Content is only valuable if it can be found

When it comes to using blogs for online marketing most professionals will tell you…

“Create compelling content.”

So let’s assume for the purpose of this article that you’ve gone through the basics of content creation. That’s a great start. But it’s also important that Google and other search engines can easily find your stuff.

By using the updating service built into Wordpress, you are able to send alerts to pinging services across the web. Don’t let the word “pinging” confuse you. It is simply a way that blogs and websites tell search engines that new content has been added to your site.

3 Steps To Pinging

By adding in a list of pinging services to your Wordpress blog, you are able to update Google and other search engines more quickly. Here’s how…

Step 1 – Open up settings

Step 2 – Click on the writing tab

Step 3 – Copy and paste ping list into the update box at the bottom

Scroll to the bottom and paste the list below into the box. Click update.

Here’s the list of ping services:

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.wasalive.com/ping/

http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/

http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php

http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

Your content … found

Having great content is the foundation for online marketing. But your audience needs to be able to find that content. Now go take action and update your Wordpress blog.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership and How To Use Social Media To Find A Better Job. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

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*Photo by mknowles

SEO (search engine optimization) is critical for online marketing success. Your business needs to begin thinking about a strategy for search engine marketing. Here are five social media strategies recorded last week during my daily audio updates on Utterli. (Utterli is a free voice recording service that allows you to record a message using your cell phone and then post that message to the web). .

Monday: SEO for your business or non-profit

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Tuesday: SEO for your business: Think long-term strategy

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Wednesday: SEO for your business: Do your keyword research

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Thursday: SEO for your business: Get inbound links.

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Friday: SEO for your business: Create great content

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Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an eMail: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

Subscribe to the Folk Media Insider eNewsletter. It’s a free monthly newsletter packed with tips, tools, strategies and resources to take your business to the next level online.

*Photo by marciookabe

The value of Twitter comes from having a plan. Your business needs to be able to manage your Twitter presence and track your metrics and analytics.

Having a Twitter plan is the best way to increase engagement and ensure an active and interested follower base.

Step 1 – Sketch out an editorial calendar.

For those in the PR world you may have experience with this already. Plan your Tweets in advance based on company product releases, holiday sales, and major events. Literally layout a calendar on your desk and theme out the weeks and months ahead. Have a staffer then draft up 5-10 twitter posts per week based on your calendar.

Step 2 – Use a service like Hootsuite.

Hootsuite is one of the major Twitter tools you should be using for your business. It allows you the ability to schedule twitter posts and track URLs.

Take your list of Tweets and plug them into Hootsuite keeping in mind that you’ll want to schedule out your Tweets at various times of day.

Step 3 – Think distribution in advance

You should think of your Twitter strategy in two parts. Part one is the distribution of your business content. Updates, alerts, specials, breaking news, and product/service announcements fit into this catagory. Refer to your editorial calendar to plan these updates. This is your baseline content.

Step 4 – Think conversation in the present

Part two of your updates should be real time conversation tweets. These are replies to people who are talking about things related to your core business, customer service follow up, and contest/question tweets.

I would recommend a 60/40 twitter post rule. Sixty percent of your business tweets can be announcements as long as 40 percent of your updates are conversational.

Step 5 – Create a Twitter landing page.

Twitter allows you to include one Web address on your main profile page. The best thing you can do is to send visitors who click on your link to a special Twitter landing page on your site.

One of the benefits to this type of page is your ability to track incoming visitors. Using Google Analytics you can count your page views and see the amount of traffic your Twitter presence is generating.

Also a Twitter specific landing page can be tailored to your Twitted audience. Have 300 dentists following you? You’ll want to make sure the landing page is optimized to speak to that demographic.

Step 6 – Get buy-in

The ultimate goal for a Twitter business plan is to actually build your business. One of the best ways to do this is to get visitors to subscribe to an email newsletter. As useful as Twitter can be email is still the powerhouse marketing tool of the web.

So be sure to have a call to action on your Twitter landing page for email subscriptions. (note: here is a list of email service providers). The goal is to get buy-in from your visitors. Once you have an email, you can follow up and continue to build a relationship with these potential custmers.

For more on using Twitter for your business – subscribe to the free Folk Media Insider eNewsletter.
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Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an eMail: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

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Subscribe to the Folk Media Insider eNewsletter. It’s a free monthly newsletter packed with tips, tools, strategies and resources to take your business to the next level online.

Here are 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Have A Blog. Listen to them here:

1) Blogs create a feedback look for your business.
The internet allows two-way communication. So you can begin a discussion on your blog and ask your readers and customers to comment. This creates a great way to listen to your customers needs and wants.

2) Blogs are great for search engine optimization (SEO)
Basically this means that your content on the blog will be recognized by search engines. The key is to make the content valuable to a reader. Google, Yahoo, and others will then link to your online posts and articles exposing your business to new prospects and clients.

3) Blogs beg to be updated.
A blog is a platform that feeds off of new information. Search engines and web visitors in general love to see fresh, new content on your site. This will in turn help with your SEO.

Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

*Photo by Swampadswain