The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

###

A Social Bookmarking Strategy
The first thing to do is get a good feel for a number of social bookmarking sites. There are some popular sites listed at the end of this chapter and on the resource CD. Choose a couple that represent your interests. If you do not feel inclined to do the research, I recommend starting with Delicious.com, Technorati, and StumbleUpon. Using these three sites should give you a broad reach into the world of social bookmarking. Before you begin using a bookmarking site, it’s important to become familiar with the guidelines. Some sites are much more stringent than others about bookmarking your own sites, or representing a business of any sort. It is best to go forward informed rather than risk getting a reputation for ignoring the rules, or worse, getting banned from a site.

As you develop your social bookmarking strategy, keep in mind that the Social Web is about interacting, sharing, and collaboration—not self promotion. Bookmark, tag, and comment on sites that interest you, and connect with others who share similar interests. You will be amazed at how many people you ultimately reach. There is nothing wrong with
bookmarking your own Web pages or blog posts, as long as the site allows it; just balance those contributions with others.

I know I sound like a broken record on this point, but fill out your profiles completely! You don’t want to go through the trouble of bookmarking a bunch of sites, only to have others not even know how to find your Website if they find your bookmarks engaging enough to click through to your profile.

Create a list of your best key terms to use as tags and use them as often as they apply to the sites you bookmark. Use your best tags within the descriptions you give each of your bookmarked sites as well. Many of the social bookmarking sites have developed social networking characteristics as well. If available, you should join groups that are relevant to your area of expertise or interest, and subscribe to email updates for those groups.

A Crowd-Sourcing Strategy
Crowd-sourced news sites are different from social bookmarking sites in that they focus on sharing news and information about stories, Websites, and blogs, as opposed to sharing bookmarks to Websites or blogs. As a result, you want to use a different strategy for these sites than you would social bookmarking sites.

There are a lot of crowd-sourced news sites out there, so you may want to explore a number of the sites we mention at the end of this chapter in the book or on the resource CD to get a feel for them. You should be able to choose a few sites that are good fits for your message.

As always, fill out your profiles completely so that others can find their way to you easily.

Add some of your more newsworthy blog posts, Web pages, or online press releases to each of your chosen crowd-sourced news sites. Pay close attention to each site’s submission guidelines and do not add information that does not adhere to their guidelines or is not a good fit for the site. When considering whether to add something to one of these sites, ask yourself if it is something you would find newsworthy and if you would naturally share it with others. Just like with social bookmarking sites, be sure to offset your own content by contributing other content as well. You will get a natural following of readers from these sites if you contribute regularly and engage in the conversations that happen around topics of interest. The advantage to this strategy is that you can hone in on your target audience by seeking out and commenting on topics relevant to your product, book, or message.

Many of these sites have also added social networking features, so explore any additional ways the sites may offer to connect, such as groups.

###

Beyond strategies for social bookmarking and crowd-sourcing, this chapter also includes real world examples of social bookmarking and crowd-sourcing in action, as well as lists of some popular social bookmarking and crowd-sourcing sites, such as Technorati and StumbleUpon, reddit and Mixx, respectively. The resource CD offers linkable resources and four fillable PDF forms called “Social Bookmarking Strategy,” “Crowd-Sourcing Strategy,” “Social Bookmarking & Crowd-Sourcing Submission Form,” and “Social Bookmarking & Crowd-Sourcing Tracking Form.”

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

416 Pages, Indexed, Resource CD with fillable forms.

Buy from Amazon or…

Exclusive offer for Social Media Power readers: $18.00 including US shipping:

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

###

Creating Facebook Pages

Once you have a Facebook account and have completed your profile, log in to Facebook, and go to the “Advertising” link at the bottom of your Facebook profile page, or go directly to the Facebook business link.

Choose the best category for your business, book, or product. The three main categories are: local business; brand or product; and artist, band, or public figure. You can choose a subcategory as well. If you offer a number of different services or products, you may want to create several pages. For instance, if you are a publisher, you may want to create a main page for your publishing company using the “brand or product” category and individual pages using the “Artist, Band, or Public Figure” category for each of your authors.

Choosing the name of your Facebook page is very important. You are limited to around 65 characters, so make them count. The name of your Facebook page determines how well your page performs in searches.

