One of the most important things to choose wisely is your website
domain name. You will use it on all your print material, such as
business cards, fliers, direct mail, etc… But what is the best way to
choose it? what should you consider? well here are a few tips you
remember when choosing your website domain.

Memorable domains

Choose a domain name that is easy to remember for people and that
cannot be confused with other similar websites, specially if the other
websites are your competition. The best way to do this is choosing the
name of your business as your domain name, for the simple reason that
when people think
of your website, they’ll think of it by name. If your name is also your
URL, they’ll
automatically know where to go. For example, when people think of
Coupon Valley,
they don’t have to wonder what URL to type into their browser to get
there, they will simply type www.couponvalley.com. The name
of the business is also the URL therfore your clients only have to
remember one thing.

2. Buy the wrong domains too

Sometimes
we choose domain names that can be easily confused with other words
such as singular/plural, misspelled words or other similar words. The
best way to not loose this traffic is by buyi

Hyphenated Names

Should you get a hyphenated name? There are a few things to consider here:

a. Disadvantage: It’s easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name. Many users are used to
typing things like freecpluspluscompilers.com but not free-c-plus-plus-compilers.com. They’ll
probably leave out the hyphens and wind up at your competitor’s site.

b. Disadvantage: When people recommend your site to their friends verbally, having hyphens in
your domain name leads to more potential errors than when the name does not contain hyphens.
For example, how do you think your visitors will refer to your site if it is named
“acme-books-and-videos.com”? They might say, “I visited Acme Book and Videos dot com yesterday.
It was fabulous.” Their friends, remembering that comment later, might type into their browsers
“acmebooksandvideos.com”. Oops.

c. Disadvantage: It’s a pain in the neck to type. Enough said.

d. Advantage: Search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site
more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.

e. Advantage: The non-hyphenated form may no longer be available. At least this way, you still
get the domain name you want.

Personally, I prefer to avoid hyphenated names if I can, but I guess it really depends on
your domain name and your situation.

Dot Com or Dot Net?

What is better? a .com or .net?
well, personally I like to choose .com’s because is easier for people
to remember it. It is so common, most websites use this extension.
.orgs are great for non profits and schools, so it also depends on what
type of business you have.

As you can see, there are a few
tips out there that can help you when it comes to choosing your domain
name. I hope this helped and until next time…ciao for now!

Some tips are explained on the video found at the end of the post, and some are explain on
the blog post so make sure you get all the tips and have all the right
tools to select the best domain for your type of business.

Creating content
We hear it all the time, you must create content “content is king”, to increase website traffic you need content, content, content, content, but at the same time they tell us that pages full of content will drive people away. So what’s the magic formula? Where do you create tons of content and at the same time keep your website friendly for visitors.Well, here are a few ideas that can help you.

Product Comparisons
Product reviews can be either stand-alone or comparative. Select complementary products that go with your business. For example, if you have a Veterinarians office you can write product reviews on dog food, treats, toys, shampoo etc… you get the idea, right?  You can write a stand-alone review where you just talk about one product or you can take two or more and compare its features.

On a side note, writing reviews will help you stand on your field as an expert, someone who knows about the different products available and people can trust you for advice. If people constantly come to your blog to read your product reviews, and the next time their dog/cat needs where do you think she will go? Exactly! So not only are you building content for your website to increase more traffic, but you are converting that traffic to visit to your vet office.

Industry News
Another way to create great content is by writing news about the industry. Going back to our Vet example, we can write about food recals, or the new organic treat. All those news about what your target market would be interested in are all good things to write about.

Ebooks
Ebooks, tutorials and ezines are all good content builders. You can write a small book about training your new puppy, or easy tricks you can teach your dog. Have people download them in exchange of giving you their name and email, or subscribe to your newsletter. This way you are building your database and next time you decide to create an email camping or send a welcome coupon you can send it to them. Start building your own list!

Newsletters

In today’s world where we can’t live without email, we see that a lot of us like to receive our news and newsletter right to our inbox. By creating a newsletter you can keep your visitors engaged and learning about new products, techniques and special promotions you are having that month. It’s an easy way to remind yourself to write new content every month and keep your audience engaged.

Case Studies
Case Studies take a little but more time, research and contribution from satisfied clients. What you do is you write a small story, you start by stating the problem your client was having, then the solution using your product and then the conclusion.

Photo Gallery
Photos,videos, and podcasts are all content too. Just remember to use your keywords on the Alt tags, descriptions on your videos and even transcripts of the audio.

Forums
If you have the technical ability, you can create a forum where visitors help you create the content. You post a topic starting a thread, then your visitors will give advice, ask questions and be engaged in the conversation.

So you see, there are tons of way to create new content. Just make sure your content is original and you are writing them using your SEO techniques that I’ve been teaching you.

Until next time… Ciao for now!

So I’m trying to expand my blog and create some SEO video tutorials ….After a lot of planning and thinking I have decided to create a miniseries to teach you SEO for free. This will give you a shortexplanation of what to do on a day to day basis. You will learn what todo and how to do it with our simple step by step instructions.

