Email was amazingly fast when it was new. Instant messaging was even faster. Instant became more powerful with Twitter — you can send messages to an unlimited number of people at once, and those people can receive your messages a variety of ways. A rotating quote on the Twitter.com home page describes Twitter as "the telegraph system of Web 2.0."

What is Twitter?

Twitter is described at the Twitter site as a microblog. It's that and a blog on steroids at the same time. Instead of writing a blog post (or in addition to writing one), you type and send a short message of up to 140 characters via the Twitter site, your mobile phone, an instant messaging program, or a third party application. The message goes out to cyberspace instantly and to people who are subscribed to your feed. Or in Twitter language, your followers (people who receive your Twitter updates) can read your tweets as soon as you send them — via mobile phone, IM, RSS feeds, and the Twitter website.

Unlike blog posts, you can specify who receives your twitters, and you can send private messages to individuals in your network. You can also track specified words and be updated via mobile phone or IM whenever a word you're tracking is used. (Web updates are reportedly coming soon.)

Who twitters?

People who want to tell their followers that they just had lunch or are on their way somewhere twitter. Friends and family members twitter to stay in touch. Some people use Twitter to share something interesting that they came across or to give their opinions about recent events. Adults twitter. Kids twitter. Unfortunately, spammers also twitter (but if you don't follow them, their spam won't reach you).

Twitter isn't only for casual conversation and tidbits. Barack Obama uses Twitter to announce events he's attending and updates to his website. CNN uses Twitter to announce breaking news. A conference organizer posts deadlines and updates via Twitter and used Twitter to announce that three followers would be randomly chosen to win conference passes.

The growth of Twitter

Twitter has been experiencing growing pains. Recently the Reply feature had to be turned off temporarily in an attempt to keep Twitter working during high load times. While this article was being researched, a "Twitter is over capacity. Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again" message appeared several times at the Twitter site. But those who thought that Twitter wouldn't last appear to be wrong. As with blogs, Twitter has continued to grow in popularity and usage. According to a May 2008 report, nearly 1.2 million people per month had signed up with Twitter in the past three months. Twenty-four percent of users are classified as heavy users, and traffic is much higher on weekdays than on weekends.

Twitter as a networking tool

Twitter allows users to follow other people for short periods of time or indefinitely. It can help users build relationships and develop new ones. You can learn more about people in your network by following them via Twitter, and you'll have more to talk about with them. When you're looking for someone for a particular task or job, you'll be better able to decide whether you want to work with them.

Some ways to network with Twitter:

Publish tips and interesting bits of information related to your area of expertise. You'll develop more followers and build a reputation as an authority in your niche.

At events, update followers with schedule changes, your whereabouts, brief reviews, and tips on what to avoid and what not to miss. Give out your Twitter username to people you meet at events, and if you follow each other, you'll have added to your network.

When you have a good number of followers, ask questions via Twitter about how to solve a specific problem or to find out who has information about a topic. Chances are that someone will know the answer, and the interaction will help build relationships.

Search Twitter conversations via Summize.com for topics that interest you, and start following people whose tweets are about your interests. Add a lot at first and then reduce the list to those whose tweets are most worth following to you. Some of them may start following you as well.

Twitter as a marketing tool

Twitter can be useful as a marketing tool to be used with other marketing methods. Because people have to choose to follow you and can stop following you at any time, it's a form of permission-based marketing.

Examples of uses for Twitter as a marketing tool:

* To summarize and link to new blog entries, newsletter issues, and other updates to your website
* To announce sales and other time-limited offers
* To introduce new products or services
* To publish news about your area of focus, especially breaking news
* To share bits of knowledge that are useful to your followers and that help establish you as an authority in your field
* To initiate conversations with your followers

Publish your Twitter username at your website and on your business cards, and keep your tweets with your Twitter business account professional.

Related blog articles

* How to Become a Known Niche Authority
* Newsletter or Blog? Have Both!
* How to Market Your Brand via Social Media Websites

SEM Blogs: Learn From The People Doing It

SEM Blogs Explained by Web Hosting Provider

Welcome to the world of ecommerce – a strange mixture of science and voodoo, and a cast of characters right out of the classic “Star Wars” bar scene. You’re thinking about putting up a web site, or you’ve already taken the plunge and put in the time, but you’re wondering how to see a little more traffic - web hosting provider explains.