The next step is to input detailed information about your business or product. Click on “add information” on your new page to do this.

The category you chose in the previous step determines what type of information you can enter. For example, the “Artist, Band, and Public Figure” category highlights Personal Interests, whereas the “Brand or Product” category asks for a Company Overview and Mission Statement.

Regardless of the category you choose, prepare the information you enter here ahead of time. Use your preparation worksheet to populate your page with all of your best information and key terms. You may only have a few seconds to get a reader’s attention, so put your best key terms forward. At this stage, click on every tab and fill each box thoroughly, reusing your key terms often. Be certain to upload an image to the “Picture” tab as well.

Once you input your detailed information, you can customize or remove the built-in applications for your page. Clicking on “edit” beside any one of these gives you more information about what they are and how to use them. Click on “view page” to see these applications in action on your page.

As an example, click on “edit” beside the “Notes” application. You can add manual notes to your page, or you can import a blog that feeds your latest blog posts onto your Facebook page using this application. There are many more applications you can add to your page. Click on “More Applications” at the bottom of the edit page or go to the Facebook application directory. Add applications that help represent your company and/or your products in your own unique way.

Applications are not difficult to install and are usually very easy to set up. A general rule of thumb when choosing an application is that if you can’t figure out how to set it up after the second try, find another one. There is often more than one application out there that can accomplish the same task.

Browse or search the application directory for applications that make sense to implement for your business or product.

On their Facebook page, Dalton Publishing utilizes the following applications:

Book Share Books
This application lets readers share their favorite books with their friends, as well as rate them and comment on them. This is a perfect application for a publishing company wanting to showcase their books.

My Flickr
Display photos from your Flickr account using this application. These photos can include logos, book covers, photos from author events, etc. You are provided many options of how to display the photos, too.

YouTube Box
Allows visitors to play your YouTube videos right on your Facebook page. This is handy for book trailers or promotional videos.

RSS-Connect
This is a nice application that allows you to display RSS feeds on your Facebook page. It is a convenient way for Dalton Publishing to display the feeds from their main site, as well as to their authors’ newsroom feeds.

By implementing these applications, Dalton Publishing has created an interactive page that also gives their visitors a personable look into their business. You can find many applications that can do the same for your
business.

Once your page is ready, don’t forget to publish it. You will see a message in the upper right corner as you prepare your page that says “This Page has not been published…” Click on “Publish this Page” in that box so that your Facebook page can be seen by others.

The “wall” of Dalton’s Facebook page is similar to a regular Facebook profile in that Dalton can post items and others can comment on them. This is also where most of the built-in applications appear. Also from here, you can send updates to all the fans of your page, promote your page with an ad, and manage page settings.

A Social Networking Strategy

Follow these steps for each social or professional networking site you join:

• Read and follow the site’s Terms of Use.
• Complete your profile using prepared material, including your best key terms.
• Upload a profile image or logo when available.
• Search for applications to enhance or customize your presence.
• Integrate other social tools and sites into your presence (like Flickr images or YouTube videos).
• Invite friends and colleagues to join your network. Do not invite people just for the sake of inviting them; only invite people you think can benefit from a specific community.
• Choose your friends wisely; do not just add anyone who asks; check out their profile first.
• Join groups relevant to your area of expertise or interest.
• Promote your page or profile on your Website or blog.
• Get to know the network features: Explore all of the features of the networking platform and implement each of them that make sense for you or your business.
• Do not turn your back on your investment: Keep your social networking presence dynamic by contributing to it frequently.

This worksheet is also available on the resource CD.

###

This chapter also includes extensive information about other social networking sites, like MySpace and LinkedIn, micro-blogging sites like Twitter, niche social networking sites tailored to appeal to certain groups of people or businesses, and Ning.com, a free service where you can create and build your own social networking site. The resource CD offers further reading, linkable resources, and two fillable PDF forms called “Social Networking Strategy Worksheet” and “Social Networking Preparation Worksheet.”

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

416 Pages, Indexed, Resource CD with fillable forms.

Buy from Amazon or…

Exclusive offer for Social Media Power readers: $18.00 including US shipping:

A blogger and new social media user, Linda “highly recommend[s] this book to anyone who is interested in the internet.”

