LinkedIn is a great tool for making professional connections, building your brand and is a relatively new way to market yourself.

If you are NOT useing LinkedIn

You can sign up for a free account at http://www.linkedin.com/ it’s easy and free.

Don’t be left in the dark, times have changed, communication is continuing to evolve. But as e-mail replaced snail mail, social media is replacing other traditional references.

Take into consideration these benefits of using LinkedIn or other similar professional networking sites.

Connections & Credibility:
Two candidates for a job with similar experience and credentials.

One candidate has a resume and the standard three references.

• Another has a LinkedIn account
• With hundreds of connections in the industry
• With recommendations from various jobs and positions
• Is active and engaged in their industry
• Is proving they are an expert in their field

Which one do you think has a better chance of getting a job?

Opportunity:
By being engaged and aware of what’s going on in your industry you become aware of many new opportunities that are available. Perhaps a company is looking to hire or someone is in search of a particular service. Getting your name out there and getting your voice heard will open many opportunities for you. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

For those of you who ARE on LinkedIn already.

Are you effectively using the channel? You may have created an account and put your info up on the site but:

• Are you engaging with people in your industry?
• Are you making new connections?
• Have you joined a group?
• Do you participate in a group?
• Are you promoting yourself, your services or your knowledge?
• Do you recommend people?
• Do you ask for recommendations?
• Have you added any engaging content to your page?
• Do you login semi-frequently?
• Do you promote your channel?

How do you score on professional networking?

Ask yourself the questions above and give yourself a point for each that you can say yes to. It may take time and effort to work on building your base but it does not need to be done over night, just with effort and persistence.

Make a plan to advance in your skills.

So make some goals towards getting better at professional networking and set a plan for yourself to complete them. Maybe you do it as a morning ritual or maybe it’s networking Tuesdays??? I recently went from a score of 7 to a 9 and am working my way to a 10.

Feel free to connect with me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyharper

There is more info on using LinkedIn effectively to come in future posts.

Good luck and keep pushing!

If you don’t get Twitter or still think it’s a waist of time perhaps this post will enlighten you. I still run into others out there who just don’t get it… this is for them.

As a former Twitter skeptic, I can say I didn’t really understand what Twitter was about at first myself. It seemed to me that I didn’t really need to know what all my friends were doing at every point and time. Now I see that there is more uses for Twitter. I think it is a valuable tool for any company who wants to boost their on-line presence.

Top misconceptions about Twitter.

• Having to read every tweet
  You don’t need to catch it all. You can’t really. Just scan the tweets sometime and follow what you’re interested in.
• Needing to care about people’s trivial tweets
  Some people tweet about random nothingness, others tweet about information, most tweeters are in the middle. If you don’t like someone’s tweet style, unfollow them.
• Needing to spend hours on Twitter
  Spending a few minutes a day can help you keep connected and can be a great way to break into new arenas.

10 Great uses for Twitter

1. Tap into new markets and meet new people.

   You can’t be everywhere at one time but you can connect with people from all over the place on Twitter. You can even connect with people who you’d never get a chance to connect with any other way such as CEOs, business owners and celebrities.

2. Discover new resources and connections.
   

   That is one of the great things that I found out really quickly on Twitter. You can meet new people and find out new tools or web sites that you probably would have never found out on your own.

3. See real feedback on products/brands/services.
   

   Instead of getting information about how great a product is from the company that made it, read what people are saying in Twitter in real-time.

4. Get answers to questions.
   

   Have a question you need an answer to  shout it to your twitter followers and get replies. If your tweet doesn’t get much response, try connecting with people directly. Example, does anyone know a program that would edit pictures for less than $100. > Pixelator….

5. Get new ideas from others in the Twittersphere.

   There are so many great ideas going on all the time with Twitter. Search a particular topic and see what the buzz on the topic is. Chances are you’ll get some ideas about the topic that you hadn’t thought of before.

