Pinterest is a social media site that is gaining attention and gaining it fast. The site has been around for two years now, but only started gaining a lot of users these past few months. It is said to be the fastest growing social media site today. And because our customers are getting on it, let’s take a look at some of the advantages that the new site can offer to our personal brand or our small business. Pinterest is a place where you can share images and videos. You can post images and videos that interest you and share them with your followers. On the business and marketing side of it, you can take advantage of the site to share your business through visuals, build a network, and drive traffic to your blog site.

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The 5 Laws of Pinning

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Did you know, if you don’t use WordPress, your competition may have a tremendous advantage over you to attract your ideal customers and clients to them? I know, right! The good news is that if you use WordPress, the tables could be turned in your favor and their clients could be finding you. You’re probably thinking “How the heck does that work? How much difference could a blogging platform make?” Well, a lot actually. WordPress was designed to be a search engine magnet.

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Use WordPress for Super SEO – No Technical Skills Needed

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I know not everyone is a fan of infographics, but I love them. Sure, they’ve been done to death at conferences and meetings, but nothing beats an eye-catching graphic to quickly highlight important data within complex statistics. Today I was searching online for the latest social media usage statistics to incorporate into a presentation I am giving and I stumbled upon this brilliant infographic put together by OnlineMBA.com. Click on image for a larger view: Here are the highlights: Social Media Usage:         More than 66%of adults online in America are connected to one or more social media platforms.         67% of Americans use social media to stay in touch with their friends.         64% of Americans use social media to stay in touch with family.

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2012 Social Media Demographics: An Infographic

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Head of Google’s Web Spam Team, Matt Cutts, has set SEO tongues wagging this month with comments he made at a SXSW Conference session. In the panel session called Dear Google & Bing, Help Me Rank Better!, Matt inferred that Google is working on a new algorithm filter that penalizes sites that appear to be over-optimized. According to Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land, here’s exactly what Matt said: ———————————————————————————————————————— “Now, what’s interesting about your question is you went a little bit deeper and you said, “Well, what about all the people who are sort of optimizing really hard and doing a lot of SEO?” And, uh, normally we don’t sort of pre-announce changes, but there is something that we’ve been working on in the last few months. And hopefully, in the next couple months or so, in the coming weeks, we hope to release it. And the idea is basically to try and level the playing ground a little bit.

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Overdoing Your SEO? You Might Want to Rethink That

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You are probably thinking… “What?!” Wondering why I would say people who opt out of your list is a good thing? Read on… People lose interest. When someone joined your list they were excited and motivated to find out more about you and what you had to offer. It’s very difficult to sustain that level of engagement over time. Even if you’re cranking out excellent content and value consistently – some people just lose interest and move on. Nothing you can do about it

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Why Unsubscribers are Good for You

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At this time each year we think about what we accomplished over the last year – and what we want to improve on for the upcoming new year. From a marketing perspective, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the new ideas and bright shiny objects out there to pull our attention away from the marketing strategies that matter most – those that will actually improve your business and expand your marketing reach. So, in honor of the new year – I present to you the 12 best online marketing strategies to focus on for 2012. There could be more – but these are in my opinion the best strategies to bring you quickly to your business goals using online marketing strategies that work. Don’t choose them all! Focus on the 2 or 3 that you feel could impact your marketing effort the most – and carve out the time and plan for implementing them next year! 1

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12 Best Online Marketing Strategies for 2012

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If you have a broken link on your site and a visitor clicks on this link they will be directed to what is called a 404 Error Page. This is a standard page that will let the visitor know that the link they clicked on could not be found. We all know how annoying this page can be. The good news is that there are ways to make this error page work for us. Although these pages can drive traffic away, we can design them to actually become productive sales tools. Customizing your 404 error page should be a fairly simple process. Check with your host or the program you are using for your site to see how it can be done

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10 Ways to Benefit from Your 404 Error Page

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David Jackson, a frequent article contributor and one of our most popular authors, passed away suddenly on March 1st. David was just 56 years old. David was a marketing consultant and the owner of Free Marketing Tips Blog. His passion was teaching small business owners how to promote their business. He was also a prolific writer.

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David Jackson – We’ll Miss you

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Now that you have created your keyword list and come up with some amazing blog post topics, it’s time to start shaping that content. First, consider your target audience. Whose problem does your product solve? What works for a group of high school kids might not be helpful to a group of business professionals. Create 3-4 audience ‘buckets’ to target. The Udemy blog, for example, focuses on social media, design, programming, and startups. Most of our audience is likely to read articles about at least two of these topics

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How To Post Content Worth Sharing

Check The Competition

The first place to start on your website project is to look at some competitor websites in your industry. You will want to know what your potential customers will comparing you to. You will also want to find out what the standard is for your industry in terms of the number of pages, the type of information and the general look and feel. If for example, your competitors have large sites and many interactive features then you will want your site be comparable, but if your competitors have small simple sites, then you know that you won’t need lots of bells and whistles.

Prepare Your Information

Before you meet with your web designer, gather some examples of competitor websites that you like. List what it is that you like and dislike about those sites. If you have any pamphlets or brochures for your business, have those ready for your designer as well. Choose some colors or have an idea of some color schemes that you like and if you have won any professional awards or have any important professional affiliations, put that information together because you will probably want to feature that on your website.

Do You Need A Content Management System?

One important decision that you need to make about your website is whether or not you are going to need a content management system. Content management systems are typically used on larger sites, to control text, video, pictures etc. A content management system allows you to easily change and update the information on your site. This is useful for a website on which, for example staff photos and bios are added often or a newsletter archive is maintained.

If you anticipate making many changes on your website, a content management system can save you time and money. With a content management system, the owner of the site can make the changes as needed, without having to wait for a web designer or webmaster to make the changes for them. This can be a very important feature because it allows you to keep your website current at all times so you’re making the best possible presentation to your customer. It can save you money because you will not have to pay your web designer to make the updates for you.

Typically, a website that is more than 15 pages would be a good candidate for a content management system. The more information you have on your website the greater the chances are that you are going to need to keep that information updated. If your website is less than 15 pages, you probably will not need a content management system.

WordPress As A Content Management System For Small Business

WordPress is popular as a content management system for small businesses for several reasons. One it is that it is relatively easy to use. You do not need to be versed in HTML or any other programming language to handle WordPress. There are also many training videos and materials available on the Internet and also a number of plug-ins so that you can customize the software for your needs. WordPress is also useful for blogging which can help to keep your website information up to date. If you would like to show up higher in the search results, then WordPress is a good choice for that as well. Google has stated that WordPress is one of the easiest systems to crawl so it can help you come up higher in the search engine results.

When you begin planning for your small business web site, start by checking competitor websites in your industry. This will give you an idea of approximately how many pages you will need as well as what type of features you will want on your site. Your goal will be to have your website look as good as, or better than your competitor’s.

By planning ahead and knowing what your potential customers will be comparing you with, deciding how large you want your site to be, and what type of features you will need, you will be equipped to get the best possible website for your small business.

About The Author:

Kevin Kielty writes for Internet Marketing Advantage in Raleigh. Web design is his area of expertise. Internet Marketing Advantage specializes in Raleigh website design at: http://www.raleighseocompany.net/

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