There’s no search engine marketing school, but there’s a slew of blogs where SEM post their thoughts and ideas. Here are a couple of recommendations for beginners and veterans provided by your web hosting firm.

Alibi Productions Blog This blog is written by a funny, insightful guy who knows a thing or two about marketing. I also think his pictures and images are humorous. Definitely worth a look. Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0.

Gypsy Bandito CT Moore’s take on marketing in general. While the focus of Moore’s blog isn’t SEM, his thoughts on marketing adapt nicely to the digital realm. There’s also plenty of good vid-clips. Informative and fun. Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

John Battelle’s Searchblog Battelle, the well-known co-founder of Wired, maintains a fun blog site filled with idle musings, interesting clips from other sources and some excellent advice. Content isn’t necessarily optimized for topic search but it’s a good blog for a chuckle and some good tips. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

Natural Search is designed for more advanced SEM/SEOs. The content contains product reviews and industry news related to everything Microsoft, Yahoo and ecommerce in general. Also, a blog for more established online businesses seeking to improve organic search results. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

Marketing Experiments is a blog published by MEC. Their tag line is: Real-time data, insights, answers, and advice from analysts… It’s a blog with a strong focus on the science of SEO and SEM, offering test results that will save the new webmaster lots of tweaking time.

Some of the content is a little more advanced than the first-time site owner might be able to absorb in one pass, but this is one blog worthy of a bookmark. As you learn more about SEO and online marketing, re-visit this blog and test some of your theories with a knowledgeable community. Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Occam’s Razor Avinash Kaushik offers some out of the box thinking when it comes to SEM. His posts are always fun (even when the subject is serious) and the graphics are perfect. Good yucks and very educational. Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Avinash Kaushik’s take on bloggers with nothing to say At Occam’s Razor

Matt Cutts, the web-renowned Google engineer and search spam killer, talks about life behind Google and other web-based matter. Cutts, known for squashing web mythology, can save you a lot of time fixing things that don’t need to be fixed on your site.

While you may not agree with everything Cutts has to say, you have to admit he has the credentials and knows of what he speaks.

Darren Rouse is the brains behind Pro Blogger, a blog site on how to generate revenues from a site blog. Since most new start-ups are looking to add new revenue streams, Rouse’s tips just might improve your site’s balance sheet faster than you’d expected.

BTW, Rouse does have some “unconventional’ views and a straightforward, in-your-face writing style that some find refreshing. Be sure to check out his post on 12 Traits of Successful Blogger. A quote from that post:

“…one of the traits that I see in many great bloggers is a restlessness and a dissatisfaction with the current state of play in their world/blog/industry. They are not content to sit comfortably but are always exploring, pushing boundaries and experimenting. They are curious people who are always asking ‘what if….?’ - a question that leads to all kinds of discoveries and possibilities that the rest of us could only dream of discovering.”

- Darren Rouse, Pro Blogger

What an inspirational POV. Go bloggers. Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Lies, Damned Lies… is the blog of Microsoft’s Ian Thomas, head of the company’s new web analytics program. His blog, as you can tell from the title, is irreverent and a bit peckish at times, but that’s a style consideration and purely subjective. Also, Thomas often strays into topics a bit off the beaten path, comparing pragmatists and idealists in the blogging sphere. Rating: 3.0 out of  5.0

Search Brains is all news all of the time. One blog listing service called Search Brains a “river of [SEO] news,” an apt description. You won’t find a lot of tips or suggestions, but you will find the latest in ecommerce news. An excellent place to start the day with a cup of coffee.

Ask.com Ask is a boutique search engine – not one of the big three. But it’s blog is a kick. Learn what’s new in the Ask community with a behind the scenes look at how search engines (and the people behind them) function. The content is designed for newbies and long-timers looking for a new strategy or a bit more of an edge over the competition. Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

There’s no shortage of information on the web about SEO and SEM strategies and tactics. However, a lot of this information is dated, misinterpreted or simply made up. [This is not in reference to Ask’s blog, FYI, which is recommended.]

The consumer of online information must take every bit of information with a grain of salt. If you can track down a source for the quote or the statement, great. If not, the only way to protect yourself is to read all you can about turning your business into a web success.

Then decide for yourself.

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10 Tips to Bang Your Blog

Paul Lalley

Author’s note: A while back the editors at Website Source let me post a blog, and despite their best efforts, they haven’t been able to keep me away. So, here, again, are my modest thoughts, this time on blogs. And please tell the editor that she’ll get back her puppy when this post appears.

