Configuration of Complex Joomla CMS and CRBM Platforms

Joomla is a powerful framework for delivering Complex web portals. With over 4700 extensions and counting, the largest developer network in the world and the most user friendly interface has made the award winning Joomla CMS the fastest growing open source CMS project perhaps in the world. With millions of users and enthusiasts from all around the globe and a low cost of entry this is quickly becoming the dominant content management system (CMS) for small businesses (SMB's) and even larger enterprises and institutions.  We compared Joomla vs Drupal and Joomla vs Wordpress which are other worthy technologies but Joomla seemed for us to be the best overall platform for recommending to our customers. As Joomla integrators and Joomla Component Developers we deliver complex Joomla configurations for a wide variety of customers. Joomla is a perfect framework for the micro small business owner that needs training and mentoring to work independently on building their web empire as well as the small business enterprise with complex Joomla configuration needs. 

There are several layers in deploying a Joomla CMS project.

• Planning and content architecture
• Template Design and graphics
• Components and Configurations
• User experience
• Customer Programming
• Legacy System Integrations
• SEO and Marketing
• Joomla User Training
• Ongoing Technical Support

Just to name a few... With any technology there are different points of entry depending on the experience and technical aptitude of the humans interacting with the system, the technical and business process requirements and the overall dynamics of the organization implementing the particular solution. We (our CNP Consultants) try to help folks "Get the most value out of their technology investment". Yea you will see this in our marketing but this is much more than hype. Value can be the key to success or failure.  Among the biggest mistakes we have seen folks make and even made ourselves are:

Common Mistake #1

Just because you can do something with technology does not always make it practical.

I have personally implemented many powerful tools that accomplish their intended functionality but they actually never get used to their full potential by the end customers. While these were fun for us to build as developers and to see something cool that works, it did not really serve any of us well since our clients customers do not use them and thus they have a significant investment they are net getting a return on and thus until this first investment is paid for they are not all that excited to engage us to build more stuff.

The key here is determining first the business priorities of the project and then making sure everyone is listening to the needs of the end customer or user. Hey sometime folks build web tools just for themselves. I know I often post blog articles with a lot of links I want to not only share but also refer back to and we put plenty of tools online that we want to use ourselves as much as we want to and share with our customers.  Just make sure you are clear why you are doing something and assess if it is going to deliver the right return on your investment.

Stay focused on what your customers are saying and what will yield the greatest return.

Technology implementation can be a never ending pit you throw money into, something that my father used to say about owning a luxury boat. If you are building your site for the shear ego of having a beautiful site with all kinds of creative features and functionality, have at it and of course we love to work with entrepreneurs with big ideas. However, like any relationship and any good investment a long term strategy is often much more practical. Our consulting customers get good advice about products and services that can grow their business or allow them to continue to get value from their investments. I have seen folks to often go for a quick sell and end up with dysfunctional customer relationships that ultimately cost more than the profit you made in the first place. Ask yourself many questions including "Is what I am doing today going to matter a year from now"? If you ask the right questions up front this can help you get the most out of your initiatives.

Technology is a moving target

One of the many reasons we got behind the Joomla CMS project as a core competency was because it was open source which offered freedom and scalable options for solving the greatest amount of business problems.  We took the gamble from the trends in the market place that Joomla would continue to grow with features and stability and that the developer community would continue to be attracted to the Joomla framework thus building more confidence in the market place. With a scalable platform that is built on open source code for use was great since we wanted to work with technology that sold itself and that we could support and expand upon it to meet the needs of the types of customers we wanted to attract.  Any kind of dynamic web portal project is a moving target and often needs to change course in mid stream. You have to keep good forward momentum yet listen to the trends in the marketplace so you can sail into the wind effectively. An innovative and scalable open source platform like Joomla is a perfect foundation for meeting this challenge.

But wait there is more...

A couple years ago, after a good year of working with Joomla we were looking for solutions that could actually help us build an all-in-one web based framework for managing our business in a Virtual Office Environment (everything accessible on the web). This is when after trying and implementing several CRM and project management tools ranging from SugarCRM to MS Project to SharePoint we found Info@hand CRBM. This was the perfect platform since it was open source code base and integrated with the Joomla CMS and QuickBooks. Now after 3 years of connecting the dots we have a powerful web infrastructure with "Complete transaction life cycle management" and "Customer Relationship Business Management". Very very very cool platform... we love it and so do many of the customers we have introduced to it. Though this system is also wired up with the DimDim.com conferencing and collaboration suite it also fills many gaps in client customer collaboration. These types of regular new innovations continue to add low cost of entry tools and value to the small business.

