------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 1, Issue 16 I did a quick search for myself on Google today and I'm beginning to slip from the front page. That tells me three things. First, if I want to be on the front page of search results, I have to update my web presence continually. Second, I need to consider using additional venues to spread my name. Finally, this whole process just takes time. This issue we'll conclude the multi- part series on tips to increase your web presence. If you've already started using some of these methods, I'd like to hear how it's going and what you think of them. Drop me a line at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Web Presence Techniques, Pros and Cons, Part 3 2. Blog Posts 3. Shameless Self-Promotion 4. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Web Presence Techniques, Pros and Cons, Part 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------- In the last issue we covered the pros and cons of writing articles for EzineArticles.com and Helium.com, and taking the time to comment on other people's blogs. We've got a few more to cover today, but, please, remember one thing as you start your own efforts toward dominating the first page of your name's search results: This whole thing takes time. It will not happen overnight. Heck, it's unlikely to happen overweek. It also happens remarkably unevenly when you happen to share your name with, say, just for example, the CEO of a company, a well known comic artist, and a brand of men's slacks. Yeah, hypothetically if that were the case, you'd have to be very, very patient. Anyway, before I start sounding bitter, let's get on with the list. 7. Set up a LinkedIn Public Profile. LinkedIn (linkedin.com) is one of the plethora of social networking sites out there. It's pretty bare bones as far as flashy bells and whistles go, but it does well what it purports to do, which is connect business people to each other. Pros: You can put up a fairly comprehensive description of yourself and your experiences and make the whole thing public (remember the idea here is for other people to be *able* to find us). This profile can include links to your personal and company website and another site which is associated with you (your blog?). If you do use this site to maintain your list of contacts, it's got a cool little feature which shows the number of connections you have with your immediate group, then the number of their connections (think in the hundred or thousands) and then one set of connections beyond that (think tens or hundreds of thousands). It's a pretty strong lesson in the combinatorics of networking. Cons: It's highly unlikely that anyone will create a link to your profile, so the best use of this might be in concert with with commenting on someone else's blog or when submitting a post to an online forum. Both of these will often let you include a personal URL as a part of the submission. 8. Create Profiles on Other Social Networking Sites. There are numerous social networking sites out there. Some are better than others for the purposes of spreading your web presence. Pros: Many of these sites have a lot of fun tools and widgets which help you maintain contacts with your friends and associates who are also on the same service. Cons: Be careful to select sites which can support you in the style you wish to project. Some of them can be a bit wild and woolly. Also be careful that you don't post things that you'd mind seeing for the next forty years. On the Internet, that picture of you doing that thing at that party with that guy will hang around forever. One other thing to be aware of: Your profile on many of these sites is only visible to other members of the club. This doesn't do much for you if you are just trying to increase your name recognition. 9. Participate in Online Discussion Boards. Name any subject and there is probably at least one online discussion area which focuses on it. Contributing to such online discussions can give you a reputation as an expert in that area. Pros: Given that the discussion boards are usually arranged by topic, you can focus your efforts on the specific area in which you want to be perceived as the expert. You can spend as much or little time in the area as you want. Those forums which are open to the public are indexed by the search engines. This means if you write a particularly good "How To" post, it's very likely to end up at the top of the results for years to come. Cons: Just as with any real-world organization, in order to become a recognized member of the community, you will have to devote some time and effort to the group. Creating valuable posts takes brain cycles and until you've posted a significant number of times, you will have no reputation with the community. For an idea on how many you might have to post, check out the community "levels" that they might have and how many posts it takes to get to each level. For example, on the Howard Forums (http://www.howardforums.com/), a discussion area focusing on the cell phones, you start out at "Where's the power button?" if you have zero or one posts all the way up to "Post Machine" for people who've posted over 10,000 times! That should give you a good start on techniques to improve your web visibility. I wouldn't recommend going out and trying to do all of these at once. Start slow. Get that website working. Start your blog. Add them slowly to your daily responsibilities and before you know it, you'll be ranked above those losers who happen to sell a brand of pants which just happens to have the same name as you. I'm just saying. Copyright 2007, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Blog Posts ---------------------------------------------------------------- Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confusion" Blog from the last year: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 -- The Chains of Networking http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/09/chains-of-networking.html Sunday, September 16, 2007 -- Karate Video: Bo Form http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/09/karate-video-bo-form.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. 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