Read the review here…

Listen to the interview here…

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

###

What Will Your Podcast Be About?
Before you create your first episode, you should be clear about the purpose of your podcast. Will you be recording interviews, lectures, or panel discussions? Clips of your own music? Reciting excerpts from your book? Reading stories for children? Or just recreating existing blog posts as podcast episodes? What is the premise of the podcast?

When people subscribe to your podcast they will have an expectation of consistency as to the topics your episodes will cover. So planning ahead at this stage is important.

Creating Podcast Episodes

Preparing the Script and Key Terms
Below is a typical podcast script. You can get royalty-free music for your podcast episodes at a number of sites on the Internet, such as PodsafeAudio. Always make sure that the music you use is royalty-free and offered freely for use in podcasts, and give the author credit. This script outline can also be found on the resource CD.

• Opening (30-60 seconds)

• Introduce the podcast as a whole.
• This should be the same for each episode.
• Mention the name of the podcast, what its purpose is, and the URL where it can be found.
• Introduce yourself and who you are.
• Introduce the topic of the episode.
• Mention the episode number.
• Introduce guests if you have any.

• Opening Jingle (30 seconds)

• Main Topics (6 to 12 minutes)

• Depends on the type of episode you are recording.
• An informational podcast is typically only six minutes long.
• A panel or interview could be as long as twelve minutes.

• Intermission (30 seconds)

• Break up longer episodes with an intermission.
• Use music for the intermission.

• Closing (2 minutes)

• Thank your guests if you have any.
• Thank the audience for listening.
• Announce the next episode topic.
• Repeat the podcast URL.

• Closing Jingle (60 seconds)

Make a list of the best key terms for each episode and repeat these key terms at every opportunity that feels natural in your script. Of course, you can write the script first and extract the best (most repeated) key terms for use in the metadata and landing page of the episode.

###

This chapter also includes information about publishing options for a podcast, including publishing to a blog or Website, or using a service, as well as creating and optimizing a podcast or Webcast. The resource CD offers further reading, linkable resources, an example podcast, and a fillable PDF form called “Podcast Script Outline.”

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

416 Pages, Indexed, Resource CD with fillable forms.

Buy from Amazon or…

Exclusive offer for Social Media Power readers: $18.00 including shipping:

Following the release of her highly praised social media and Web 2.0 handbook, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web, social media pioneer, Deltina Hay, presents strategies and tactics for optimizing and marketing your business using social media and Web 2.0 at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar, Austin) on Wednesday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m..

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization is a no-nonsense guide to the tools of Web 2.0. This book arms readers with the nuts and bolts of the new, open-source Internet through hands-on, real-world examples. From WordPress to Facebook, Squidoo to YouTube, wikis, widgets, blogs, and RSS feeds, Hay demonstrates how businesses and individuals can create and use these tools to maximize their Web presence and profit from doing so.

As a publisher and small business owner, Deltina Hay knows firsthand how to apply the tools of social media to the industry, and as a developer, knows how to build those tools. Hay is a regular contributor to IBPA’s Independent, The SPAN Connection, SiteProNews, SocialMedia.biz, and many online news sites. While she has taught at the university level, her deep working knowledge of social media ideas and how to apply them in the real world make her writings and presentations some of the most exciting and accessible in the industry today.

Buy the book now!

On Saturday, July 18, tune in to WNZF Radio 1550 AM, 106.3 FM, or online at www.wnzf.com, at 11:30 a.m. EST to hear Social Media Power founder, Deltina Hay, discuss social media and Web 2.0 topics straight from her recently released book A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization (Wiggy Press, May 2009). “Cover to Cover” host Frank Gromling invited Ms. Hay onto his radio show to give the audience insider information on the importance of social media and how it’s linked to the publishing industry, as well as tips and strategies for implementing a successful Social Web presence.

“Cover to Cover” examines all aspects of the book publishing world, including hot new titles, up-and-coming authors, and a look at the process of producing and marketing books.

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

###

The Anatomy Of A WordPress Site
Let’s look at the main elements of a WordPress site. Each of the examples in this chapter has these general areas, just represented a little differently.

The Header
The header area is where the main header image is located, along with the title and tag line of the blog site. It is also where the navigation menu is typically located, if the theme has one.

The header can be as simple as the blog title and description (www.empoweredbywordpress.com), composed of a custom header image (www.puresoapbox.com), or a combination of both (www.plumbsocial.com).

