According to a consumer online behavior study from Forrester Research the number of people visiting social networking sites has doubled since 2007. Forrester surveyed 40,545 US heads of household in January and February 2009 about a variety of topics including online behaviors and media consumption. Their executive summary states that,

Our 2009 data shows a stabilization of consumers’ overall time spent with online media. However, engagement with the online channel has deepened, as evidenced by the widespread adoption of such activities as social networking.

Take a look at this graphic that shows the very clear trending in favor of social networking.

Notice the not so subtle big red circle I added? It shows a large jump in the number of people that visit social networks. That’s great news! However if you look a little further down on the graphic you’ll notice that less than 20% of those surveyed read blogs, so there’s a key lesson to learn here.

When you decide to launch your business into the social networking world it’s important to incorporate your blog posts into your social network. Import your blog posts into your Facebook Page and other social networking accounts, because chances are that people may not visit your blog, but they much more likely to view your content through a social network platform.

LEVELTWO
LEVELTWO Medical

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In order for a company to successfully utilize social networks like Twitter, you must directly associate it with your business. The easiest way to get started is to start blogging about your industry and distributing that content across the web. It’s a great way to let other people know who you are and what you do.

However, for the visitors that come to your site outside of a social network link it’s important that they also know about your social network contributions.

I recently came across a great way to keep your website visitors directly connected to your social media efforts. It’s called Tweetboard.

Basically, Tweetboard is a Twitter conversation for your website. It pulls your Twitter stream onto your website and allows for conversations between you and your visitors. They’ve even started using a new term to define it, “micro-forum”.

It’s less than a forum, but more than commenting because it lives in a real-time discussion environment. Each time someone posts via your board, a link back to the corresponding conversation is appended to their tweet, creating a viral stream of Twitter traffic to your website.

We’ve added the Twitter app to our own site so please feel free to leave us a comment via our tweetboard and let us know what you think about our blog.

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Blogging is important for your business, but it’s a waste of time if you don’t gather new visitors and generate interest. Routing traffic from search engines is especially important and these 9 SEO plugins below can help you accomplish that on your blog.

1. All in One SEO Pack
2. Redirection
3. Robots Meta
4. SEO Smart Links
5. SEO Friendly Images
6. Google Positioner
7. Permalinks Moved Permanently
8. Nofollow Case by Case
9. SEO Slugs

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Visit or website at ltwo.com or leveltwomedical.com
Plugin tips are from Problogger

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Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net shares a variety of tips on how to increase the subscriber numbers of your blog.

Here’s a summary of the tips he shares in the video.

1. Have good content. This is the MOST important part of driving visitors to your blog.
2. Highlight your best content.
3. Write a series of posts or mention future posts.
4. Promote your RSS feed on your blog.
5. Promote your RSS feed outside of your blog. For example in your email signature or on your main website.
6. Offering full content in your RSS feed.
7. Offer a free bonus to subscribers.

YouTube link & ProBlogger.net link

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Owning a blog is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity!

The online market has changed. Customers not only expect you deliver great products and services, but they also expect you to innovate the latest technologies and provide fast customer service. A good way to help your customers and prospects stay connected to your business is by creating an online presence that keeps them updated on the latest news and trends.

We’ve heard a lot of reasons why some companies don’t want to embrace the online social networking environment and we’d like to share our thoughts on three of the most frequent arguments against social media marketing.

1. You don’t know my business like I do.
   You’re right. No one knows your products or services like you do, but you’re missing the point of a blog. It’s about delivering interesting content about your industry. Let your main website be your selling platform and use your blog to reach out to people that are interested in your industry. The blog is not a place to broadcast your sales pitch, it’s a place to connect with real people, not the mindless masses.
2. People won’t read my blog.
   Successful blogging doesn’t mean you have thousands of readers a month. A blog can be successful with only a few hundred readers, especially if you work in a small niche market. Success is measured by the amount of interaction and connectivity you make with your readers, not simply the volume of readers.
3. It won’t help me sell my products.
   Wrong. Not only will a blog help you sell more products by creating deeper relationships with your current clients, a blog and social media campaign will reach more viewers than other types of internet marketing. For example, if you advertise on a few search engines you are not reaching the vast number of other networks that people commonly use to search for information. Unless you are publishing blogs, your prospects will never find you on popular blog search engines. If you don’t create videos, you’ll never be found on a YouTube search result.

Do you have a specific question about social media marketing. We dare you to ask us about it in the comment box below.

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Yesterday we said that Twitter Tools are Evil and today via SiteProNews we’re going to share with you some ideas on how to sell on Twitter without being hated for it.

…if you’re going to be selling on Twitter, whether you’re selling yourself, your time, your service or your product, you must remember that others are warning Twitter newbies against you! Why? Because you may not be providing much value to a new user. Heck, you may not be providing much value to an established user. To avoid being written off as a spammy, pitch-making salesman on Twitter, stick to Twitter’s initial intentions as a microblogging platform.

1. Twitter is a blog
You wouldn’t make your traditional blog overly spammy, loud and obnoxious. Don’t do it with your Twitter profile either.