6. Create a dialog and connection with your followers / clients.

   See what your followers / clients are up to. You may catch one of there tweets that mentions they’re in need of a service or are having an event. By following them you’ll be in the loop to what’s going on in their world.

7. Self Promotion.

   If you have a company, blog or personal project that could benefit from people checking it out. You can use Twitter to share your stuff with others. Just don’t abuse Twitter with spam, people don’t like it and won’t follow you.

8. Get breaking news and read interesting articles.

   See what’s going on in the world in regards to various topics. Remember you don’t need to read them all but you can do a quick scan and catch a lot of things. Following the news, weather, shows, celebrities, blogs and other tweeters can be fun and interesting.

9. Get feedback from ideas before putting them into action.

   If you have an idea that may take time to execute or money to invest, perhaps you could get a little feedback from some Twitter followers before you take the plunge. Example if you’re creating an ad to run in a magazine maybe you’d want to get several ideas together and then share with your followers. See what get’s the best response, you may be surprised.

10. Share news in little bite-size clusters.

    Creating good blog content takes time and effort. Tweeting takes seconds to do and can get ideas across really easy.

Remember to:

• Have fun
• Be yourself
• Engage with others

There are plenty more reasons to use Twitter but this should be enough to get you going.

Helpful links:

• 60+ Twitter Tools: http://mashable.com/2007/09/29/twitter-toolbox/
• Firefox Twitter Toolbar: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4664
• Tweet Deck: http://tweetdeck.com
• Tweet Deck Video Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRpZLQhq7ig

Next I’m working on some YouTube videos showcasing some Twitter Techniques, subscribe to http://youtube.com/keytheory or http://facebook.com/keytheory to keep up to date with new posts.

In early Feb 2010, I put on an SEO & Social Media presentation at The Art Institute of Jacksonville thanks to Chris Stagl, Academic Department Director Web & Interactive media. I spoke to the students about a few different topics but focused on the importance of SEO / SMO when working through a web design. Through my next several posts I plan to share some of the key notes from the presentation.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization involves using online strategies to improve site visibility and rankings on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

SEO Facts:

Basic SEO Process:

An SEO strategy can be very involved and take quite a bit of time to execute and even longer for results to occur. Anyone can go through the motions but it takes an expert to really hone in on what will be effective for an SEO strategy.

1. Initial Analysis
2. Keyword Research & Analysis
3. Competitor Analysis
4. Sitemap & RSS feed inclusion
5. Search Engine Directory Submission
6. Social Book Marking / Social Media
7. Blogs + Press Release Creation
8. Articles Submission
9. Link Popularity
10. SERP Report / Analytics

Three Basic Principals of Search Engine Optimization:

1. Good Quality Content (formatted for web)
2. Inbound Links
3. Proper Web Site Development

Part II in this 3 part series we’ll look deeper into the basic principals of Search Engine Optimization.

Well a lot of people have been asking me about doing social media. Most people think it’s free advertisement which in a way the tools are free but it does take time to plan and time to do which is worth money. If you pay a social media marketer or an agency to do your SMM for you then it can cost a lot of money as well. So how can you make sure your getting your money’s worth? You’ve got to do a lot of work to track it but it’s possible.

I did some googling and found a very helpful article on Mashable.com -  HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI which I break down below.

Here’s some highlights on Social Media ROI:

Conversion Formula:

(final value – starting value) / starting value = Return on Investment

Define Clear Goals:

Know what you want to accomplish and be sure to monitor the progress before and after the campaign.

Metrics Tools:

These won’t tell you a direct ROI but they can be used to determine some patterns in consumer’s behavior.

• Google Analytics – See detailed statistics of your site traffic. Track conversions and more… Free!
• Omniture – Very helpful. Facebook and Twitter tools.
• TweetMeMe – Google analytics for TweetMeMe
• PostRank – Social Media Analytics
• HootSuite – Twitter manager with good analytics

This is a witty cartoon of Social Media ROI.

To be continued….

