Linkedin Profile Best Practice Basics

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

Linkedin Best PracticeLinkedin operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 150 billion members in over 200 countries (as of Feb. 2012).  As a result, Linkedin is the best known and most widely used business networking site in the world.

Designing a profile that is professional, complete, up to date, and well organized will best represent your professional accomplishments and maximize the primary benefits of this social network including:

  • Building your personal brand
  • Generating business leads
  • Increasing your business website SEO ratings
  • Establishing your authority or expertise in a subject area
  • Increasing your ability to be found by recruiters or other hiring authorities
  • Helping you make important professional connections
  • Providing you the opportunity to learn and share information
  • Allowing you to discover relationships between your connections
  • The primary content is free!

Here are some simple best practices for maximizing your Linkedin profile:

  1. Use a good profile image
    1. Your profile image is the first thing people notice when they visit your page. Use a close up of your smiling face without a distracting background.Linedin Profile Pics
  2. Create a descriptive headline
    1. Consider expanding on your job title. Use words that paint a broader picture of what you do.
      1. Instead of “Consultant” use “Results Driven Business Coach | Tech Blog Author | Copy Writer
      2. Instead of “Fitness Instructor” use “Fitness Instructor | Wellness Coach | Personal Trainer”
  3. Use good keywords throughout your page
    1. Use keywords that you want to represent the skills, competencies an experience that you most want to highlight. Use those keywords in your current an past positions, in titles and in descriptions.
  4. Post important updates
    1. Click on the Linkedin “Home” button and then “share an update.” All of your contacts will see this info in their updates feed.
      1. Linkedin Share Update
    2. Consider sharing
      1. Blog posts
      2. Newsletter links
      3. Business and professional milestones
  5. Use the “other” box for your website title
    1. In the website section of the main profile area, click the edit link next to the websites section.
    2. Select “Other” from the drop down menu and type in a unique name for your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page, etc.
      1.  Linkedin Additional Info
  6. Join a few professional networking groups
    1. After joining and participating in relevant groups related to your business or work, share updates in those groups.
      1. After sharing an update on your home page news feed, navigate to your profile page and click the “share” link below the update
        1. Linkedin Share
      2. Then, type in the name of the groups you want to send it to and add a subject and description. (click to see larger image)
        1. Linkedin Share Groups
  7. Install additional applications
    1. Linked in offers the ability to ‘plug in’ additional application on your page including WordPress blog articles, Events, Google Presentations, Box.net files and more.
      1. In the Linkedin menu bar click on “More…Get More Applications”
  8. Customize the contact info box
    1. Move the contact info box up towards the top of the profile and add your phone number in the ‘what advice would you give’ text area.
  9. Ask for recommendations
    1. If you are a small business owner this is one of the most important features of Linkedin. Positive recommendations from other professionals is extremely valuable for building the trust of new potential clients, customers and connections.
    2. Visitors can see who is recommending you and also see how they are connected to your connections as well.

For more tips, tools and technology for small business, sign up for our webinar series!

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Use the “BCC” field for Mass Email

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

Please use the “BCC” field when sending mass email!

I often receive forwarded emails from my Mother or friends who like to share the latest funny or inspirational message they have seen making its way around the web. And I sometimes enjoy being included, but there is a better way to send mass emails to your group of friends without violating the confidentiality of their personal email addresses.

Sending an email to a large group of people using the “To:” field in a message is like writing your friends’ phone number or address on a public bathroom wall! Why would you share someones private email address with a group of strangers when many of them will also forward the same addresses to even more strangers? A better solution is to use your email program’s BCC function.

BCC means Blind Carbon Copy. It provides a way for you to send messages to groups of people without disclosing their email addresses to the group. You can place your own email address in the “To:” field and put your group of friends in the “Bcc:” field.

Here are just a few good reasons to use the BCC field:

  1. CONFIDENTIALITY: Using BCC protects the recipients’ private email address from being spread to strangers
  2. SPAM: Using BCC helps prevent your friends from receiving spam.
  3. CLEANER CONTENT: Using BCC keeps your sent messages cleaner since it removes many extra lines of email addresses from the content
  4. FASTER SENDING: With less content, messages can be downloaded and sent faster

How to use the BCC field:

  1. Webmail:In most email clients, the BCC field is already visible. Create a new message in webmail browser, click BCC.
    1. Gmail and Yahoo Mail!: click add BCC.
    2. Hotmail: click Show Cc & Bcc.
  2. Outlook Express: To activate the BCC field in Outlook Express, create a new message and choose “View…All Headers”.
  3. MS Outlook: To activate the BCC field in MS-Outlook, create a new message and choose “View…BCC”.

