Web News and Blogs

At of 12:01 a.m., Saturday, June 13, 2009, Facebook released its latest feature - Vanity Usernames. Instead of using the standard username id (profile.php?id=1035661502) or

www.new.facebook.com/people/Karen_Callahan/1035661502

 URL, you can now create your own username and have a short link like:

http://www.facebook.com/YourVanityUsername

I chose ‘WebExpert’, so, my new Facebook URL is: http://www.facebook.com/WebExpert

From a marketing perspective, I probably should have chosen my name or company name - and that would be my recommendation to my clients I was too excited to be able to choose anything I wanted, and let my emotions make the decision.

Update your Facebook account today - and - choose your name or company name.
   

I am still coming up to speed with all the adjunct websites that have Twitter plug ins and widgets, and was surprised to find a website yesterday, that measures the dollar value of your Twitter profile. Hummmm. How do they do that? What is considered in the measurement? And…how did this website become the authority? Is this website a member of the Twitter suite? A partner? An imposter? Who is Jonas Lejon? 

It is not clear to me today that this is legitimate, but, it will be if/when it catches on, and, for now, it is harmless fun.

How it Works

1. You enter your Twitter profile name.
2. The dollar value of your Twitter Profile displays on the screen.
3. Then, you can leave, or
   1. Enter your e-mail address in order to be automatically updated when the value changes
   2. Click on a button that will Tweet your account name and value
   3. Cut-n-paste HMTL code to add to your website that will display the value
   4. Follow a link to another screen that will get you started if you want to sell your Twitter profile. Looks like this: Would you like to sell your Twitter account? Click Here

Interesting concept that one would want to sell their Twitter profile. I am participating as myself (KarenCallahanMA), so, selling my Twitter profile would not work. I guess if I were using a generic name like WordPressGuru, it could be sold.  I wonder how an audience would react…Do you tell your followers that WordPressGuru is “under new management”? That’s a post for another day.

I tested two Twitter accounts, my web developer/blog developer account and an account I have for one of my hobbies. Here’s the value and the stats for each. 

KarenCallahanMA - My “new” twitter account established a week and a half ago is valued at $19.
Stats are: 10 Updates, 79 Followers, 53 Following, 3 Direct Messages

HobbyAccount - Created a couple of months ago, is valued at $39.
Stats are: 41 Updates, 65 Followers, 156 Following, 7 Direct messages

HobbyAccount is worth more. The differences? The HobbyAccount has more Updates, more Following, more Direct Messages, and fewer Followers. I guess, overall, more activity.

Both accounts have low dollar value - but - not the lowest. I saw a Twitter profile this morning valued at $7.00.

The Twitter profile of a friend who uses a generic name and tweets 30 - 40 times a day about a single subject is valued at $2499.

Highly-valued Twitter profiles are:

1. TheEllenShow is valued at $19,452.
2. SEO Guru ChrisBrogan is valued at: $19,162.
3. John Chow, the man who sold his WordPress blog for $15 million about seven months ago is valued at $12,834.

To find the dollar value of your Twitter Profile, go to Tweetvalue.com

What do you think? Did you check the value of your Twitter profile? Will knowing its value impact your Tweeting activities?

I gave a presentation at my BNI meeting yesterday. My group members wanted to know, ”What are the current trends on the Web?“ While preparing an answer, I reflected on the work that clients have requested during the dozen years that my website design and development business has existed.  Interestingly, I discovered that there have been 4 waves of website trends. They are:

1. Establish a Web Presence
2. Level the Playing Field
3. Get Found
4. Build Community

Establish a Presence
When I started Adventures Online 12 years ago, getting businesses to establish a presence on the Web was the focus, and at the time, many business professionals did not understand what the Internet was, and therefore were not convinced of the potential (positive) impact it could have for their businesses. Other businesses, what I would call ”forward-thinking businesses”,  were looking for new marketing opportunities and quickly took to the idea. For those risk-takers, the trend was to design and develop brochure-type websites.

Level the Playing Field
The next trend developed as a reaction to more and more businesses establishing presences on the Internet. When businesses in the same industry and especially, in the same geography, established presences, the goal of website development tasks shifted to leveling the playing field. Competitors had launched their websites with snazzier designs, more information and more functionality than those who had launched websites earlier. The bulk of the Web work revolved around bringing clients’ websites up to speed with the websites of their competitors.

