It’s true, Spider Writers has enjoyed opportunities to mingle with the rich and famous. We’ve always been proud to count a bona fide Guinness record holder among our clientele. For years, Hampton Roads resident George Bell was known as America’s Tallest Man, yet today we have learned his title is now claimed by a man in Minneapolis. Igor Vovkovinskiy appeared on the Dr. Oz show to be measured for the official title.

Our friend George took the news in stride, saying he was happy for the opportunity to have been the country’s tallest man, and he congratulated Igor. If you’ve ever met George, you know that he’s truly a stand-up guy (no pun intended), and his friends in Hampton Roads will always look up to him (literally!).

Now, those of us who helped George with his website are wondering: what about his URL? We registered http://www.americastallestman.com for George for the purpose of promoting his record, but now that he’s officially off the Guinness books, what is the future for the website? Of course we would like to keep it live, since being the second tallest man in the US is quite a bragging point, too. To our knowledge, Igor hasn’t expressed interest in building a website, or registering a URL to define him. When George’s domain expires, should we let it go or re-up for another year?

When you think about, Igor is Ukrainian-born, but lives in the US. Technically, then, George is the tallest American-born man. If Igor moves back to the Ukraine, will George get his title back? One might think charting world records is simple, but there sure are a number of provisions!

Well, we haven’t decided what to do yet. For now, George’s site is still active at the same URL and you’re welcome to visit. This experience, in the meantime, has prompted other thoughts on domain naming issues, in particular for businesses and organizations that change scope and may require a new identity.

Let’s say when you launched your online presence, you specialized in writing services. You chose a domain that naturally represented your skills, and included “writer” in some form on the URL. You do a decent business, win a few clients here and there, but as you work you realize you’re doing more work directly with social media and networking. The writing component is still there, but not as prominent as, say, your freelance Facebook and Twitter work.

Suddenly the “writer” URL doesn’t really define your business. You can change the way your page looks easily, and maybe re-title it for search, but the URL sticks out like a sore thumb. What to do? Should you register a better domain, or keep what you have? There are a few schools of thought on this. For one, depending on how long you’ve had your URL, you may have established solid branding and recognition with it.  It may also be solidified within search…it’s not uncommon for some websites to lose that mojo when they move to a new domain. That’s something to think about.

If you are able to secure a more appropriate name for your business site, you can always point the URL to land at your current site. That way you don’t lose the momentum you built and you have a proper domain for print promotional items. Going to a site like Domize can help you determine a good name to register.

Until then, we’ll keep an eye on George. He could have a late growth spurt, you never know.

Surely this is something you do already – I don’t have to tell you that once you have published your blog post or article or Squidoo lens that you should ride the social merry-go-round. It’s a task that’s become automatic to me as well: I publish, then embark on the social media tour. I tweet, I buzz, stumble, digg, reddit, and so forth. As a social media specialist assisting multiple clients with building traffic referrals to their main sites, I’ve been told the social bookmarking work I do for them does have a positive effect. Some have reported instant spikes in traffic, while others detect long tail improvement. If you, however, have taken on the task alone of getting your important URLs listed on the major networks and bookmarks, you should know it’s not work that necessarily works on a solo flight. One Digg won’t get your story far in a world where people are willing to promote pictures of cheeseburger-loving cats for free. If you want that same level of attention, you have to get social with the bookmarking and foster your own buddy system.

Make New Friends, Keep the Old

Social sites like Digg and StumbleUpon make it somewhat easy for you to find connections. If you use a free e-mail services like Hotmail or GMail, for example, it searches your contacts for people who have registered, and gives you the option to fan or subscribe to them. From there it’s only a matter of recruiting friends to assist you in a mutual backscratching endeavor to help boost your sites’ visibility in these networks.

Digg, especially, frowns upon people creating multiple accounts for a singular purpose, preferring users instead naturally grow interest in the links submitted. To prevent spamming, some sites like StumbleUpon and Mixx limit the number of URLs from one domain an account can submit, while Reddit imposes a time limit in between submissions. As you gather more social bookmarkers into your inner circle, it could prove mutually beneficial for everyone involved.