Sounds complicated but it is also very simple if you have time as your friend

What we have learned as "early adopters" is that there is much more to it than the technology if you are going to be successful. Complex Joomla Integrations are getting simpler as this platform evolves. The old carpenters saying get the right tool for the right job is very good advice.  Since there are so many tools now in our toolbox and we fully understand how they all can work together I know I can start talking about it and it does not take long to get that "deer in the headlights look" from a prospect. The trick here is making sure we establish a clear roadmap and strategy for implementing technologies that will bring the greatest reward to your business and value to our customers. This takes time and effort to get it right and should be done early on in your process.

Common Mistake #2

Just because you have the technology does not mean you should implement it.

The second most challenging aspect of implementing a complicated project is the thought process of "let's do it all at once".  I have often had clients that want to load up their sites with a ton of components and then they want to throw these new features out to their customers or workforce all at once. Well this is a huge horse pill that never gets swallowed. Hate to say it but until recently I have been guilty of this myself. There is a fine line between "Build it and they will come" and "Here take a bite and let me know if you like it".

Remember this is all about relationship management

I remember back in my days of dating that it only takes one or two words to "turn off" and scare someone away. Essentially this is a similar process we go through for attracting customers. While you want to make sure what you are presenting is honest and has substance you do not want to overload, overwhelm folks with more information than they are particularly interested in at the moment. You also want to put out information and web tools in a way that they want to have them presented. As in listen well and be a good conversationalist. Such is the case even more now with the Social Technology boon. I used to say "it is not hard to fall in love since people are impulsive by nature but the real challenge is falling in love with the right one". The same is true with technology. It can be easy to get excited about some new features and want to add them right away to your site just because they are cooler than the site next door. However,  every time you push something new out it may distract or turn off your customers.

In relationships of any kind they are best nurtured over time. Deploying technology is a complex multi dimensional relationship. Moving too fast has greater risk of failure for everyone involved. You actually have several relationships and processes that need careful consideration over time:

• Solutions: Customer Needs - Business Process Need - Technology Implementation
• Relationships: Vendor Teams - Client Teams - Customers

In Conclusion work smarter with a good plan

Plan carefully and gather the right information about your customers and how technology can get you the best results as it relates to your business strategy. Make sure you deploy solutions over time with good the right vendors and the right customers. These systems have enough complexity that you have to really keep your eye on the ball or you can and will often times fail. None of us want to waste time or money and the wrong decision in this economy could cost you business. Before you travel anywhere it is a good idea to get directions, a map or invest in a GPS. Why would you not want to invest in good quality consulting to help guide you along the path of implementing technology?

 

Value Builder Methodology

We have since built consulting practices to address these two common mistakes folks make with complex technology implementations. Yea sure we have to be geeks and able to wire all this stuff up and yes we do this well but the trick to getting value out of your technology is much more that the groovy tools we can dish out.  With a few exceptions, most of the technology these days is all ready built and what that means is there is a greater need for configuration and being able to map the humans with the technology in a way that will allow you to stay focused on your priorities. Just start asking yourself questions like: What actions will give the best long term results? What will put out the fires of tomorrow before they start? How can I make this profitable to my company and add unique benefits to my customers?This should help get you on the right path.

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Internet provides powerful networking opportunities that allow users to effectively target their audience by logging on to social sites like LinkedIn, Digg and more . Take advantage of these tools by asserting your company's presence online and reaching more potential customers, business partners and employees.

Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites

Share your favorite sites on the Web with potential clients and business partners by commenting on, uploading and ranking different newsworthy articles. You can also create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company's Web site.

