Tips

Social Media Smorgasbord (With Dessert)

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Marilyn Buckner in blog, Social Media Leave a Comment

As a kid growing up, there was nothing I liked better than going to a smorgasbord-type restaurant to eat and eat and eat whatever I wanted to. Because of the great variety, it was always a safe bet for everyone to enjoy dinner. Well, here’s a smorgasbord of ideas and tips from past PRMarketing.com blogs on how to make your social media marketing campaign a more memorable and effective experience for your target audience. So eat hearty and enjoy the selection!

•

Expert Social Media Tips: Facebook Business Pages

, by Marilyn Buckner

•

Twitter Tips from the NBA

, by Pat Parkinson

•

Why do Videos go Viral?

by James Rognon

•

How Some Brands Botch it in 140 Characters or Less

, by Taylor Donohoo

•

How to Measure Your Social Media ROI,

by Brad Smith

•

How to Make People Like You, Instantly

, by Courtney Rose

•

#How to Use Hashtags

, by Alyssa Vincent

•

Unique Content & Going Viral

, by Brittney Gadd

•

What’s the Deal With Memes?

, by Kellie Englehardt

•

5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Better Engagement

, by Brittney Gadd

•

Everyday I’m Tumbling

, by Alyssa Vincent

•

Fact: Visuals Change Everything

, by Ken Godoy

•

Instagram & Marketing

by Julia Minchenko

And now, as promised, what’s for dessert? Some Social Media Marketing Etiquette! It’s all well and good to understand the use and mechanics of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and all the others, but it’s equally important to be savvy about saying the right things in the right way.

Whether you’re dining or doing social media, be sure to “mind your manners,” as Taylor Donohoo directs in this post. Classless social media is akin to online gravy dribbling out of your mouth; it’s unappetizing to the reader and will surely spoil their appetite for whatever it is you prepared. Be sure your social media is served up in a way that truly satisfies your goals and objectives.

17 Stellar Spam Email Solutions

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Marilyn Buckner in blog 1 Comment

Spam Once upon a time I felt like the Queen of Spam, receiving hundreds of unsolicited emails each week. It got to the point where the best way to wade through the contents of my inbox was by repeatedly hitting the delete key. Sound familiar?

You are probably as unwilling to give up online shopping and accounts as I am. The problem is that myriads of companies, in addition to the bots and scripts that search the web for addresses, turn around and sell their email lists. Benjamin Franklin once said, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Because of the potential proliferation of junk email, stopping one dead in its tracks now just might avert thousands showing up later. Best of all, putting a stop to the deluge of unsolicited email is easier than you think: just peruse and use a few of these great tips.

Ways to avoid getting spam email

Before verbally giving out your email address, verify that it will not be shared or sold.
Create a junk email address to use for online information or purchases. Let it become the catch-all for all your junk email and check it only when necessary.
When providing your email address, look for those pre-checked boxes asking if you want to receive additional offers or information. Think of them as distribution permissions, and un-check them.
NEVER post your email address on a public site – especially forums.
WikiHow suggests: “If you must provide contact information, try writing it out in creative ways such as Me~at~yahoo~dotcom~.” This makes it much harder for it to be harvested.

How to put a stop to spam and junk email

Do not reply to junk or spam email. It usually just validates your address.
Senders of mass email are actually required to include a link, usually found in small print at the bottom of the email that will allow you to opt-out of their list. Once you click on it, a browser window usually opens where you confirm your opt-out or enter your address. Use this only with legitimate companies, or you risk just confirming that your address is valid.
Add the email address to your email client ”blocked” senders list. To get the actual email address click on “reply.” Save time by opening two screens so you can enter a bunch of addresses at once.
Thanks to Apple, if you use a Mac computer you can just bounce the email back. This makes it look to the sender like your email address is not valid. With the mail program open, go to View and then drag the Bounce to Sender button up to the mail tool bar. To use it, just click on the email, and then on the Bounce button. Done!
Gmail: Open the email, and in the drop down part of the reply button report it as spam. There is even an option to have Gmail do the opt-out request for you.
Use the Microsoft Outlook email reporting add-in you can download at this address.
If none of the other options are available to you, buy and use a spam-blocker program.

