Are You Social Networking or Social Notworking

Twitter has become the new thing.  Before that, Facebook, and even before that, Myspace. And those 3 along with many other social media websites are still going strong and being used more and more as places to network and build brand awareness. All of these social media spaces have two things in common: They are being used to leverage awareness of a brand or product. They are most often being used in the wrong way. The Wrong Way To U...

Twitter, while not new anymore, is a very powerful tool for individuals as well as businesses, and we are all still learning the capabilites of Twitter on an almost daily basis. The majority of regular Twitter users seem to be bloggers who have started using it because other bloggers have as well, but there is a growing usage of Twitter from businesses trying to reach their target market to create more sales and a better customer relationship....

I'm sitting here in the middle of the room in Orlando's Sea World Ports of Call conference room listening to all the great speakers of IzeaFest. If you couldn't make it, don't worry, you can join in on the conference too.  Here's the live stream from IzeaFest: Free Webcam Chat at Ustream This live stream is only available between October 2, 2009 and October 3, 2009....

I talk to a lot of people, both individuals and companies who still don't really understand Twitter and how it's supposed to be used.  And simply telling them that it's for conversation rather than blasting your stuff out to everybody who can read doesn't seem to ever work in getting my point across. So I've come up with a real world analogy to better understand how Twitter can only work if used correctly... through real conversation. 3 Majo...

You may think that in order to make money using Google AdWords, you need to spend a lot of money, but that simply isn’t true.  While it is a little harder to turn a profit than in the the days when you could spend pennies and make thousands, if you follow these three tips for Google AdWords, then you will be able to be successful without breaking the bank. Google AdWords Tip #1 Make sure your ad is relevant to your keywords.  It seems like ...

The chances that you've heard of IzeaFest are probably pretty good, especially if you've been reading this blog, but you've probably not heard of the "Blog Marketing Demystified" event sponsored by Doterati that will be going on a few hours before you board the bus for the IzeaFest Howl-O-Scream kickoff party. I'll be speaking on this panel, so come check it out.  I'd love to meet you, no matter how big or small of a blogger you are.  I love m...

Much of the focus put on Wordpress plugins revolves around those that are most popular.  Those that you use just because everyone else is. While most of the popular plugins are very worth having on your blog, there are some plugins that aren't talked about as often, but they help give character to your blog and put focus on the all of the small details. Here is a list of the 7 Wordpress plugins you didn't know you needed: 1. Exclude Pages...

I'm really big into blogging.  I try to write at least one post every day.  And in order to successfully do that, I have to make sure I'm an expert at what I write, know the latest and greatest tools, and am up on the newest information. How do I do that? There are many ways.  Some secret so I can't tell you them (give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day... teach a man to fish and he'll steal all your fish).  But one way I stay current...

With the rise of Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and so many more, it has literally become a contest to see who can get the most friends or followers.  But is that really the goal you should be striving for? Social Media is different from mass media like television and radio, and should be treated as such. Using Social Media The Right Way Social media is for building relationships.  Meaningful, deeper relationships wi...

Social media is a key factor in building your business' success, whether that business is a more traditional one, or one of blogging.  There is no denying that if you use social media correctly and efficiently, you will have a more successful and profitable business. One of my good friends (Joselin Mane) created a social media kit and he sums up how to use social media correctly with these 5 different phases. 1. Research Determine where you...

In the world of blogging, we all know the higher your ranking in the search engines, the more traffic you tend to bring in.  We also know that one of the ways to increase your ranking is by creating content.  The more content you have, the more "pages" you have, the higher you will rank (of course backlinks also play a role - but I only want to focus on your content at this point). But creating content has always been a long and sometimes te...

In the spirit of getting ready for Blogher (yes I'm probably the only guy going that doesn't blog about being a dad), and IzeaFest, I've decided to freshen up my look, and get some new business cards designed. And thanks to the marvelous workings of my Twitter friend Jeff Peak (you can follow him here), I have a new design, that truly stands out from most other business cards.  I, of course, made a few minor text changes myself. Your Thought...