1. Reddit: Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you'll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.
2. Digg : Digg has a huge following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.
3. Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.
4. StumbleUpon: You'll open your online presence up to a whole new audience just by adding the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser and "channel surf[ing] the Web. You'll "connect with friends and share your discoveries," as well as "meet people that have similar interests."
5. Technorati: If you want to increase your blog's readership, consider registering it with Technorati, a network of blogs and writers that lists top stories in categories like Business, Entertainment and Technology.
6. Ning: After hanging around the same social networks for a while, you may feel inspired to create your own, where you can bring together clients, vendors, customers and co-workers in a confidential, secure corner of the Web. Ning lets users design free social networks that they can share with anyone.
7. Squidoo: According to Squidoo, "everyone's an expert on something. Share your knowledge!" Share your industry's secrets by answering questions and designing a profile page to help other members.
8. Furl: Make Furl "your personal Web file" by bookmarking great sites and sharing them with other users by recommending links, commenting on articles and utilizing other fantastic features.
9. Tubearoo: This video network works like other social-bookmarking sites, except that it focuses on uploaded videos. Businesses can create and upload tutorials, commentaries and interviews with industry insiders to promote their own services.
10. WikiHow: Create a how-to guide or tutorial on wikiHow to share your company's services with the public for free.
11. YouTube: From the fashion industry to Capitol Hill, everyone has a video floating around on YouTube. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video from your company's latest commercial or event to give customers and clients an idea of what you do each day.
12. Ma.gnolia: Share your favorite sites with friends, colleagues and clients by organizing your bookmarks with Ma.gnolia. Clients will appreciate both your Internet-savviness and your ability to stay current and organized.

Professional-Networking Sites

Sign up with these online networking communities as a company or as an individual to take advantage of recruiting opportunities, cross-promotional events and more.

1. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
2. Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on "connecting business people" through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.
3. Focus: Focus is a business destination where business professionals can help each other with their purchase and other business decisions by accessing research and peer expertise. Most importantly, Focus provides open, quality information for all businesses that is freely available, easily accessible, and community powered.
4. YorZ: This networking site doubles as a job site. Members can post openings for free to attract quality candidates.
5. Xing: An account with networking site Xing can "open doors to thousands of companies." Use the professional contact manager to organize your new friends and colleagues, and take advantage of the Business Accelerator application to "find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context [and] open up new sales channels."
6. Facebook: Facebook is no longer just for college kids who want to post their party pics. Businesses vie for advertising opportunities, event promotion and more on this social-networking site.
7. Care2: Care2 isn't just a networking community for professionals: It's touted as "the global network for organizations and people who Care2 make a difference." If your business is making efforts to go green, let others know by becoming a presence on this site.
8. Gather: This networking community is made up of members who think. Browse categories concerning books, health, money, news and more to ignite discussions on politics, business and entertainment. This will help your company tap into its target audience and find out what they want.
9. MEETin.org: Once you've acquired a group of contacts in your city by networking on MEETin.org, organize an event so that you can meet face-to-face.
10. Tribe: Cities like Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago have unique online communities on tribe. Users can search for favorite restaurants, events, clubs and more.
11. Ziggs: Ziggs is "organizing and connecting people in a professional way." Join groups and make contacts through your Ziggs account to increase your company's presence online and further your own personal career.
12. Plaxo: Join Plaxo to organize your contacts and stay updated with feeds from Digg, Amazon.com, del.icio.us and more.
13. NetParty: If you want to attract young professionals in cities like Boston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando Fla., create an account with the networking site NetParty. You'll be able to connect with qualified, up-and-coming professionals online, then meet them at a real-life happy-hour event where you can pass out business cards, pitch new job openings and more.
14. Networking For Professionals: Networking For Professionals is another online community that combines the Internet with special events in the real world. Post photos, videos, résumés and clips on your online profile while you meet new business contacts.

Niche Social-Media Sites

Consider linking up with one of these social-media sites to narrow down your business's target audience. You'll find other professionals, enthusiasts and consumers who are most likely already interested in what your company has to offer.

