Chapter 3: RSS Feeds and Blogs
Chapter 3 of the book is about RSS feeds and blogs. This chapter is packed with information and useful tips about content preparation, feed readers, optimization, and much more to ensure maximum exposure in the Social Web.
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.
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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.
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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:
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.socialmediapower.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-big4.png){kind=icon}
Deltina Hay Heads Up BiGAUSTIN Conversations Series
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
Social Media and Web 2.0 Essentials for Publishers and Authors, Multi-Session Series Class
Social media and Web 2.0 are the present and the future of the Internet. And, now is the time to establish your presence in this new Internet arena! This teleclass series, presented by Deltina Hay and Write Well U, will focus on the essential tools you should implement to create a strong presence in the Social Web, and how to optimize and integrate that presence.
An optimized foundation is essential to overall success in the Social Web. This series will show you how to achieve it.
Author, publisher, and Web developer Deltina Hay will explain:
- what an RSS feed is, and why you need one
- how to start a blog without breaking your back or the bank
- the basics of social bookmarking and crowd-sourcing
- why you want to share your images and video in media communities
- in which social networking sites you should establish a presence
- how to use a social media newsroom to highlight your presence
- how to optimize your Social Web presence
- how to integrate your entire Social Web presence to save time and money
- why you will need an optimized Social Web presence to survive in the future Internet
Instructor: Deltina Hay
Multi-session Series Class:
Class #1 - Introduction to Social Media & Web 2.0 Tools and Technologies
Class #2 - Building an Optimized Foundation in the Social Web
Class #3 - Integrating Your Social Web Presence
Class Date and Time:
Wednesdays, July 1, 8, 15: 5:00 p.m. EST
Cost: $30, includes audio recording and handouts
Click here for more information.
Building a Strong and Integrated Social Web Presence presented by Deltina Hay and IBPA
Learn how to build a strong presence on the Social Web without getting overwhelmed with:
Building a Strong and Integrated Social Web Presence presented by Deltina Hay
This class will show you how to set up and implement essential social media tools like blogs, social networking sites, media communities, and social calendars. Learn how to integrate them so that your workload is greatly reduced.
Discover how to blog once, upload a photo one time, enter an event in one place, and feed all of it into your social networking pages, your blog, and your Website.
Creating this type of dynamic presence is necessary for success on today’s Internet.
This process does not have to be difficult or ridiculously time-consuming. Careful planning can make it practically painless!
Join us for another information-packed edition of Publishing University Online:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 11:00 am PST/ 2:00 pm EST
About the Seminar:
The seminar cost is $49 for IBPA members and includes the hour-long seminar with participation, three free playbacks and the Power Point presentation to keep and review.
To register and for more details, click the link below:
More information and to register for Webinar
Deltina Hay Hosts Social Media and Web 2.0 Webinar
Following the recent release of her new social media and Web 2.0 handbook, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Suriviving in the Social Web, author and social media maven Deltina Hay hosts a Webinar tomorrow, Tuesday, June 23 from 10 - 11 a.m. PDT. Register to attend here.
This is one Webinar you don’t want to miss if you’re looking to create a strong presence and find success in the Social Web. Hay, a leader in social media and Web 2.0 topics will demonstrate:
- How to start and maintain an optimized blog without breaking the bank or your back
- Building an impressive and optimized social networking presence
- How to tweet on Twitter and why you should be doing so
- How to utilize low maintenance tools that will yield big results
Register today to attend the Webinar!
Chapter 2: Preparation
Chapter 2 of the book is about preparing the content you will need to implement your Social Web strategy. It will assist you in preparing and gathering content as well as optimizing it for maximum exposure and mileage in the Social Web.
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.
###
Once your strategy is in place, use it to prepare the content you will need for implementation. Try to resist the urge to just “wing it.” Proper preparation of your descriptions, biographies, and other blurbs will greatly increase your exposure in the Social Web…
Important First Decisions Regarding Your Social Networking Profiles
Before proceeding, you need to decide two things:
1. What “entity” will you be representing in the Social Web? If you are an author, this will be your book; if you are a business owner, this will be your business. If you are a publisher or an author who intends on writing more than one book, you may want to think this through. For instance, if you are a publisher, you may decide to create a presence for your press as well as for each of your titles. Whereas if you are an author with several books, you may want to make your name/pseudonym or the name of your book series your entity as opposed to just the name of one of your books.