Here is our first video with your first homework! enjoy!

Don’t forget to leave us some feedback if you thinkthese videos are helpful. Your encouragement and support is what keepsus going.

 FREE Video Mini Series – SEO for Beginners  has been suspended until further notice…. for SEO help please email me at me@amecoli.com

Doug Firebaugh is a Social Media strategists,
MLM, Network Marketing Home Business Trainers, Speakers and Authors in
the world. Here is a very intersting article he wrote for articlebase.com (where you can ge free articles for your blog) I thought I share the knowledge he is giving with all of you. He has a Free
training letter -which includes 3 Free gifts just for subscribing at http://www.passionfire.com so if you want to learn more about his techniques the you can subscribe to his newsletter.

1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.

You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, without CONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson. Or Timothy Carter. NOT going to happen. That is why that you MSUT create a Presence on the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it’s efforts. It is the saem with your Social Media marketing.

2) Focusing too much on being heard.

LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event
and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.

Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start the conversation will come.

3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.

Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value. Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give New Possibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will be shunned and labeled as such.

If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?

GIVE = Gain Influence Very Easily. Give FIRST – and you will never come in Second.

4) Not Joining groups.

Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to a ton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons: 1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) I CONNECT with the folks in the group.

Groups are a “secret weapon” that you should use on as many social sites as you can. They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.

5) Not attending Events.

Events ROCK. And you should be attending at leat 1 event a week to do 2 things: 1) Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.

Events are what i call the “Hidden University” of social Media. You can learn a LOT and grow a lot from events.

Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And see if you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every event that i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do the same.

6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.

Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call “Surprising Value.” This is the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person that discovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Put more Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value in your Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Media table.

Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.

7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.

There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. You need 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondary sites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of- is up to you. My ‘Big 7″ are facebook, twitter, youtube, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, and Wordpress- along with mashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.

Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more’ but have automated those through ping.fm and other social software.

Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same with myspace, or friendster. Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR “Big 7.” And then automate the rest.

Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.

Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. But focusing too much on that in social media- is , well…not cool. People do not mind knowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE first with it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your produst.

What do I see daily? Urls and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wish that would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great content rich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST’and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.

Hmmm….that just might be an idea worth considering.

9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.

Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes. Ask Brian Solis. Ask Dave Taylor. Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value and Connection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan once had 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone. Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So did Monty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.

There is GREATNESS inside of you-and there is NO BETTER place than Social Media to unleash it upon the world. You ARE Somebody- and always have been. YOU are a Social Media Rockstar- in training!

10) Not Branding Yourself Strong Enough.

Branding is a tool that we all use in Social Media. It is WHO YOU ARE- and what people remember about you. It could be a phrase-”Just Do It (TM)”- or a slogan- “”We’ve Got You Covered.” Or even a questions- “Can You Hear me Now?” or just a Name-”Trump.”

You need to get a slogan or phrase that you can start wrapping in your messages. You need to get an image that speaks what you want the public to see and know. And you need to decide -what is the ONE THING I want people to think of FIRST- when they think of me and my company? THAT is the start of a good brand build. Do not be just another face in the web 2.0 world. Set yourself apart and above the fray with a brand that rocks. We teach what is called “Connection Branding” and we have saying:

“Do NOT just be known or remembered- become UNFORGETTABLE.” ™

THAT is what you need to do!

These are the top 10 mistakes people will make in Social Media in 2009. Yes, i Know there are others- but these are the ones that i see as the most prevalent in Social Media marketing.

The  Title tag is the title of your page. It is the combination of
words on your browser next to the close and the minimize icons. It is a
short description of what your website is about. It is mostly created
for the search engines to have an idea of the content of that page,
although the first few words are readable by humans.

 The title
tag is the first meta tag the search engines see when reading your
website’s code, the other meta tags include the meta description and
the meta keywords.
It is not visible on your website design or content but they are in
placed in the header code for the search engines to read. To view a
page’s title tage you can look at the bar on the top of each page
(where the minimize and close button are located). The words that
appear on the bar are the title tag of that page.

When trying
to come up with a  title tag, think of variations of the key phrases
you are targeting on that page, write these down.  With these
key-phrases on hand, use a keyword research tool like overture to see
common ways people are searching for these terms. You can use this to
create the perfect combination of words to have an effective search
engine optimized title tag. The title tag should not be any longer than
20-words but ideally  100 -150 characters long is what is recommended.

The
keywords and keyphrases you use on your title tag should match the rest
of your head code. Use the same keywords on your title tag, your meta
description, meta keywords and lastly on your page content, specially
on the first paragraph.  You should have one main keyword or keyphrase
targeting that page, as well as two or three minor keywords. The more
keywords you have per page, the more diluted these keywords are. The
reason is because all keywords are competing agains each other on the
page to see which one is the most important.

Before you start
writing title tags, meta keywords and content you should plan which is
the keyword hierarchy you will have on the page. Plan your content
accordingly and then create your title tag and other meta tags for the
search engines  so they know the description of your site and show it
on the search results for that specif keyword.

Once you have your meta tags created on each page of your site you are ready to submit your website to the search engines.