A few PR suggestions for email marketers

First, if you do buy an email distribution list, make sure you are buying one that makes sense and is targeted to fit your demographic and product. Otherwise, each additional email you send will only build greater annoyance with many – if not most – of the recipients.
ALWAYS include an opt-out option, honor all opt-out requests you receive, and monitor them to make sure they happen. Systems do sometimes break.
Build your PR by sending back a gracious confirmation to each opt-out request. They are rare. In fact, I was so impressed with one I recently received, I wanted to write this blog post just to mention it. It transformed my perception of a questionable company that was spamming me into a real company that actually cared.
You will be more successful building a valid email list if you make sure recipients know you will unequivocally respect their privacy.
NEVER personally send out group emails to clients or potential clients unless recipients are listed in the “bcc:” field ONLY.

What do you think? What bugs you most about junk and spam email? What is your favorite way to keep spam email in submission? What would you like to tell marketers? Please share your comments below – we would love to hear your thoughts!

Everyday I’m Tumbling

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Alyssa Vincent in blog 1 Comment

Last week, I started experimenting with the latest up-and-coming social network, Tumblr. Tumblr is a mico-blogging platform that seems to combine the newsfeed feature in Facebook with the conciseness of Twitter and the visual appeal of Pinterest.

As I was playing around, I asked myself whether Tumblr is meant to replace WordPress as a blogging platform, or if it was another beast entirely. The answer I’ve concluded is: it depends.

Tumblr Pros

It’s simple.
Tumblr, by far, is more intuitive to use than WordPress. After you sign up and a pick a template, you’re ready to go. There’s really no need for a tech wizard to set up and design the blog.
It’s cheaper.
If you want to get all the bells and whistles with WordPress, you’re going to have to pay for hosting and possibly a code monkey to install and design it. With Tumblr, you don’t have to pay for hosting, and there are a large variety of themes that are really simple to install. You can either use a free theme (some of which are actually really nice) or you can pay for a premium theme, which between $10 and $50.
It’s more social.
Tumblr encourages users to follow other blogs and like or re-blog the content. Tumblr then displays all the posts from the blogs you follow in a dashboard similar to a Facebook newsfeed. It’s also super easy to find content and blogs to follow. Not only does Tumblr suggest and feature blogs, but you can search through categories and see content related to that subject from a variety of blogs.

Tumblr Cons

You can’t comment.
One thing Tumblr is distinctly lacking from the blogging experience is the ability for your readers to comment on your posts. The only way to publicly show approval for the post is by liking or re-blogging it. The only way to get your thoughts across to the original poster is to message them directly on Tumblr. This definitely hinders the conversational aspect of blogging.
You have less control.
Wordpress is customizable with its widgets and analytics, but with Tumblr…not so much. Tumblr has less widgets, and those widgets are less customizable than WordPress. While you can use Google Analytics with Tumblr, it isn’t very reliable. This is because Google can only tell you who visited your blog and shared content outside of Tumblr, not within.
It can be unreliable.
Tumblr is experiencing growing pains, and like any website growing faster than it can handle, the servers are prone to go down. When you host your own website or blog through WordPress, you only need to rely on yourself to make sure your website is up and running. With Tumblr, if it goes down, you are at their mercy.

I have decided to use Tumblr as my blogging platform for my personal blog. In my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to the average personal blogger. However, I wouldn’t use it for my business’s website or blog. Instead, I would add Tumblr to my social media marketing strategy.
Tumblr isn’t right for every business. Out of its 69.4 million blogs, 55 percent of its users are under 35, most of which are between the ages of 18 and 24. If your target market is older than that, I would reconsider adding it. If your audience is younger though, go for it. It doesn’t hurt to experiment.

Here are a few tips to consider when creating your Tumblr social media marketing plan.

• KISS: Keep it super simple. Unless you’re using Tumblr as a full-fledged blog/website, keep your posts short. Otherwise people’s eyes will glaze over when they see the long posts.

• Be Visual. Post lots of pictures, GIFs, movies, etc.

• Keep it light. Since Tumblr’s users are younger, they generally don’t take themselves too seriously and prefer fun, light content.

• Consider utilizing the “Submit” button. This allows your followers to submit their own content (for you to approve) to be featured on the blog.

• Use tags. This is Tumblr’s version of hashtags, and they make your content more visible amd subsequently yield more followers. Make sure you utilize the tag search feature as well to find content to re-blog.

Even if you decide not to plunge into Tumblr quite yet, it’s important you are aware of the blogging platform so you can create Tumblr engaging material and consider adding a Tumblr button to your website.

If you’re looking for examples of brands that do Tumblr right, here are a few of my favorites:

Sesame Street

• Huggies—Instead of posting a bunch of pictures of diapers, they decided to take advantage of society’s fascination with celebrities by posting pictures of celebrities and their babies.

