[ August 20, 2010 — Sarasota, Fla. ] New World Collaborative, a group of digital marketing professionals, has opened a new office at 1266 First St., Suite 5, in downtown Sarasota. This office will serve as an umbrella location for both the New World Collaborative and the three founders’ individual companies. The New World Collaborative formed in 2009 to provide comprehensive web development and internet strategies including SEO and social media marketing alongside digital public relations for clients, leveraging combined skills and educating the community on how to build their businesses without wasting money. Meet the founders:

Elizabeth Blair is president of Webjunkees, Inc., a company combining marketing strategy with award-winning creative to provide clients with not only a website, but a tool to save valuable company time while growing their business. Gabriel Marguglio is CEO of Destiny Technologies, which was founded in 2002 and focuses on website design, content management solutions and internet marketing. Finally, Gayle Williams is president of Vision PR & Marketing, a firm specializing in bridging the gap between traditional and digital PR/marketing for a diverse array of clients.

These three web and marketing professionals joined forces to combine their strong individual talents and achieve greater results for their clients as a result of truly working collaboratively on integrated digital and physical marketing and branding campaigns. Some of New World’s success stories include Sunshine from Darkness, Sarasota Ballet and Bach Elder Law. They will also continue to offer open-to-the-public seminars on best practices for SEO, digital PR and social media marketing.

New World Collaborative made their first splash in April of 2010 with the launch of their One-for-One Website Initiative. Inspired by eco-friendly TOMS Shoes, who donate a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair they sell, New World made a commitment to build a free website for a not-for-profit organization for every website developed for a corporate client. The most recent website was built for grassroots organization Second Chance Last Opportunity and went live in June. As New World Collaborative continues to grow, new One-for-One websites are in the works.

The New World Collaborative invites you to stop into their new home and meet the team. Stay tuned for news about a fall open house in the courtyard of the new office as the weather begins to cool. The New World Collaborative will look forward to officially welcoming you to their space!

New World Collaborative Sarasota, 1266 First St., Suite 5, or newWworld.com

About New World Collaborative

Founded by three marketing/PR/web development experts, each heading their own company, New World Collaborative came into being from the belief that collaboration among professionals on behalf of clients and the community at large is the highest order of business.  Using the most current, most effective and most efficient strategies in this new digital world, New World Collaborative offer clients cost efficiency in a team of senior experts in marketing, PR, web development, SEO and social media. Collectively, New World determines the most effective strategies based on each client’s budget and goals, not big overhead. Our community service is to empower our clients with the knowledge and tools to flourish and most importantly track the results of their programs in a meaningful way. Learn more at http://www.neWWWorld.com

New World Collaborative co-founders:
Elizabeth Blair, Webjunkees
Gabriel Marguglio, Destiny Technologies
Gayle Williams, Vision PR & Marketing

The Downtown Sarasota Alliance and New World Collaborative are hosting a free seminar on strategies to combine online/offline marketing and branding in the “new world” of digital PR. The Whole Foods Market Lifestyle Center (1451 1st Street) will host and provide coffee and light breakfast for the talk, starting at 8 a.m. on Fri., July 23.

 

The experts at New World Collaborative will share the latest and most effective techniques used by businesses to build brand awareness, overall visibility and action using tactics that are guided by well thought out strategy. “We are no longer in a world of ‘build it and they will come’,” explains New World founder and principal of Vision PR & Marketing Gayle Williams. “Small and large businesses alike must engage their audiences and build relationships by leveraging fully optimized website and strategic social media activity.”

Williams and New World co-founders Gabriel Marguglio of Destiny Technologies and Elizabeth Blair of Webjunkees will discuss SEO/SEM, digital PR, websites, social media marketing and more on Fri., July 23. This seminar is free for DSA members and $10 for non-members. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP to dsa@downtownsrq.com or call 366-7040.

Digital PR Seminar, 8-9:30 a.m., Fri., July 23, Whole Foods Market Lifestyle Center, 1451 1st Street, 366-7040 or newwworld.com, free for DSA members, $10 donation non-members.