I have a friend, for example, who helps my efforts by “liking” each Facebook page I create, and retweeting every promotional post on my personal account. If you want to wage a viral campaign, sometimes it takes only one clip for something to spread. Let’s say you have ten friends and family with accounts all over the place. If each just did one thing to help your site, that’s ten opportunities for an outsider to find your information and share it elsewhere.

Work on growing your buddy system, and remember that it works both ways. For the work you have friends do, don’t be selfish in sharing their data. A variety of information not related to your work, too, boosts your authority in social search, so you don’t look completely like a self-promoter. The more you assist each other, however, the sooner you’ll find a positive difference in your overall traffic.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with Virginia Beach web design and social media writing. Businesses benefiting from Kathryn’s expertise include European hotels, Norfolk handyman services, and Gainesville B&Bs.

Social Media for the Retailer

Businesses with active Twitter and Facebook profiles are well advised to make use of both when courting shoppers to their online carts or brick and mortar locations, but other social networks also prove useful. The key to successfully utilizing social media to stimulate sales, though, is to maintain a high level of activity and sociability. As people pose questions on your Facebook wall or send messages via Twitter, answer promptly and offer links to your sites whenever possible. It may not be necessary to change up sales information via social networks, but it’s important to make sure the messages stay visible.

Social Media for the Consumer

If you consider yourself a savvy online shopper, chances are you are following all the retailers you patronize the most, and have subscribed to all the right mailing lists and forums. However, social media can still optimize your shopping experience.

If you’re aware of a particular shop or restaurant in your area and are contemplating shopping there for a gift card or other item, Yelp.com can prove useful in making up your mind. This social forum, while on the outset a customer review site for dining, also accept commentary on local shops and services.

Similarly, Digg allows Internet users to find links on bargains as discovered and promoted by Digg users. A search on an item you wish to purchase for a friend or relative can yield information helpful in your search for the best deal.

Smart phones have an extra boost this year, with specialized apps available to assist in hunting the best sales.  Coupon Sherpa, a website known for providing sales codes for online carts, allows smart phone users to download coupons that are accepted simply buy showing the cashier the phone screen.

This holiday season, keep watch on your social feeds for the best shopping deals, and see how social media can save you money this Christmas.

What is it?

Reddit falls into the bookmarking category of social media. It’s a simple concept allowing users to provide content and vote on what they see. The more “good” votes they receive, the more likely the sites are to jump up to the homepage. Each user is also assigned karma, which is how much “good” they have contributed to the Reddit community. With each good vote, users get one point. In addition to providing numerous categories to filter submitted links, Reddit also allows users to create their own category.

Who uses it?

Reddit isn’t as popular in the bookmarking world as Digg and Delicious, but most people who use this site use it for the same reasons. It still serves the same purpose of providing information to people, so Reddit users are more than likely newshounds with more than one bookmarking account.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

If your Web site has a blog, this is another place to submit each entry for an increased amount of exposure to the Internet. When posting each URL in Reddit, you are allowed to submit tags for each entry, giving your entry a greater chance of being found by someone who is looking for it. Also, the more active you are in Reddit, the more likely you will be to get followed. If you vote “good” for entries you like, users that posted those entries are likely to vote “good” for yours, moving you up the Reddit karma ladder.

How to Sign Up

To register, simply provide a username, e-mail and password. Unfortunately, Reddit doesn’t explain the rules of the site very well, so take some time to familiarize yourself with the setup. Start reviewing articles and submitting them into appropriate categories and you’ll get the hang of it.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Kirtsy is a social bookmarking site that allows users to bookmark articles on sites they think are the most interesting, then put them in a popularity contest against each other. On Kirtsy, articles are categorized into articles about: Arts & Entertainment, Design & Crafts, Family & Parenting, Fashion & Style, Food & Home, Internet & Technology, Mind, Body & Spirit, Travel & Leisure, Politics, and World & Business.

