Social Media Marketing

<p> I&#39;m a new agent with Keller Williams. I am looking to get the Top Producer 8i. There are several choices ranging from $70 per month to almost $150 per month. I&#39;m not sure which feature does what and if it&#39;s worth the extra money. Any advice from any top producer users as to which package to choose? </p>

<p> What are you doing to keep up? </p> <p> <img hspace="10" height="300" align="absmiddle" width="432" vspace="10" src="http://www.realtown.com/members/Israel/files/websitesevolvedad3(2).jpg" alt="website eveoled has yours" /> </p>

<p> If you are going to blog at all, you need to adhere to these simple tips from my son to get maximum value: </p> <ol> <li>Make sure a new visitor can discern the who, what, where and why of your blog within three seconds </li> <li>Write original content </li> <li>Make your posts scan-able </li> <li>Use pictures and other visual content </li> <li>Use a custom theme </li> <li>Have easy and multiple subscribe options </li> <li>Include blog author information </li> <li>Don&#39;t use too many categories </li> <li>Reference old posts and topic history </li> <li>Use spell check </li> <li>Link out to other relevant material </li> <li>Have an opinion </li> <li>Use humor </li> <li>Write lists </li> <li>Make sure your blog&#39;s top post has content that will appeal to a first time visitor </li> <li>Use categories and keywords that actually describe your posts </li> <li>Identify the look for your blog, e.g. whether you want a corporate or informal look </li> <li>Market your blog content </li> <li>Encourage community building with third party services </li> <li>Respond to comments in the comments section of your blog </li> <li>Give links to other interesting blogs and articles </li> <li>Don&#39;t overload the site with ads </li> <li>Have a blogging strategy </li> <li>Use a unique domain name </li> <li>Brand your blog </li> <li>Don&#39;t steal or duplicate other people&#39;s content </li> <li>Organize your categories </li> <li>Cite your sources </li> <li>Join conversations on other blogs and continue them with follow up posts on your blog </li> <li>Be controversial, but courteous </li> <li>Use a personal voice </li> <li>Write with passion </li> <li>Tell stories </li> <li>When writing about tips, show examples </li> <li>Try to merge advice with examples and stories whenever possible </li> <li>Write series of posts </li> <li>Write consistently </li> <li>Don&#39;t apologize for your opinion </li> <li>Provide resources to on topic sites </li> <li>Update your old posts and pages if possible </li> <li>Post updates to old posts and pages in new &quot;update&quot; posts </li> <li>Join on-topic communities and get involved in other conversations </li> <li>Be friendly </li> <li>Moderate spam comments </li> <li>Moderate overly negative or flaming comments if it&#39;s a business blog </li> <li>Don&#39;t go off on religion (unless it&#39;s a religious or strictly personal blog) </li> <li>Don&#39;t go off on politics (unless it&#39;s a political or strictly personal blog) </li> <li>Talk to your readers in second person occasionally, e.g. &quot;what do YOU think?&quot; </li> <li>Use humor to liven up dull material </li> <li>Use personal anecdotes to liven up dull material </li> </ol> <p> <a title="ways to make your blog not suck" target="_blank" href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/102-ways-to-make-your-blog-not-suck-blogging-tips/">the rest of them are here:</a> </p>