Of course there are good reasons to send a carbon copy (cc:) of an email to others such as:

  • You need everyone to know each others email address
  • The email group needs to collaborate or respond to each other via email

Be considerate and also let me know other good reasons to use the BCC field and I’ll add them to the list! Contact me through my email form here…

Share this article with your friends and family if you need to encourage them to use BCC. Click on the sharing icons below, or send them this short link: http://bit.ly/bcc_field

Posted in How To..., Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Meta Tags for SEO

Posted on March 5, 2012 by

meta tags for seo

A small business should take the time to review their website meta tags and also research the best keywords for their industry and target geographical markets. Meta tags have limited impact on search engine placement, but attention to the top three meta tags; title, keyword and description, will help maximize your SEO strategy.

Title Tags

  1. Title tags remain the most important meta tags that are used by all search engines. The title tag appears at the top of a browser and is also the default phrase that appears when a page is bookmarked.
    1. Be clear and concise with the wording of each page’s title tag.
    2. It is often best to begin with the page description followed by the website name such as “Webinars | The Ink Blog.” WordPress creates this naming convention by default.

Keyword Tags

  1. Limit each page to 10 keywords and/or key phrases. You currently have several dozen keywords on each page
    1. Having more than 20 keywords could be a red flag to search engines who think you are trying to keyword spam your page which is a ‘black hat’ web design technique.
  2. Make keywords specific to the content of each page. Don’t use the same set of keywords on every page. Making them unique to each page will increase the relevance of the keywords and increase the validity of your site for search engines.
  3. Google ignores meta tag keywords so it is best practice to ensure the content on the actual page contains the information and keywords you are hoping show up in a Google search.
  4. Use the Google Keyword Tool to choose the best keywords for each page.
    1. Many websites often have many keywords which have little relevance for your site. Just having a city or county name as a keyword will not increase your site’s SEO ranking for those words since someone typing in “Philadelphia, PA” in a Google search is most likely not looking for a specific business or servie. If they were , they would most likely type in the name of the service they are searching.

Description Tags

  1. Description tags are still relevant since many search engines including Google sometimes use this tag to begin the description of your site in search engine results. Facebook also used the description tag of a site when a URL is pasted into a status update.
    1. Limit the description to one or two sentences that best describe your website. Google displays about 140 characters of text in the search results so the first 15 words in your description are critical.

There are many other ways to increases your SEO rankings. One of the most effective ways is to increase the number of other websites linking to your website.  This can be accomplished most effectively by listing your business in local directories. Here is TheInkBlog.net’s article on the subject: http://theinkblog.net/2011/11/04/promoting-small-business-on-the-web/

For more information about Basic SEO strategies, visit our blog article on the subject here: http://theinkblog.net/2011/12/09/basic-seo-ideas

Posted in SEO, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gaining Control of a Hijacked Domain Name

Posted on March 2, 2012 by

domain name hijackedAs a web developer I have often worked with new clients who have decided to part company with an existing web design firm or individual. Once the client decides to make a web management change they begin to collect the necessary information to move their domain to a new server only to discover they do not own their own business domain name!

Small businesses who are not tech savvy often hire firms without fully understanding the do’s and don’ts of domain name registration. When they hire a firm to develop a website they assume that the firm has their best interests in mind and they pay them good money to develop their site. They eventually learn that letting a designer handle all aspects of their web presence is like giving them the only keys available to the front door of the business.

Although the practice is commonplace, in my opinion, it is unprofessional and unethical for a web design firm to purchase a domain name for a company and set themselves up as the domain’s owner.  The domain name administrator contact information should always be setup using an email address controlled by the client, a client controlled phone number and client name. The web firm can set themselves up as the domain technical contact and still have full access to the domain for development purposes. However, the administrator/owner name should always be controlled by the company it represents. For clients who want their web firm to have a higher degree of control, they can create a company owned email address that is forwarded to the web firm’s technical contact.

