SEO Werkt!

This guest post is by Christian Arno of Lingo24.

With just 140 characters you can reach a global audience. Hardly a newsflash, I know, but think about it. Followers around the world can give your blog the kind of exposure you could only have dreamed about in the past, everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires. People eagerly await your posts on every continent. Tell me that doesn’t sound good!

Of course, going global on Twitter means embracing other languages. The English language only stretches so far. But building a multilingual presence on Twitter doesn’t have to be difficult.

When it comes down to it, whether you are representing a company or going solo, Twitter is a great way to attract a global audience to your blog. Get it right by following a few guidelines.

Target, aim, tweet

Like most things in life, it helps to have a strategy. Don’t be misled by how easy it is to fire off tweets. Sure, you could machine-translate your next message into umpteen languages and hit the Tweet button. If you want to destroy your reputation, that is.

Instead, think back to your overall marketing plan and where the non-English speaking countries fit your blogging strategy. Which markets are key for you? Your stats for other online content can be revealing here. Where do you need to build a presence, and where should you be improving your reach?

After all, why waste time tweeting in Russian if you are aiming to build your blog readership in South America? When you stop aiming for the whole world, it becomes a whole lot easier to be relevant to the people who matter.

Do your Twitter research

Not all countries and languages are represented equally on Twitter. The impact of your multilingual tweets will in part depend on how actively each language is used. For example, Arabic is the fastest-growing Twitter language, according to a Semiocast study. The same statistics show the rapid rise of Spanish and Dutch. When it comes to the most used languages, Japanese and Portuguese lead the pack. Malay and Korean speakers are also sending their share of the millions of tweets sent each day.

Reach out to these markets and your exposure can skyrocket.

Take care with translations

Unless you are tweeting about what you ate for lunch, resist the lure of instant translation tools. Producing accurate foreign language content can be tricky. You need to strike the right tone (not too stuffy, but avoiding offending anyone) as well as choosing just the right words. Add in the restriction of 140 characters (which gives you even less to play with in some languages than in English) and it becomes an art. Native speaker input is invaluable here.

Follow the right people

Your focus shouldn’t only be on who your followers are, but on who you are following. Stay tuned to the tweets of the big influencers in your overseas markets. These can range from celebrities to the leaders and popular bloggers in your own particular field. Re-tweeting the right people can build your own reputation for having your finger on the pulse.

Stay relevant

Finally, keep your tweets relevant. That means different accounts for each language, so that your followers don’t have to sift through unfamiliar languages. (They will probably just unfollow you instead.) And stay culturally aware. Some topics will offend in particular countries, others will simply be of no interest.

What you stand to gain

Fact: Twitter is a big player on the global social media scene. For over a year now, 70% of Twitter traffic has come from outside the US. If you can tap into the non-English speaking sectors of this international traffic, your exposure will increase dramatically.

Those fast-growing languages mentioned earlier give you a chance to get in early on up and coming markets. On the other hand, countries such as Japan lead the field in terms of posting activity, with more accounts actively posting messages than either the US or the UK.

Actively involved users mean a better chance of re-tweets. If you write something people want to share, you can end up with them doing local marketing for you. For free. It doesn’t get much better than that.

You also have a chance to tap into multiple consumer pools around the globe without leaving your seat. Being part of their conversations lets you monitor what they are saying: about your blog as a whole or your latest post, about other bloggers, about wants, desires and frustrations. Think how valuable that can be.

Twitter brings that information and that potential army of followers to you. But you can’t close the deal without being willing to send those 140 character tweets in other languages. Make the effort, and you’ll probably wonder what took you so long.

