to want to participate, and make to it easy for them as well! 

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/teamwork-optimization-in-2011/feed/ 0 WordPress for Newbies: How to Enter a New Blog via the WordPress Administration Screen http://blog.lakenetwork.net/wordpress-for-newbies-how-to-enter-a-new-blog-via-the-wordpress-administration-screen/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/wordpress-for-newbies-how-to-enter-a-new-blog-via-the-wordpress-administration-screen/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:42:41 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=140
WordPress
Image by 4_EveR_YounG via Flickr
How to Enter a New Blog via the WordPress Administration Screen
This is a very brief overview of the blog post process/screen:
1. Go to your blog’s website address.
2. Click the “Login” menu item under the “Meta” menu, right hand side of screen. This will bring you to a login screen.
3. Enter you user name and password. This will bring you to the WordPress dashboard.
4. Click on the “Posts” menu on the left hand side of the screen. A popdown menu will appear. Click on “Add New.”
5. The “Post” screen is roughly laid out as follows:
a. There’s a long text entry field at the very top where you can enter a subject. The subject should be an appealing description of the content within, and you should keep in mind that you should enter key phrases that people might look for when googling for content such as your blog.
b. The next area is a text area where you can enter your blog. (I suggest that you type out the blog in Windows Notepad and save it locally on your computer, then copy the text from Notepad into the blog.)
c. The next area is for an excerpt. Create a one or two sentence synopsis of your blog here, something that gives people more of an idea of the content of the blog.
d. Moving to the right hand side of the screen, the top area is the publish area. When you are ready to publish the blog, click the “Publish” button. You can also preview the blog in this area.
e. Post Tags. Enter 2-5 subjects to which this particular blog entry relates. Post tags should be phrases 1-2 words long.
f. Categories. The categories you enter here will appear on the home page of the blog. You should try to limit your categories to general or important topics for the blog, because all the categories you define will show up on the blog screen.
How to Enter Pictures
1. In the Add New or Edit Post screen, above the blog entry area, there’s a row of tool bar icons for formatting the blog. Above that, there are four icons to the right of the text “Upload/Insert.” The left-most icon looks like a square within a square; clicking on this icon allows you to select images from your computer.
2. Once you select an image and upload it, you can enter a caption (if necessary), edit the image alignment (recommended) among other things.
3. We recommend that when you create images for the blog, try to limit the width of the image to something less than 270 pixels wide. It would be good to settle on a standard width for the photos on the blog so that the entries have some consistency in presentation. Photoshop is a good tool you could use to prepare photos for websites and blogs.

This is a very brief overview of the blog post process/screen:

1. Go to your blog’s website address.

2. Click the “Login” menu item under the “Meta” menu, right hand side of screen. This will bring you to a login screen.

3. Enter your user name and password. This will bring you to the WordPress dashboard.

4. Click on the “Posts” menu on the left hand side of the screen. A popdown menu will appear. Click on “Add New.”

5. The “Post” screen is roughly laid out as follows:

a. There’s a long text entry field at the very top where you can enter a subject. The subject should be an appealing description of the content within, and you should keep in mind that you should enter key phrases that people might look for when googling for content such as your blog.

b. The next area is a text area where you can enter your blog. (I suggest that you type out the blog in Windows Notepad and save it locally on your computer, then copy the text from Notepad into the blog.)

c. The next area is for an excerpt. Create a one or two sentence synopsis of your blog here, something that gives people more of an idea of the content of the blog.

d. Moving to the right hand side of the screen, the top area is the publish area. When you are ready to publish the blog, click the “Publish” button. You can also preview the blog in this area.

e. Post Tags. Enter 2-5 subjects to which this particular blog entry relates. Post tags should be phrases 1-2 words long.

f. Categories. The categories you enter here will appear on the home page of the blog. You should try to limit your categories to general or important topics for the blog, because all the categories you define will show up on the blog screen.

How to Enter Pictures

1. In the Add New or Edit Post screen, above the blog entry area, there’s a row of tool bar icons for formatting the blog. Above that, there are four icons to the right of the text “Upload/Insert.” The left-most icon looks like a square within a square; clicking on this icon allows you to select images from your computer.

2. Once you select an image and upload it, you can enter a caption (if necessary), edit the image alignment (recommended) among other things.

3. We recommend that when you create images for the blog, try to limit the width of the image to something less than 270 pixels wide. It would be good to settle on a standard width for the photos on the blog so that the entries have some consistency in presentation. Photoshop is a good tool you could use to prepare photos for websites and blogs.

Why should businesses blog?

Blogging improves your business’s credibility online, and adding more content online gives your business a larger digital footprint.

Lakenetwork.net can help your business get started blogging online. In addition to standard web development, we work with businesses and organizations to help improve their social media presence. Call us at (440) 975-9580 for more information or contact us online here.

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]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/wordpress-for-newbies-how-to-enter-a-new-blog-via-the-wordpress-administration-screen/feed/ 0 Drive Your Web Site: Blogging, Technorati & Social Media http://blog.lakenetwork.net/drive-your-website-blogging-technorati-social-media/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/drive-your-website-blogging-technorati-social-media/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:52:39 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=123
First Day at Ranked Hard, SEO Comic
Image by ByronShell via Flickr

OK, so you’ve got a new web site. How are you going to get people to come to the site?