2. Which person within your organization will be representing you in the Social Web? You cannot always use your business or book name as the account holder of social sites. You will need to populate many of the profiles for an actual person. If you are an author, this is a given; but if you are a business, you will want to choose someone within your organization who has the time to contribute to these sites on occasion. This person should also feel comfortable disclosing a certain amount of personal information about themselves.
Once you have decided on your entity and your representative, gather the following information. Be sure to use one or more of your best tags in every description and biography.
Information for Entity:
- Name of entity
- Tag line
- Short description
- 50 to 60 words
- Use at least two of your best tags
- Long description
- 175 to 200 words
- Use at least three of your best tags
- Website URL
- Year entity was founded
- Mission statement
- Product list (if applicable)
- Gender and birth date (These fields are required to register in some social sites, and since the age of your book or business would not make sense, use something else that has meaning for you.)
- Logo or book cover art
Information for Representative:
- Name of representative
- Brief biography
- 100 words
- Use two of your best tags
- Gender
- Birth date (This does not need to be public.)
- The following information is optional in most sites, however, it will make your representative more likely to find contacts in social networking sites:
- Hometown
- Activities
- Interests
- Music
- TV
- Movies
- Books
- Favorite Quotes
- Favorite people/heroes
- Education
- College/university
- Class year
- Concentration
- Work
- Employer
- Position
- Description
- City/town
- Photo for social networking profiles
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This chapter also features preparation tips for tags/keywords, social calendars, multimedia items, as well as optimizing file names and preparing content for blog posts. The resource CD offers linkable resources and a fillable PDF form called “Preparation Worksheet” that you can use to prepare 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:
Chapter 1: Creating Your Social Media Strategy
Chapter 1 of the book is about mapping a social media and Web 2.0 optimization strategy right out of the gate. A strong message throughout the entire book is to methodically build a solid and optimized presence in the Social Web that you can reasonably manage. Once that foundation is in place, adding and integrating new tools will be almost painless.
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.
###
Chapter 1: Creating Your Social Media Strategy
There are three general areas to keep in mind when planning a strategy for optimizing your presence in the Social Web: interactivity, sharing, and collaboration. Interactivity can come in the form of writing blog posts, commenting on others’ posts, tweets, or participating in social networking communities. Sharing can be as easy as uploading images and video clips onto media communities. Collaboration can be achieved by contributing to social bookmarking sites or wikis…
…It is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the new social media and Web 2.0 tools and technologies that pop up on the Internet on an almost daily basis. But a carefully planned and executed strategy can alleviate your stress and ensure your successful transition into the new Social Web…
…The one bit of technology essential to your Social Web success is an RSS feed, discussed in more detail in Chapter 3, “RSS Feeds & Blogs,” but, in short, you have two choices:
- Start a blog which has built-in RSS feed technology, or
- Create your own RSS feed using an XML file…
…The next step in a successful strategy is to decide which tools make sense for you or your business to implement…
Here are other general areas to consider:
Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.)
It is a good idea to have a healthy profile on one if not two of these social networking sites.
Micro Blogging (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.)
These sites have become as popular as blogging. We recommend a healthy presence in at least one of them.
Other Social Platforms (Tumblr, Squidoo, etc.)
If you have a lot of content, these platforms are a good addition to your strategic tool kit.
Social Bookmarking and Crowd-Sourcing (StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.)
Building a presence in several of these sites and contributing regularly is highly recommended for any strategy.
Blog Commenting
Becoming part of the conversation is a very important part in any social media strategy. As you are surfing the Web and/or searching for sites and blogs to share on social networking and crowd-sourcing sites, take the time to comment on others’ blog entries.
Media Communities (Flickr, YouTube, etc.)
Sharing your multimedia content is an important part of any strategy, even if you only have a few images.
Social Calendars
Consider these if you host or attend a lot of events.
Podcasting
Podcasts are not difficult to create. They can be particularly effective if you have plenty of instructional material or you conduct interviews.
Vidcasting or Webcasting
These can be powerful viral tools for people or companies who have the resources to create and maintain them.
Widgets and Badges
Placing widgets and badges from other social sites on your Website or blog can help make your site more interactive.