Christian Arno is the founder of Lingo24, a top translation service in the USA. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has over 170 employees spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over forty million words for businesses in every industry sector, including the likes of MTV, World Bank and American Express. Follow Lingo24 on Twitter: @Lingo24.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

5 Fast Tips for Going Multilingual on Twitter

BranchOut is known as one of the bigger success stories for startups building on top of Facebook. The company, which makes a professional social network that runs on Facebook, has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital and attracted 30 million users since it was founded back in July 2010. So it was great to have the chance to pull aside BranchOut CEO Rick Marini at the Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp TechCrunch hosted last Friday to hear about the “dos and don’ts” he’s learned along the way.

Watch the video above to see our full interview, and below I’ve excerpted a couple of his insights:

Growth Is Sexy, But Product Is What Counts

One of the major things Marini said he’s learned in building BranchOut is that while the kind of blockbuster growth that Facebook can enable is tempting to constantly position your app to attract new users, it’s important to make sure that your actual product is compelling enough to foster loyalty and a returning audience.

“I think often people think there’s a silver bullet to getting traffic and getting viral. I think what we’ve learned is that there are times when you can get some spike of virality, but if you really want that long-term major user growth its got to start with a good product. So, something that we have at BranchOut [which has grown] from nothing to 30 million users in less than two years, which is great, but then we realized OK, now it’s time not only to get the user acquisition but we’ve got to really enhance the product and get users back every day. Don’t be an episodic utility, be a community. And now we’ve got to make that shift.

I think that it sounds really sexy from the outside when you see our numbers or, you know, companies like us that take off, and people get excited. But if you’re building for the long term, like we are, you’ve gotta have a great product.”

Facebook Isn’t Bedrock — It’s ‘Shifting Sands’

Another lesson the folks at BranchOut have learned is when you build your company on top of Facebook, you have to think about it in a completely different way than you would for a more independently-based company — flexibility is key.

“Facebook innovates so quickly that for my growth team that I have in place [which] focuses on user acquisition and also now more on retention, it’s a different puzzle every day. So think of it, and this is what I tell my guys, think of it when you come in that you’ve got a different puzzle that you need to put together. And all these pieces change every day. And don’t get frustrated by it, look at it as an opportunity and a challenge. Beause most companies aren’t dedicated resources to growth and these analytics and solving this puzzle every day. The ones that do, the ones that can solve that puzzle, those are the ones that we’ve really seen excel.

… I think a lot of off-Facebook properties can build more on bedrock. And I think we are building more on shifting sands. But they’re really lucrative sands if you do well. And you know, for a company like us, for BranchOut, there’s no way we could have signed up 30 million users in two years outside of Facebook. so in spite of the shifting sands and the risks of building on someone else’s platform, the benefits for us are so big.”

Disrupt SF is right around the corner and is shaping up to be one of the biggest events of the year. We have already announced many speakers which include our very own TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Marissa Mayer, The Honest Company’s Jessica Alba and Brian Lee, super angel Ron Conway, Vinod Khosla, Marc Benioff, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Path’s Dave Morin, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Kevin Rose, and many others.

Here is another chance for one lucky reader to win a chance to come join us! Not only will the winner receive a free ticket (valued at around $1,995*), but we are also going to give you a free Phosphor watch of your choice. Check them out. The winner can choose any watch on that site. The most expensive is valued at around $250.

So, here we go. If you want a shot at winning, all you have to do is follow the steps below.

1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page:

2) Then do one of the following:
- Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TCDisrupt hashtag)
- Or leave us a comment below telling us what your favorite summer song is

The contest will start now and end August 13th at 7:30pm PT. Please only tweet or comment once, or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our winner once the giveaway is over. Please note the free Disrupt ticket is for one ticket only and does not include airfare or hotel.

*Ticket prices increase to $2,995 on 8/24. More information here.

I had a chance to talk with author and coach, Michael Bungay Stanier about what coaches do, and maybe what they shouldn’t. This came from a conversation I’d had with folks who receive my free newsletter about what they’d want out of a coaching experience. Michael had some thoughts he wanted to share with me. This is an interesting interview both for someone who might want to get into coaching, but also for someone who wants to learn more about what coaching could do for your life.