Where: The Center for Arts and Humanity (SCOPE) 1226 North Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34236 Driving Directions When: June 28, 2010 at 05:30 PM -to- June 28, 2010 at 07:30 PM Add to my calendar   Questions? Contact Mary Anne Bowie at 941.321.0424 or email mbowie@greenconnectionus.org   I look forward to seeing you at Paperless Promotions. Send one or more people from your business to absorb this amazing knowledge.           Mary Anne  Greetings! Green Connection US wants to help you harness the power of the Internet by building your brand through the use of websites, micro sites, social media marketing and more. Join us on Monday, June 28 at 5 p.m. for networking and light refreshments; program begins at 5:30. You will learn how to engage your audience and build relationships through paperless promotion. We are no longer in a world of "build it and they will come." Stay in front of your competition and be informed of all the Internet has to offer with SEO/SEM, Digital PR, Social Media Marketing and more. The experts at New World Collaborative will share the latest and most effective techniques used by small (and large) businesses to build brand awareness, overall visibility and ACTION from prospects and clients using tactics that are guided by a well thought out strategy.   Your Host: Mary Anne Bowie, Executive Director, Green Connection US New World Collaborative Speakers: Elizabeth Blair, Webjunkees Gabriel Marguglio, Destiny Technologies Gayle Williams, Vision PR & Marketing Veronica Pastore, Vision PR & Marketing Food and light refreshments will be provided. Everyone is invited. Click to Register Now! Price: $25

Are you still operating your business the "old school" way?
Are you unsure of how to use social media to your advantage and profit? Does your website need a facelift but you're afraid it'll cost an arm and a leg?
Well, its a NEW WORLD BABY!!
NEW WORLD COLLABORATIVE, that is!

Saturday, June 19th on WTMY 1280 AM radio, from 9-11 AM, the "Talking with Gloria" radio show will host the entire NEW WOLRD COLLABORATIVE team!
Not only will they address ways in which to improve your business but we'll be taking calls to answer YOUR specific questions, pertinent to your business needs.
AND........THEY ARE GIVING AWAY FREEBEES to the first 100 people.......who.........well.......... you'll just have to tune in Saturday to "Talking with Gloria" and find out what you can get for FREE!!

LIVE Online Streaming with Video at www.WTMY.com or tune to 1280 on your AM dial.

CALL 941-954-1280 to find out what you can get for FREE!

Click here to learn more.

Joomla
If you need: A blog, home-page, videos, photos, e-commerce, ad server and community features.
Good for: Businesses that need more customization than what WordPress offers. The learning curve is less than Drupal's, but just a little less.
Famous user: IHOP, at ihop.com
Price: Free--but. Like Drupal, Joomla is probably too complex to develop, design and maintain yourself.

Drupal
If you need: A blog, home-page, videos, photos, e-commerce, ad server and community features.
Good for: Someone who needs customized content and isn't afraid to learn how to use it. Drupal can do just about anything. And if it can't, a huge user community is ready to swap tips to help your geek along.
Famous user:The New York Observer, observer.com Price: Free--but. It's open source
, meaning that an army of developers works on plug-ins for this thing gratis. So unless you're a coding ninja, you won't know how to install them.

To read more about this go to: http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/june/206660.html

Tech Stars
Bright new lights in the region.
Author: Molly McCartney
Photographer: William S. Speer

 

Sarasota-Manatee is no Silicon Valley. But we aren’t all real estate and tourism, either. The fact is that we have a growing number of bright, energetic tech entrepreneurs who are providing new products and services, from futuristic identity theft protection to nanotechnology inventions that stop the spread of disease.

To read more go to: http://biz941.com/ARTICLES/Past-Issues/2010/June-2010/Tech-Stars.aspx?utm_source=Sarasota+Magazine+and+Biz941+eNewsletters&utm_campaign=c940b64431-Biz941_Daily_04_20_2010&utm_medium=email

First let me say, I am not a Web developer. But I hire individuals and teams that develop knock-out, highly effective Web sites for my clients. If there is one thing I have learned its that you take a huge risk - and more often make an even bigger mistake - when you hire someone who does not have a multidisciplinary skill base.

What do I mean? Let me paint some pictures for you.

If you hire a  "computer guy" who can code anything you want you might have all the bells and whistles OR you might end up with a dull template site that functions reasonably well. It might cost you a bundle, or it might be a $250 quick job, but it is unlikely to have the sophisticated design that will resonate with your graphic brand standards. Be careful, though, because all that custom code might be proprietary and then you are tied to that programmer for the life of your website., So, you hire a graphic designer that knows how to design a web site.  OK. It will look GORGEOUS.  But what about the content?  Is it likely to have calls to action and urge a response (sales or whatever) from your readers?  Will it be able to capture names and emails of your visitors?  How about E-commerce or online donations?  Maybe you are better off with the programmer? Or you can get these two to work together.

But there's that whole idea of the Web site as a marketing tool?  You want it to pay for itself with online advertising and E-commerce.  You certainly want to capture the contact information for prospects.  And if you found a marketing person - or even an Internet Marketing pro who knows about SEO (search engine optimization) - maybe you can really get some new customers out of it.  But most marketing folks are neither programmers nor designers.

And what's that last skill set you think would be valuable here?  You guessed it. PR.  They way a PR pro sees it, a website is a new channel through which to communicate with various publics - clients, prospects, the broader community, the media, suppliers, investors, and the list goes on. What's even better is that you can easily customize and post information, photos, videos, etc. And don't get me started on the integration of social media with your website. It's a natural for PR professionals.