2. Twitter is a community
There are other people on Twitter. This is why you chose Twitter to sell your business, right? Just remember that they’re people and not just users. Interact with them on a level that’s of interest to the both of you in order to build worthwhile relationships. From here, you may not only have a friend but a promoter as well. Friends come in handy for recommendations (#followfriday or hash-tagging your Twitter name), retweets or telling their twitterverse of your greatness. Don’t forget to respond accordingly and reciprocate!…

Click here to read the rest of Selling on Twitter without Being Hated via SiteProNews

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Yesterday we talked about a few of our favorite Wordpress plugins and just this morning I found two more I want to add to the list. I just installed them to the LEVELTWO blog a few hours ago and I really like them.

1. Broken Link Checker
   Monitors your blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found.
2. What Would Seth Godin Do
   New visitors to your blog will see a small box above each post asking them to subscribe to your RSS feed. After a variable number of visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location. The message can be excluded from Pages if desired.

Enjoy and happy Wordpress blogging!

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Starting a blog? Having the right tools makes a huge difference when it comes to blogging.

In this case, the blogging tools are called plugins, and we’ve put together a short list of some of our favorite Wordpress plugins. These little apps can help you with a wide range of tasks, from ranking higher in search engine result pages to ease of content distribution through the social networks.

1. Akismet – No more comment spam! Unless you’ve had a blog before, you have no idea how bad this problem is and Akismet and help stop the spammers.
2. FormBuilder – Build complex forms without any coding. Forms at the click of a button
3. Retweet – Allows your blog readers to share your blog title and link by creating a tweet on Twitter. The link output is your dynamic url.
4. SEO Title Tag – Search engine optimize your blog’s title tags. Create a customized title tag for any post, static page, category page, or any URL!
5. Shockingly Simple Favicon – A few clicks and you’ve created a favorite icon for your blog.
6. Twitter for Wordpress – Displays your public Twitter messages for all to read.
7. Wordpress Database Backup – On-demand backup of your WordPress database. Maybe you think it won’t happen to you, but the day your Wordpress database fails is the day you wish you would have installed this little gem.
8. Audio Player – Highly configurable single track mp3 player.

Do you use or recommend other Wordpress plugins? Please share! Tell us about it in the comment section.

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So you’ve decided to create something new in your business. Creating a blog that is engaging and interesting for people to read can be difficult when you are staring down that blank white page. You can write in waves, write only when you are inspired, and read lots of other blogs about your topic to help generate lots of new ideas on what to write about, but sometimes it is still difficult to be inspired to write.

Don’t give up yet. The creativity well has not run dry yet! Here are 7 more tips on how to engage your business blog readers.

1. Offer Advice
You’re likely blogging about business because you have business experience. One way to gain loyal readers is by sharing your knowledge and giving them practical information they can use in their own businesses. You can give your readers an instant benefit by avoiding abstract ideas and providing specific tips, advice and tools they can use right away.

2. Talk to the Audience
You’re already ahead of the game with this one, because the readers of your blog have interests that are common to yours, otherwise they wouldn’t be reading your blog. Get to know them by keeping an eye on comments, watching for trackbacks and listening to feedback in other forums. All of this input can be material you can use to make your posts resonate with your individual readers.

3. Share a Personal Story
Business is business and personal is personal, right? Not anymore. Today there is an increasing amount of overlap between the two, and people want to know a little more about the person behind the blog, beyond that they are an expert in business. So give a little of yourself to create a stronger relationship with your readers.

4. Go Off-Topic
Throw in an occasional post that’s not exactly business-related. If it bombs, it bombs and you know to go a different route next time. But if it is successful, you can insert some comic relief, mindless banter and maybe even a personal story as listed above to give your readers a brief change of pace.

5. Keep It Short and Sweet
You could probably write some very long posts when you’re discussing your latest business endeavor or what it took to have your website redesigned. If that much information is necessary, split it up into a multi-part series. Use lists, subheads and images to break up heavy content whenever possible.

6. Give Up the Wheel
Ask directed and specific questions at the end of your posts to encourage reader commentary. For every few posts where you provide advice, throw in a post that asks for the answer. Involving your readers will give them an opportunity to take an active role in your blog.

7. Give readers what they want
Carefully read the comments provided by your readers. They are invaluable because they allow you to tailor your posts to the information your readers are asking you to provide. Acknowledge the comments, answer the questions, and address the requests and you’re on your way to building great relationships with your readers.

Tips via problogger

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The other day I was explaining to someone why a blog is such a good idea for a business that is trying to optimize their website for search engines. I used the word “refreshing content” and I got a blank stare. They had no idea what I meant.

So if you too are confused by the term “refreshing content”, here’s an explanation.

Refreshing content is NOT

• An article that makes you happy
• Served with chilled, bottled water
• A type of coffee drink
• Good news about the economy
• Edible

Refreshing content is

• Preferred by search engines
• A great way to achieve high rankings in search engines
• Indexed (searched) faster than static content
• More up-to-date than static content

Examples of refreshing content would be a

• Blog that is updated at least 3-5 times a week
• New product page that updates often
• Weekly specials page
• Newsletter page
• Company news page that updates a few times a month
• RSS feed from your Twitter or other social networking site

Refreshing content is not only for preferred by search engines, visitors like to see that your website has been updated recently. People like to know that what they are reading is relevant and current. People don’t Tivo CNN’s headline news. They want to know the latest information and if you provide a steady stream of information not only will the search engines find your site to be more relevant, but your visitors will also find your site to be more useful.

Keep in mind, refreshing content is important for search engine optimization (SEO), however I would not recommend this strategy for search engine marketing (SEM). Best result for SEM would be to use a landing page.

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