• Barbie—This blog is written in Barbie’s voice and posts empowering material for young girls. They even allow users to submit questions for Barbie to answer.

• Internet Explorer—Microsoft lovingly named their Tumblr blog “The Browser You Loved to Hate,” and uses it to educate consumers on Internet Explorer 9’s new features and showcase people’s shocked tweets about how great the new version is in a humorous way.

These are just a few of my favorite Tumblr blogs. If you’re familiar with the platform, what are your favorites?

There Are No Original Ideas

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Courtney Rose in blog 6 Comments

This summer while attending a concert, my husband and I ran into an old friend. After a quick five minute catch up, we went our separate ways. In the relatively short time since we’d seen this friend last, the guy had managed to co-start a successful bottled water company. While discussing how lucky this kid was to be in the bottled water business and making bank in his twenties, I had an epiphany!

You don’t need a new idea to “make it” in the world.

I have been brainstorming for the last 20 years trying to find my “million dollar idea.” In fact, at age 19, I actually held a meeting with my girlfriends where we brainstormed all of the ways we could make a million dollars so we could just take road trips forever. Doesn’t everyone just hope one day they’ll have that brilliant idea and they can live a lavish lifestyle?

First things first, most ideas aren’t new. You don’t need a brand new idea to start a new business. Most new companies take something that people want (or even already have), make it better, and then put the right marketing strategies behind it.

One of my favorite examples is AirBnB.com. This is not the first website to give people a place to rent out rooms in their home. In fact, the concept has been around for quite some time and sites like couchsurfing.com were doing great. However, AirBNB took an old idea and improved it.They dissolved the concern that many people had about renting out a room in their home by providing a 2-way rating system. By reading reviews of the houseguest or the housekeeper, people on the site could now pick and choose where you’d want to stay, as well as who you’d approve to stay with you. After five years of business, they booked five million nights. Six months later, their all time sales had doubled reaching ten million. They literally doubled what they’d done in five years within six months. And the crazy thing is that this multi-million dollar business did not start with an entirely original idea.

Just as Apple didn’t make the first computer, Facebook was not the first social media service, and Google was not the first search engine. These people were inspired by something, had a passion for it and wanted to make it better–this is inspiring.

So what if you already have a business? Then you better keep massaging your company and growing it with any possible new trends. Or else, someone just may see your business as an opportunity to make something better.

So while there may be “no original ideas,” there are many opportunities just waiting for the right person to come and improve what is already there.

5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Better Engagement

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Brittney Gadd in blog 2 Comments

To be the best at something you can never truly be finished learning. With technology drastically changing, you have to adapt with each of those changes to stay relevant. This holds especially true with the ever-changing world of social media marketing. Just when most people thought Facebook took the cake, along came Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, StumbleUpon, Vimeo, YouTube, Tumblr, Viddy and even more.

How do you know where to be, what content to provide and what to expect from marketing efforts on social media services out there? Although there is no definitive answer, there are strategies that we know can help you stay relevant on the social front. When building your business, make sure to use the following tried and true practices for social media marketing.

Dedicate a person (or team) to your social media efforts.

• Having a person devoted to your social media means you have a closer eye capable of keeping up with trends. This can help your brand be a part of the conversation and remain interesting.
• With one voice, you give your brand a stronger identity that your customers can recognize.
• Posts can also be scheduled in advance to optimize potential reach. If one person schedules them, they can maintain a routine so users can know what to expect and when to expect it.
Be on all social sites you can.

• Analyze where your customers are and what they are talking about. Interject yourself in the conversation and begin to create a meaningful relationship with your customers.
• Keeping up on social sites and blogs gives you a way to provide information to your customers and aids in organic search rankings; this allows you to maximize your online visibility while creating a lasting relationship with your consumers.
• Once on social sites, you will want to analyze your efforts and gauge which content provides the best results and how successful you are over time. Know your goals and analyze your progress month-over month.
• Before you get going, make sure you have the proper tools and know how to use them. We recommend starting with Google Analytics on each page of your site. This tool will allow you to track the traffic coming in and what your potential customers do when they get to the site. Set up conversion goals so you can analyze whether or not they completed the desired action.
• For analyzing social success, Facebook has in-depth analytics for free within their insights section. Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and other social sites do not provide in-depth insights and you’ll need to use other tools. Sites like Twittercounter.com and SproutSocial.com are great resources to track your progress.
Do not stop adapting your content.