1. Pixel Groovy: Web workers will love Pixel Groovy, an open-source site that lets members submit and rate tutorials for Web 2.0, email and online-marketing issues.
2. Mixx: Mixx prides itself on being "your link to the Web content that really matters." Submit and rate stories, photos and news to drive traffic to your own site. You'll also meet others with similar interests.
3. Tweako: Gadget-minded computer geeks can network with each other on Tweako, a site that promotes information sharing for the technologically savvy.
4. Small Business Brief: When members post entrepreneur-related articles, a photo and a link to their profile appear, gaining you valuable exposure and legitimacy online.
5. Sphinn: Sphinn is an online forum and networking site for the Internet marketing crowd. Upload articles and guides from your blog to create interest in your own company or connect with other professionals for form new contacts.
6. BuzzFlash.net: This one-stop news resource is great for businesses that want to contribute articles on a variety of subjects, from the environment to politics to health.
7. HubSpot: HubSpot is another news site aimed at connecting business professionals.
8. SEO TAGG: Stay on top of news from the Web marketing and SEO (search-engine optimization) industries by becoming an active member of this online community.

General Social-Media Sites

The following social-media sites provide excellent opportunities for businesses to advertise; promote specials, events or services; and feature published, knowledgeable employees.

1. Wikipedia: Besides creating your own business reference page on Wikipedia, you can connect with other users on Wikipedia's Community Portal and at the village pump, where you'll find conscientious professionals enthusiastic about news, business, research and more.
2. Newsvine: Feature top employees by uploading their articles, studies or other news-related items to this site. A free account will also get you your own column and access to the Newsvine community.
3. 43 Things: This site bills itself as "the world's most popular online goal setting community." By publicizing your company's goals and ambitions, you'll gain a following of customers, investors and promoters who cheer you on as you achieve success.
4. Wetpaint: If you're tired of blogs and generic Web sites, create your own wiki with Wetpaint to reach your audience and increase your company's presence online. You can easily organize articles, contact information, photos and other information to promote your business.
5. Twitter: Is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."
6. Yahoo! Answers: Start fielding Yahoo! users' questions with this social-media Q&A service. Search for questions in your particular areas of expertise by clicking categories like Business & Finance, Health, News & Events and more. If you continue to dole out useful advice and link your answer to your company's Web page, you'll quickly gain a new following of curious customers.

Job Sites

If you want to secure high-quality talent during your company's next hiring spree, you'll need to maintain a strong presence on popular job sites like the ones listed below.

1. CareerBuilder: Reach millions of candidates by posting jobs on this must-visit site.
2. The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal: The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal attracts well-educated professionals who are at the top of their game. Post a job or search résumés here.
3. CollegeRecruiter.com: If your firm wants to hire promising entry-level employees, check CollegeRecuriter.com for candidates with college degrees.
4. Monster: Post often to separate your business from all the other big companies that use this site to advertise job openings.
5. Sologig: Top freelancers and contractors post résumés and look for work on this popular site.
6. AllFreelance.com: This site "offers self-employed small business owners links to freelance & work at home job boards, self-promotion tips" and more.
7. Freelance Switch Job Listings: Freelance Switch is the freelancer's online mecca and boasts articles, resource toolboxes, valuable tips and a job board.
8. GoFreelance: Employers looking to boost their vendor base should check GoFreelance for professionals in the writing, design, editing and Web industries.
9. Yahoo! Hot Jobs: This site is often one of the first places that job seekers visit. Post open opportunities and check out informative articles and guides to gain insight on the hiring and interviewing process.
10. Guru.com: Build your company's repertoire with top freelancing professionals by advertising projects on this site, otherwise known as "the world's largest online service marketplace."

The original source of this article is InsideCRM.com, part of the Focus network of sites. I was in the middle of compiling my own and stumbled upon this great list. We hope you find it useful.

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Site Redesign with Joomla is booming 

Joomla Themes or Templates and Drupal vs Joomla Comparisons are rather popular topics and searches right now on twitter, google and in the blogosphere. Understandably since there are a lot of folks planning site redesigns and this is a logical time to question if you are using the right framework and what are my lowest costs for getting a new graphic design that best represents my business online. I have explored the Joomla vs Drupal comparison in a couple other blog posts listed below so this article will explore the whole custom design vs prebuilt template issue.

• CNP Blog Post: CMS WARS, JOOMLA VS. DRUPAL and the winner is... http://bit.ly/GUj9L
• CNP Blog Post: Joomla, Wordpress and Drupal best choice comparison http://bit.ly/xI0Rb

Three key elements of a template

When I start this discussion about the graphic design options with customers looking to deploy a Joomla CMS site I try to explain the three key elements of Joomla template. Which are:

1. The Graphics (design)
2. Module positions (wire frames).
3. Features and functionality (such as standards adherence, AJAX tools, unique modules, theme modifications etc.). 

