SEO Werkt!

The Heartland Institute disputes global warming, but that didn't stop the conservative social-issues group from turning up the heat with a suburban Chicago billboard showing a typically crazy-faced portrait of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and the headline, "I still believe in global warming. Do you?" After predictably pissing off just about everyone generating lots of free publicity, Heartland removed the incendiary sign. "This provocative billboard was always intended to be an experiment," the group says. "And after just 24 hours the results are in: It got people’s attention. This billboard was deliberately provocative, an attempt to turn the tables on the climate alarmists by using their own tactics but with the opposite message." It's unclear if the organization intends to make good on its original plan (some would say threat) to depict Charles Manson, Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden on subsequent signs. "These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how man-made global warming is a crisis," Heartland explains. For now, the group is reveling in the coverage generated by its PETA-style "marketing strategy," convinced that $200 for a one-day billboard equals significant bang for the buck. Ultimately, however, such antics always bomb; they leave the public cold—which would be a relief, as the temperature for some mysterious reason seems to be on the rise these days.

Copywriting is more than just writing a powerful sales letter. The copy might tell a story how a business made some significant profits or it may describe how the product emerged as the hottest product in the market. Professional copywriters will try to find a way on how to tag there readers mind with the products/service they are selling. All this will happen in a sales letter.

When you are writing web copy you will need to consider some seo aspects, this is because search engine optimization can greatly push your web copy to the next level. As you are writing your seo web copy, make sure not to over populate with irrelevant keywords. For you to achieve maximum results, you will need to follow the below copywriting flavors that will spice up your sales letter. Let’s discuss them in a more sensible way:

Writing seo articles for free publicity and powerful link building

For you to write seo content that will attract traffic, you will need to identify popular keywords that are used within your niche. Without proper keyword research, your content writing will attract ZERO. The best way to achieve free publicity, it would by using Google Insight tool that will help you locate the best search terms that are used by online users. Google Insight tool will help you in identifying the key target areas write you can write content and target those areas.

SEO Copywriting for press release

To write a powerful seo content for press release, you will need to understand what really motivates your readers to buy from you. You will need to look at you customer’s psychological reasons or behaviors such as keyphrases that you might include in your web content for press release. If you optimize your web content an promote it via online press release, it will drive potential customers to your business. In order to achieve results that you want, I would recommend that you write unique and interesting content for your press release.

Writing general site copy

At this point you need to identify your target market and audience. Writing a general site copy involves a lot of things and ideas based on your needs. You will need to research the product you are writing about. If you are an affiliate marketer, I would encourage that you test the product yourself and start writing in a personal way.  As you begin writing your site copy make sure to add the following ideas:

• Benefits

• Features

• Edit your writing ruthlessly

Go viral

Once you have written your web copy, you will need to promote it so that it can go viral. The best method that you can use to market your copywriting content would be as follows:

• Guest Posting (Best Value)

• Social Marketing (Not working for me)

• Press Release (Best for link building)

• PayPerClick (Too Expensive)

• Article Directories (Low Value)

If you apply the above viral marketing tips, your copywriting will be successful. For you to get bigger results from the above copywriting flavors, I would suggest that you implement them day by day.

My Top 4 SEO Web Copywriting Flavors That You Can Apply Today is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.

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Sasha Baron Cohen Grabs the Spotlight with Only a Beard, a Uniform, 2 Pretty ‘Security Guards’, and the ‘Ashes’ of Kim Il Jung.

Every year the American Academy Awards attracts tens of millions of viewers, no matter how boring the 3+ hour television event might be.  In 2012, the ceremony itself may have been even more irrelevant than usual, featuring movies that hardly anybody saw and hosted by an aging Billy Crystal most of whose jokes were as creaky as the ceremony itself.

But, never mind, because the real story of the  Oscars in 2012 was the brilliant Newsjacking of the event by Sasha Baron Cohen who grabbed zillions of dollars of free publicity for his upcoming movie, The Dictator (which will never win an Oscar, but who cares?).

Comic Genius Becomes PR Genius, Too

Cohen displayed not just comic genius, but PR genius well. He may not have read David Meerman Scott’s great book, Newsjacking, but he could well have been a case study. The basic concept is that, in these days of 24-hour news cycles and real-time public relations, marketing pros can  newsjack an event  by finding a way to do something that is highly newsworthy and is somehow connected to that event.

