Great online marketing and social media resources being posted across the blogosphere this week, including excellent information for non-profits, Twitter for business, and insight into making your offers stand out.  All really good stuff.

• Twitter Starts Routing All Links Through New Anti-Phishing Service
  This is about time, there have been so many phishing scams since Twitter has blown up.
• Report: Location Sharing Is Coming to Facebook
  Interesting to watch major social media sites all getting on the location aware bandwagon. Great news for local businesses.
• When you abuse permission…4 sites NOT to visit
  Super fab call out of blackhat, spammy SEO tactics that will ultimately cause the businesses more problems than they will benefit. Shame.
• Is Trust In Twitter Misplaced?
  Great reminder that we all need to take a look at the social networks we're marketing on and take a good look at their purpose... and results.
• 5 Ways to Increase Donations through Social Media
  Great basic ideas on how non-profits, ministries, and political groups can encourage donations. Definitely worth a look if you're heading in that direction.
• Make What you Offer Customers Stand out
  Fabulous information for any business (large or small) about offers your customer can't refuse. Great insight to say that it all starts with trust!
• 8 Easy Twitter Monitoring Ideas
  Great tips on monitoring and engaging on Twitter for small business and entrepreneurs. Practical too :-)
• Using Google Alerts To Work For Your Small Business
  Great look at the basics of using Google Alerts for your small business.
• Social Media Is Not an Eating Contest
  This is absolute truth for any small business, non-profit, or entrepreneur. Social media is not about quantity. You should always focus on quality... and thus results.
• The SEO Implications of Social Check-in Sites
  Great information, especially for local and small businesses to pay attention to.
• Why eBay Partner Network Makes 200% More Money Than AdSense On My Blog
  Great information on Ebay's Partner Network, especially if you are an entrepreneur with niche blogs.
• YouTube Turns on Automatic Captioning for All Videos
  Google is working on making sure web content is accessible by everyone, especially the hearing impaired. Great news for everyone who uses YouTube to market.
• The Secret of Small Business Social Media – You Must be Present to Win
  Great tips about the reality of winning in your social media marketing, including actually participating ;-)
• Thou Shalt Blog: What Marketers Can Learn from the Church's Foray into Social Media
  Great look at ministries and what small businesses can learn from church activity in social media.
• Facebook Ads Can Now Do Local Targeting for Thousands More Cities
  Facebook's addition of thousands of local targeting is another reason your small business, ministry, non-profit or political group needs to take a second look at their advertising platform.
• Singing the Praises of the Twitter Hashtag
  Great information about using Twitter Hashtags to engage intelligently on Twitter, without draining too much of your time.
• Online Marketing Tip: Work Smarter Not Harder
  Without Monitor, your marketing will always be in “fly by the seat of your pants” mode. You’ll never understand where to invest your time, where not to invest your time, what’s working and what’s not working.

Online Marketing and Social Media Faves (3/8/10) is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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Every aspect of our online world is getting closer to real-time. Social media sites like Twitter, search engine results, and now your Wordpress blog.  Wordpress has released a fab new PuSHPress Plugin to help you easily include the latest PubSubHubbub technology to your RSS feed, giving your subscribers near instant notification of new updates.  You’ve been able to do this for a while, if you were a techie.  PuSHPress now makes it easy for anyone to include PubSubHubbub technology in their blog.

Why PubSubHubbub?

PubSubHubbub is a open project technology that extends what RSS (or Atom) feeds do within your Wordpress blog by speeding up the notification process of new updates.  So rather than notifications being sent out to your subscribers at timed-intervals (causing delays), they can now receive near instant updates (depending on the RSS reader/service they are using).

Joseph Scott has given an breakdown of what this means in the real world, “Like rssCloud, PuSH is a way for services that subscribe to updates from your blog (think Google Reader, Bloglines or Netvibes) to get updates even faster. In a nutshell, instead of having to periodically ask your blog if there are any updates they can now register to automatically receive updates each time you publish new content. In most cases these updates are sent out within a second or two of when you hit the publish button.”

PuSHPress Plugin

Before PuSHPress including PuSH technology in your blog was a little technical, even for the DIY techie.  Now, you simply upload the plugin, activate it and you’re done. Really, its that simple and should only take you a few minutes.  Well worth the time to add the real-time technology.