<p> <a title="Viral Video will play a growing role in advertising in 2010" href="http://socialmediasystems.com/viral-video-production-and-online-promotion/" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-881 alignleft" alt="Viral Video will play a growing role in advertising in 2010" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/02/250hitmypage1.jpg" width="250" height="250" style="margin: 5px 10px" /></a> </p> <p> In 2010, when you consider SEO, SEM, SMO: don&#39;t be stupid: the rules have changed again: </p> <p> Beware outdated techniques and services: any methodology that is designed to bring an unworthy site up on the first page organic search results of Google and others, at best, will not work for long; at worst, these outdated, yet still widely offered services will get your website penalized, or even banned. Internet services and techniques, and the professors and self-proclaimed experts on the specific topics of Search <a title="Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Google search" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&amp;q=Search+Engine+Optimization+%28SEO%29&amp;btnG=Search&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=g6g-m1">Engine Optimization (SEO)</a> and <a title="Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Goolge search" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&amp;q=Search+Engine+Marketing+%28SEM%29&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=">Search Engine Marketing (SEM)</a>; and now <a title="Social Media Optimization (SMO) Google search" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&amp;q=Social+Media+Optimization+%28SMO%29&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=">Social Media Optimization (SMO)</a> have always been purveyors and protectors of rapidly outdated skills sets: which is happening now at a much faster rate as the technology moves further into a parabolic curve of advancement. </p> <p> Fortunatley, a new age is upon us: what we called an &quot;I am a Realtor too!&quot; website in 2001 (when most of our clients were Realtors, and we were able to create rankings for such sites by giving away free ads) simply cannot be ranked for any sustainable period of time if at all now: although many not-so-up-to-date sources of misinformation will tell you otherwise for long enough to get your money. Our free ads sites worked after until 2003, when the search engines decided that any number of links originating from one URL (website address) would be treated as only one link, and subsequently that a database address would be treated exactly the same as a unique domain. Link-farms (web-rings, etc) evolved and adapted with social-bookmarking (Digg.com, Stumbleupon.com, Reddit.com) and user-generated, user-filtered content to compensate for subsequent changes to the algorithms determining that such contextual links needed to be from topic-specific authority sites to do any good, and now, as is always the case eventually, those sites have lost their relevancy because they became spam factories just as you started to learn about how well they worked for a little while. When Google decided that dynamic content was better that static content, and some rocket scientist decided that Blog sounded better than Weblog, or Newsgroup ( as we they were called in the 80&#39;s), the blogosphere erupted, and social networking sites really came into their own. Now we all have too many profiles that we never update or use, too many &#39;free blogs&#39; to keep up with, and &#39;Splogs&#39; (spam blogs designed to robotically harvest spam and feed it to the search engines) don&#39;t work anymore either for any length of time, because people like me (and you , I hope) report them to Google and get them banned. </p> <p> When my second-round investors took over my free-ads company (it was Adsforfree.com, you probably remember: it had more advertisers than Yahoo classifeds at one time), they wanted to hide what we were doing, to try to trademark or patent something: they thought we had a &#39;secret sauce&#39;. I tried to explain to them that what we do is a race: that protecting our methodology was like storing milk on a shelf at room temperature: worthless; but they would not listen and they put us out of business very quickly and spent over $600,000.00 of their own money doing it (Coracleinc.com) ouch! </p> <p> So if you are still reading and wondering where this is all leading, here are some tips: the new way to do this, every time, on purpose, without breaking the search engines&#39; rules: from the guy who still, <a title="social media advertising agency Google search" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&amp;q=social+media+advertising+agency&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=g-p1">to this day, always ranks for whatever searches</a> he desires , even when the competition has created literally <a title="social media website design Google search" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS247&amp;q=social+media+website+design&amp;btnG=Search&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=">hundreds of millions of documents to compete:</a> (real life examples of this strategy follow below) </p> <ul> <li>Your site must have dynamic content: it must grow at least rate that the Internet and Google&#39;s cache are growing </li> <li>You must use a CMS (content management system) to manage your website: you cannot maintain the dynamic, growing site required to meet Google&#39;s criteria by manually editing pages, and You must be able to instantly change every page of you growing site when things change </li> <li>You must make a contribution: you can no longer manufacture spam to get rankings, you need to be a source of real information, the kind your target audience wants to read, see, watch to reach them, because Google can tell the difference, and so can we <img class="wp-smiley" alt=";-)" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" /> </li> <li>You must be the source of a constantly refreshed feed of topic specific, unique in all the world, human edited data: REAL CONTENT: for example this article, video, audio: all can be optimized now with META data that makes it searchable by Key Word Search: this is called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) </li> <li>You must have video on your website: this trend will continue: the website of the future will be navigated with &#39;point and watch until you want to point again&#39;, and not &#39;point-and-click&#39; as before. </li> </ul> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/2010-seo-sem-smo-it-is-about-the-content-stupid/">&gt;&gt;more here&gt;&gt;</a> </p>

