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:

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

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

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.

Generally, these elements include:

• Multimedia items such as downloadable images, audio/video files, or PDF/DOC files.
• A way for readers to comment directly on the news release content.
• An obvious and easy way for readers to bookmark the news release in social bookmarking sites or to share it via email.
• Technorati tags and links to purpose-built del.icio.us pages.

If you or your business produce online or email press releases on a regular basis, you should be using, and therefore benefiting from, social media news releases. Like everything else on the Internet today, there is an expectation that content will be interactive, easily shared, and will offer sources to similar information. If your news releases do not live up to these expectations, it may hurt your chances for major media coverage. It’s easy to create your own social media releases, or you can use a service like PRWeb. And, since a social media news release is just a traditional release with added elements, you do not need to change your present format, just include some additional sections. These added elements include:

• Multimedia section: Here you will offer a number of downloadable items, including PDF or Word documents (book excerpts, advanced reviews, white papers, brochures, etc.) and images (author photos, company executive photos, book cover art, company logos). Also provide any relevant podcasts and video clips in this section.

• Technorati tag section: Use this section to list links to Technorati pages that are tagged with a list of key terms relevant to your release.
• Social bookmarking section: In this section, provide links to any of your relevant del.icio.us pages. Here you could also provide links to relevant pages on Digg.com or any other social bookmarking or crowd-sourced news site.
• Sharing and commenting: In addition to the above sections, you should also make it easy for your readers to share or bookmark your release in any number of ways. Allowing visitors to comment on your news release makes it truly interactive.
• Social media section: If you don’t have a social media newsroom to refer readers to, you should consider adding a section to your news release that lists where you have a presence in the social Web. Link to your profiles in places like MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

Check out some social media news release examples here:

http://owenegertonnewsroom.com/?p=54

http://www.hiddenlandsofnodnewsroom.com/hiddenlandsofnod/?p=33

http://www.puresoapboxnewsroom.com/puresoapbox/?p=13

The most effective way to easily build an optimized site is with WordPress. Yes, WordPress is a blogging platform, but it can also be used as a content management system (CMS) to power your entire Web site.

Use these resources to get a good feel for how WordPress operates:

• WordPress
• Empowered by WordPress
• The book, WordPress for Dummies

And, for an explanation of the basic elements of a WordPress site, check out “The Basic Anatomy of a WordPress site” post on Empowered by WordPress.

Planning your Site:

Make an ambitious list of what you would like to have on your site. Don’t hold back on an idea you may have for your site based on an assumption that it will be too difficult or too expensive to implement.

The plugins available for WordPress are at:

• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

This site will give you ideas on the types of things you can add to your site. You will discover that you can easily utilize plugins to accomplish seemingly difficult functions.

I find these are pretty typical functions most entrepreneurs, small businesses, authors, and publishers are looking for:

• Image Galleries
• Streaming Video
• E-commerce
• Amazon Widgets
• Blogs/Podcasts/Vidcasts
• Random Quote Generators
• Newsletters
• Mailing list sign-up
• RSS feeds from other sources
• Events listings
• Forms for submissions
• Social Media Newsrooms

Choosing a Theme:

• Go to http://themes.wordpress.net/

Make certain you only search for themes that are “widget ready.”

• You can also purchase themes from TemplateMonster.com. Again, make certain any theme you choose is “widgetized.”
• Do not choose a theme before you plan your site, however. You want your theme to accommodate your content, not vice versa.
• Choose at least twelve themes that you like. You will find that you will not be able to use many themes that you choose for various reasons.
• Try and look only at the overall look and feel of a theme, with the idea that the colors, fonts, images, and most anything else can be customized to fit your needs.

Installing WordPress and Beyond:

• Use the following documentation to help with all of these steps:
  • http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress
  • http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

• Installing WordPress
  • Choose a host. WordPress works best on a WordPress-friendly host. I use WestHost. They are affordable, reliable, and have fantastic tech support. Their personal starter plan for $6.95 a month is all you will likely need.
  • For a list of other WordPress-friendly hosts, go to WordPress.org.
  • Carefully read the installation guide on WordPress.org. WordPress is installed differently when you use it as a CMS than if you only use it to blog.

• Next Steps
  • Installing your theme
  • Customizing your theme
  • Deciding which plugins you need based on your initial plan
  • Installing and setting up your plugins (Always read the readme.txt file!)
  • Setting up your sidebars
  • Building your pages
  • Posting blog entries

On Open Source Etiquette:

The developers have put a lot of time into these projects. Please show them respect by:

• Never deleting the credits from the footer of a theme, or from a plugin
• Making donations to the open source developers whose plugins you are using

When using the support forums:

• Always search the forums thoroughly for an answer to your question before posting.
• Give back if you can: check the recent posts for questions from newcomers you might be able to answer.

Here are some sites powered by WordPress to help inspire you:

• AlaskanArtandPhoto.com
• AccoladesPublicRelations.com
• DaltonPublishing.com
• EmpoweredbyWordPress.com
• LesMcGehee.com
• OwenEgertonNewsroom.com
• JoeOConnellNewsroom.com
• GaryKentFilmmaker.com
• RicWilliams.com
• KelleyBurrus.com
• OwenEgerton.com
• RobertStikmanz.com
• AmyWink.com

And, if you’re looking for even more information, rest assured that help is readily available to you. WordPress and the people who contribute to it are perfect examples of the Social Web in action. On WordPress.org you will find a plethora of help, not only from their documentation, but also from the community that has sprung from this demonstrated spirit of interactivity, sharing, and collaboration.

And don’t forget to have fun!

Copyright 2008 by Deltina Hay. All rights reserved.