Social Media Optimization - A Priority For Your SEO Campaign

Social media optimization (SMO) is an imperative ingredient of your SEO campaigns. In the past, social networking sites were little more than an oddity. Today, several have acquired enormous ranking authority from top search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to improve your exposure and communicate with your niche market, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors.

In this article, we will describe the influence that social media optimization is currently having on search marketing. We'll also give you the rules of engagement for executing an effective SMO campaign. We'll explain what SEO social media is, and the advantage of hiring an experienced SEO consultant to spearhead your social media optimization efforts.

The Influence Of Social Media Optimization On Search Marketing

Search marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traffíc. For years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search engine marketing.

Six Steps to Writing an Offer that Inspires Customers to ACT

Until fairly recently, writing marketing copy was a strange and mysterious undertaking to me.

It's funny because when I was doing advertising research, I often worked closely with copywriters. I would interview customers to learn how they responded to different messages and report back to the creative team. Sometimes the copywriter or art director would have questions they wanted me to ask my focus groups. So I got to know the writers and their work pretty well.
Yet, when they went back to their desk to actually create the message, I had no idea how they came up with the words that moved customers to action.

Customer-Focused Story to the Rescue!

Turns out like any professional, copywriters have systems. One such system that has made my writing life infinitely easier is the Customer Focused Story: A six step process that helps you develop a message that inspires action on the part of your readers.

[ Note: I am grateful to marketer/copywriter extraordinaire, Mark Silver, who developed the Customer Focused Story process and taught me how to use it. Learn more about Mark at www.heartofbusiness.com ] The power behind the Customer Focus Story is this: before people are ready to take action, it is absolutely critical that they feel safe to do so. By "safe" I mean your copy addresses two, usually unarticulated questions:

(1.) Do they feel that the business making the offer understands the problem they're struggling with?

(2.) Can the business help THEM?

If your copy helps them answer "yes" to those two questions, chances are very good your customers will take the next step.

Applying the Customer Focus Story: A Real Example

My client, Judy Rotunda of Pilates for Life, specializes in helping women who want to get fít but whose physical limitations make it difficult to use standard options such as fitness centers, aerobics classes, etc. Judy offers private and semi-private classes that enable clients to safely progress at their own pace. In this way clients get stronger and fitter without risking further injury.

Here is how we developed the Customer Focused Story for Pilates for Life:

STEP 1. Name the Who and the Problem with which They're Struggling.

The first thing you want to tell readers is "this is who I help and what I help them with." The point is to elicit a strong "Yes, that's me," in your ideal prospect so they will want to keep reading.
In the case of Pilates for Life, the who and what are:

"Women who are suffering from chronic back pain. Oftentimes, the pain is so bad it makes it hard for them to do things most of us take for granted."

STEP 2. Specify the Solutions They've Tried which Didn't Work

I know when I first began using the Customer Focused Story, I resisted this step. Why wouldn't I immediately launch into my wonderful solution?

Here's why. Two little words: "Yeah, but." No doubt you've experienced this when you've talked to prospects. You tell them about your product or service and they respond to every claim you make with "Yeah, we tried that but it didn't work." This is normal. They don't want to buy something they already know doesn't work.

The best way to deal with "yeah buts" is to simply acknowledge the solutions they've probably already tried--the ones that didn't work.

For example:

"They've tried the usual fitness options: low impact aerobics, yoga, and weight training but often those options just make things worse."

STEP 3. Explain Why Those Solutions Don't Work

When you not only acknowledge what your prospects probably tried but go on to say in effect, "Hey, what you did was perfectly understandable. That's what most people would have tried. I tried those things and my customers have tried those things." You're demonstrating empathy.

You are also letting them know they don't have to feel embarrassed or ashamed for trying and failing. That they are not the only ones who have struggled to find a solution to their problem.

Pilates for Life example:

"The problem with most mainstream exercise programs is the instructor's lack of experience working with back injuries and chronic pain. An instructor who is unfamiliar with these conditions may push for progress too quickly. Or they may assume persons with chronic back pain can do each movement in the same way as everyone else. Often times, this can strain the back muscles even more, cause more injury, and make the pain even more severe."

STEP 4. Talk About What They Need to Do to Solve the Problem

Your reader is probably thinking, "Okay, I understand why what I tried didn't work. So what DOES?" Here's where you get to address their question.

Pilates for Life example:

"A successful fitness program for persons with chronic back pain requires three things:

(1.) a fitness trainer familiar with the physiology of back injuries;

(2.) private or semi-private classes so the instructor can make sure the participant is doing the movements properly; and

(3.) a significantly slower pace to allow the muscles to adjust to new movements."

STEP 5. Tell Them Why You're Qualified to Deliver the Solution That Works

Finally, you get to talk about your solution! Specifically, you are going to write about how you are qualified to deliver a solution that works (which you just wrote about in Step 4).

Qualifications you want to refer to can include your personal experience, formal training and education, success stories about how you've helped your customers, and testimonials.

Pilates for Life example:

"For over twenty years, Pilates for Life owner, Judy Rotunda, suffered from chronic pain due to a childhood back injury. She looked everywhere to find an exercise program that would improve her strength and flexibility and, she hoped, provide some relief from the constant pain. When a fríend suggested she try Pilates, she was skeptical but after just two sessions, she was a fan. In fact, she was so convinced that Pilates was the answer for persons suffering from back injuries and chronic pain that she decided to become a certified Pilates instructor. Today Judy owns her own fitness service, Pilates for Life, which offers private, closely supervised exercise sessions for persons for whom standard exercise programs just don't work."