<p> <em>&#39;What an amazing story&#39;</em>: that is what you will hear on the <a href="http://www.bunnyvreeland.com/interviews.htm" title="Clinical Hypnotherapist Bunny Vreeland">Dr. Bunny show :</a> </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/10/dr_bunny_show.jpg"><img height="207" width="300" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/10/dr_bunny_show-300x207.jpg" alt="Dr. Bunny Vreeland Show Clinical Hypnotherapist Radio Show" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1346" style="border: 2px solid black; margin: 10px;" /></a>In my opinion, Dr. Bunny Vreeland herself is the real story: an animated redhead with a bubbly personality, Dr. Bunny Vreeland, Clinical, Medical Hypnotherapist in Ventura California has more than one gift: she can read you like a book, help you quit smoking, erase hurtful memories, create good ones: basically Bunny is the master of a very little known, real skill: she can literally re-program your mind like a hard drive: but when you listen to the <a href="http://www.bunnyvreeland.com/interviews.htm" title="The Dr Bunny Vreeland Radio Show">Dr. Bunny show on local news-talk radio station KKZZ 1400 AM 12-1 pm Monday-Friday</a>, you will here her exclaim over and over again: </p> <p> &quot;What an amazing story&quot; as she interviews a wide range of interesting people. </p> <p> Born with the amazing gifts she has, the ability to look inside a person and feel who they are, and why, Dr. Bunny has spent her life understanding not only her gifts, and how to use them for good, to actually help people change their lives for the better; but also the ongoing clinical, medical science behind the human mind, and what actually makes us the way we are, and what makes change possible. A modern day saint to those of us who are lucky enough to know her in person, you have never met a more humble, bubbly, genuine person. </p> <p> But that is not all she is good at: she is also tech savvy, and media savvy, a wonderful marketer: here radio show is my idea of excellent integration of a local and worldwide media strategy, with a strong web-presence, mobile device listenership with broad appeal, and a strong web presence, with a complimentary message which feeds her core business. </p> <p> The stories she shares with us on the radio are about people she finds amazing, and indeed many people ae amazing: Dr. Bunny says: </p> <p> &quot; Everyone has a story.&quot; </p> <p> I guess that is true, and even I would like to &#39;reprogram&#39; some of mine: it is our past (our stories) that define who we are now, good and bad: but the story that amazes me, is Dr. Bunny. </p> <p> When you search her name online you may the rantings of an obsessed crazy woman who she once had for a client: Dr. Bunny hypnotized here and she quit smoking. When the un-named lady realized Bunny&#39;s amazing ability to do this so effectively, she asked that she be hypnotized again to erase a memory in preparation for a police lie detector test: she wanted the memory of a crime she actually committed erased. When Dr. bunny politely showed her the door, this very dangerous crazy woman went berzerk, doing everything she could to damage Bunny&#39;s reputation, including actually buying PPC ads under Bunny&#39;s name to hurt her! </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/dr-bunny-vreeland-hypnotherapist-merges-new-media-with-conventional/">Read more here&gt;&gt;</a> </p>

<h2> <a rel="bookmark" href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/hardwood-flooring-la-101-how-to-optimize-a-wordpress-themes/">Hardwood Flooring La 101 - How To Optimize Wordpress Themes</a> </h2> <p> <a href="http://kalleycontractors.com/" title="Hardwood Flooring Installation Blog – Los Angeles Floor Refinishing "><img width="300" height="170" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/10/optimizedscreenshot-300x170.jpg" alt="Hordwood Flooring Installation Blog Screenshot" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1320" style="margin: 10px;" /></a>Check out our new <a href="http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&amp;hl=en&amp;rlz=1R2GGLL_en&amp;q=Hardwood+Flooring+Installation++Los+Angeles+&amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=" title="Los Angeles Hardwood Flooring Contractor Google Search">Los Angeles Hardwood Flooring Contractor Blog:</a> at <a href="http://kalleycontractors.com/" title="California Hardwood Fooring Contractors Blog">http://kalleycontractors.com</a>. <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1R2GGLL_en&amp;ei=hFncSpqOIYjIsAOGm6GTBg&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=spell&amp;resnum=0&amp;ct=result&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CBsQBSgA&amp;q=free+wordpress+themes&amp;spell=1" title="Free Wordpress Themes Google Search">Wordpress themes</a> are free, but, like all open-source software, they are not optimized well &quot;out-of-the-box&#39;. <a href="http://kalleycontractors.com/" title="Hardwood Flooring Installation Blog Los Angeles Floor Refinishing ">Hardwood Flooring Installation Blog - Los Angeles Floor Refinishing</a> is the Title we chose (setting&gt;general) for the title, because the title is very important for optimization for the search engines: the Title of a Wordpress blog in many well-done themes links back to the blog on every page, with semantic anchor text: this is critical to search engine recognition. </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/hardwood-flooring-la-101-how-to-optimize-a-wordpress-themes/" class="more-link">CLICK TO READ THE REST OF THE STORY »</a> </p>