Web hosting blog lists tips to maximize the potential of your blog

If you thought your blog was going to pull in thousands of readers, you’re probably disappointed. In fact, you might be downright morose at the poor attendance and lack of give-and-take your blog produces.

When done well, and when blog potential is maximized to the fullest, a blog draws traffic - web hosting blog explains. When not done properly, it’s like a big party that all guests left early. Just a little confetti blowing across the lawn. So here are some tips to get better bang from your blog.

1. Invite guest bloggers. Swap posts.

Contact experts in your commercial sphere and ask them to write 800-word posts for your blog. Offer to reciprocate. Not only do you pick up different writing styles, some fresh opinions and a new POV, you also pick up a link from site to site. It’s a great way to build local connectivity.

2. Use keywords in blog titles and sub-heads.

Excellent idea. However, make sure those same keywords appear in the blog post’s main body at a rate of 2%-3% so spiders get the message right.

3. Use a blog module.

Check out www.wordpress.com. It’s easy to install, easy to use and easy to manage. Yes, maintain an active blog but find automated features and tools that equip you to manage the blog in a few minutes, not a few hours.

4. Add keywords to your topic categories.

Most sites contain content on a variety of topics. Check out the blog you’re reading now. Lots of different categories. Create categories of blog entries that employ your most valuable keywords to get the notice you’re looking for.

5. Change the times of day you post to your blog.

Variety tells a spider and humans that there’s a human behind the curtain – someone who is actually paying attention to blog posts and replies from blog readers. It’ll also help to vary topics and even lengths – anything to make the post read like it was generated by a human, not a text generator.

6. Forget PageRank (PR).

Page rank is determined by number of visitors, number of inbound links, authority content, features and other factors. However, as a means of driving visitor traffic, PR, and for that matter, SEO, have lost much of their clout. Visitors find your site today in any number of ways, not just by organic search results.

7. Read blogs on your topics.

You can’t use the text itself. Copyrighted, you know. But, reading what someone else thinks about this year’s fashions from Paris may spark a response to post on your blog. The best source for blog ideas is other blogs. Just spin it in a different direction.

8. Avoid duplicate content.

Sure, you can post syndicated content on your blog if you want but it won’t do you any good in getting your blog ranked on Google or other search engines. If it isn’t green, it shouldn’t be seen.

9. Take site visitors by the hand and lead them to your blog.

Some site owners under-utilize their blogs by burying them in the site’s backwash. Maintaining a blog takes time, costs money and you want visitors to read your posts and respond. So, put a HUGE blog link on the navigation bar. Most visitors know that’s where the fun is. It’s also a place they can express their own opinions and everybody likes to put forth their opinions.

10 Take part in blog chat.

You’re the blog administrator. The boss of the blog. There’s nothing wrong with popping in now and then to mediate or direct the discussion back to the main thread. Again, this shows that there’s a human behind the blog.

Blogs are a cool way for site owners to maximize their exposure for little or no cash. And, if you follow the rules of the search engines, you just may see your blog show up on Google’s SERPs – on page one!

One final point: keep blogging. Even if you’re tired of it or you don’t see additional revenues for your efforts. The point of a blog is to create site stickiness and a site community. When you see the same posters coming back time after time, you know you’ve got it right.

Now, maximize your potential. Bang your blog and bring it on home.

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Newsletter or Blog? Have Both!

Web Hosting Provider Explains

First, there were email newsletters, or ezines. Then came blogs. Is one better than the other?

For some purposes, yes. But together, they can be better than just an email newsletter or just a blog. Newsletter or blog - The drawbacks of each are the advantages of the other, so they complement each other well - web hosting provider explains.

Benefits of email newsletters

Email newsletters are a familiar vehicle, and they're a vehicle that goes to individuals' in-boxes.

How recipients perceive and use email newsletters

• Almost everyone who uses the Internet uses email.
• Newsletter readers can go from the newsletter in their in-box to your website with just a click.
• Professional-looking email newsletters can create a positive impression of your company.
• Newsletter readers are reminded about your website regularly without having to use RSS feeds.
• Recipients can forward email newsletters to other people.

How you can use email newsletters

• Newsletters can feel more personal than blogs.
• Newsletters have subscriber lists, which allow you to contact your readers and to gather information about them.
• You can link to blog articles in your newsletter.
• You can include special offers and other types of content in email newsletters.

