New Year’s Resolutions for Online Success in 2009

I love the New Year, it’s the only time of year, I actually take a full-blown “unplugged” vacation.  No Twitter, no blogging, no Internet connection whatsoever in the house.  It helps me de-connect and gain perspective for planning the new year.  It seems everywhere you go online, everyone’s making predictions for 2009 - what’s going to happen, who’s going to do what… This is my list of what is really going to matter in 2009.

Success in 2009 is going to require focus. Not that it’s ever been just about slamming yourself all across the Net, but even more so this year, you’re going to have to focus your efforts.  Focus.  You’re going to actually have to have a plan this year to rise above and get your message heard.

2009 is all about quality not quantity. Reaching the coveted 5k Facebook friends limit just doesn’t matter anymore.  Nor will using Mr. Tweet and getting as many useless followers on Twitter.  It’s not about how many people you “know” it’s about who you know and who they know.  Get over the size factor and focus on strategically connecting.

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Must Follow Blogging and Social Media Experts with Real Game in 2009

To round out the rest of the year, before resuming with the Blog Tune-Up Series on Friday, I’m posting my top picks for major players in 2009.  These are people you need to follow and learn from as we go into a very dynamic and possibly challenging time for business marketing online.  There are few experts I follow online, these are my fave blogging and social media  experts (business and otherwise).

Please note: This list is based entirely on my opinion (an expert one at that)… My grandfather always told me to surround myself  with the best of the best at all times, to become the best.  These people help me raise my blogging game each and every week with innovative and insightful posts… and that’s all I have to say about that

Blogging Experts to Watch for 2009

Jack Humphrey - Friday Traffic Report

@bendtheweb

By far the most influential blogger for me in 2008.  I’ve watched and learned as Jack stuck with his own innovative style and giving his audience exactly what they want and need.  He’s insightful, practical, and definite one to watch for 2009!

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Social Internet Marketing Resources: Week in Review

Blog Marketing

How to Grow Your Twitter Followers and Blog Subscribers from Chris Garrett

15 Blogs You Might Have Missed from Altitude Branding (great reads!)

3 High Powered Reader Engagement Tactics from ProBlogger

Internet Marketing and Online Business

What’s in a Name with Jim Krukal

Back to the Basics for 2009 in Marketing from THINKing

10 Things I Wish I’d Do Better in 2009 from Louis Gray

Anatomy of a Review Site from Blog Entrepreneur

Places to Submit Your Site for Local Search from Doug Williams

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Blog Tune-Up Series: Email Marketing for Bloggers

The previous Blog Tune-Up Series post covered blog design and layout.  Before that, we took it back to the basics in Wordpress covering plugins and necessary tweaks.  This go-round we’re covering, email marketing for bloggers.  Many consider them two polarized worlds.  Millions of successful bloggers and business blog owners, consider them to be two parts in a whole, like peas and carrots.  One without the other just isn’t cricky.  Being a blogger of any sort does not negate the necessity for the tried and true basics of online marketing.  Just because you have access to RSS and other groovy tools, doesn’t mean you drop everything else.  The key is to create a strategic “blend” of  both, for best results.  Email marketing will have a place in blogging for some time, so let’s dive in and learn the best way to blend the best of both worlds.

It’s Not An Either, Or Proposition

To have a chance at major league success, we’re talking about playin’ with the big boys and girls — you absolutely need to leverage both RSS marketing and email marketing.  If your game is really on point, you’ll be using both to effectively communicate and facilitate dialogue between you and your readers.  If you’re still struggling to gain some type of return from your list (either RSS or email) — you need to pay attention to my next statement.

A subscriber, in any form, does not really mean a “marketing-recepticle,” which you fill with all your marketing trash.

Subscribers are subscribed to gain value (whether emotional, informational, etc) from you.  Period.  It doesn’t matter what you’re blogging about.  It doesn’t matter what kind of blogger you are - small business owner, corporate CEO, internet marketer, or whatever.  Your readers subscribe because they want something you have.  What that something is, well, that’s an entirely different series of posts all together.  That, you should have figured out way before you even build a blog.