The header is usually the first element you want to customize to suit your own needs. For instance, you could easily replace the entire header with your own image and/or logo of the same dimensions. This is explained in greater detail when we discuss choosing themes and customizing.

Navigation Menu
The navigation menu is usually part of the header of the site, but is optional. A site without main navigation in the header may include the navigation as part of the sidebar elements.

The Main Body Area
This is the area where the actual blog entries reside. WordPress refers to this as the “content area.” You can easily customize the content area by changing how many blog entries display on a page or whether you want to cut the entries short with a “read more” option, and many other ways.

Beginning with version 2.1 of WordPress, you have the option of having either a static home page as your front page (www.daltonpublishing.com), or your blog entries as the front page (www.ricwilliams.com). If you choose a static home page, your blog will become another page that you would add to your navigation menu as opposed to the home page. The content area is usually located in the middle of the site, but could also be off to the side or on the top.

The Sidebars
The columns on either side of the content area (or below in some cases) are called “sidebars.” They hold many of the other elements of your site, such as links, categories, search tools, recent blog entries, archived entries, photos, video streams, RSS feeds, widgets, badges, advertisements, etc. Sidebars are also where you implement many of the plugins you add to the site.

Typically, sidebars are on either side of the content area. Many themes get more creative with their placement. For example, the Empowered By WordPress site has three sidebars: one on the left of the content area and two to the right. The Social Media Power site has one wide sidebar on the top of the left area of the site and two smaller sidebars underneath the wider one. A third option is three sidebars under the content area, like on the Dalton Publishing site.

The Footer
This is the area of the site where credit is given. Do not remove the credit to WordPress or to the theme designer from the footer of a WordPress site. There are a lot of people who have donated their time to this free, open source project, and it is never good form not to give them due credit. You should place your own copyright statement in the footer as well.

Sidebar Widgets
Sidebar widgets are the different elements or modules you can place on your sidebars. You can have as many of these widgets as you like and can arrange them however you choose.

Each widget performs a specific function. For example, on the left sidebar of Les McGehee’s Website, the widgets are:
• “Navigation” which lists all of the pages on the site.
• “About Les” and “Les Recommends” which are lists of external links.
On the right sidebars the widgets are:
• “More Les Events” – a widget from the social calendar Upcoming.org
that lists his upcoming events.
• “More Les News” – a widget from the newsletter generator Constant
Contact that allows users to subscribe to his newsletter.
• “Buy Les’s Book” – a widget that can be used to purchase his book
using his Paypal account.
• “Les on Flickr” – a Flickr widget that displays his photos in a little flash
“badge.”

WordPress comes with a number of standard widgets that perform functions specific to the functionality of your WordPress site, such as listing blog categories, search features, recent posts, tag clouds, etc.

You can create your own custom widgets easily by placing text or HTML/Java code in what is called a “text” widget. This is how you create most of the widgets and badges you accumulate from the Social Web.

Some custom widgets in our examples include:
• The Flickr badge on Les McGehee’s site
• The buy-now buttons for books on Ric Williams’ and Les McGehee’s Websites.
• The widgets for sharing on social bookmarking sites on the Dalton Publishing site.
• The widgets feeding in blog entries from other sites as on the Plumb Social homepage.

Static Pages
Static pages are the pages of a WordPress site that do not contain blog entries. You can link to these pages from the navigation menu. The home pages of the Dalton Publishing site and the Social Media Power site demonstrate static pages. You can have as many pages as you like on your site and it is easy to add and populate them.

###

This chapter also includes information about installing WordPress as a CMS, FTP access, the WordPress dashboard, planning your site, plugins, themes, and much more. The resource CD offers further reading, linkable resources, and a fillable PDF form called “Planning Your WordPress Website, with Diagrams” that you can use to map out your site.

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

416 Pages, Indexed, Resource CD with fillable forms.

Buy from Amazon or…

Exclusive offer for Social Media Power readers: $18.00 including shipping:

The following excerpts are from A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

Copyright 2009 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.

###

Optimizing Your Blog And RSS Feed

Your RSS feed or blog will do you little good if nobody knows about it or cannot subscribe to it. This section highlights ways for you to optimize and promote your feed. Most of these tips are for both blogs and RSS
feeds, but some of them only apply to blogs. It is made clear if something only applies to blogs.