Search engine optimization (SEO) used to be the main method of web site promotion. But Web 2.0 has arrived, and now you’ve got a number of tools to use from the driver’s seat of your web site.

Here are some ideas for consideration:

1. Have a blog? Claim your blog on Technorati and get feedback on the popularity of your blog.

“Getting Started with Technorati”

2. Generate compelling blog content that relates to your web site business. Find an educational mission and write about it.

3. Use Facebook. Create a business fan page and post engaging, relevant content on your page. We post information that corresponds to our educational mission (helping people promote their web sites) on our fan page.

Keep your audience in mind–don’t post spam; post information that can really be of use, and interact sincerely with people who are in your networking group.

Social media resources

4. Post your blog entries on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

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]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/drive-your-website-blogging-technorati-social-media/feed/ 0 Business Use of Facebook: Prerequisite Knowledge http://blog.lakenetwork.net/business-use-of-facebook-prerequisite-knowledge/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/business-use-of-facebook-prerequisite-knowledge/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:09:32 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=116
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 25: In this photo ill...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Businesses need to be aware of several issues when setting up Facebook accounts and business fan pages:

An individual can only have one personal Facebook account. Using multiple accounts violates Facebook’s terms of use, and may result in having one or more of the Facebook accounts shut down.

Currently, users who want to isolate their business persona from their personal persona are out of luck. Even thought it’s possible to create a business account, business account owners are not supposed to have a separate personal account.

There’s a bit of a way around this: set up a business fan page. An individual Facebook user can set up multiple fan pages, one or more of which can relate to business concerns. Messages from a fan page appear to come from the page rather than the page administrator.

Businesses need to be choosy in setting up business pages. The key administrator for a business page cannot be reassigned. Until Facebook fixes this, the original administrator is permanent. It is possible to assign additional administrators, but the original administrator still retains control. For this reason I recommend that for now, have the business owner initiate the business page setup with Facebook. The owner can assign an additional administrator to the page if that is desired.

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]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/business-use-of-facebook-prerequisite-knowledge/feed/ 0 New Facebook Business Page http://blog.lakenetwork.net/new-facebook-business-page/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/new-facebook-business-page/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:33:40 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=108 We are pleased to announce our new business page on Facebook. It contains tips and tricks you can employ on your own to make the best of your web presence.

Our mission is to share information to help businesses and organizations promote themselves on the web.

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/new-facebook-business-page/feed/ 0 Social Media Norms–Promoting Your Business with Social Media http://blog.lakenetwork.net/social-media-norms-promoting-your-business-with-social-media/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/social-media-norms-promoting-your-business-with-social-media/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:35:58 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=96 Promoting your business on Facebook: what’s appropriate? Should you post resources on your “personal” wall or your business’s fan page wall? Is talking about business from your Facebook profile too pushy?

Non-profit organizations have an easier job navigating social media norms than for-profit businesses. It’s acceptable, expected, and desired of non-profit organizations that they promote events and products.

The utility of the information you present is key to the way your message is perceived. We try to present useful information to our business’s Facebook fans rather than advertisements for services. We believe that a business should find an educational mission. Information that helps this educational mission is good material for a Facebook fan page.

A Facebook profile is more personal than a business fan page. Even if most of your Facebook friends are business contacts, it is not typical practice to advocate one’s own business on a Facebook profile, although this depends on your business. Artists are expected to promote shows; writers to promote blogs. Applicability of content to your audience’s day to day wants and needs is key to judging whether it is suitable material for posting.

Authenticity, engagement, and conscientious professionalism are desirable characteristics in professional use of Facebook profiles.

Social media is very new, though, and the norms for behavior are evolving. And we live in a world of individuals–individuality is our “brand.” So norms for business professionals are subjective.

]]> http://blog.lakenetwork.net/social-media-norms-promoting-your-business-with-social-media/feed/ 0 Social Media Resource Page http://blog.lakenetwork.net/social-media-resource-page/ http://blog.lakenetwork.net/social-media-resource-page/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:08:11 +0000 ksmith http://blog.lakenetwork.net/?p=94 More and more of our customers and colleagues are using social media. Marketing professionals and business owners can apply a social media facet to their marketing strategy. We plan to post technical tidbits about social media on our social media resource page as we find them. This is what we’ve posted so far:

SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNICAL HOW-TOS

Share your web pages on social media
Addthis.com creates html code you can insert into your pages to facilitate sharing.

Create a business page
Tailor your facebook postings so that official business-related posts come from a company fan page.

Post tweets to Facebook

Shorten your Twitter URLS
Bit.ly is a URL shortening service. Go to their website, insert a long url into a box, get a short bit.ly link that forwards to your long url.

SOCIAL MEDIA NORMS

“The Dos & Don’ts of Sharing”
This article advocates a consistent approach in branding your social media business presence.

Worksmart eMarketing
Social media marketing blog.

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