I also take them to Rocket Theme demos to explore the template designs  they have available. While there are a number of template developers out there the Rocket Theme folks are simply the best prepackaged template developers and they have the best documentation and forum support in the marketplace.

Custom vs Prebuilt where is the value and priority for your site?

We do design and build templates for Joomla and appreciate customers that see the value in having a custom design so we do not shy away from this business when budgets or the client brand warrants it. However, when building any CMS system where there is a lot of content and features or functionality to consider, I highly recommend working with a solid well built prebuilt template that can meet your taste and requirements, for a number of reasons:

• The design process takes time and is often very subjective. This means everyone is going to have an opinion and it can often take a while for everyone to agree. In the mean time most of the other aspects of the site can be built while an in-depth creative design is being developed.
• Using a template can allow you to significantly reduce the deployment time and allow you to get your site live quicker.
• Most customers can not afford the level of development that goes into a robust full featured template with quality documentation. Documentation is key for ongoing maintenance.
• Often a custom design is not required since we can brand and tweak a prebuilt template to meet most clients' needs. This frees up resources to allocate on areas of the site development that could have more value in the end to your customers. Perhaps investing more into training your team effectively to manage and develop content can give you more bang for your dollar. Depending on the scope of your project you also need to make sure you balance your resources throughout the entire life cycle so you have enough to complete priority features or marketing once the site is built.
• Building a custom designed template and testing the template in multiple in multiple browsers is a significant project on its own. If you are building a site with any complexity it can be very helpful to isolate any potential issues. Such as if a layout with a component or module view is in the component code or caused by template CSS. Starting off with a template that has been thoroughly vented can save on development time hunting for and resolving bugs.

Joomla CMS let's you change your mind over time

If your project budget and brand identity require custom template development by picking prebuilt template that has a module position layout consistent with what you are going to need the custom template module positions could be modeled to match, making the transition to a custom template very efficient. The beauty of a Joomla framework is that you can always update and change the template design as your tastes, brands and customer requests evolve over time.

Another thing to consider that could save you a lot of money is that when you purchase a Rocket Theme,  for example, you get the Photoshop/Fireworks source files. These files are pre-sliced (layered images that are called into the template framework) for the template layout. If the graphics are all that you need to change the files can be output as "slices" once changes have been made to the graphics and provided you are careful not to change the "slices" these new graphic files can be integrated into your template directories with far less effort than trying to completely reinvent the wheel.

Build value through careful planning and setting priorities

One of the ways we offer considerable value to our customers is through careful evaluation of your needs so that we can help you determine the most cost effective way of achieving your goals and objectives. There are a lot of areas you can invest time and money into a Joomla CMS deployment . Our goal is to help give you the best information for making informed decisions about where you what to focus your priorities. Every project is different and thus each has its own unique considerations. The template considerations are the starting place for most projects since creative design is often the most subjective and because it sets the layout and style for which the functionality will be presented to your customers.

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Over the past three years I have engaged several folks to work on our SEO and Google AdWords programs. Everyone has a little different approach and each vender has strengths that the others did not. For the most part I felt yuck adwords statistics and number crunching all so boring... I just wanted to pass the buck and run as far away as possible. Yet the results have the most dramatic effect on our sales. To not hone my skills up front was a very expensive lesion learned. Like any technology if you are going to direct teams to manage this for you, you have to know and understand the rules of the road and how to navigate the ship in changing waters.  I feel like quite a goof for not digging deeper into this earlier in this process. I guess having worked with some talented SEO folks it was always a bit intimidating. I have recently found it is not really that difficult but requires some skill, patients and consistency over time. If you are someone like myself whom enjoys more instant gratification this can be rather frustrating. I will not get in to the great techniques we are learning for Google adwords since there are several great books on Amazon that can steer you in the right direction and this is part of our secret sauce. What I can tell you are a few things we tried and some of our lessons learned.

 

SEO for Joomla.