Take note: Subscription is not permission to market, it’s permission to meet (better yet, exceed) your readers expectations of value.

You ever wonder why some hard-core internet marketers are always frantically building their list.  Lists burn out when they are mismanaged.  Garbage in garbage out.  If all you do is market to your list, you’ll never experience the true value of email marketing.  Good email marketing will strengthen the relationship you have with your readers.  It will solidify your brand and help maintain a good reputation as a whole.  You’ll also significantly increase your bottom line (all other factors being good), as a direct result of treating your readers like actual human beings who don’t like to have their time wasted and actually expect something of value in exchange for their contact information.

Create a Hybrid Email & RSS Communication Machine

Okay, a little dramatic, but you get the point.  They work best together.  Many think there are two kinds of people.  The RSS, early adopting techies and the slow to catch up email subscribers.  Not so.  In client after client case review, we’ve seen a major gray area inbetween the two.  People who want convenience and value, wrapped up into a timely and relevent package - delivered how they want it delivered.

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Shortened and Pretty URL Guide

We’ve had quite a few readers ask questions about shortened URLs and “pretty” URLs — how to do them, what are your options, which option is best. So we’ve put together this quick tip guide to help you learn how to do what’s available, as well as learn which options are best for your needs. So let’s dive right into the world of shortened and pretty URLs…

What Are Shortened and Pretty URLs

I’m aware that a ton of newbies read this blog, so we’re going to start from the very beginning :-)  Shortened and pretty URLs are “better” versions of an original URL.  They are just what they sound like:

Shortened URLs

Is a long URL that has been shortened and set-up as a redirect to the longer URL.  For example, using a URL shortening service will:

• Take this:  http://websuccessdiva.com/shortened-pretty-url-guide/
• And turn it into this:  http://twurl.nl/2ub6p0

They both go to the same place, one is just shorter than the other.  The point is simply to shorten the URL

Benefits of Shortened URLs

When using the right shortened URL service, you’ll be able to track the click-throughs on each link.  Tracking is always a plus with marketing, because it helps you make better decisions in the future based on how many or how little people click through.

Pretty URLs

Is a shorter, prettier version of a longer URL.  For example, creating a pretty URL will:

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Online Business Success in 2009, Are You Ready?

Alejandro Reyes (@successfool) and I skyped yesterday, he came up with a fun experiment (as always) — let’s hold an ad-hoc live call, and talk about success in 2009.  Completely off the cuff, we covered lessons learned in 2008  and what people need to focus on in 2009 to rise to the top.

We took like questions from listeners through Twitter, you can see them here with the HashTag #ShineIn09:

http://websuccessdiva.com/shinein09hash/

He’s been kind enough to post the recording on his blog SuccessFool.com, take a listen…

http://successfool.com/ready-to-shine-in-2009-online/

Enjoy!

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Wordpress 2.7 Upgrade and Resource Guide

Wordpress released version 2.7 on the 10th and it’s already making waves in the blogging community — for the better.  With major admin interface and functionality upgrades, the Diva team is ecstatic to see the changes implemented…  This post is dedicated to provide you with Wordpress 2.7 resources that will make your blog upgrade as smooth as possible.

Notable Wordpress 2.7 Enhancements

Dashboard and navigation changes are significant. After playing around, all of the major interface changes are a nice addition to the upgrade.  Navigation has moved to a nifty left side-bar and much  more.

Redundant coding has been removed. Wordpress and it’s core coding has been cleaned up nicely.  It runs smoother and has far less complicated coding.

Batch editing for posts. Mass editing of post tags, categories, and more is a lot easier in this new version — saving you tons of time w hen moving things around.

Ping and trackback moderation are at your hands. Spammy pings and trackbacks are now much easier to manage.  You can now automatically moderate them, to avoid “splogs” and annoying SPAM.