• When you start posting on the different outlets use a wide variety of content. For some companies, pictures and polls have great success on Facebook while other social media services do better with facts and tips to promote better engagement.Utilize the information you gather over time to better your presence on social outlets and provide interesting content for your users.
• Analyze which pieces of content have the greatest reach, likes, shares, repins, retweets, +’s and comments and use that information to better your overall engagement levels. If captions or internal company updates don’t get any reaction from users, try replacing it with an industry related video or picture.
Don’t get discouraged.

• It takes time to build followers and get strong engagement levels. Be patient and find different ways to promote your social pages.
• Set realistic goals. If your goals cannot be reached in the time frame you aimed for, then reassess your efforts and see what can be changed or bettered.
Align all your marketing efforts.

• If you have traditional marketing campaigns, see if it is possible to promote your social sites within the campaign.
• Make sure the goals of your social media marketing and traditional media marketing campaigns are similar to maximize your results.

Social media isn’t for everyone right now, but keep in mind that it is always adapting and may present an amazing opportunity for the growth of your business. Try and understand your goals and your plan of attack before you get going. If you can’t dedicate the time necessary to do it right, consider outsourcing your efforts so you can stay consistent.

#HowToUseHashtags

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Alyssa Vincent in blog, Social Media 2 Comments

As a social media junkie, two of the most common questions I get asked are “What’s a hashtag” and “How do I create/use hashtags.” Knowing how to use a hashtag is essential to any social media marketing strategy, but despite its debut on Twitter more than three years ago, many people still don’t know what a hashtag is.

Hashtags are keywords or short phrases, written without spaces, with a pound sign (#) in front of them. The title of this post, #HowToUseHashtags, is an example of a hashtag. Believe it or not, that’s all there really is to creating a hashtag and there’s no special software required.

A hashtag has a variety of uses, but its primary purpose on Twitter and Google+ is to make the term searchable. What I mean by that is the hashtag creates a link that will take you to the search results of everybody else who has used that hashtag.

Hashtag Uses

There are a number of ways you can utilize hashtags, and the tactics are different for each use. Here are a few of the most popular uses for hashtags:

Keywords

Twitter and Google have a lot in common in that both require you to optimize your content to appear in their search results. Hashtags are simply Twitter’s SEO tactic of choice.

Use keyword hashtags to describe the content you are tweeting. Using popular keywords in your industry will yield the most followers.

For example, if you are crafting a tweet about Michael Phelps and the Olympics, you might consider using the hashtags #Olympics, #London2012, #Swimming and #TeamUSA.

City and state names can be excellent hashtag keywords to use when the tweet is specific to a geographic location. It’s not uncommon to see local media outlets use them when tweeting about news.

Tips

Celeb Boutique and Kenneth Cole

Tools
• If you’re not sure which hashtags are popular in your industry, use Mentionmapp. This app will tell you which hashtags are used the most by the users you mention. You can then click on other users to see which hashtags their network is using and so on.
• Trendsmap is a great tool for viewing all trending hashtags at a glance via location.

Events/Chats

Hashtags are great for sparking and facilitating conversation. Whether you want to see what people are saying about an event you’re hosting or chat with like-minded people, hashtags are a great avenue for doing so.

If you’re hosting an event, come up with an easy hashtag and include it on all event promotional material. Encourage participants to use the hashtag when tweeting about the event. Now, whenever anybody clicks on or searches for the hashtag in Twitter’s search engine, they will see the conversation and buzz surrounding the event.

There are also Twitter hashtags centered around networking with people who have similar interests. These Twitter chats are usually held at the same time every week or month. There is usually a moderator who asks questions, and people respond to the questions with the hashtag. Individuals and businesses can moderate and participate in Twitter chats.

There’s a chat out there for everybody’s interests. #Makeupchat, #musicbiz, #blogchat and #SmallBizChat are all examples of chats that are hosted on a regular basis.

Tips

Twitter chat schedule

Tools
• If you find it hard to keep up with the conversation, use TweetChat. It organizes the conversation in a way that’s easy to follow and allows you to set the reload speed.

Contests/Promotions

Social media contests are a great way to get your name in front of people and to gain fans. Facebook is one of the most popular social networks for giveaways, but it is also one of the most restrictive. Twitter, however, has very few guidelines when it comes to running a contest, which makes hashtags are the perfect tool for organizing and promoting contests.