On the SEO side we went through our content after researching keywords to make sure we had the right density but we made some mistakes early on our Joomla CMS configuration so this did not work as well as we had hoped for natural search. Over time we found ways of optimizing the Joomla CMS environment to get better results. The key things that are important in a Joomla CMS optimization for

Search Engine Optimization:

1.       (SEF) Search engine friendly URLs. There are a number of components that do this and depending on whether you are using Joomla 1.0 or Joomla 1.5 there is a little different process for implementing this.

2.       Meta tags and Keywords management. There is a great component from iJoomla.com called meta tag generator that allows you to manage the keywords and meta tags for your articles from a central location.

3.       Careful use of Style attributes such as H1, H2 and H3 tags and bold etc. In Joomla 1.0 there are a couple things you need to do under the hood to optimize the templates use of these tags and then you have to make sure you implement the content management consistent with this. There are a couple great Joomla SEO books available that help guide you. Check Compass Designs web site for more information.

Directory Submissions:

This worked out pretty well and we had a great team implement a couple rounds of over 1200 directory submissions. This created a nice boom of traffic to our site but these have to be updated often and it is helpful to submit alternate pages. Most of the directories require manual submission since they have captua codes to avoid spiders from flooding them. I had a nice piece of software that would do small batches to a couple hundred directories that showed some quick results in traffic but the real key to success was working with a vendor that had an extensive list of over 6000 to rotate to over time.

Landing Pages - Lead Capture:

This was an effort to set up but can be a real powerful tool with significant impact on the conversion results. The landing pages must have targeted content based on the source that is driving traffic to them. If you have an adword campaign for Customer Relationship Management you need to have a page with targeted content and Keyword optimization for this campaign. In our case we integrated lead capture forms with a few select fields. Our goal was to direct the user to three options. Fill out the form, call us or go visit the web site at a page of our choosing. There is a real art to synchronizing the messages in your landing pages with the ads and associated keywords. Effective use of related video or graphics on the page is also something that can really give the campaign a boost. If you get your message wrong here you will not get good conversion. They will come and say "Yikes! ...another ad... bub bye." We ad some light (4-5 links back to main site) at the bottom so that it feels more like a mini site vs. an ad.

Here are some examples:

• http://socialnetwork.cnpintegrations.com
• http://joomla.cnpintegrations.com/
• http://projectmanagement.cnpintegrations.com/
  

Google Adwords:

The adwords for us has been on and off success and failure. Everyone that we has worked with on this had a different take on how to structure the ads and manage campaigns. While it is important to track and manage your campaign in a way you can optimize your results to improve over time, often if you need to drive traffic quickly to offset a slump in sales or current event it is more important to make sure your message and content is in sync than how deep you are tracking the results. This is one of those gut things you have to balance with statistics and strategy. Creating ads is really a science but having them connect with the pulse of the folks you want to attract takes a little more intuition. There are a ton of great tools in Google and elsewhere that can help you do more than just get a good ad campaign initiated. If you are intuitive with these tools you can really gather a significant amount of business intelligence regarding your competition. For small businesses this is best gathered and most efficiently managed if you can get a little hands on with developing these campaigns. Since your ability to compete effectively moving forward will most likely involve the internet. So you had better start getting savvy about these tools and how to use them. Adwoords can help you connect quickly with a large audience of folks with an itch to scratch related to your products and services. Great book: Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords

Social Technologies and the blogosphere;

Well it is a no brainer that social communicates are taking over the web waves and having the connections to the popular social networks and rss feeds built into your web framework helps you syndicate your articles and take advantage of a bit of the Social technology groundswell. Each of the many social networks has unique demographics and features that you want to review for the best audience you wish to attract. You will need to get involved and contribute to the conversations to get traction and link backs to your site. You also may want to segment which you will use for more of your professional verses personal profiles. The real power that kind of blew my mind was how blogging and twitter seemed be like gasoline on a fire. With the blog being the fire and twitter being the gasoline. The buzz right now to build a following is to have something to say that is honest and somewhat personal. In this new digital world we still want to communicate with humans vs the technology itself. So I started this blog a couple years ago and posted very little but I wanted to be cool and say "Hey yea I have a blog" so I posted some pictures and shared a few stories. Once I discovered twitter and looked at what many folks were doing "ding" the light bulb finally went off. When building a business the first rule in sales is to meet greet and relax before you try to sell anyone anything you have to sell yourself and build confidence that they can come to you for solutions to their pains. This is where blogging can help you communicate your message, corporate philosophy, approaches to doing business and other information that will build trust and confidence.