Virtual Worlds
This is one technology that should be given considerable forethought. The learning curve is steep and consultants are expensive. However, for the right product, it could serve as a powerful marketing tool.
Social Media Newsrooms
This tool is ideal for authors, publishers, or other companies who garner a good amount of media coverage or produce regular news releases.
Custom Widgets or Applications
These are your own custom-built widgets or applications that can virally carry your brand into the Social Web.
Hosting your own Blogs, Social Network, Wiki, etc.
These tools are best suited for companies with a large customer base or who have many active advocates for their brand or service…
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This chapter also features 5 real-world social media strategies for you to use as a basis for your own. The resource CD offers further reading, linkable resources, and a fillable PDF form called “Social Web Strategy Worksheet” that you can use to map your strategy.
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 new social media book is here! The new social media book is here!
A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization, Social Media Power founder Deltina Hay’s book on succeeding in the Social Web, is finally in-hand and available anywhere books are sold.
The book is for business owners, entrepreneurs, social media strategists, authors, publishers, marketers, students - anyone wanting a do-it-yourself guide to building a solid foundation on the Social Web. It utilizes real-world examples to demonstrate the tools of Web 2.0 in an easy-to-understand style.
The 416-page book is fully indexed and comes with a resource CD containing over 500 resources, and 25 fillable forms to help you, your clients, or your students plan and maintain a healthy Social Web presence.
This is not necessarily a book about marketing in the Social Web, nor is it a book about how to get a zillion friends or followers; it is a how-to book about the tools of social media and Web 2.0. This book will help you understand the tools, how to set them up, and how to optimize them.
Deltina is quite relieved (as is her assistant and her editor) to have this book complete so that she can start participating again in the Social Web instead of just writing about it…
To that end, over the next several months we are going to feature excerpts from each chapter of the book with commentary, as well as an occasional fillable form, so stay tuned.
We also have a couple special offers for Social Media Power readers. First, you can check out a teaser version of the social media book that includes the full table of contents, one complete chapter, and the sample chapter’s respective section on the resource CD including fillable forms.
Second, though most of the copies from the first print run have been sold by our distributor, Midpoint Trade Books, or requested by reviewers, we have managed to keep 50 of them to sell to our readers. We are offering these for $18.00 including shipping within the United States, but when they are gone they are gone, and we will not have any more until July. You can still get copies at the usual outlets, though, like Amazon. If you are in Austin, you can get them at BookPeople.
We thank you for your support, and we look forward to offering regular posts again now that the boss is no longer writing in dimly lit restaurants listening to loop tapes of bad classic rock and eating way too much cheesecake.
The Social Media Power Team
Social Media Maven Hosts Workshop at IBPA Conference
The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) will host its 25th annual Publishing University event in New York City, the publishing capital of the world. This year’s three day conference is held May 26-28 and record turnout is expected being New York City is a metropolis that radiates publishing ambiance unlike anywhere else. Publishing industry professionals from all over the world will attend, making this event an excellent networking opportunity.
Throughout the day on Wednesday, May 27, Deltina Hay, owner of social media consulting and Web 2.0 development firm Social Media Power and the independent press Dalton Publishing, is heavily involved in panels and workshops as part of the conference.
Early on Wednesday morning, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m., Deltina is a guest speaker for a panel discussion entitled “Octopus Marketing: The Multiple Tentacles Approach to Creating Book Buzz Online (Web 2.0).” She will share the stage with Bob Baker (Spotlight Publications) and Maggie Lichtenberg (Open Heart Publishing). The publishing pros will provide insight into Internet book marketing, specifically touching on the importance of a strong Web presence created using social media and Web 2.0 strategies.
That afternoon, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., the social media maven hosts “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Fundamentals of Web 2.0 and Social Media, but Were Afraid to Ask,” a panel covering all aspects of the Social Web. From social networks to blogging, multimedia sharing to RSS feeds, this panel provides the answers you’ve been searching for to enhance your Web presence. Steve Mettee of Quill Driver Press and Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer, assist Deltina in this discussion.
And for those craving a hands-on, straight-forward approach to implementing social media tools, Deltina will hold a workshop, titled “How to Build a Strong Technical but Manageable Presence on the Social Web,” on Wednesday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. This class will demonstrate how to build a strong Social Web presence without the confusion often brought on by technical jargon. Learn to set up the essential social media tools, including a blog, social networking profiles, media sharing communities, and social calendars, and integrate them to reduce your workload. Discover how you can blog once, upload a photo in once place, enter an event to one social calendar, and feed all of it into your blog, your social networking profiles, and your Website.