STEP 6. Tell the reader Exactly What the Next Step Is and How to Take It

At this point, a reader who is an ideal customer for you, is probably feeling hopeful and excited about learning more about what you do. So you are going to tell them exactly what the next steps are.

Pilates for Life example:

The ideal customer for Pilates for Life is a woman who is in chronic pain due to a back injury. Because they are in so much pain so much of the time, they are highly motivated to find solutions. There are two actions they could take:

"(1.) Go to the Pilates for Life Web site and complete a short assessment to help them determine whether Pilates is right for them.

(2.) Call Judy to talk about how Pilates might help them."

Putting It All Together

Once you complete Steps 1 through 6, you have all the pieces of your marketing message. The very last thing to do is to write it using "you" instead of "the customer" so it speaks to your customer in a personal way.

You may also want to do some light editing to make sure the separate elements flow well as a single written piece.

Bottom Line

I see so many small business owners struggle with creating a strong, to the point marketing message that inspires customers to take action. The Customer Focused story, in my experience, is a common sense, straight forward solution to this problem.



Info by Judy Murdoch (SitePro News by mail to me)

About The Author
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and five-star strategic alliances. Download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketíng Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" . You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com .

e-books—Solution to various problems

The linguistic trap that an e-book is an "electronic book" is both Limiting and incorrect let’s dispose of that notion right now. An e-book is actually a portable web site! And depending on the Creator software used, an e-book can maintain the "functional" Characteristics of a web site as well. Where server side functionality is required, such as the Processing of CGI scripts, the user need only go on line. Presto! With this more accurate definition in mind, let's take a closer Look at how e-book can be used as a solution to several marketing Problems

1. As a Viral Marketing Tool
E-book can pass from one person to another without degradation and without cost each affiliate e-book can be individualized [Coded] so the integrity of source business generated can be clearly maintained In addition, each e-book can notify the appropriate affiliate. Every time a subscription or sale is procured through that
Affiliate’s e-book, regardless of the number of copies floating around.

2. As a Teaser for Generating Desire

Many e-books are offered on a "try the first few chapters" basis. But what if you're not in the e-book-selling business? What if you’re offering a paid sex site, or a subscription, or a secret "Pay first" site? The e-book can serve as a teaser, an invitation, a game card, a Feedback device, a portal to similar sites, or a complete site Where the balance of the site (the remaining content) must be Paid-for to be unlocked this keeps out the under aged, for Example, where the content is audience sensitive the entire Work can be password-protected if necessary.

3. As a Brokering Device

Business on the Internet is highly competitive. Partnering and Alliance-building can be highly effective for small budget Businesses the problem, however, is leveling the fairness in Customer based targeting. The e-book is uniquely suited to free-lance deal-makers by creating a platform, such as a catalog, where competitors can
Offer their wares to the same shared customer base. And let's not Forget, advertising can be sold in e-book too, thus bridging the Gap for all levels of participation. There are countless uses for e-book as a marketing tool. The few
Above is just a tiny sample to show completely different Situations with the e-book as a solution.

Plus, you'll notice that none of the above constitutes sitting down and writing a book! Of course, if your name is Stephen King You can sit down and write a short story and sell over 500,000 Copies for $2.50 in less than a week another story altogether.

The point is simple. If you're in the business of marketing on The web, the e-book can be your personal, customizable killer Marketing machine, without ever having to write one single book If gaining exposure is your problem, the e-book offers a
Tremendous array of solutions you do not need to be a Professional writer to take advantage of the "functional" value of e-book and it could certainly be worth your while to take a Closer look at this wonderful interactive application that you
Can design for yourself "or" for your paying clients

How to create your own E-Book Product?

Creating your first info product can be a time-consuming process. To an Abstract Expressionist, the act of creating the painting was more important than the finished product. Differentiation is creating a product or providing a service that is perceived as unique by the customer. So now you see that creating your own e-book product is not so hard.

The logic, most-often used, is that, when we're in a forum, we aren't creating or selling a product. Marketing is about understanding the demand of consumer and meeting it or creating demand for a product. As an partner you don’t have to take time to spend time creating your own product.

The biggest benefit is instead of manually creating a page for each product, all the products can be loaded into a database and the pages generated dynamically.

Benefits of Affiliate Programs - The greatest benefit of associate programs is that when you are just starting out in your own online business you don't have to worry about creating your own product or service. If you are actively creating a brand people respond to, you might be able to start a whole new product line.

They spend months creating this product before starting to make money selling it. This is the pitfall where many people run into major problems when they begin to do online business. Keep your marketing funnel in mind in all that you do and strategize how every new activity, whether that's creating a new product, writing another article, offering a new service, or being a guest on a radio show, fits into your marketing funnel. They can do this by explaining relevance, educating about the worth of your product, keeping the product fresh in the customer's mind, or creating a sense of urgency. And, too, they may be budgeting for future advancements and product placements, as well as creating support teams specifically designed to help the marketing staff alone.

Think about creating content around your central theme with links to a separate product page where you can do the product justice. These meetings should cover areas that are largely determined by the specific needs (gaps) of the organization and may range from developing a commercial quality mission statement to establishing practical methods for empowering employees, creating a new concept for a product or service, and so on. As an artist you are creating a product. Before you start creating your product, make sure there is a market for it.

But small businesses dictate the marketplace (creating more than 50 percent of the private gross domestic product last year) by finding a different approach -- a niche. Many of us are passionate with creating a product.

Can you see yourself creating other product/services for this group? By creating a file with product names, descriptions, prices, images, availability, affiliate programs, and any other applicable information customers can find you easier.