Being a Thought Leader:

The most successful bloggers are "Thought Leaders" where they are helping to inform folks by being ahead of the trends and often they help set them. So when you can find a voice for presenting interesting information that folks can identify with and where the information you present is useful, naturally you will grow an audience. When you throw the power of twitter at this it actually gives you a real time platform to drive folks to your blog. At the time of this article I am rapidly approaching 6000 followers on twitter and when you post links to your blog with this many followers, most likely someone in this group will go there. If you catch them with something interesting, they may RT or retweet you or send reply's (wink wink nuge nuge fellow twits... please RT this!). This pushes the information into the "twitosphere" that may get pushed to every other social network depending on the buzz that is created. Stop and think about this for a minute. You can now as an individual working from your spare bedroom or basement office reach out to and connect with the market place like never before. It really can be a powerful set of tools if you use it effectively. Look at how Ashton Kutcher competed with Media Giant CNN for the most followers on Twitter through his grass roots campaign and won. (http://twitter.com/aplusk) as of today he is up to 2,057,829 followers. Man... I would love to get a RT from him for "our company voice"!

Press Releases on the web:

This is by far one of the most effective tools for getting your message out quickly.  An earlier blog post on my blog lists 23 links for web sites that can push your press releases out to the world on the web . What this does is puts your "News Worthy" message out in circulation on the web for quite some time. Other bloggers may take this and expand upon it and perhaps add their two cents worth. This actually cascades across the web and cell phones reaching a huge audience very quickly. I sent out a release last year for the info@hand training support we offer and some new training modules we built. I was blown away when I did some Google searches at how many articles and other sites had picked this up and added to their syndication feeds. Regular press releases can really help get good track backs to your site and get your message syndicated quickly and over time for great results.

Conclusion:

There is no real silver bullet since all of this stuff takes time, patience and has to happen in concert with each other. There should also be a thread linking everything together with a pulse and rhythm just like conducting an orchestra. I remember a funny trick they used to do at the state fair where they would have a kid conduct the orchestra... they would give him/her the baton and whatever they did with it the orchestra would play. This often led to some very funny and unpredictable results. I kind of equate this to running an effective eMarketing campaign. If you write a good score and then study all parts, cast the right players, practice a lot, understand how to conduct the orchestra, keep a solid beat of consistency, then and only then can you create powerful music that will compel, inspire and motivate your audience. If not you are paying a lot of talented musicians to follow you on a goose chase and you could waste a lot of cash and miss potential opportunities.

CN

 

 

 

 

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Effective use of press releases can have a dramatic impact on traffic to your site

One of the most effective ways to push traffic to your web site or blog is to use press releases. I have done this mostly with the PRweb folks and have had great success. I was talking with a friend today that gave me this list of alternatives for getting your press releases syndicated.

1. www.prweb.com
2. www.free-press-release.com
3. www.prleap.com
4. www.clickpress.com   
5. www.express-press-release.com   
6. www.prnuke.com  
7. www.prlog.org   
8. www.afly.com  
9. www.malebits.com  
10. www.pressreleasespider.com   
11. www.pressmethod.com  
12. www.1888pressrelease.com   
13. www.pr9.net   
14. www.pressbox.co.uk  
15. www.pressexposure.com  
16. www.sanepr.com  
17. www.prurgent.com   
18. www.prfree.com   
19. www.freepressindex.com  
20. www.transworldnews.com     
21. www.prbuzz.com    
22. www.i-newswire.com
23. www.press-base.com

Once you get into this you will see a common format but for most you will need a strong headline, a summary paragraph (around 2-4 sentences) and then the meat of your press release. Most of the services give you clear guidelines on how to input your information.

 To create an effective campaign you will want to think about regular but spaced releases and make each release is news worthy. Ask yourself good questions like... Why is someone going to care about what you are releasing? What makes this important? What need or pain are you helping them overcome?

If you follow these links, read up on the directions and can create compelling news worthy releases and insert a few links back to your site, you will find this can have a dramatic effect on your web traffic.  

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