A Twitter contest should be simple. A great example of a simple Twitter contest is “tweet why you want [insert prize here] using #hashtag and we’ll select one lucky winner at the end of the day.” It’s a simple method, but it leaves a lot of room for promotion.

Tips

Irony/Fun

Not all hashtags have to be serious. In fact, many of the most popular ones started out as a humorous way to express feelings. A few examples of these are: #ThatAwkardMomentWhen, #FirstWorldProblems and #MyLifeIsAverage. Don’t be afraid to mix it up a little and use–or create your own–fun hashtags in your social media marketing plan.

Hashtags are what make Twitter fun. They’re great for networking and getting your voice in front of an audience, they allow you to keep in touch with your favorite businesses and celebrities, and they allow you to express how you’re feeling.

Eight Tips for Students Interested in a Public Relations Career

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Alyssa Vincent in blog Leave a Comment

I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree almost six months ago, but today I will be walking in the University of Utah commencement ceremony to make it official. Since obtaining my Bachelor’s degree and entering the professional workforce, I have learned a few things that I wish I had been told before or early on in my college career. So in the spirit of the graduation season, here are eight tips I have for students who aspire to enter the PR career field.

1. Write, write, write (and then write some more).

Public relations is a very writing intensive job. Despite what movies and TV shows portray, PR is a lot more than just talking to a bunch of reporters with microphones shoved in your face (which hardly ever happens). No, the majority of PR is writing. Whether you’re writing a press release or writing an email to pitch a journalist, you need to know how to write, and you need to know how to write well.

Start writing in a journal or blog as soon as you decide you want to work in PR. Write short stories, write about your day, write letters—just write. The more you practice, the more polished your writing will get. Bonus points if you write blog posts about your life events in press release form.

Don’t know what to write about? Check out this blog post with tips to beat writer’s block.

2. Be social media active.

The PR industry is becoming more and more social. After all, public relations is all about establishing and maintaining relationships with the public, and the public is on social media. In fact, some companies won’t even hire you if you don’t have an active Facebook, Twitter, and blog. Every business has its own social media marketing strategy, and you should develop a personal one to market yourself to employers. It’s also a good idea to follow people in the PR industry as well, they are always offering great tips and it’s an excellent opportunity to network.

3. Read the newspaper and follow PR industry blogs.

Read the newspaper to get a feel for the journalistic writing style. Pay attention to how the article is structured and how specific words are written. For example, journalists follow AP style, and AP style dictates that you always spell out the word “percent” and numbers under 10. Press releases are written in AP style, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with it.

It’s also a good idea to read PR industry blogs. These blogs offer great tips and analyze current events from a PR standpoint. One of my personal favorite blogs to read is PR Daily.

4. Seek criticism.

Every time you have a paper due in a class, ask the professor if you can submit a draft to them to read over and make suggestions for improvement. Most professors are more than willing to do this, and it only strengthens your writing. If you know somebody in the PR industry, ask them for criticism. If you don’t know a PR professional, find one through a friend, family member or on the Internet. It’s also not a bad idea to ask friends and family to critique articles you’ve written. The more eyes you get in front of your writing, the better.

5. Do as many internships as you can.

Professors will always tell you to do at least one internship, but I think you should do as many as you can. I would say do at least three, even if you don’t earn credit for all of them. Never turn down an opportunity to work with professionals and gain experience, because you never know who you’re going to meet or what the opportunity will turn into. It’s also a good idea to seek opportunities to practice your PR skills in your paying job. Your hard work will pay off in the end.

6. Get a job in retail customer service and sales.

We all have to do grunt work in college to earn money for tuition, food, and weekend fun. My suggestion would be to work in retail sales or customer service. You might think I’m crazy, but just hear me out.

Retail customer service tends to have a lot of irate customers, and it’s your job to calm them down. You learn how to speak in a delicate manner, which is perfect for crisis management in public relations.

Retail sales will teach you how to sell, which comes in handy when you have to pitch a journalist. Think about it. Instead of selling a product, you’re selling a story. They both use the same skills, and once you get the hang of selling a product, selling a free story will be a breeze.

7. Bone up on your SEO.

While search engine optimization may not be your cup of tea, it’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of it. SEO teams and public relations teams work hand in hand, and press releases are part of the SEO strategy. While Google’s Panda update may not make you jump for joy or punch a wall, you need to understand why your SEO counterparts are acting strange and where your role as a PR specialist plays in their strategy.