Take a moment to download PuSHPress and install it.

PuSHPress Plugin: PubSubHubbub for Wordpress is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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Monitor, Rinse and Repeat is where the magic of “working smarter, not harder” begins. Monitor is made up of the systems, analytics, measurements, and data that will help you make better marketing decisions.  In order to work smarter (not harder) you need to have systems setup to consistently monitor your online marketing activities.  If you’re not doing this, you are missing a huge opportunity to get better results.  Big, small or one man show, you can not afford to skip this step!

Note:  This post is an excerpt from the 30 Days 30 Ways Free Online Marketing Program

Monitor, Rinse and Repeat is where the magic of “working smarter, not harder” begins. Monitor is made up of the systems, analytics, measurements, and data that will help you make better marketing decisions.

Why Monitor is Important

Without Monitor, your marketing will always be in “fly by the seat of your pants” mode. You’ll never understand where to invest your time, where not to invest your time, what’s working and what’s not working.

Remember, the smaller your business the less time and resources you have to invest in online marketing activities that do not work.  Monitor helps you use your resources wisely.

“Always remember, there is an opportunity cost in everything you do…

when you go one way, you give up the opportunity of going another, possibly better way.”

– A wise old guy

Understanding the components of Monitor

Monitor is made up of all components of your online presence that do one of two things:

1. Collect data;
2. and, provide valuable information to help you make better marketing decisions.

Monitor considerations that will need to be made…

• Where does my traffic come from?
• Which of my traffic sources brings in the best traffic?
• Where are lead and sale opportunities within my referrer traffic?
• Which traffic sources are “dead” traffic where I am wasting my time?
• Am I tracking all incoming traffic sources in the best way?
• Which of my landing pages is producing the most qualified leads?
• How do I track each marketing channel from point of contact to the sale?
• How do I collect data to monitor all marketing channels and incoming traffic?
• What data is important for me to make better marketing decisions?

Monitor is the system(s) you put in place, combined with Convert to optimize, test, and improve… over and over and over.

What Monitor means for your business…

Along with Convert, Monitor will help you optimize your lead generation and sales. When you set up the right systems to Monitor, you’ll be able to understand your success, your failures, and discover opportunities for further growth in your business.  You’ll know what works, what doesn’t work, and how you can leverage the positive while decreasing the negative.  Corporate marketers call this ROI (return on investment).  With Convert and Monitor strategies you’ll dramatically increase your ROI in every area of your online marketing.

Online Marketing Tip: Work Smarter Not Harder is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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Today’s online marketing and social media resources from across the blogosphere cover everything from how to diagnose SEO problems, new features for more personalization within Google search results, to great marketing data on ROI.  Be sure to check out the links within each resource, great additional resources for small businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs alike.  Enjoy!

• Google Pesonalizes Search Results More with Star Feature
  Great information, related to SEO for some companies. Personalized search is becoming the next wave in SEO. When you're subscribers star a post in Google Reader, this shows up when they search for something related. Good stuff.
• Diagnosing Technical SEO Issues
  This is great, great SEO information for all small businesses, non-profits and entrepreneurs. SEO mistakes can literally kill any results you could receive.
• Need to Convince the Boss of the ROI of Inbound Marketing?
  Inbound online marketing has a significantly higher ROI than any other form of marketing available today. This is a great recap of data from across the Net, proving it!
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Web 2.0: Top 25 Applications to Grow Your Business
  Great, great list of applications and tools for entrepreneurs and small businesses alike. From managing your time to DIY software for online marketing.
• 10 Fantastic Places for Finding Designers Online
  These are great places to not only find designers, but programmers and many freelancers who are eagerly awaiting your online requests.

Smart Online Marketing and Social Media Resources (3/4/10) is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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Convert is far more technical and strategic than any other part of the IMPACT Marketing Formula. It’s made up of the strategies, measurements, and fundamentals of converting your ideal audience into a qualified lead and/or purchase. It’s the point at which all your Target, Engage, and IMPACT efforts culminate and you either see results (ie the purchase) or you don’t.