Can’t see the video? Click Here.

What do you think? Do you pay for any coaching right now? Do you like it? What works and what doesn’t for you?

Enkele maanden  geleden schreef Chance Bothe een sms-je terwijl hij aan het rijden was door de prachtige landschappen van Texas. Het was een simpel sms-je met ‘ben zo thuis’. Toch heeft het sms-je het leven van deze 21-jarige……

This sponsored post is produced by Vator.tv

Vator is holding its next Splash event in San Francisco on the evening of Sept. 27. So save the date and register early! Use “VB15” for 15% off.

Vator is now taking applications to be one of the top 10 emerging startups to present onstage and compete for a chance to win prizes and the fame and glory that comes from winning. Join the competition here. Past winners and finalists have raised millions of dollars from notable VCs, angels.

Vator Splash is an event that brings together high-caliber speakers to talk about how to build and scale great successful companies, how their industries are changing and the opportunities those changes are creating. Splash gathers leading entrepreneurs, innovators and financiers across technology to inspire and energize the audience about entrepreneurship and innovation.

Splash also allows the audience to mingle with top venture capitalists and angels who are funding the next Google and Facebook. These influencers will give you insights into how they think when it comes to investments and they’ll also talk about their changing investment strategies in light of the emergence of super angels, angels, micro-VCs and incubators.

Register now and get 15% off with the discount code “VB15”.

Filed under: Entrepreneur, VentureBeat

Are you a mobile marketer who focuses on business to business? Do you have a good story to tell? Enter our Case Study Challenge for a chance to be a featured speaker at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum this October 3-5 in Boston.

The winner will get fame, fortune, money, a bountiful feast in your honor, professional accolades, a velvet pouch stuffed with gold coins, ten-thousand Twitter followers, some lucky charms, a team of stallions, a house elf, and a trophy spouse. Sounds great? Of course, it does. But I’m kidding about all that….

What it WILL get you is a sweet speaking slot at the premier B2B marketing event in the history of B2B marketing events. Here’s what we are looking for:

• The details of a successful mobile marketing case study targeted to businesses (not consumers). (Our Event Content Manager Kathy Bushman is a stickler on this one. Be sure that your campaign truly targets businesses and doesn’t ultimately target the consumer.)
• Something we haven’t seen before. We’ve seen things like mobile apps used by sales forces and SMS campaigns at events and trade shows—both awesome, both cool, but kind of run of the mill. What do you have that’s truly interesting along with effective?
• Weighting given in favor of corporate marketers (as opposed to mobile vendors). Vendors, we love you. But we try to hear from folks in the trenches as much as possible—so hit up your favorite clients, maybe?

If you have a good B2B mobile story to tell, give us a shout here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/b2bmobilechallenge

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Beautiful Blond Girl)

Editor’s note: Joe Einhorn, chief executive of fashion pinning/buying site The Fancy, interviews François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of PPR, in the article below. PPR the Paris-based group that owns luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, and sports brands that include PUMA and Volcom (and is an investor in The Fancy).

Joe Einhorn: We were talking recently and you told me that you used to be a computer programmer and that you even started your own company a long time ago. What’s the story?

François-Henri Pinault: It’s true that I’m fond of new technologies and it dates back quite a long time ago. I discovered computer science back in 1980, when I was a student at HEC business school in Paris. I found it so interesting that I used to spend a lot of time reading and learning more about computing. I learnt FORTRAN and COBOL programming languages. As a member of the school’s student-led junior company, I started focusing on relational databases management for our clients and I became the Dbase software developer of the team.

I was so interested in this area of computer science that I successfully applied for an internship at Hewlett-Packard in Paris, as a database software developer. I found this period very rewarding, because I had the feeling of being a pioneer. I even took part in the creation of a start-up company with some fellow students. It was about using artificial intelligence (at that time neuronal networks were used) to develop business software focused on databases, CRM and relationship marketing. The company exists to this day. It’s called Soft Computing and continues to be managed by my former schoolmate Gilles Venturi. And I’m still a member of the Board.