Thus, Sacha Baron Cohen made a huge stink about the Academy not permitting him to show up on the Red Carpet in full Dictator Regalia.  In fact, at one point, and they withdrew his invitation to attend the  Oscar ceremony at all. That goofy fight became newsworthy all by itself with an amazing amount of coverage that made the Academy  seem completely humorless. Finally, they caved in and permitted  the comic to appear on the red carpet as the make-believe Dictator.

Then, the big Red Carpet story: the Dictator, ever so carelessly, managed to spill the ‘ashes’ of the late North Korean dictator, Kim Il Jung,  all over the dinner jacket of host, Ryan Seacrest.  The entire incident lasted only about 3 minutes, But it may linger in Oscar infamy for eons.

Most observers miss the point when they ask whether this was a really funny thing to do–or simply a very rude maneuver. Funny or rude is beside the point. Newsjacking is the entire point.

As I write this, the morning after the Oscars, the news footage I’ve seen both online and on TV is all about Sasha Baron Cohen’s Dictator persona making ashes out of the Academy Awards. There is relatively little about the Oscar winners, their acceptance speeches, and the ceremony itself.

Sasha Baron Cohen is an exceptionally funny guy. Even better, for us content marketers, he is a Newsjacking genius.

Of course, it’s probably obvious but this blog post is my best attempt at doing Oscar-related Newsjacking myself.  Thanks, Sasha for giving me the opportunity.

If, by some miracle, you have not seen the memorable video of his Read Carpet, antics check it out below:

Over 100,000 IKEA fans took to Facebook to create a page called “I Wanna Have a Sleepover in IKEA“, and the brand granted that wish to 100 lucky members, sending them to their signature warehouse in Essex in the UK.  The fans were given the royal treatment, including snacks, massages, sleep advice from an expert, and goodie bags.  A strict Pajamas-Only dress code was enforced, but unfortunately it seems that few pillow fights broke out.

This goes to the heart of something I talk about in Think Like a Rockstar: Create Something Amazing For the People That Love You.  IKEA was smart enough to see that their fans had self-organized into this group, so all they had to do was find 100 lucky fans, and make the group’s dream come true.

Now to be sure, this was a BIG expense for IKEA.  Even if all 100 selected fans were local, they had to outfit the store, bring in experts, plus all the goodies, manhours, etc.  But when you Google ‘IKEA Facebook Sleepover 100 Essex’ you find almost 90,000 entries covering this event.  That is a LOT of free publicity for IKEA, and almost all of it is positive.  I’m not sure what IKEA would say the PR value of 90,000 positive articles and posts is, but I’d guess it’s probably more than what they spent on this event.

And yes, you may argue that ‘Well IKEA can do this because their customers are the Cult of IKEA!‘  Maybe one reason why IKEA has such devoted fans is BECAUSE of events like this?

HT – PSFK.

Filed under: measurement, socialmedia

Last month, Alexia posted a short manifesto (“Stop Making Apps”), which basically expresses a serious case of app fatigue. It’s something most of us can relate to, at least passingly, in spite of knowing there’s no end to app production in sight. As long as there are downloaders, more apps there will be.

While I encourage developers to continue making great apps, I do question the need for both making and for approving the parade of — for lack of a better word — “rip-off” apps. What am I talking about? Example: Over the last week, I’ve watched another fairly blatant copy of Angry Birds hover inside the “Top Free iPhone Apps” list on the App Store, even grabbing the second spot at one point.

I’m not naming the app explicitly, because I don’t want to give the game free publicity. That’s what they want, and it’s probably a good idea to avoid promoting the production and downloading of spammy (cr)apps. But needless to say, the scenario is familiar: The game’s icon is practically identical to that of Angry Birds, it has “Angry” in the title, the design and gameplay — while not exactly identical — have enough similarities to make for some serious eye-rolling. Not to mention, the game is awful. One-star reviews abound.