Drawbacks of email newsletters

Email can be problematic, and the work behind newsletters is more involved than in publishing a blog entry.

Receiving email newsletters

• Newsletters arrive when senders send them, which may not be the optimal time for recipients to read them. They can get buried in in-boxes and possibly never be read.
• Spam filters block many bulk emails, often including legitimate emails.
• If email newsletters aren't blocked because they're bulk email, they might get blocked by spam filters if they're in HTML or contain certain words. For example, a newsletter with an article about breast cancer could get blocked because it has the word "breast" in it, particularly if the word is in the email subject line.
• Many people refuse to sign up for newsletters because of the concern that they'll receive spam.

Sending email newsletters

• It takes time to maintain mailing lists. Some people may need help subscribing, and some emails will bounce when you send out your newsletter.
• Newsletters require more work than blog entries do.
• Depending on the program you use for your mailing list, it can cost you each time you mail out your newsletter.

Benefits of blogs

Blogs don't have the email problems that newsletters do. In many ways, they're more usable than newsletters, and they help you by being online, where search engines and people can find them.

Blog usability

• Blog software is free and easy to use. (Commercial blog software is also available.)
• Adding blog entries to your website is easy. One click, and they're published at your site.
• People don't need to give you their email addresses to find blog updates. They can subscribe to the blog RSS feed or just check your site regularly for new content.
• You can provide the option for people to sign up to be notified when you have new blog content.
• Blogs are interactive. Readers can leave comments, and you can respond to their comments in the comments section yourself.
• Increasingly more businesses are using blogs at their websites, making them more familiar to people online.

Blog content

• New content appears at the beginning of blogs, so visitors can see what's new right away.
• Blog entries can be a variety of lengths.
• You can update or correct blog content at any time.
• Blog comments become part of the content, and if some people comment regularly and interact with each other, a community can grow from your blog.
• You can link between blog articles and put them in categories with other articles about the same topics.
• Site visitors can read older content as well as newer content at any time.

Blogs, SEO, and traffic

• Search engines index blogs and display blog pages in their search results.
• If other webmasters like your blog content, they can link to it from their sites.
• Social media site users can bookmark, link to, and discuss your content.
• You can link to your blog content from the rest of your site and in newsletters.
• Having a blog as part of your site can help bring more traffic to your whole site.

Drawbacks of blogs

The main drawback of blogs is that they don't have the advantages of email newsletters. Without a newsletter from you in front of them, some people may forget about your website. In addition, blogs need to be monitored.

Blogs and information

• Not everyone knows how to use RSS.
• Unless you set up a mailing list for your blog updates, readers don't get notifications of new content in their in-boxes.
• Without a mailing list, you have less information about your audience.

Blogs and comments

• Blogs attract spam. You need to monitor the comments and trackbacks and remove those that were added just to post links to other sites, as well as other types of spam.
• Some blog comments may be critical of your products, services, or company.

How to use email newsletters and blogs together

With both newsletters and blogs, you have online content, and you can deliver your content, or links to it, directly to some of your target audience. Here's how:

• Create your blog. Make sure that it has an RSS feed.
• Publish at least a few articles in it so that your audience can have an idea of what to expect.
• Create or find a suitable newsletter template.
• Decide what type of content you want to include in your newsletter. Will you just send links to new blog content, or do you want to include other content as well?
• Provide a newsletter sign-up box or link in your blog. Include a privacy policy statement stating that you will not sell, rent, or give away email addresses.
• When you have new content in your blog, send out your newsletter to your subscribers.

In addition, consider publishing your email newsletters online after you send them to your subscribers. The newsletters will then provide all the benefits of newsletters and of blogs.

Related blog articles

Blog articles about email newsletters

• Build Your Subscriber Lists
• Sending Out a Newsletter? Read All About It
• Testing Email Marketing Effectiveness
• Email Campaigns: Don't End Up in the Trash Bin

Blog articles about blogging

• Getting the Most from Your Post
• SEO Your Blog
• Blogging for Business

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Professional Copywriter Provides Tips: Website Source’s First Guest Blogger

Editor’s note: Up until now, the content of the Website Source blog has been written and edited in-house. Today, we open up our blog to Paul Lalley, a professional website copywriter who offers some writing tips from the professional’s point of view.