<p> For once, my son, Solomon Rothman, gets to say &quot;I told you so&quot;: This is the official launch now of the new invention: Collaborative Digital Entertainment Production and Distribution: <a title="Collaborative Video Platform" href="http://moviepals.org:"><font color="#2361A1">moviepals.org:</font></a> </p> <p> Sure you can do your own videos, virtual tours, but can you so this: </p> <p> <object width="425" height="344" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param value="11244" name="_cx" /> <param value="9101" name="_cy" /> <param value="" name="FlashVars" /> <param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9nL7Yn7OXFI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" name="Movie" /> <param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9nL7Yn7OXFI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" name="Src" /> <param value="Window" name="WMode" /> <param value="0" name="Play" /> <param value="-1" name="Loop" /> <param value="High" name="Quality" /> <param value="LT" name="SAlign" /> <param value="-1" name="Menu" /> <param value="" name="Base" /> <param value="always" name="AllowScriptAccess" /> <param value="NoScale" name="Scale" /> <param value="0" name="DeviceFont" /> <param value="0" name="EmbedMovie" /> <param value="" name="BGColor" /> <param value="" name="SWRemote" /> <param value="" name="MovieData" /> <param value="1" name="SeamlessTabbing" /> <param value="0" name="Profile" /> <param value="" name="ProfileAddress" /> <param value="0" name="ProfilePort" /> <param value="all" name="AllowNetworking" /> <param value="true" name="AllowFullScreen" /> </object><br /> <strong><em>Or how about this:</em></strong> </p> <p> </p> <p> <strong><em><object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344"> <param name="_cx" value="11244" /> <param name="_cy" value="9101" /> <param name="FlashVars" value="" /> <param name="Movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eF9e960npTQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /> <param name="Src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eF9e960npTQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /> <param name="WMode" value="Window" /> <param name="Play" value="0" /> <param name="Loop" value="-1" /> <param name="Quality" value="High" /> <param name="SAlign" value="LT" /> <param name="Menu" value="-1" /> <param name="Base" value="" /> <param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always" /> <param name="Scale" value="NoScale" /> <param name="DeviceFont" value="0" /> <param name="EmbedMovie" value="0" /> <param name="BGColor" value="" /> <param name="SWRemote" value="" /> <param name="MovieData" value="" /> <param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1" /> <param name="Profile" value="0" /> <param name="ProfileAddress" value="" /> <param name="ProfilePort" value="0" /> <param name="AllowNetworking" value="all" /> <param name="AllowFullScreen" value="true" /> </object><br /></em></strong>To say I am proud would be an understatement, but think about how inexpensively we could create a travel series, welcome video, a set of training films to communicate complicated technical, and/or selling concepts: </p> <div> <img alt="Mob Mentality - first crowd-driven series" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/3722423383_1dc3f4bd20.jpg" width="500" height="295" /> </div> <div> <strong>Mob Mentality Series Poster</strong> </div> <p> The audience will have a chance to participate! </p> <p> Now, let me do for you what my Son has been helping me with for many years: let me give you an enlightened glimpse of the future: </p> <p> Television and the Internet, Books, Audio, Journalism, News will all merge: the largest transfer of money and wealth in history was not the bailout, it was not the deregulation of the banking industry, it is not even the technological revolution: it is underway now, an has been for years already: and you do not even know what it is, do you? </p> <p> Allow me to enlighten you: a little ground work is necessary: </p> <p> At one time, a college education, a good upbringing were the best to an almost certain good job and quality life: now, as it was in the seventies, a diploma and some change (change would now be 4 bucks instead of 10 cents) would get you a cup of coffee, but not a job. </p> <p> At one time, it became a cliche: </p> <p> &quot;It is not what you know, but who you know.&quot; Now I put to you that neither matters, if you are popular. </p> <p> Once upon a time, the way to reach an audience was through the right channels: Doubleday and other major book publishers; the Associated Press; the Main Stream Media, the &quot;Hollywood Casting Couch&quot;; NO MORE! </p> <h1> What has changed: </h1> <p> Once upon a time, geniuses were not recognized in their lifetimes. Now people become rich and famous before they are adults: </p> <ol> <li>The speed at which things happen has accelerated steadily, it is a parabolic curve. As much as I hate to admit it, it matches the premises in Revelations. </li> <li>The split second decision; young people, unencumbered by the drudgery of a slower moving, more labor intensive time, can do five to ten things at once, WELL! They make decision in a split second based sometimes on nothing but a URL or an email subject to click on. </li> <li>Distribution has been, is being completely dis-empowered: money, breeding, upbringing, even location have less and less to do with education, access, opportunity to succeed… </li> <li>Creativity is having a field day: this will continue: as people are more and more empowered without encumbrances, they are more and more creative, and, yes, productive. </li> </ol> <p> <strong><em>Now what has not changed: the ability to win friends and influence people is more powerful than ever!</em></strong> </p> <h1> What to do about it: </h1> <ol> <li>Wake up and &#39;smell the coffee&#39; </li> <li>Hurry up! </li> <li>Educate yourself constantly, everything you thought you knew is outdated </li> <li>Forget about retirement, you can sleep when you are dead, and that may not be for 100 years or more the way things are going! </li> <li>Take care of your health: you are going to be a centurion if you do not screw it up </li> <li>Give up your vices: actual creativity is more fun anyway, and you will not be able to compete </li> <li>Build an audience, you have access, and it is easier than ever </li> <li>Get a video: a video never has a bad day, never sleeps, does not eat, does not get a day older, and last forever, and that is more than I can say for you and I! </li> <li>Discover yourself: who, where, how rich, and what you are no longer matters: what you actually can do, can contribute matters more than anything now (sorry professional slackers, just the way it is) </li> <li>Do it now: what never changes: a quote from Rabbi Hillel: (born <a title="Babylonia" href="/wiki/Babylonia"><font color="#2361A1">Babylon</font></a> 110BCE-10CE in <a title="Jerusalem" href="/wiki/Jerusalem"><font color="#2361A1">Jerusalem</font></a>): </li> </ol> <p> &quot;If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?&quot; </p> <p> Or, just put it off: you are probably too late anyway <img class="wp-smiley" alt=";-)" src="http://rothmanmarketing.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" /> It is not expensive, it is not slow, you can be anywhere, anybody, any age.. </p> <p> <strong>NOW WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE?!</strong> </p>