These guidelines for gaining control over a hijacked domain name have been used on far too many occasions with a high degree of success.

  1. Ask the web design firm to change the domain name administrator email address to one that is controlled by the company. Then, log into the registrar site where the name was purchased and send a reset password request. (If you don’t know the Registrar site, see step 5)
    1. Sometimes asking politely is all that is required. If the web designer is ethical they will gladly give you control over your own domain name. If they refuse, let them know you will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and will pursue additional actions to gain control of your business domain name.
  2. If time is of the essence, purchase a very similar domain name such as the .net, .biz or other version of your domain and begin developing your new site using that domain name.
  3. Backorder the hijacked domain name so once the owner releases it, it will become yours once again. This will also prevent others from backordering your domain name in the future.
  4. File a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) complaint with the web host where the current site is located to get them to take the site down.
    1. Here are some links to actual web host copyright infringement policy pages:
      1. Blue Genesis: http://bluegenesis.com/dmca.htm
      2. HostGator: http://www.hostgator.com/copyright.shtml
      3. GoDaddy: http://www.godaddy.com/agreements/showdoc.aspx?pageid=TRADMARK_COPY
  5. If you don’t know where the site is hosted, look it up using the Internic Whois site: http://www.internic.net/whois.html
  6. Each webhost has a policy to file an infringement notification. I have never had a problem getting a webhost to take down a website that had content from a previous owner.
  7. File a domain name dispute with an ICANN authorized dispute resolution service provider such as the National Arbitration Forum.
    1. ICANN is an acronym for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and is responsible for the coordination of the global Internet systems of unique identifiers and, in particular, ensuring its stable and secure operation. They also set the world rules for domain name disputes.
    2. The National Arbitration Forum outlines four steps to proceed with a complaint: http://domains.adrforum.com/main.aspx?itemID=599&hideBar=False&navID=201&news=26
      1. Identify the appropriate policy for your domain name dispute.
      2. Follow that policy’s Rules, Forms & Filing page.
      3. Familiarize yourself with that policy’s rules.
      4. Proceed to file/respond to a Complaint. For certain disputes you may file online; otherwise, you must email us the necessary forms and print them and file/respond by fax or mail.

If you would like some advice or recommendations concerning your unique situation feel free to contact us!

Posted in Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Best Practice for Business Facebook Page Design

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

Facebook Under ConstructionDesigning a Facebook page for a company, cause, brand or local business should involve as much attention to detail as the corresponding professional website. Too often companies create a Facebook page with little forethought or advanced planning. What’s worse is that some businesses create it and then leave it alone. Aligning the company brand and business strategy with a professional Facebook presence will leverage this important medium for maximum effectiveness.

These best practices are well known to social media marketers who often charge hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month to professionally develop business Facebook pages. Small businesses are wise to learn what elements of social media they can develop themselves and where they can use additional assistance.