Note:  This post is an excerpt from the 30 Days 30 Ways Free Online Marketing Program

Activities in Convert cover everything from your copy, to your landing pages, your lead generation forms, to how your sales or point of purchase is setup. The point of Convert is to optimize your ability to collect leads and make the sale. It also focuses on gathering the information you’ll need to make this process as optimized as possible.

Why Convert is Important

Without Convert, you’re eventually out of business. You need to convert your audience into leads that turn into sales.  Period.  You need to be systemized and purposeful in everything you do to convert leads into sales.  Slamming an optin form on your blog/website and hoping it catches leads is not going to cut it.  There’s really not much more that could be said here

Understanding the components of Convert

Convert is made up of all components of your online presence that do one of two things:

1. Collect lead data;
2. and/or make the sale.

Note:  If you’re wondering why analytics and tracking are not included in this, stay tuned for Monitor Convert considerations that will need to be made…

• How should I use landing pages to collect leads?
• What types of lead forms should I have on my website and/or blog?
• What information should I collect when getting the lead?
• When should I collect the lead?
• How do I optimize my lead and sales pages?
• What are the “friction factors” on my forms that reduce lead generation and how can I fix them?
• How do I know if my forms and sales pages are collecting the most leads possible?
• How do I optimize the sales experience to increase buyer confidence?

Convert is the first part of optimizing, testing, improving… over and over and over. You have to understand what stops your audience from becoming a lead/sale and what motivates them.  You have to understand how to setup a system of collecting leads that takes your audience through a process which ultimately leads to the sale process.  The good thing about Convert is there are best practices and standards.  There will also be testing and data, in Monitor, that will help you optimize your conversions — if your systems are setup right.

What Convert means for your business…

Convert will help you optimize your lead generation and sales. Without it, you’ll likely determine success or failure based on activity or non-activity, making decisions based solely on immediate returns rather than the entire picture.  There is so much more you can do to make sure your process and experience for the customer/client is optimized to get the lead/sale.  With proper consideration, you’ll be able to collect data on your performance, look at that data and spot opportunities that will increase your bottom line.  As well, you’ll know what’s not working and those things that are ultimately hurting your bottom line.

Understanding Conversion in Online Marketing is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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FeedBurner (Google’s RSS feed service) provides RSS and email subscriptions with additional features making it simple for the DIY crowd to leverage the power of RSS.  Many small businesses, non-profits, and other bloggers are likely using FeedBurner, its free and super easy to set-up.  Most, however, are not leveraging its features to take their RSS marketing into overdrive.  Let’s dive into why we heart FeedBurner.

We Heart FeedBurner

There are many other RSS feed services available on the Net, a popular one being FeedBlitz.  We still love FeedBurner because it does what its supposed to do reliably with super easy set-up.  It’s also part of Google accounts, saving us one more login

FeedBurner’s Smart Features:

SmartCast: Super easy RSS syndication of your podcast to iTunes.  This makes podcasting easy in feeds that normally cannot support it. Link to MP3s, videos, images, and other digital media in your site content and SmartCast creates enclosures for them automatically. SmartCast will also add elements required for a richer, more detailed listing in iTunes Podcast Directory and sites using Yahoo Media RSS.

FeedFlare: Give your subscribers easy ways to email, tag, share, and act on the content you publish by including as many or few of the services listed below. FeedFlare places a simple footer at the bottom of each content item, helping you to distribute, inform and create a community around your content.

Headline Animator: Create and customize an animated banner that cycles through your feed’s five most recent items. It’s an easy way to promote your content anywhere you can place a snippet of HTML.

Email Subscriptions: Give your biggest fans another way to keep up with your blog or podcast feed by placing an email subscription form on your site.

Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright. With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify here. This service attaches the appropriate Creative Commons license in your feed’s XML.

GeoTag: Let everyone know your publication location by adding your latitude and longitude (or ZIP code, if you live in the U.S.) to your feed. This service inserts the geo:lat and geo:long tags per the world geodesic survey RDF specification.

Monetize: Activate Google AdSense for feeds and choose options that control how these ads display in your feed.

And, there’s much more.  If you haven’t taken a look at FeedBurner lately, check it out and maximize your efforts.

FeedBurner Recommended Settings Video

Let’s walk through our recommended settings and details on how we use the various features of FeedBurner:

Sorry, the rest of this content is for Diy Marketing Mastery members only.