Web Hosting Blog Provides Tips from Guest Blogger

Tips From a Web Copy Professional: First, I’d Like to Apologize…

Paul Lalley

Before I begin, I owe you all an apology. I’m a web copywriter and, yes, I’m responsible for some of the hard sell copy that litters the cyber landscape, and for this I am truly sorry. It’s a way to pay my mortgage. Any way, I want to provide some tips for writing good web copy. Think of it as a peace offering. And if you keep these suggestions close at hand, maybe, together, we can stamp out the mind chatter that clutters the web.

Okay, tip number one: Write like you talk. You don’t say “I will be right back.” You say “I’ll be right back.” The difference is subtle but it comes down to this – write words people hear and don’t write words that people read.

“You will learn all the secrets of….” No.

“You’ll discover the secrets of…” Yes.

Tip number two: Write in the present tense. Which of the following sentences is more compelling:

“You will see revenues double when you use our software.”

Or

“Your revenues double when you use our software.”

The first sample is written in future tense, “You will see…” Kind of tepid when compared against the present tense, “Your revenues double…” Present tense makes your site text more compelling, immediate and actionable – and that’s what you want your site text to do: command action. This helps.

Tip number three: Don’t write about features, write about benefits. Features don’t sell but benefits do. Who cares about the horsepower of the “New LawnTrac Mower?” Only lawn mower fanatics. However, if you point out that the mower cuts in half the time to undertake this loathsome chore, that’s a benefit any weekend warrior will appreciate. In turn, you’ll sell more lawn mowers.

Tip number four: Make liberal use of headlines. Headlines should be intriguing, intriguing enough to compel the site visitor to stop to read more. Use headlines to point the spotlight on the benefits of your product or services and be sure to use important keywords in these “big and bold” letter strings.

They attract human visitors’ attention, and they identify important text to search engine spiders, so by including keywords in headlines, you provide the mindless search engine bot with more easily interpreted data to ensure that your website is accurately indexed back at search engine HQ.

Tip five: Forget SEO. Write for SEM.

Frankly, I think the relevance of search engine optimization is highly over-rated. Even if you optimize your site to the max, you’ll still show up on page 23 of Google’s search engine results pages and when was the last time you clicked that deep conducting a search. Like never?

SEO text is written for search engine spiders NOT human beings. I hate it, but it is a necessary evil until search engines become smarter. SEO text follows a specific formula: five out of each 100 words must be keywords (keyword density), keywords must appear in the first sentence of each paragraph, keywords must appear in headlines and on and on. These restrictions limit the creativity of the writer who writes words for bots not humans.

SEO is one small part of search engine marketing and given the growing interconnectivity now found on the web, it’s just as likely that a visitor will find your site via syndicated content, an RSS (remote site syndication) feed or a paid link (pay-per click or PPC advertising). That’s why SEO is losing relevance. Unless your site is listed on the first or second page of the SERPs, you won’t see much organic site traffic – traffic driven by the links that appear on the left side of any SERP.

Your site text should appease search engine spiders and you should try to adhere to SEO writing conventions - web hosting provider tips. But here’s the thing: don’t be bound by them. The rule of thumb 5% keyword density dictum can be modified to produce text that describes your site to spiders but also converts visitors to buyers. Remember, humans buy. Bots don’t.

Tip Six: Make every word count. Which is more compelling?

Learn the secrets of micro-cap investing

or

Discover the secrets of micro-cap investing

“Learn” sounds dull and boring – a lot like school. “Discovery” is rich with possibilities.

Site text should be friendly and useful – serve a purpose. And it should be kept to the absolute minimum. The days of the endless hyperbole and inaccessible use of text sizing in the typical long-form sales letter are over.

Today’s user wants the who, what, where, when and why now. So, if it isn’t absolutely necessary, redline it and make every word count.

And finally, copywriting tip seven: End each sales component with a call to action. The call to action should be instructional, directing the site visitor to take a specific action. The call to action should, again, be based on benefits to the end user. NOT product features. Which is more important to you, the hypothetical, independent website builder?

This program cuts hand-coding costs by 90%!

or

Designed to Function on Most Networks

Did somebody say something about a 90% percent cut in hand-coding costs? The feature may be a selling point but it’s no where near as compelling as the benefit. And that’s our job – to compel site visitors to take action.

Thank you for taking a moment to read my suggestions and, again, apologies.

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