A couple of years later, I had the chance to discover Silicon Valley. After graduating from HEC, I used the chance we had in France at that time to do my military service as a civilian volunteer. As such, I worked for the French Trade Commission in Los Angeles in 1985-1986. My job was to monitor and write reports about the business environment in California for French companies that wanted to settle or invest there. I was in charge of new technologies and fashion (there is no such thing as chance!). I used to go to the CES in Las Vegas, which I still remember as a fascinating experience. I even used to earn pocket-money by translating computing documents from English to French! So yes, at that time I guess you could call me a geek!

Many years later, I became CEO of the French electronics retailer Fnac, which is still part of PPR. I used to bring back new computers and electronic devices from Japan to ensure that my team was aware of the very latest trends. I loved to test products by myself! It was also a key period for me because we launched the e-commerce website fnac.com at that time in 1997. It is now in the top 3 biggest online shopping sites in France.

Do you remember your first computer?

The first PC that I actually bought myself was a Toshiba Papman in 1985. This model was one of the very first laptops, I remember that it was a revolution at the time! I also remember well my first e-mail account, it was on Compuserve in 1995. I started buying on the Internet quite rapidly, as early as 1995.

What area of computer science research & development interests you the most?

I closely follow everything about ‘user interface’ or ‘human-computer’ interface: technology that makes computers closer to the way the human being actually functions. I’m interested in the progress of speech recognition technologies. I think that computer science still has a lot to do to get closer to the five senses of the human being. Besides, I’m also curious about the next generation of intelligent recommendation engines.

What trends are you seeing and where are your companies going with web, mobile and in-store technologies?

E-business is of course a strategic priority for PPR. We are currently speeding up our brands’ e-business projects and we have identified a pool of key skills with which to share best practice, and to increase digital use in an integrated program across all Group activities. This covers marketing and communications, merchandising, distribution and sales. This internal “Digital Academy” aims at instilling a group-wide digital culture by raising awareness on how the digital revolution is impacting our business. We also want to develop our digital resources by strengthening and challenging their expertise and broadening their horizons.

There is an interesting move in the luxury sector right now. While the whole industry has been resisting e-commerce for the last 15 years, it’s now realizing that e-commerce is inescapable and represents a growth opportunity. I want the PPR Group to lead the way because I’m convinced of the long-term benefits. Things are moving fast now, and 2012 will be a key year for our luxury brands as far as e-commerce is concerned. For instance, we have just announced a joint-venture agreement with YOOX Group, one of the leaders in online luxury. The newly created company will be entirely dedicated to managing mono brand online stores in collaboration with several of PPR luxury brands. This initiative will allow PPR to generate synergies and shared resources available to our brands through best-in-class e-commerce expertise. And with this partnership, we invest in key skills essential to grow our business in the future.

As for Fnac (our electronics, books and video retailer that is present in France, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Belgium and Switzerland), we are now working to give the customer an “omni-channel” experience. The customer must be able to buy online in a store when the product is too specific or out of stock, or to buy online from home and pick-up the product immediately at the closest store. The transition between online and offline must be absolutely seamless. We are currently making huge progresses on this in our new stores.

As the CEO of a $15bn dollar public company what insights can you share for the entrepreneurs out there dreaming of a big IPO?

I don’t think being listed should be a goal in itself for an entrepreneur, unless you want to take your money and retire. If your goal is to build a leading and sustainable business, being listed can be an important step, but it’s not the end of the story. And you should remember that being listed is also a time-consuming constraint for CEOs. It’s just a means to find new resources to continue developing the business and implementing a long-term strategy.