  1. Maximize the use of Graphics and Images
    1. Design a timeline profile image that uses the maximum allowable image dimensions , i.e. 850w x 315h pixels.
      1. Good example: www.facebook.com/peregrineassociates
    2. Choose a thumbnail image that best represents your logo and maximizes the allowable image dimension of 180 x180 pixles. It mus also be recognizable on wall posts when it gets reduced to 32 x32 pixels.
    3. Be selective about the wall tabs you publish and/or allow to be shown. For example, if you don’t have any events, remove that tab. If you only have a few fans, move that tab to the end of the list.
      1. Good example: www.facebook.com/volvomidlothian
  2. Create a Welcome Page/Tab
    1. Create a custom welcome page/tab that introduces visitors to the website and gives them a reason to ‘like’ the page. There are several free tab creation apps that will help you create a welcome page for free including: Wildfireapps.com, MyTab, PageModo and others.
      1. Good example of WildfireApps free welcome page/tab: https://www.facebook.com/loebigink?sk=app_201143516562748
  3. Use Free Social Apps
    1. Integrate other important social media into page tabs. YouTube, ConstantContact and other social media sites offer free apps that will integrate their content directly into your Facebook Page.
    2. Good example: www.facebook.com/volvorichmond
  4. Drive Traffic to Your Website
    1. Completely develop the ‘Info” section of your Facebook page with website links, phone numbers, product descriptions, etc.
      1. Good example: https://www.facebook.com/careeressentials?sk=info
    2. When posting photos of products or service related info, make sure the images are also available on your website. One good strategy is to post several sample pics on your Facebook page with a note in the photo description to view more or higher resolution images on your website.
    3. Change the ‘About Us’ section of your page so that is shows your web address. This is the only place on your FB wall that you can provide visitors with a link to your website. For example: “Find out more at: www.TheInkBlog.net”
      1. Good example: www.facebook.com/careeressentials
  5. Use Custom Apps
    1. There are a plethora of social media services that provide custom apps that can drive traffic to your inventory of products and encourage visitors to ‘like’ your page. WildfireApps, Constant Contact, MyTab, PageModo and others will provide the technology you need to create social media campaigns, contests, sweepstakes, quizzes and more. Prices, features and usability vary widely between these services so research the ones that will best meet your needs and budget.
  6. Create a Reveal Tab
    1. One of the single most useful page apps is a reveal tab with mandatory ‘likes.’ Visit my blog article on how to setup a reveal tab using the “My Tab” app. A reveal tab with mandatory “likes” is a Facebook page that invites visitors to see additional content by requiring that they “like” the page. This strategy is being used by many organizations to give away coupons, offer free e-books, enter drawings and sweepstakes as well as numerous other uses.
      1. Good example: www.facebook.com/anotherwaydriver?sk=app_14167664298
      2. How to create a reveal tab: http://theinkblog.net/2012/01/22/how-to-create-a-facebook-reveal-page/
Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Sample Strategic Internet Action Plan

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

Internet StrategySmall business owners often search for quick examples of real life action plans, marketing strategies and case studies. This action plan, which was called an ‘internet strategy’ by the businesses from which it was gleaned, highlights some of the key areas of improvement that were targeted for development over the course of a fiscal year.

Identifying information has been removed for confidentiality purposes.

  1. Search Engine Advertising
    1. Expand Google Adwords budget and targeted ads
      1. Select key product/service groups to highlight
      2. Create a new web landing page(s) as the destination page of the new ad campaigns
      3. Implement “conversion tracking” on key ads
    2. Expand campaigns to Yahoo/Bing
  2. Newsletter Marketing
    1. Create a second newsletter and distribution list for an important customer segment
    2. Create an annual plan for newsletters that target special occasions, offers and deals throughout the year
      1. Holiday-themed Newsletters: Independence Day, Halloween, Memorial Day, Christmas
      2. Social media promo/invite newsletter
      3. New product/service announcement
      4. Two newsletters/mo.
        1. One general and one targeted
      5. Online Surveys
        1. Expand strategy for capturing and measuring customer experiences
        2. Auto add new customers to newsletter email list
          • When new email is added an auto responder would be sent with a link to survey.
          • Followup positive reviews with links to online review sites
  3. Internet Advertising
    1. Choose an internet advertising firm for expanded banner ad strategy
      1. Example: Richmond Times Dispatch
  4. Crowd Sourcing
    1. Consider using and/or promoting Foursquare, GroupOn, etc.
  5. Social Media
    1. Create a Google + page for the business
    2. Geo-location check-in deals
    3. Facebook
      1. Increase daily ads budget by 15%
      2. Continue offering weekly prizes
      3. Create quarterly prizes for bigger gifts
      4. Encourage staff to ‘like’ our FB page and ask them to invite their friends to ‘like the page and interact with fans.
      5. Create exclusive coupon(s) for Facebook fans using a reveal tab.
        1. Example: Another Way Driving School
    4. Linkedin
      1. Encourage key staff to sign up for an account and list the business as their place of employment
    5. YouTube
      1. Create a second channel to solely highlight products/services
      2. Create a schedule for publishing videos
  6. Referral/Review/Local Directory Sites
    1. Claim free local directory listings on key local sites
    2. Consider upgrading key local listings
      1. YellowPages.com ($50/75/104/144/mo)
  7. Content/Article Marketing
    1. Cross post product inventory and blog articles on other websites
      1. Example: Ezinearticles.com, eBay, Craigslist, etc.
  8. QR Code Expansion
    1. Use in print-based advertisements and on product packaging
  9. Existing Website
    1. Improve home page layout and overall navigation
    2. Create mobile version of site
    3. Create expanded pages for key products/services
  10. New Websites
    1. Create an affiliate website that targets a key product/service
Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How to Create a Facebook Reveal Page (Using the My Tab App)

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

FB Reveal page using My TabOne of the most highly touted strategies for growing fans by Facebook Marketing experts is the use of a Facebook ‘reveal tab’ with a mandatory “like” option. A reveal tab with mandatory “likes” is a Facebook page that invites visitors to see additional content by requiring that they “like” the page. This strategy is being used by many organizations to give away coupons, offer free e-books, enter drawings and sweepstakes as well as numerous other uses.