Ability to Quick Post. You can now quickly post, without having to go through the entire posting process through your new admin console.  Great for posting on the road.

One-click plugin installation. You can now easily browse and add plugins directly from your Wordpress admin console.  Great addition.

Create sticky posts. Rather than code for a “featured” article, you can create “sticky” or “feature” articles on the fly, within your posting console — keeping any post you choose on the top of your blog at all times.

Automatic upgrades and theme update notices. You can now automatically upgrade your Wordpress theme from the admin console, as well as receive update notices for your theme (just like you do for plugins).

Easily close comments on old posts. You can mass close comments from your new admin console, to stop comment spamming on your older posts.

Comment replies are easier. You can comment directly from the comment console and even update or change comments from readers, with one click.

Comments now have paging. Rather than your posts scrolling for days, comments on posts/pages are now paged and automatically linked together with a numbered navigation.

Let’s jump right in to the new Wordpress 2.7…

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Social Media and Internet Marketing Week in Review

Great stuff across the past week… Let’s dive in!

Social Media Marketing

The Four Stages of the Twitter SeeSaw by Social Media Vision

Why Dell Continues to Use Social Media with Community Guy

TwitterAnalytics information worth a look from Beth Kanter

Another Twitter in the browser tool from Twitterati

Seven Must Haves in Your Social Media Strategy by Jason Baer

21 Ways to Share the Social Media Love with Altitude Branding

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TwitterGadget Offers Access to Twitter Through GMail

TwitterGadget.com has added a new tool to the Twitterverse, allowing you to access Twitter through GMail.  Through Google Labs, you can add plenty of nifty gadgets like this directly into your GMail pages.   Whether or not they are useful is in the eye of the beholder.  First, let’s dive into the set-up of TwitterGadget.

Enabling Google Labs in Your Gmail

The first step in adding TwitterGadget would be to enable Google Labs in your Gmail.  Once enabled, you can add any gadgets currently available, including the new Text Messaging in Chat and Tasks features.

Step 1:

After logging into your GMail account, click the “Settings” tab in the upper-right hand corner:

Step 2:

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Blog Tune-Up Series: Blog Design and Layout

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Our first part of the Blog Tune-Up Series covered the basics of why you need a self-hosted Wordpress blog and the must-have Wordpress plugins for blogging in 2009.  Today, we’re taking a look at how blog design and layout play an important role in your blogging.  Where you place functions, matters.  How you layout your blog, matters.  It all matters in your overall success.  Whether you’re a business blogger or wanna-be make money blogger — your blog design and layout can facilitate your success or hinder it.  Your blog design and layout should always be directly linked to the objectives you wish to accomplish and the audience you’re serving.

Important Blog Design Considerations

It goes without saying, but your blog should always represent a cohesive part of your overall business brand. This isn’t a matter of patching your logo onto the top of it.  A brand is really the whole presence you have online, going far beyond logos — your online brand is what you say, how you say it, and the sensory presentation of it.  Your logo, your colors, your layouts, your marketing message, your copy voice, your social media profiles — all of this plays a role in your business brand online.  Make sure your blog is directly tied to that brand.

Make sure your blog design and layout focus your traffic on your CONTENT first, gadgets and widgets last. Whether your blogging for money or business blogging, content is still king.  Period.  A blog is one of the most important tools you’ll have to build authority, credibility, and trust with your traffic — hopefully turning them into loyal readers.  You can not build trust and authority with widgets and gadgets, only your content and interactions can do that.  Make the focus of your blog content, content, content.  Your design and layout will either facilitate this or hinder it.

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Social Media Curves: Do Women Really Do Social Media Better?

Social media is all about building relationships, connections, and leading within niche communities.  There are those online that believe women, by their very nature, simply do it better than men.  I’m not convinced that men or women do it better, or that gender is somehow linked in the success of social media.  I do believe people, with specific mindsets, skills, and natures tend to succeed better in social media than others.  I also believe the perspectives behind the motivation to use social media play an important role in success.

