Archive for December, 2010

December
20

Adding Your Tweets to Google Realtime

There is no substitute for a converting landing page on page one of Google; however, I wanted to share an easy method for getting your Tweets listed in Google Reatime.

If you’re not too familiar with Google Reatime results, you’ll find a link to it in the left side menu of Google Search. Once a search is performed, a menu appears to the left. Click the “Everything” link. This reveals the different Universal Search options available, such as searching only blogs and blogs posts, images, or videos. For this article, we’re interested in the “Realtime” link (which may appears as “Updates” in your area). Realtime was created to list the “latest” information and breaking news on the web from sources like Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, FriendFeed and MySpace, but right now it’s basically a search for indexed Tweets.

But that’s a good thing. It means even if someone doesn’t use Twitter they may still find your news, link, or offers. Not all Tweets are included in Realtime, but there is an easy technique for getting yours included immediately. It doesn’t matter if your Twitter account is one minute or one year old, this works. And I’m not talking about “sponsored” Tweets I’m talking about “any” Tweet which is even better.

1. Sign up for Twitter or log in.
2. Sign up for Digg or log in.
3. Link your Twitter and Digg accounts via Digg.
4. Post a link on Digg (avoid spam).
5. Elect (via Digg) to also post it to your Twitter account.

It may take an hour or so for the initial post to appear in Realtime results, but once you’ve done this, future posts appear almost instantly. Just remember to follow the steps above. Once you have a nice Twitter following, have shown that you post quality content regularly, and have gotten some retweets and mentions, your posts should appear on their own.

December
3

Generating Buzz In the New Year

The New Year is the busiest time for some industries and the slowest for others. One thing many of these sites have in common during the New Year is that they lose out on money. Yes, they’re losing money by not advertising either because they’re already slammed with business or because it’s viewed as a wasted expense during a down time. So, what can you do to create buzz and sales for your products and services whether it’s your busy season or not? Create an effective press release campaign to create awareness and increase sales.

  • Find out what people want to know: Wordtracker Questions tool.
  • Use trending tools like Google Insights to determine what people are searching for.
  • Create a press release that provides the solution.
  • Try to spot seasonal-topics that are on the rise.
  • Find an angle that will make your news stand out and interest readers.
  • Start a contest for readers to submit their best solutions (how-to, recipes, tips, ways to save money, traditions, history, etc.).
  • Get industry bloggers involved.

Release the Beast: Getting the Most out of Press Releases
Don’t just create a press release—create an entire campaign with a related theme. For example, if you were writing a press release for a coupons site, you would create a landing page which would be linked from the press release. Within the press release, an event would be promoted which would lead to future blog posts and even invite user generated content. How to videos could also be created. Ask people to share their photos of related theme. In turn the content could be shared on Facebook, blogs, Twitter and all across the web. Let niche bloggers and sites know about your press release and events and invite them to participate or write about it.