8. Minor in business.

Many public relations programs encourage students to declare a minor in order to meet the university minimum credit requirement. It also helps round out your degree. I strongly encourage students wanting to study public relations to minor in business. The lines between public relations and marketing are blurring every day, and having some general marketing knowledge under your belt can take you a long way. Getting a minor in business also introduces you to the world of finance and accounting, which can be useful when writing finance-based press releases and communicating with those on the financial side of the business.

Why should you take these tips into consideration? So you can get a job when you graduate! After all, that’s why you’re going to college, right? The current job market is tough, so the more you can do to set yourself apart from the other candidates, the better. These are just the things I have learned during my journey into the PR world, does anybody else have any tips?

How to Incorporate User Friendly SEO Optimization on Your Blog

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Aubrey Phelps in blog 2 Comments

SEO When I made the switch from SEO Manager to Account Executive I didn’t realize how deep my SEO roots were until others started asking me about it. Much like topics of religion or raising children, I’m not about to go preaching proper SEO to people.

However, one thing I can’t avoid is helping people with the basics such as search engine optimization on your site that you should or shouldn’t have. One thing I certainly can help with is blogs, including how to optimize and manage them in a way that the search engines and users will find most useful.

Have the blog hosted on your site. I cannot stress this enough. I see far too many clients with a blog hosted on an entirely different domain. While this builds credibility, authority, and link weight solely to that domain, it does nothing for your main domain. This means you now have two sites to optimize and only one is getting fresh content regularly.

Use proper navigation. Don’t have your blog hidden or make it hard to find. If you’re going to create a blog and update it, you want people to be able to easily find the blog from your homepage. A simple www.site.com/blog navigation will do.

Structure your URL the right way. Make sure you structure your URL’s in a way that both the user and the search engines can decipher what the post is about before they even read it. Navigation such as “www.site.com/?p=2342.html” is bad. If you’re using WordPress, here is an easy way to switch over to proper navigation: Go to Settings > Permalinks, and choose either “day and name”, “month and name” or “post name.” Avoid “default” and “numeric” because those URL structure won’t give you any SEO value.

Optimize your post title. You want to make sure you have a keyword or two in the title for SEO value, but make sure it is natural to read. For example, my keywords for this post were “user friendly SEO optimization” and “blog.” Because I want anyone searching for tips on SEO and blogging to land on my post, I know they’ll probably put “how to” as the search phrase and so I included that phrase in my title as well. Other popular catch phrases include “tips,” “tactics,” and anything with numbers like “5 Awesome Blogging Ideas.”

Include keywords throughout your post. Having relevant keywords sprinkled throughout your post helps reiterate what your post is about when a search engine spider comes to crawl and index the page. Again, this post can used be an example because in the first paragraph I talk about SEO, search engine optimization, and blogging–just like in the title.

Use rich media. A picture or video helps engage the reader and gives them a visual to remember the post. It can also clue them in on what you’re talking about or give them more information. When you use rich media, be sure to include a sentence or two describing it if necessary (as search engine spiders can’t spider videos) and use image-alt tags on all images.

Categorize your posts. Categorizing helps users find related posts to a topic they’re interested in and it creates a tag cloud that search engine spiders can follow, which helps them index deeper into your website.

Create an RSS feed. With an RSS feed your most dedicated followers immediately are updated when you have a new post. Here’s an interesting blog post about adding social media buttons into your RSS feed so readers can instantly share.

Add social buttons. AddThis.com has really easy to use social buttons. I would suggest implementing these on every blog post on your website so users can easily share a post they find interesting. It also help you track the outreach of your post.

Create a blogging schedule. It doesn’t matter if you blog daily or just once a month, as long as you do it regularly. Let your users know when new posts can be expected so you don’t lose readership. The more regularly you can blog, the better. No matter what, make sure you are creating fresh, original content with each post. Nothing is worse than a duplicate content penalty.

These are just 10 tips to help you optimize your blog for SEO. What it really boils down to is thinking of the user first and how to appease Google! As long as you are being original and your posts are easy to find and navigate, you’re on your way to having a stellar blog.

Ways to avoid getting spam email

How to put a stop to spam and junk email

A few PR suggestions for email marketers

Tumblr Pros

Tumblr Cons

Hashtag Uses

1. Write, write, write (and then write some more).

2. Be social media active.

3. Read the newspaper and follow PR industry blogs.

4. Seek criticism.

5. Do as many internships as you can.

6. Get a job in retail customer service and sales.

7. Bone up on your SEO.

8. Minor in business.

Search