Organizations such as Wildfire Interactive have successfully developed pricing strategies around this advanced Facebook functionality as a way to offer increased value to their customers. Wildfire’s Promotion Builder product offers ‘mandatory likes’ only in their highest level, and most costly,  custom service.

This article will take you through the basic steps needed create a Facebook reveal page with mandatory likes.

Create the Two Images that will be used on the Reveal Page

  1. The first, and most difficult step to creating a reveal page is to design the two graphic images that will be displayed on the page. The first graphic will invite visitors to click “like” in order to reveal the special offer. The second graphic will reveal the offer. Both images must be 520 pixels wide, but they can be much longer in height. Keep in mind that visitors should not have to scroll down the page to view the primary message of the image.
  2. A common technique for developing the first visible image is to actually blur the second target image. Blurring the image that is going to be revealed gives the visitor an idea about what will be revealed.  The invitation to like the page is then positioned over the blurred image
    1. Blurred image
      Facebook Reveal Image A
    2. Revealed Image
      Facebook Reveal Image B
  3. Once these two images are created upload them to a live web server. You will need to point to these images in the hmtl coding in later steps below.

Add the My Tab App to your Facebook Page

  1. Go to facebook.com/revealtab
  2. Click “install the Application”My Tab
  3. On the page titled “My Tab would also like permission to,” click “Allow”mytab3
  4. On the next “Chose Your Page” window, select the page you would like to install MyTab. If you only manage one Facebook page only one will be in the list.mytab4
  5. Once clicked, a red box asking you to ‘install the application to this page appears. Click the link in the red box to continuemytab5
  6. The next page confirms that you wish to add My Tab to the page. Click “Add My Tab”mytab6
  7. Once clicked, the tab is installed on the page and you will be taken to the Facebook page where it is installed. Click on My Tab to continue the setup process.mytab7
  8. A sample “Thanks for Liking our page” graphic will appear from My Tab. Click the text that says, “change this content to be your custom landing page” which will take you to the Apps page.mytab8

Edit the Name of your Reveal Tab

  1. On the “My Tab” app click “Edit Settings” which will bring up a popup window allowing you to change the name of the tab. Click save when finished.mytab9
    mytab10

Edit Default and Reveal Tab Content

  1. Click on the “Go to App” link to edit the content of the tab.mytab11
  2. In this default content tab page add the html code that points to the image that will appear to visitors who have not yet liked your page. If you are pointing to an image that is not located on a secure server using the “https” protocol a warning message will appear informing you that a significant percentage of users will see error security warnings when visiting your page.  An invitation to upgrade to the My Tab premium plan will be offered, but is not required. (See last step in this article for premium pricing and features.) When finished click ‘save.’mytab12
  3. Next, click the “Reveal Content” navigation button at the top left of the App to setup the reveal image using html.mytab13

Setup Google Analytics

  1. If you use Google Analytics to track traffic on your website, you can insert your Google Analytics account ID so that it will track your tab visits as well.
  2. You can find your Google Analytics ID on the Anaytics Account Home page.mytab15
  3. To setup up analytics, click the “Tab Analytics” navigation button at the top left of the App.mytab16
  4. Enter your Google tracking code and click save.

Make the Reveal Tab your Default FB Landing Page

  • If you desire to make the Reveal Tab your landing page for first time visitors, go to the Facebook Edit Page, then click “Manage Permissions.” In the “Default Landing Tab” dropdown menu, select your new reveal tab and save the changes.mytab14

Consider Upgrading

  • My Tab provides this reveal tab free for a maximum of 8 Facebook page installs. An upgraded version can be purchased for $7/mo per page. The upgrade removes the ‘powered by My Tab’ link on the page, and provides 5mb of https image storage for each page install.

Installation Help?

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