Look for Deltina Hay’s forthcoming book A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web due out from Wiggy Press in April 2009. And, if you’re looking for an affordable way to create a powerful presence in the Social Web but cannot attend IBPA’s Publishing University conference, check out Plumb Social, an innovative new Web 2.0 service offered by Social Media Power.
Experts Launch Socialmedia.biz to Help Businesses Master the Social Web
Seven top social media and Web 2.0 experts have come together to launch a new enterprise known as Socialmedia.biz. This site will serve as both a daily publication providing news, analysis of Web 2.0 trends, tips, and tools, and a means for accessing the most well-known names in social media and Web 2.0 today.
Since 2007, the Socialmedia.biz blog has gained a reputation as the top source for the most current information about the Social Web. And, shortly after unveiling the new site on February 25, Socialmedia.biz ranks as the number two return in a Google search for “social media,” just under the Wikipedia listing, making it the top-ranked business.
Socialmedia.biz founder J.D. Lasica, an entrepreneur, author, and prominent blogger, recognizes that “2009 is turning out to be about collaboration,” providing him with an excellent opportunity to bring these social media “experts together to help businesses enter this brave new world of the Social Web.”
Through the collaboration of seven strategists drawing on personal successes and bouts of trial and error, Socialmedia.biz provides end-to-end solutions for corporations and small to mid-size businesses seeking success in the Social Web. Visitors can find out which social media initiatives are proving successful for businesses or not via reports, white papers, and books offered in a directory on the site, and they can get help from the experts themselves to achieve maximum impact through campaign strategies.
The seven strategists coming together for the new joint business venture are:
- Chris Abraham, co-founder and principal of Abraham Harrison, an international consulting group that specializes in online word-of-mouth/conversation marketing and online business and technology strategy advising.
- Deltina Hay, owner of Dalton Publishing, founder of the social media Website service PlumbSocial.com and author of the upcoming book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web.
- Christopher S. Rollyson, a pioneer in corporate innovation, strategy, and transformation for 20 years who has had a leading role in launching such game-changing offerings as Java with Sun and e-business strategy with PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting.
- Ayelet Noff, founder of Blonde 2.0, a consulting firm specializing in helping brands understand how to use social media tools such as blogs, social networks, and social software to launch conversational marketing campaigns and create brand awareness.
- J.D. Lasica, one of the earliest social media strategists, founded Ourmedia.org the first video hosting site, wrote Darknet, a book about emerging media, and was one of the first 50,000 bloggers on the planet.
- Joanna Lord, co-founder and CMO of TheOnlineBeat.com, a resource for online job searchers and an expert in online marketing and social networking.
- David Spark, owner of Spark Media Solutions, a new media production company that specializes in reporting and producing at live events and developing brand and thought leadership through storytelling.
Using a variety of Web 2.0 tools, the experts of Socialmedia.biz will announce upcoming events, share photos, videos, and other multimedia, and report on new developments in social media and Web 2.0. Since each collaborator brings a different strength to the project, Socialmedia.biz can offer businesses a comprehensive and integrated approach to their social media strategies.
“By banding together,” says Deltina Hay, “we can bring our success stories to a much broader audience and draw on the expertise and resources of other participants. These kind of collaborative models work for only one reason: the client benefits from a one-stop shop.”
Socialmedia.biz offers a broad suite of services ranging from strategic planning to online publicity; grassroots and new media marketing to business intelligence; search engine services and online reputation clean-up. Each principal has a successful track record working with a number of clients, including Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Sharp Electronics, Schering-Plough, T. Rowe Price, McCann Digital, Fresh Air Fund, International Medical Corps, and many others.
The joint enterprise Socialmedia.biz is founded by leading experts in the business use of social media with locations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Austin, and Tel Aviv. The group blog operates on WordPress with development provided by BlitzLocal, a Boulder, Colo. company specializing in local search for professional service firms and franchises. BlitzLocal CEO and co-founder Dennis Yu raves that Socialmedia.biz is “the prototype of a 21st century business model that harnesses the power of collective intelligence.”
Read the PR Web press release here…