<h2 style="margin-top: 2px;"> My suggestion is to import all of your contacts from everywhere into two places: </h2> <p> 1. Plaxo - online contact management with birthday notifications, ecards and many wonderful algorithms built in, not to mention online backup of everything - syncs perfectly with Outlook and most all other mail clients and imports easily with wizards. </p> <p> 2. PHPList on your own website - your contacts, and especially your double and triple opt-in list (the people who will read whatever you send because they like what you have to say) are your biggest assets. PHPList is a content management system for email lists, opt-in, opt-out, updating all done by the recipients, also excellent for using blind mailings to build this list from scraped or purchased targeted lists. Lists can be imported in almost any common format - this is free, open source software installed easily with a push of a button on any server with Fantastico in Cpanel. (Hostgator, Bluehost, our servers, many others, most good servers use this software) See a living example where I have recently done exactly what you are saying imported all my contacts from 10 years here: </p> <p> <a target="_blank" title="PHP List automation" href="http://rothmanmarketing.com/lists/">http://rothmanmarketing.com/lists/</a> </p> <p> You will notice that it feeds the website by linking to past issues in HTML format and making available as RSS feed that can be syndicated through Feedburner (also free! owned now by Google) </p> <p> Past issues are made available on my blog: <a target="_blank" title="archives available in RSS, html format" href="http://rothmanmarketing.com/10/the-rothman-letter/">http://rothmanmarketing.com/10/the-rothman-letter/</a> </p> <p> I added this comment I added to another persons blog because this is something where many people are spending good money on bad soclutions, when tech-savvy novices can do it all for fee ;-) </p>