Gain access free by joining our growing community of 1250+ smart people who have joined the Smart Marketing Vault >>

Image:  QThomasBower on Flickr

FeedBurner: Take Another Look for RSS Feed Service is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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Here’s our picks for today’s smart online marketing and social media tips from across the blogosphere, enjoy!

• Yoast: Optimizing for Rich "Jump To" Snippets
  Great, great information important to your SEO efforts. Google Snippets are a great area to consider in your optimization check list. Good instructions/tips here.
• Google Helps You Find Things Nearby
  Mobile is critical to search marketing and online marketing. Google is now making it easier for people who are using location to find what's near them... all the more reason for companies to get themselves listed in the local side of Google and to have a mobile ready site.
• The Critical Mistake that Keeps Bloggers Broke
  This is an important post to read for bloggers, professionals, and small businesses using blogging as part of your revenue building process. Very important tip here.
• Roadmap: Make Your Corporate Websites Relevant by Integrating Facebook, Google, MySpace, LinkedIn, or Twitter
  This is excellent information about integration in social media to be more relevant to your audience. We are in the era of real-time with socially savvy consumers, to not integrate these key components could be costing you money -- whether your business is large or small.
• When Google Local Gets it Wrong
  Understanding what can go wrong with the technology you are using to market online, is important. This post shows a case in point with Google Local.
• SEO and Social Media Matter for Press Coverage
  This is excellent information for PR pros and the DIY small business. Learn the lesson, optimize everything for your multiple target audiences. Period. Everything, social media, press releases, and beyond.
• Facebook’s February 2010 US Traffic by Age and Sex: All Groups Growing, Men More Quickly
  Understanding the demographics (current and trending) of the social media sites you are actively marketing on, can be extremely important in helping you make the right marketing decisions. This is a great look at the recent trending demographics for Facebook. Must look at for small businesses, sports marketing, non-profits and political groups.
• Is your site hacked? New Message Center notifications for hacking and abuse
  Anyone marketing online who is not using Google Webmaster Tools is insane. Great tools, including this service to notify you if your site is hacked, are great and very helpful in managing your web presence.
• Twitter Turns On the Stream for Big and Small Alike
  Live streaming results are soon going to be everywhere, not just in Google. All the more reason for small busiensses and others using online marketing to get with the social media game. Twitter and its streaming participation has serious potential for most people/businesses and far beyond. Non-Profits and political action groups are having great success mobilizing their audiences.
• Small Business Marketing with Impact (Part 2)
  This is a post we did, sharing an excerpt from our free online marketing program. It looks at the importance of impact in your online marketing, going far beyond the basics to creating a total experience for your customer.
• Word of Mouth Tip #54: Always ask for their email
  Simple, yet very important step all should use in their marketing. Email is still king when contacting your customer -- whether you're a small business, non-profit, political candidate, musician... get their email.
• How To Get Photography For Your Blog
  This is a great post. Images (and other forms of media) are great additions to your blog, making it more engaging and meaningful. This is especially true if you use images to represent a point you're making. Great tips on finding free images and crediting appropriately.
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• Google Maps Integrates Flickr Photos
  Google Maps and Flickr photos are very important in your inbound online marketing. Both are integral to local search marketing and SEO efforts, especially since Google Maps is now being integrated into Google Local and both (Maps and Flickr) are fully integrated into the universal search results. Good information for all small businesses, ministries, non-profits, and political action groups to pay attention to.
• Options Continue to Grow for Musicians on Facebook
  What's great about these options is that they make smaller bands and indie groups have the same big access the big players have. I'm also excited because Facebook seems to be embracing more multimedia options, which will play into the entire platform for everyone -- small businesses, non-profits, ministries, and political action groups. Good stuff to stay on top of.
• Embedded Mobile Traffic Rapidly Grows
  Great, great information for all businesses large and small. Mobile has also been a big player for non-profits and political action groups, as well as political candidates. Mobile can be inexpensive and is definitely something you need to look at if you're serious about marketing in the future!
• Beware the BCC: Copying Can Make Us All Blind
• 8 Reasons You Might Not Be Getting Many Comments
• Even Google Employees Get Delisted

Smart Resources: Online Marketing and Social Media Tips is a post from: WebSuccessDiva.com

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