Who uses it?

Although it mimics popular bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious, Kirtsy is directed toward the female audience. Most of the articles have something to do with women’s interests, and articles get voted on relevance to make sure they do.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

Like most social bookmarking sites, publicizing your business is easy when you can post URLs of each new blog. If your company offers services or products that women would find useful, place it on Kirtsy to increase its likelihood of getting seen by potential clients. By generating content for your company as many times as possible on the Internet, you are building the exposure of your brand.

How to Sign Up

To register, simply provide an e-mail address and desired username and password and you are well on your way to adding and reviewing content online.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Mixx is a social bookmarking site that allows its users to view a customized list of sites they want to see on the web. When you log in to Mixx, you see the top stories in each of the categories you want to see. Categories consist of Popular, News, Entertainment, Sports, Business, Life, Health, Tech, Science, Fun and Community. In order to see stories on this site, users have to submit a link. Then, other users can vote on its popularity. As pages gain popularity, they can move up and down the story popularity rankings, which have an effect on where the story is placed in certain categories. Users can also join communities that share similiar interests to help generate information about what they are interested in.

Who uses it?

Mixx users are most active in their individual communities they can join. By finding other Mixx users that are interested in what you are, more news stories are generated toward a specific topic. Most users are information seekers who have what they want to read brought to their profile page for easy accessibility.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

If your company has a blog that generates a different URL for each entry, it is wise to take advantage of social bookmarking sites. It is easy to get started sharing content on Mixx. Finding people that are interested in your company’s interests is a great way to network and attract clients. After you upload your site’s address, you can tag it with certain keywords that make it easier to be found by users.

How to sign up

Signing up for Mixx is easy. You can either use your AOL, Yahoo, Google, Facebook or Open ID information, or create a new account with an e-mail address and password. Take a few minutes to get yourself familar with the interface and the posting of information. Join a few communities and be sure to keep posting your Web sites often.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

StumbleUpon is a social media bookmarking site that allows users to keep all of their favorite sites they stumble upon in one place. Similar to Digg and Delicious, StumbleUpon allows you to search in categories of News, Photos, Videos, Arts, Business, Computers, Health, Fun, Lifestyle, Music, Science, Sports and Technology. You can also search for specific articles and filter them by tags.

Who uses it?

Like most social bookmarking sites, the majority of StumbleUpon users are people who constantly search and sift through content online. Easy usability and downloadable toolbars and widgets make this site easy to use to everyone.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

StumbleUpon provides another place for your content to be delivered online. With each blog written for your company’s Web site, each separate URL can be posted on StumbleUpon. People are also able to write reviews of each site on StumbleUpon. In addition to those benefits, you are allowed to tag and place your page into categories, putting it in the same category as related pages. Finally, use StumbleUpon like you would any social bookmarking site to search what the current trends are in your industry to better equip yourself with what your clients need.

How to sign up

Registering for StumbleUpon requires a valid e-mail address and a username and password. You will also be prompted to provide your gender and birthday. After that, simply post your articles and start looking for reviews.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Delicious is a straight-forward social bookmarking site that allows users to search for articles by keyword, or tags. You can also join networks, allowing you to find friends and interesting people to see what they are bookmarking. Sending and receiving pages of interest can be achieved by a few clicks of a button.

Who uses it?

Anyone can use Delicious, although it is probably mostly used for people who are constantly reviewing and searching for information online. Delicious allows you to organize your favorite pages and find others who may find the same things interesting, yielding similar results.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

Delicious allows users to post URLs to notable sites. After submitting, you have the opportunity to assign tags to the article, putting it in the same category as related page. For example, if you are trying to promote your travel agency, you can submit the URL and tag it with “tourism,” “hospitality,” and “resort.”  This allows it to come up in all searches with these keywords, allowing people to find it faster. The more places your site is published online, the more chances it has to direct more web traffic to your site. Also, if your business has a blog, each article can produce a different URL, allowing for more opportunities to promote your business online. You can use Delicious to search to see what people are bookmarking the most, giving you an insight on what people really want in each category.