<p> This is the first in a ten part weekly series which will help you to actually earn money and generate traffic from blogging: written in laymen&#39;s terms: </p> <p> Some of the techniques discussed here are simply Guerilla marketing applied to a new media. Other parts of what we will share with you here are important rules of the road that we learned the hard way. You will not be bored, and you will not find things said or done in exactly the same way anywhere else. You will be offered the opportunity, as always, to chime in, to disagree; even chastise when or if it is justified. </p> <p> The &quot;blogosphere&quot; loves a good debate. We are enthused and enlightened whenever we are actually educated beyond our current knowledge, and we genuinely want your input, especially when you disagree. We seek to be connected with, and to interact with you. We want to learn and grow as a result of the experience. We do not want you to waste our time: so skip to the &#39;chase&quot; and spare us the boring build-up. </p> <p> We are not all pompous journalists or self-proclaimed experts with PHDs. We are not as fussy about spelling or grammar as a vocal few English majors and self-proclaimed PR consultants would have you believe. It may not even matter at all who you are or what your credentials are if we like what you have to say. We are just people who want to feel connected and to know what is up. We want to hear what you have to say without anyone editing or censoring it for us. We want the raw stuff. </p> <p> We are not necessarily great managers, eloquent speakers, or brilliant business people. We do not all wear our egos on our sleeves, and we would rather be entertained by something unique than bored your own personal rendition of the same old regurgitated information that we have heard somewhere else, no matter how qualified you say you are to do the regurgitation. </p> <p> People try to candy-coat things way too much. They use all kinds of useless adjectives and meaningless words like: actually, really, figuratively speaking, mostly, sometimes, occasionally, …. </p> <p> Don&#39;t be non-committal like that if you want us to keep reading. We have very little time and we are overloaded with information: if you have something to say, just say it. Nobody wants to hear a watered down version of how you feel where you have hedged and ruined the impact of your message to protect someone&#39;s feelings. </p> <p> &quot;Be ye hot or be ye cold, lest I spew you..&quot; Well, you get the idea! </p> <p> All through history it has been proven over and over again by great men and even completely crazy madmen that people will follow a leader who has the self-assuredness to take a stand, even if he is wrong, and especially if the message contains the truth. </p> <p> Building a following online is the same as in any area of life; you cannot lead from behind. You cannot mitigate your risk and be popular: you must actually take a stand, and lead. </p> <p> So lesson number one is to &#39;just say it&#39;; don&#39;t beat around the bush; don&#39;t mitigate your risk; don&#39;t spare anyone&#39;s feelings; just give us the straight &#39;poop&#39;, and we will reward you by wanting to see what you will say next. </p> <p> I will see you next week: we will be talking about Group Branding and Development, with no further introduction necessary.<br /> Related: </p> <p> <a href="http://www.z57.com/shared/images/znews/2005-06/integrated_marketing.shtml">http://www.z57.com/shared/images/znews/2005-06/integrated_marketing.shtml</a> </p> <p> Israel Rothman is a well known speaker and author on the topic of intentional online reputation management: learn more at SocialMediaSystems.com </p>