Again, this isn’t a new scenario. Om wrote about this last month. GamePro went a step further, publishing an awesome article which highlights the top ten Angry Birds rip-offs. They point out that, yes, Angry Birds itself is somewhat a mashup of games that came before it — some would say, a rip-off itself. And it’s no surprise that imitators keep popping up: Why wouldn’t you want to copy what is basically the most well-known mobile game on the planet? Of course, most app developers aren’t this lazy, but they suffer anyway right along with users.

The Android Marketplace, too, has seen more than its fair share of Angry Birds rip-offs. Their very presence in app stores is at least annoying, but in light of Apple’s “vaunted” approval mechanisms inside its precious walled garden, it becomes even more so. Now, I understand that it’s not Apple’s job to catch all rip-offs — nor should it be. Unless an app is directly infringing on copyrights or IPs, there’s nothing they can do. If developers like Rovio have a problem, they can contact distributors and ask them to remove the copycats.

Maybe for Apple to simply reject apps that seem too similar to others is a bad thing, as these rip-offs just represent micro-side-steps in a larger process of innovation and evolution — moving forward. But these imitator apps still crap-ulate app stores, take up space, and many of them are just terrible. Yes, it would be naive to think that the gaming of app stores doesn’t happen or, flatly, shouldn’t, but it still feels wrong. It’s stuff like this that leads us to mutter (or blog) “stop making (cr)apps”.

So, what do you think? Is this just an idealistic or unrealistic lament because the market will fix itself (among other reasons)? Are these imitators, in fact, good for business, or is there something we/disributors can do to curb the parade of rip-offs?

Excerpt image created by Constantin Potorac

Gisteravond zond de BBC een documentaire uit op BBC 2, gemaakt door Emily Maitlis. De titel, Inside Facebook lijkt een eerbetoon aan Facebook. De documentaire is in Engeland ook nog bekritiseerd omdat het gezien wordt als schaamteloze reclame. Of het dat is? Zou kunnen.
Er is sowieso al een discussie over alle free-publicity die sociale netwerken krijgen op televisie. Lees meer over: BBC documentaire over Mark Zuckerberg – Inside Facebook.

Looking to satisfy your mild narcicism and your desire to be a patron of the arts? Then you'll want to head over to Twitter and follow British artist Greg Burney. He has promised to draw a sketch of every new follower he receives before Nov. 14. Burney began with 70 followers and saw his audience explode to 700 within two days, thanks to a retweet from legendary typographer Erik Spiekermann (whom you might have seen in the font documentary Helvetica). As I write this, Burney is at 843 followers, and I'm sure that's just the start. In an interview with the guys at Genius Rocket, Burney says his Twitter project, called #drawmyfollowers, evolved from his previous project, Drawing Chat Roulette.  Sketching an unknown quantity of Twitter followers is a far more difficult task to predict or potentially manage, but the good news is that if it really grows out of control, he'll at least have the benefit of free publicity. "I aim to complete this as soon as possible and—once finished—hope it will provide me with some opportunities in the world of social media. Perhaps even career opportunities in social media, graphic design or branding, who knows."

Are you looking for creative ways to spread the word about your Facebook page?

Your fan page can be one of your organization’s richest sources of interaction, R&D and lead generation. The only problem is making people aware of it!

Unless you have a built-in audience like big-boy brands Coke or Red Bull, you’ll need to educate your fan base on how to find you on Facebook.

To help you out, I’ve put together a list of 20 different ways to promote your Facebook page. Even if you only put a few of these ideas into action, you’ll start seeing growth and increased conversation on your fan page.

Are you ready? Let’s get started.

#1: Put your fan page URL in your email signature

How many emails do you send per day? Now imagine each email you send is a chance for someone new to find out about your awesome fan page!

This URL goes out on every email I send! Talk about free publicity!

#2: Write a blog post about your new fan page

Give your readers five compelling reasons why they should join your fan page. Don’t beg; just give reasons they’ll benefit.

#3: Tag other, well-trafficked fan pages in your updates

Their fans might see your page and you may get some cross-traffic.

Cross-referencing SME on a fan page I administer.

#4: Ask your Twitter followers to join your fan page

Give some compelling reasons why your Twitter base should join your Facebook community. If Twitter is the new water cooler, think of your fan page as an invite to come in and chat.