Your Feed or Blog Content

Edit Your Content
Edit and proofread your feed or blog entries for accuracy every time you post. If you or your staff do not have the time or skills to do so, consider hiring a professional editor. If you write your posts ahead of time as suggested in the previous section, you can save money since editors usually have a minimum charge and can get a lot done in one session.

Titles
Always use at least one or two of your best key terms in your blog or feed titles. This gives you better placement in the directories as well as better search engine placement.

Categories and Tags (tags only apply to blogs)
When posting blog entries, you should assign categories and tags to them every time. Most blog indexing sites use categories and tags to index blog entries. Draw from your top level key terms for categories and all of your key terms for tags.

Links
Link to as many other blogs or Websites from within each of your posts as you can and trackback to them whenever possible. When creating links within a post, use key terms as the link text. For example, link “Facebook” to Facebook.com, link “Facebook application” to the Facebook application page, Facebook.com/apps, and so forth.

Each link in the post also contains a key term that is used as a tag and/or category for the post. This tactic gives each of your posts more relevance in directories and search engines.

Signatures
Attaching a signature at the end of each of your posts can encourage visitors to subscribe to your feed and aid in promoting your other sites or products. This is also a good place for a copyright statement if you need one. It is best to keep your signature clearly separate from the post content. One way to do this is to include three pound signs before the signature.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO For Your Blog (only applies to blogs)
Since WordPress produces PHP as opposed to HTML, posts and pages do not necessarily have the metadata in their source that is required for search engine robots. However, there are ways around this problem. A good SEO plugin for WordPress is The All in One SEO Pack. This plugin lets you assign proper metadata to
each of your posts and WordPress pages so that they get good placement in search engines. You input the metadata from the same interface that you enter the post. The title, description, and keywords entered here
become the metadata for that post.

This plugin also helps you assign metadata for your site as whole.

Permalinks (only applies to blogs)
As discussed in the previous section, permalinks are the direct link to each of your blog entries. You want to use a permalink structure that does not use any special characters (these are often called “pretty” permalinks). Since WordPress is written using PHP, the default permalinks look something like this: http://yoursite.com/?p=6. Search engines often ignore links that contain characters like the ones in “?p=6.” Choose a permalink structure that does not use them. To change the structure, go to the backend of WordPress; go to Settings/Permalinks. To make your permalinks “pretty,” choose any of the options except the default.

External Links or “Link Baiting”
This is actually an SEO tip you can use for any Website. Use meta keywords in any link text that points back to your Website. These are the meta keywords that are in your site’s header, not just arbitrary key terms. Whenever you can use text as links back to your site, use these terms to do so. As an example, we use the following blurb at the end of each article we submit to e-zines and the like for Social Media Power:

Deltina Hay is the principal of Social Media Power, a Web 2.0 development firm in Austin. Ms. Hay’s graduate education in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology led her naturally to social media consulting. Find out more about using social media and Web 2.0 tools from her new straight forward, easy-to-follow e-book on social media marketing and Web 2.0.

The term “social media” links to SocialMediaPower.com and “social media marketing” links to the e-book page on that site. We are also careful not to clutter these bios with links—two is a good limit. Search engine robots consider external links that are similar to meta keywords very relevant and will increase your page rank accordingly.

###

This chapter also includes information about RSS feed and blog promotion using FeedBurner and other RSS Feed and blog directories. The resource CD offers further reading, linkable resources, and seven fillable PDF forms that you can use to prepare and organize your content.

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web by Deltina Hay

416 Pages, Indexed, Resource CD with fillable forms.

Buy from Amazon or…

Exclusive offer for Social Media Power readers: $18.00 including shipping:

BiGAUSTIN’s Womens Business Center presents Conversations Breakfast Series on Thursday, July 16 from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. (Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.) Is your business Web 2.0 ready? Learn how to optimize and market your business using social media and Web 2.0 at this event held at BookPeople (3rd floor). Topics include:

• Building a Solid Business Foundation in the Social Web – Deltina Hay, Author of A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization
• How to Use Video to Dominate Local Search – Weston Norton, Reel Social Media
• Building Lifelong Relations Through Social Media – The Romeros, Social Media Experts

For details and ticket information, visit www.bigaustin.org