<p> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1184 alignleft" height="133" alt="Comercial Branded Video Production and Distribution" hspace="10" width="200" align="left" vspace="10" style="margin: 10px" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2008/11/israel-branded-bio-200x133.jpg" />As we did years ago (you will notice that <a title="RISMedia Article Series reprinted all over the world still feeds me" href="http://www.z57.com/shared/images/znews/2005-06/integrated_marketing.shtml">everything we said several years ago has come out to be true, and much of it still applies</a>) we will sum it all up by reviewing all the pieces to a successful social media marketing (online marketing) campaign: many things have changed in the last 6 years, and some have not: one thing that never changes is the need for competitive attention to detail, because one weak link breaks the chain: let us review:<img class="mceWPmore mceItemNoResize" title="More..." alt="" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" /> </p> <ol> <li> <a href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/11038">Just say it:</a> lesson number one is to &#39;just say it&#39;; don&#39;t beat around the bush; don&#39;t mitigate your risk; don&#39;t spare anyone&#39;s feelings; just give us the straight &#39;poop&#39;, and we will reward you by wanting to see what you will say next. </li> <li> <a href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/12454">Group Building - Opt-in</a> Build a following and increase lead capture using Social Media. </li> <li> <a href="http://www.realtown.com/groups/post/view/group/69/post/13382">Use Social Media for local Farming</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/13700">Use Video for Lead Capture</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/14058">Become an authority - Reputation Management</a> </li> <li> <a title="online branding internet advertising image building tutorial" href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/14922">Online Branding: image matters for Internet Advertising</a> </li> <li> <a title="social networks advertising" href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/15770">Get numbers working for you on Social Networks</a> </li> <li> <a title="cross marketing with case studies, testimonials" href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/online-dating-trends-not-just-for-kids-anymore-baby-boomer-usage-soaring/">Recent Case study : The execution of a complete and integrated Social Media Marketing Campaign</a> </li> <li> <a title="niche markeitng and social media targeting" href="http://www.realtown.com/Israel/groups/socialmediamarketing/view/16636">Niche Marketing and Picking a Battle</a> </li> <li>Attention to detail, the final competitive edge! </li> </ol> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/10-in-10-online-marketing-chain-as-strong-as-weekest-link/">&lt;&lt;more here&gt;&gt;</a> </p>

<p> When you go to Realtown groups, and you see that &#39;Social Media Marketing Guru&#39; is the founder of the Group: Social Media Marketing; the link is bad. </p> <p> John, surely there is a way to fix this in the .htaccess file? </p> <p> Anybody else having the same experience? </p>

<p> Lots of people sell insurance in California, and there are many Allstate agents. Like Real Estate, there is so much money spent on auto and truck insurance, and so much money to be made, the the landscape of the marketplace is extremely competitive:<a title="California Contactor Commercial Auto Insurance Blog" target="_blank" href="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/09/screenshot.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1225 alignleft" height="119" alt="California Contactor Commercial Auto Insurance Blog screenshot" hspace="10" width="200" align="left" vspace="10" style="margin: 10px" src="http://socialmediasystems.com/files/2009/09/screenshot-200x119.jpg" /></a> </p> <p> According to this articel from <a title="contractors and Realtors in california have large fleets of company cars and trucks" href="http://www.agent-central.com/california-insurance-agents.htm">http://www.agent-central.com/california-insurance-agents.htm</a>: </p> <ul> <li>There are nearly 3 (2.9) Insurance agents for every 1000 residents in California (2005) </li> <li>There are over <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us"><strong>36,135,000 residents!</strong></span> </li> <li> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us"><strong>There are over 50,000 agents that broker Insurance</strong></span> </li> </ul> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">Often I ask new potential clients &quot;who is your target customer&quot;. Since I am exclusive to my clients, the answer matters, because I do not want to exclusively represent a failure!</span> </p> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">Often the answer is very broad: &quot;Everyone who needs insurance&quot; LOL!</span> </p> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">Let&#39;s get real here, shall we? A new recruit who wants to be all things to all people is not wanted by anyone.</span> </p> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">In order to be succesful in any industry one must pick a target market, and in one as competitive as Insurance or Real Estate (some say there are over 2.5 million active real estate agents in the US), one MUST specialize, and this applies to online marketing too, since searches for the broadest searches: &quot;Insurance California&quot;, or &quot;Insurance LA California&quot;, for instance, are <em><strong>almost</strong></em> impossible without a huge budget.</span> </p> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">Here is an example of fighting what we like to call &quot;a battle you can win&quot; in this competitive industry:</span> </p> <p> <span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">See <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/cal-auto-insurance">California Contactor Commercial Auto Insurance Blog</a>:</span> </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/california-contractors-insurance-niche-marketing-good-for-agent-and-customers/"><span lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">Read more - click here!</span></a> </p>