Next I’m going to dig further into Sentiment Analysis, Social Media Product Suites and review some of the techniques. I’ve been getting into social media more with my father and his company JaxSEOWorks.

Why social media is a must for businesses of all sizes.

Not every business needs a Twitter or Linked In account necessarily. There are definitely different strokes for different folks but unless you are set with the amount of business you currently have and don’t mind losing any I’d advise at least having a digital presence, your competitors probably will.

Social Media allows businesses to:

• Engage with their customers
• Research what people are saying about their business
• Gain insight on where their industry is going
• Network with others in their industry
• Gain loyalty with clients

Having the social media outlets is just the beginning.

You can have a YouTube and Twitter account and be using them but if you have no strategy you may not be using them as effectively as you could. Why bother putting more time or money into it? Because you’ll gain more followers and have more loyalty if you give people a reason to return or to share with their contacts. The potential is endless. Some people have shared a link of a video with a few friends and the link goes viral and gets thousands of viewers with in a few hours. Most efforts will not go viral but no effort is a great way to fail.

Here’s a cool slideshow showing you how you can measure your ROI with social media.

Below I’m linking some sites that I currently use frequently and some site stats.

Top 10 helpful sites for marketing business online and tracking results.

1. Google Analytics: Site Statistics & More

   A free tool by Google to check site stats. You can see who came to your site, from where, how they clicked through your site, how long they were on each page and much more. My site stats have tapered off since I’ve neglected to update my site in quite awhile.

2. Quantcast: Monitoring Demographics

   Quantcast is a free tool to get demographic data about your site’s audience. Combined with G.A. you can see trends in people’s viewing behavior, see what’s working and what’s not and for who.

3. Facebook: Social Networking

   I recently created a Facebook page and currently have 52 fans. Not many but you’ve got to start somewhere. Facebook is a great tool to connect with people in your industry, business partners and potential customers.

4. Twitter: Micro-Blogging

   Although I didn’t get it at first, now I understand the business benefits of using a tool like Twitter. You can follow topics you’re interested in, connect with others in your field, see what people are saying about your company and just keep people up to date on what your up to in 140 characters.

5. YouTube:

   With YouTube you can have your own channel and share your message with the masses for nothing. I started a YouTube channel a while back but didn’t make any posts on it at first… now how silly is that. So recently I’ve posted up some test videos to get my feet wet. And now I’m planning out some cool videos that I will put together that should be much better and hopefully yield better results.

6. LinkedIn: Professional Networking

   Linked in is a really good site for professionally connecting with others and marketing yourself. You basically upload your information and connect with others in your industry. You can receive referrals as well as make them. I’ve started to work my linked in account a bit more recently. At the very least it’s helping me remember peoples names.

7. Delicious: Access your bookmarks from anywhere

   Delicious is the site you need to set up your account but once you have your account you can download a Delicious browser toolbar for FireFox (my preferred browser) and make bookmarks to your account. You can access them from any computer, import your current bookmarks, view other people’s bookmarks and so much more. If you like keeping track of good sites, use delicious.

8. Digg: Keeping up to date & self promotion

   Digg is a great place to be inspired, keep up to date with trends and news. The best content is voted to popularity by anyone uses Digg. You can also submit your own content to Digg and get some good exposure. You must keep in mind that nobody wants spam. I have Dugg a few things but haven’t submitted anything… as of yet.

9. Stumble Upon: Discover the best of the web in less time

   Instead of blindly surfing through the internet wouldn’t it be better to look at stuff that peers found worthy. Choose a topic that interests you and start stumbling into new things. Go places you would probably have never gone to prior.

10. Web Site Grader: Grade your site and make improvements

    Quite a handy tool provided by HubSpot. Enter your site and see how it ranks. It will give you tips to how to improve your score and get better search engine ranks.

Well these are just a few of the sites that I currently use in regards to marketing myself online. Now that I have an idea of where I currently am I will define some goals and monitor my progress.