How to Sign Up

When you register for a Delicious account, you must provide your first and last name, along with an e-mail address. Create a username and password, enter a captcha and move on to the next steps. Steps 2 and 3 in the registration allow you to download a toolbar to easily bookmark favorite pages, as well as import existing bookmarks from your browser.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Digg is a social media site geared toward bookmarking. When users find what they are looking for online and like what they see, they have the ability to Digg it, or add it to a bookmarked list of other sites they enjoy. Users can search for articles online via a search box at the top, or they may choose to browse the listed categories. These topics include: Technology, World & Business, Science, Gaming, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Sports and Offbeat. When someone finds an article they like, they can “Digg” it, adding to it’s popularity and likelihood of being found by other users, or they can “Bury” something, taking away a popularity point.

Who uses it?

People who use Digg are constantly going through information on the Internet. Some may have a toolbar on their browser that allows them to instantly “Digg” or “Bury” each page on the Web site. However, newcomers to the Digg world can see how popular certain topics are, and which pages provide the best information.

Benefits in Internet Marketing

Digg can work for any kind of business – you just have to know how to make it work for you. Having a Digg account should be an active process, not something to just sign up for and let it work for you. Digg allows the posting of all Web sites, so if your company blogs, articles can be uploaded to the site. This not only promotes your business, but allows for more circulation of your content online. Doing so allows more traffic to flow back to your site. On the flipside, you can use your Digg account to get information on what’s going on in your industry by searching categories.

How to Sign Up

You can provide Digg with as little or much information as you’d like when you register. If you have a Facebook account, you can enter your login information and it will automatically import friends and info, as well as post content to your wall as you upload content. If you don’t have Facebook, simply create a username and password and provide an e-mail and you are on well on your way to Digging through the Internet.

If you don’t already have an active presence on hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Whether your business is the tourism industry, non-profits or volunteering, health and diet or local/regional interest, we’ll do the research and craft articles for use on related third-party sites, blogs, and social networks – each of which links back to you as the main source of information. Contact us today for more information or to receive a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer is specializing in articles about SEO for travel Web sites and social media optimization.

Kirtsy has the skeleton of Digg and Delicious, but makes articles easier to find for women by categorizing them into these categories:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Design & Crafts
• Family & Parenting
• Fashion & Style
• Food & Home
• Internet & Technology
• Mind, Body & Spirit
• Travel & Leisure
• Politics, World & Business

Here, users can post Web sites and articles in these categories, and women across the country can read them and choose to make an article popular, comment on an article, or “Lose” an article that is irrelevant to what women really want.

Kirtsy comes in handy in article marketing because this gives freelance writers a chance to post content on their sites, pushing into the desktops of women across the country. By having articles floating freely on this site, each click on an article generates hits to a company’s Web site, increasing traffic.

Spider Writers represents a specialized branch of SEO services of with a concentration on content and search optimization writing. If you don’t already have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, or other hot social platforms, we’ll create them for you. As these sites gain popularity over various demographics, so their referral influence can help draw people to your main Web site. We emphasize the “social” in social networking, and will help build your audience. Contact us to discuss a social media optimization plan that is right for you.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer is specializing in articles about SEO for travel Web sites and social media optimization.

Need quality SEO writing to boost your site’s search rankings? Contact Spider Writers today!

In creating a website for the purpose of selling products or services, content is the key to high search rankings. Your text must be concise and precise as far as keywords and phrases go, and with clear links to supplemental information and a working contact form. When using social media to promote your site and encourage click-through traffic, you are allowed to be more verbose, as you must create searchable content that encourages third-party sites to use your content – and in turn display the obligatory links to your main site. The rise of social media and SEO writing as a means of promotion can help establish relevance for your website.