Today, I’m part of a panel from the Social Media Telesummit 2009, discussing the role of women in social media and answering the question:  Do women really do it better?

Host: Leesa Barnes

Experts:  Mari Smith, Nancy Marmolejo, Denise Wakeman, Wendy Y Bailey, Shannon Cherry, and me

Time: 5p PT (8p ET)

More information:  http://websuccessdiva.com/socialmediacurves/

We’ll be discussing how women seem to be so successful in social media, and what you can learn from their success to build your own social media strategy.

Don’t worry fellas.  On December 16th, the guys chime in on the subject and give their take of what success in social media really looks like.

See you there!

http://websuccessdiva.com/socialmediacurves/

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Blog Tune-Up Series: Back to the Basics in Wordpress

Don’t let the title fool ya!  Yes, we’re going to go into everything that relates to your blog as your “center of conversion” online, but so much farther… Whether your conversion point is sales, lead generation, or credibility building… whether your an internet marketer, consultant, or professional blogger.  The Blog Tune-Up Series is information that will rev your blog up as we head into the exciting possibilities of 2009!

In our first segment of the series, we’re taking it back to the basics.

[You will want to bookmark this page, it's a lot of information.]

Word of Caution:

You may already have a Wordpress blog established, and that’s just groovy.  In that case, tune-up what you can, taking special care to read the entire post (some things you won’t want to change if they are already set a certain way).  What we’re covering is a “best case scenario” for Wordpress to function it’s best in your online marketing plan.  It’s not the end of the world if you’ve already established your blog another way

And in the case you don’t have a Wordpress blog, do your best to find an alternative for your blog platform, but I’d highly suggest you consider the long-term ramifications of not being on the Net’s best blog platform.

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Can PeopleBrowsr.com Simplify Social Media

Social media online identity management, the ability to manage a seemingly overwhelming amount of information and connections across sites and platforms.  Wouldn’t that be a dream.  A tool that would allow you to manage, all aspects of every social media presence you have - in one, user friendly place.  There are a ton of tools that cover part of that dream, but none really come close.  You have Ping.fm for mutlitple site posting and updating, TweetDeck for managing the noise on Twitter, and FriendFeed the ultimate “feed” community, among others.  The newest entrant into the social media tools game is PeopleBrowsr.com.  And, it may be a bit early to tell how they will eventually measure up, but there’s definitely promise

Inside PeopleBrowsr

The sign-up process is simple enough with just a few steps.

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Word of Mouth and Buzz Marketing: The Two Chicks Creating Interview

Today I’ve been interviewed on Two Chicks Creating radio at Blog Talk Radio.  This post is information provided during that interview to assist the listeners - covering Word of Mouth Marketing and Buzz Marketing for business owners, especially solopreneurs.

[You may want to bookmark this post, there is a ton of information here.  Take it one piece at at time.]

Buzz Marketing Vs. Word of Mouth Marketing

Word of Mouth is the act of passing on information (recommendations, general information, etc) from person to person.  In the old days, Word of Mouth was considered to be face-to-face.  With the changes in technology and rise of social media, Word of Mouth has become a significant player in the marketing game for businesses of all sizes — on a much larger, faster-paced scale.

The scope of Word of Mouth involves blogging, social networking (Facebook), micro-blogging (Twitter), forums, communities, and any other place people communicate online.  It’s power lies in the impact it has on the recipient and whether it continues in their communication to others.

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Week in Review: Social Media and Blog Marketing Tips

Great links from across the Net this past week, really good stuff, so let’s just jump in.

Blog Marketing and Business Blogging Resources

Best Posts Summary Wordpress Plugins by Daily Blog Tips

Ten Tips for Blog Traffic Stat Addicts at ProBlogger

Referrer Detector Wordpress Plugin by Daily Blog Tips

How AllTop Powers Bloggers by Chris Brogan

Reality Check on Making Money Blogging by ProBlogger

Blog Marketing is Central to Internet Marketing by Remarkablogger

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