Get Found
Then we reached the point where there were millions and millions of websites - and - millions of websites representing businesses that offer the same services and who all claim to be the best in their field. The focus of client requests shifted to: “Help me get found on the Internet!”. And, so, for several years the bulk of web work has been search engine optimization (SEO), and, my goal has been to get my clients’ websites higher rankings in the search engines.

Build Community
Recently, the popularity of the social networking websites has created a new trend, and that is to continue the community building begun at the Big 3 (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) at their own websites - and - to encourage visitors to their websites to connect with them and their communities via the Big 3. It’s a closed-circle community-building experience.

Since clients are actively driving traffic to their websites via the social networking websites, they have a heightened awareness of their responsibility to ensure that their websites contain link-worthy content and functionality that encourages conversation and community building. Typical requests these days are to:

1. Add links to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter profiles
2. Add blogs to websites of businesses that had previously resisted blogging
3. Add widgets, plug-ins, and functionality to websites and blogs so that the websites and blogs more similar to social networking websites

I am interested in learning what others have experienced - from both the website development and end-client perspectives. What have you experienced?

I recently participated in a teleclinic about social media called Get Connected. Get Found.™. Debra Murphy of Masterful Marketing in Marlborough, MA developed and delivered the program. The clinic included two 90-minute sessions, a week apart.  Participants dialed in to get connected via the phone, then followed along as Ms. Murphy presented the information in the packet of (over 40) slides she had prepared for each session. Participants asked questions and discussed as each topic was covered.

The slides included:

1. Detailed information about the social media websites
2. Step-by-step instructions on how to set up your social media accounts in a way that presents you in the best light.
3. Tips on how to get the Big 3 (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) to play together (so you can avoid duplicating your efforts when updating). Come to find out,  you’ll need a Google account and Google Alerts to help.
4. And, so much more.

I signed up for the teleclinic because I had set up accounts at the Big 3, and over the past year and a half, have dabbled at each site, not really understanding how to make them “work” for me. My original intent was to focus on LinkedIn and Facebook, and maintain a presence at Twitter - because I had to. Turns out that what I considered to be the black sheep in the trio (Twitter), resulted in more connections, more immediate responses, more information being shared, and yes, more community. That was an eye opener!

I came to the teleclinic thinking, “I’ve got my accounts at the Big 3 - Now What?” I learned that it is not enough to just have “accounts” set up with each of the social media websites. It is important to present a consistent “persona” across all of the social media websites - and that involves defining your “message” and “image”, strategizing, and planning. I also learned that the Big 3 (when set up correctly) play together well, and, that there is a plethora of adjunct tools that are available to help you keep the websites updated and in synch, and track interactions.

So, the teleclinic is chock full of information and tips that guide you through the social media experience. In addition to the slide packets for each session, participants received recordings of the sessions - and - a copy of Ms. Murphy’s e-book entitled, Get Connected. Get Found.™: The Practical Guide to Marketing Using Social Media. 

I highly recommend that web professionals and web diy’ers participate in this social media teleclinic. The next sessions are June 16 & June 23, 2009. To learn more about the teleclinic and/or to sign up visit Get Connected. Get Found™.  More information about Debra Murphy of Masterful Marketing.

1. Leaving older versions of your web pages on the server
   The search engines send programs to review your website. A program thinks that ‘aboutus.html’, ‘aboutus-old.html’, and ‘aboutus-save.html’ are 3 different files. This looks like duplicate content and can cause your website to descend in the search engine ranks. (Learn more about duplicate content and SEO.) Ask your web developer how they are archiving your pages. Confirm with them that the obsoleted (and previous versions of your) Web pages are on a local machine and not at your website nor at a development, staging, or test website. 
    
2. Maintaining your own website after SEO work
   I am seeing this more and more during these difficult economic times and want to highlight how damaging this is to your SEO efforts. Let’s say that last year, you had SEO work done by a professional. This year, money is tight so you want an employee to maintain your website. Now you have a non-SEO-trained person updating your website.  Due to their inexperience, they will inadvertently unravel the complex connections your SEO professional put into place last year, and gains that were achieved after the SEO project will begin to disappear.One option is to send the employee to SEO training. With that you end up spending the money you intended to save.  Plus, SEO standards are constantly changing, so you will need to continue sending that employee to training - and now the employee is truly distracted from his/her core competency.

   Set yourself up for success! An SEO professional knows what the search engines are looking for. They work more efficiently, and, in the end, will cost you less.