Long-term strategy, having a vision is the key. The Horizon of the stock market is often too short for a long-term vision. Stable and long-term shareholders are the most important for a young company, even for a mature one. In the case of PPR, the family control plays that role. When I became the CEO of PPR in 2005, I already had a strategy in mind and I started implementing that strategy for the long term, step by step. My plan is to transform PPR into a global player in the apparel and accessories sectors, in the two fastest growing market segments: luxury and sport & lifestyle. We started to dispose of retail assets as soon as 2006, and building the sports & lifestyle division around PUMA as soon as 2007. Since then, we have been moving forward with no rush, but with the objective clearly in mind. At the same time, we are getting closer to our brands, providing direct support and achieving greater integration. The idea is that the combined power of our teams will enable our brands to outperform their markets.

What are your favorite web sites right now and why?

I like to follow the IT industry news on techcrunch.com. I am always looking at the best sites in Luxury and Sports to benchmark my brands sites. As a soccer fan, I also like Francefootball.com… I am used to buying online quite often, especially for music and video. Of course I go on fnac.com, which is the leading competitor to Amazon in France. I buy books that I read on my Kobo ebook. I also buy online for my children, games and toys for instance. Of course I love TheFancy.com. I recently found a wristlet that can measure how good your sleep is. I bought it.

What are your favorite iPhone and iPad apps right now and why?

I like to discover new things and I’m always testing new apps. I particularly like Gucci Style, the new Gucci app for iPhone and iPad, which is a digital shopping magazine that offers editorial content, fashion stories and live feeds from Gucci’s social networks. You can purchase Gucci products directly from the iPad and it’s in 8 different languages. It’s quite innovative and has been downloaded over 1 million times.

What are your favorite gadgets?
Recently I bought an interesting digital watch from I’m Watch. I love gadgets in general and the best place for new ideas is for sure TheFancy.com !

Vizio pulled off something amazing when they introduced the Co-Star, the first Google TV box that features OnLive gaming as well as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. It’s a set-top box that can literally fit in the palm of your hand and ships with a clever, dual-sided QWERTY remote. Plus, it sold out pre-orders in the first 12 hours it was available.

With a huge “thank you” to Vizio, we are giving away Co-Stars to three of our lucky readers. This giveaway will start now and end next Friday, August 10th, at 9am PT. You may only enter once, so be sure to follow the steps below closely. Sorry, but this giveaway is for U.S. residents only and you must be 18-years-old or over to enter.

If you want a chance at winning, all you have to do is follow the steps below.

1) Click on this link to sign up.

2) Then do one of the following:

- Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TechCrunch hashtag)
- Leave us a comment below telling us why you want it

Be sure to check out a little commercial of the Vizio Co-Star.

Disrupt SF is right around the corner and here’s another chance for you (or someone you know) to win a ticket! This is going to be one of the biggest technology conferences of the year and we have already announced some special guests and speakers including: Kevin Rose, Michael Arrington, Marissa Mayer, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Jessica Alba, Marc Benioff, and many more. Be sure to check out all of the speakers we have announced so far. And stay tuned, because we have a lot more surprises to come.

For those of you unable to buy tickets to this year’s show — this is a great chance for you to try and get one for free. Not only are we giving away a free ticket to Disrupt SF to one lucky reader, but we also wanted to include a fun something extra.

We are going to throw in a brand new Nest Thermostat. We’ve written about it numerous times, but basically the Nest is a thermometer that learns from user behavior and eventually adjusts the home’s climate control based on previous activity. Our own Matt Burns believes the Nest is “a game changer”, as do others.

If you want a shot at winning the Nest (valued at $249) and a free ticket to Disrupt SF (valued at $1,995), all you have to do is follow the steps below.

1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page:

2) Then do one of the following:

- Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TCDisrupt hashtag)
- Or leave us a comment below telling us what inspires you the most

The contest will start now and end August 5th at 7:30pm PT. Please only tweet or comment once, or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our winner once the giveaway is over. Please note the free Disrupt ticket is for one ticket only and does not include airfare or hotel.