<p> Consider what I am doing here, (<a href="http://activerain.com/groups/WEB20">and here - notice the number of members</a>). How many friends do you have on Facebook, Followers on Twitter, Groups and subscribers here at Realtown? </p> <p> Suppose I have 100 cards in a hat: one of them is yours: now I begin tossing more and more of your cards in the hat. Eventually, there are more of your cards than anyone else&#39;s, and the effect is that it is most likely that a random selection will yeild your card. </p> <p> But Google, Bing, Yahoo and the others are not random: the more cards you have connected together properly in a &quot;semantic tree&quot; on topic, the greater the power of your &#39;trunk&quot; (IE, your lead capture, destination website) </p> <p> Consider what I have done for this fellow: </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/proof-of-funds/">http://socialmediasystems.com/proof-of-funds/</a> </p> <p> Here, and here: </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/">http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/</a> </p> <p> And here: </p> <p> <a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/9713/israel_rothman.html">http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/9713/israel_rothman.html</a> </p> <p> For less than $400 - I used to spend that on lunch! </p> <p> And in a few hours, yes I said hours, here: </p> <p> <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;q=proof+of+funds&amp;rlz=1W1GGLL_en&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=g-p1g9">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;q=proof+of+funds&amp;rlz=1W1GGLL_en&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=g-p1g9</a> </p> <p> Sooo: ask youself this question: what is the aggregate power of all my goups that I moderate, all the subscribers thereto, all of my many articles and blogs, all of my profiles and groups at social networks, all of my followers... </p> <p> If your answer is not very much, you have just diagnosed your own problem! </p>

<p> Here is a recently setup example and case study: <a href="http://Casanovasystem.org">Casanovasystem.org</a> </p> <p> This client has compiled a wonderful a fun-reading list of dating secrets and tactics designed to help men understand how to be succesful at dating women. </p> <p> The market they are addressing is very competitive, and they have two sites to promote: the Book: </p> <p> <a href="http://casanovasystem.com/">http://casanovasystem.com/</a> </p> <p> And the dating site: </p> <p> <a href="http://globaldatingsingles.com/">http://globaldatingsingles.com/</a> </p> <p> As you can see, the main reason for both is to sell the book. </p> <p> I would probably let the dating site stand on it&#39;s own and have less overlay there, but this is a great case-study example of a viral strategy done on less that $1000 setup that has great potential: </p> <p> <a href="http://Casanovasystem.org">Casanovasystem.org</a> is s blog (social media site) where people can share war stories, tips, tricks, and get feedback about dating, male or female, and it should make some very interesting reading! </p> <p> Since the machine we built here will rank for the words included in whatever anybody writes about here, it should build momentum over time and with promotion on social networks, invites, and growth, it will realistically eventually rank for very competitive dating terms like online dating blog. </p> <p> Since the client has alot of very good content to use to get the conversations started, I predict that tis will be the largest dating blog of it&#39;s kind eventually. </p> <p> Learn more at <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com">http://socialmediasystems.com</a> </p>

<p> Who are you online? If I &#39;google&#39; your name, what will I find? When you are about to do business with someone, or about to make a major purchase, do you do research first? </p> <p> More and more, most people do: I, for instance, would never hire a professional of any kind, Lawyer, Doctor, Realtor, Lender without &#39;Googleing&#39; that person&#39;s proper name first to view their online reputation. </p> <p> Chances are, if they are really bad, somebody has said so somewhere, and it will come up when I &#39;google&#39; (yes it is a new verbe!) their proper name. </p> <p> Many people don&#39;t even think about this aspect of social media marketing: that you can intentionally, easily, and for free control what people see about you when they &#39;google&#39; your name, and/or search other major search engines and rating sites like Yelp about the name of your business, your brand, or your product name. </p> <p> In reverse, others, more tech savvy and industrious than you can likewise &#39;conquest&#39; your name, your product name, your franchise name, your brand name and steal your customers, or even intentionally damage your reputation. </p> <p> By building properly optimized profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Yelp and others, you, and even a few of your friends or business associates can not only assure that this does not happen; you can also build valuable links, and send positive messages to these very important prospects when they do research, and establish yourself as an expert in the process. </p> <p> Blogging, and achieving a controlled online presence is now built around becoming the source of real information, what I call &#39;Human Edited Data&#39; </p> <p> You see your proper name, your opinions, what you have to say about your market, your co-workers, your colleagues, even political statements and opinions about current events and trends: these all come from your unique human mind, and are unique by definition in all the world - and that is a prerequisit to achieve first page organic search engine recognition, placement, traffic, and a good online reputation. </p> <p> This can all be done on purpose, and for free ;-) </p> <p> Lear more at our very famous search engine marketing blog: </p> <p> <a href="http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/">3net Search Engine Marketing Blog</a> </p>