For example, tweet something like, “Wanting more conversation than 140 characters will allow? Join us on Facebook at http://fb.me/awesomefanpage.” A nice and simple ask that will get results.

#5: Invest in Facebook ads

They’re easier than you think and you can spend as little (or as much) as you’d like.

#6: Put a fan page widget on your blog or website

You’d be amazed at how many people simply don’t know about your fan page. Putting it on your website (i.e., your home base) will get it in front of all of your website visitors. My favorite example of this is from Klout. It got me to Like them!

Klout baked in their fan page right in the dashboard. Brilliant and effective!

#7: Customize your fan page UR

Vanity URLs are a fantastic way to make your fan page memorable. Check this awesome fan page http://facebook.com/awesomefanpage. Vanity, baby!

#8: Put your fan page URL on your business cards

Combine offline and online by letting the people you meet IRL know about your fan page.

#9: Put a link on your personal Facebook profile

Put this under the “links” section. This is a “soft sell” of sorts, letting your friends passively know about your page. You might have forgotten that people actually check that part of your profile!

This is what my personal profile looks like!

#10: Harness the power of your team

Have everyone in your organization put your fan page link on their personal profile.

#11: Ask fans to post a link

Ask all of your current fans to post a link to the fan page on their personal profile. As long as you don’t ask this often, I’ve found that people love to help out. Leverage the power of your existing audience and get results!

For instance, at Monk Development, we simply asked everyone to post a link to our company fan page on the same day. We doubled our average daily Likes because of one simple step.

#12: Put a tag in your YouTube videos

If you make compelling videos as a part of your content marketing strategy, throw in a well-timed fan page link at the end of your YouTube videos.

The Gregory Brothers, the geniuses behind “Auto-tune the News,” are some of the best social marketers around. They always include a link to their fan page (and other social networks) at the end of every video and make it a welcome addition to their content.

Notice the link to their Facebook Page.

#13: Put your fan page URL on your Twitter profile background

Lots of tweeters still use the web-based version and your profile background is a prime piece of web real estate. Cross-advertise and use one social network to promote another!

CenturyLink does a great job of this. If you go to their Twitter page, you can clearly see where their fan page is located. They don’t make you guess, which leads to conversions!

A look at @CenturyLink's Twitter page.

#14: QR codes for your page

I bought the furniture for our house mostly because the store used QR codes to get me to their fan page. Once I got to the fan page, I was welcomed with a custom landing page that welcomed me to the store. It wasn’t elaborate, but it was creative and it worked! They engaged me as a customer both online (QR code leading to fan page) and offline (sales agents in the store), making sure I knew I was welcome. Smart!

#15: Use your fan page

Use the “Tell Your Fans” feature. With the tools built in to the fan page, Facebook allows you to import a contact file or import your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. Good for when you’re just starting out and want to tell people you already know.

The "Resources" section under the "Edit Page" option on your fan page.

#16: Add a Like box

Place this in your blog/website sidebar. This is a given. A must. But when you do this, make sure you set the options to include face pile. That way, your Like box will show your readers how many of their friends like the page as well. Genius.

The Like box in action on Social Media Examiner. So easy to Like!

#17: Use targeted keywords in a Google AdWords

Use a keyword-based ad and direct people to your fan page. This is like Facebook ads on steroids. If you’ve never used AdWords before, it’s fairly straightforward.

Here's an example of what a sample ad might look like.

#18: Redirect your webinar guests to your fan page

If you use GoToWebinar, you can choose to send registrants to a URL of your choosing after they sign up. This is where you let them know of the awesomeness that is your fan page.

#19: Put your fan page URL in your Keynote/PowerPoint slides

When I present, the last slide I show is my contact info, complete with our organization’s fan page. Most people are already on Facebook, so it’s a no-brainer to give them an easy way to connect with you.

#20: Last, and certainly least, invite all of your friends (if you must)

This is at the end for a reason. Pester your friends only as the nuclear option. I’ve given you 19 other ways to let people know about your fan page. Give your friends a break!

Don’t let the list stop there. There are hundreds of different ways to let people know about what you and your online community are up to on Facebook. Why not get creative and start a list of your own?

What are some of the most interesting ways you’ve seen people or businesses promote their fan page? Let us know in the comments box below and share what you’ve found!