As you create content to point to your site, you will find several options for promotion, many of which interlink to create a steady routine one should follow. It is said the best way to sell products or advertise services is to be an expert on said subject. As you write, it is necessary to become an expert on social networks and social bookmarking, so you will know the best avenues for distributing your information.

What do you plan to achieve with your website? Do you sell clothing, promote real estate for sale, or offer accounting services? Think of an article you could write that is relevant to your site’s content – 250 to 300 words on average is a good length, but be careful not to overload on one particular keyword as that may trigger spam filters of some sites where you plan to submit. Once your article is written and the necessary keywords and links to your site are in place, here is a suggested plan of attack. As this schedule of submissions becomes routine, take note to check your site’s stats and referral links as they relate to your SMO efforts.

Submit the article to an article bank – Hosts of content-driven websites tend to look for supplement writings to their sites in order to draw traffic. When a site owner uses such content, they are obliged to link back to the author. As you write articles, find a reputable online article database and submit your content. As others use your work, you gain the opportunity to have your site links from several third-party sources.

Blog your articles – Create a weblog for the purpose of archiving your expert articles. Because Google and other engines hold blog content with high relevance in search, you increase the chances of click-throughs to your main site. Set up a simple blog account through Blogger or WordPress or another source, and link your articles to your main site. If the blog has an RSS feed, take advantage of it. Apply the RSS feed to any social networks that allow implementation. Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter are just three networks that can feed such content into their respective profiles.

Bookmark your articles – Once your articles are live, use social bookmark sites to promote your work. Sites like Digg and Delicious are constructed to collect links of relevant content. As you create accounts, save the various blog links and article links to these sites, and as people search the social bookmarks for this content they just may find you.

The more content you create and distribute, the better the opportunity for exposure. Considering the millions of people who use the Internet daily, the more sources available to you for placing content can help bring more awareness to your main website, and in turn drive traffic directly to you.

Kathryn Lively freelances articles on several topics within search engine optimization, including Virginia web design and regional PPC programs.

In the realm of search engine and social media optimization, you’ll find people and companies utilizing practically every tool available. News corporations use Twitter to update readers on breaking exclusives, companies set up fan pages on Facebook and sponsor contests and chats, and the tried and true blog is used more than ever given how timely content is more attractive to search engines than static pages. Yet, for all the “tweeting” and blogging and “Digging” going on, one must ask if using all of these profiles and platforms to relay the same messages over and over is doing more harm than good.

In short, if you blog, does it make sense to feed the blog’s RSS into Twitter and Facebook, and anywhere else it may fit? Is there the risk that somebody who follows all three of your profiles will become bored or irritated by the repetition and drop you altogether?

The answer is hard to determine, as one can’t truly determine how social media optimization will work for everybody. What works for Company A could backfire for Company B. However, there are pros and cons to repetitive content that can be explored and considered by those interested in getting the most out of their social media profiles.

Duplicating Content: Advantages

Tools exist that allow you to feed your blog posts into your Facebook profile and your Twitter account. Though there is no discernible way to feed a blog into MySpace’s blog, widgets can be set up to present an RSS version on your material on your profile. The main advantage to having everything connected is that you can create content at one source and distribute it easily to several places with the click of a mouse. There’s no need to log into several profiles. With the addition of bookmarking tools on your browser menu bars – for social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg – you can reach diverse audiences with your content.

Also, optimizing specific keywords to link back to your main site can be helpful in boosting your search rank.

Duplicating Content: Disadvantages

If you spend enough time in the Twitter and Facebook worlds, you may tend to read from other users of their dissatisfaction of some profiles. While it’s a given that anybody who sets up a social profile is advertising to some degree, to simply set something up as a droning feed may be a turnoff to some users. “Social” is optimal word in social media, so if you do have these profile it is encourage to use them beyond their RSS functionality and converse with the people who choose to follow your exploits.

It may take some experimentation to find the perfect balance between your content and the way it is presented. Study how you use social media, and learn what works and what doesn’t.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design and local PPC advertising.