I urge you to really look at your web developer or your web strategy team. Where are their strengths? Their weaknesses?  Who do you need to bring in to get your Web site and web strategies in line and working optimally?

Gayle Williams Vision PR & Marketing
www.visionprm.com

Original Blog Post:  http://www.visionprm.com/blog/looking-for-a-web-developer-core-competencies

Twitter is not for everybody or every business, but it has proven a great way to extend the conversation with your public – however you define that public and that conversation.  But once you define that group of followers and you begin to attract them – be they potential custormers, clients, associates, or fans – here are some basic do’s and don’ts
 - DO have a personality, talk like a person, share stories. No one wants to follow a boring robot, unless your account is a boring robot with a specific function.
 - DO NOT get carried away or tweet too far off topic. We'd love to occasionally learn about your employees or general industry or local topics. We generally don't want to hear your views on politics or sports.
 - DO share links, photos, and videos. If you're a retail store, pictures of your newest items could be a great sales pitch. If you're a tech company, sure, show us some of your press. If you're a cafe, maybe a video of your superstar barista.
 - DO NOT spend too much time retweeting customers saying nice things about you. Once in a while, maybe. But too often, companies blast 4 or 5 tweets of praise in a row. Many people simply unfollow those accounts.
 - DO engage with customers over customer service concerns -- only if you think you can provide sufficient, consistent, and excellent care. Your best bet will probably be to use Twitter to funnel customers into your existing customer service channels, such as email or phone support.
 - DO NOT negotiate or try to service an unhappy customer in public. There's generally no reason for the rest of the world to see you discussing an issue they're having with your service. Try to get the customer to chat via email, direct message, or phone. If anything, to avoid the negotiations from ending up in the press.

Gayle Williams Vision PR & Marketing
www.visionprm.com

Original Blog Post:  http://www.visionprm.com/blog/6-dos-and-donts-for-your-companys-twitter-account

Congratulations Second Chance Last Opportunity for Winning the competition and all 3 organizations for participating. You will all have a FREE new WEBSITE from NeWWWorld Collaborative - One for One Websites

Today was a red-letter day for New World Collaborative!  We launched our One for One Website Initiative with what we hope will be the first of many successful events in collaboration with TOMS Shoes and TOMS retailers.  Wendy Getchell of Lotus Boutique in downtown Sarasota had the same idea at the same time (great minds…) and together we hatched up this event to support the sale of TOMS Shoes and its Decorate Your Sole project  while at the same time we identified three small not-for-profits that needed a new website (or a FIRST website).  Supporters voted on line for their favorite and came to the store to vote as well, after buying and decorating their TOMS shoes.

 
The store was jammed with browsers, supporters,  TOMS Shoes staff and representatives of Every Child, Inc. , Mothers Helping Mothers and Second Chance Last Opportunity!  The video telling the TOMS story played all day and produced a few tears!  And many were moved to buy their FIRST pair of TOMS shoes!
 
By the end of the day we had talked with countless people about TOMS’  One for One business model  and how it inspired us to do the same with our business .  For every pair of shoes/corporate website, one child/small not-for-profit gets a free pair of shoes/website.  
 
The result?
 
Thirty five needy children will soon have a pair of shoes.  
The most votes – online and in-store – went to SECOND CHANCE LAST OPPORTUNITY!!  They will receive a free website, 3 months of SEO/Internet Marketing,  Social Media Training and PR support.

 
The runner-up – only ONE vote behind – was MOTHERS HELPING MOTHERS.  Their in-store presence was not as strong, but they made up for it with a last minute blitz of on-line votes.  We decided they deserved a website as well.  
And finally, with the strongest in-store voting but fewer votes on line,  EVERY CHILD, INC. was in third place.  Obviously we couldn’t have EVERY CHILD left behind without a website, so the New World Collaborative team decided to work on a website for them as well!!
 
It was a great day.

Destiny Technologies
Founding member of the New World Collaborative

Tell us about trends in your industry...

Many are challenged whether social media is a business booster or a waste of time.  Bottom line: expanding the conversation with key audiences and prospects raises your credibility and profile if done in a responsible manner.  Creative campaigns and sales messages can be effective, but real relationships are the goal of social media involvement. Whomever one works with it’s important that the process and message be cleverly defined and parameters set for managing it.
 
What feedback are you getting from clients about their advertising, marketing, and PR and their expectations?

The best foundation for marketing and PR is a website that supports and drives all efforts. We see a disturbing number of clients after they’ve bad experiences. Even if your website developer is your marketing consultant as well, you should always “own the code” of your sites, have access to modify and update elements.
 
How does New World Collaborative demonstrate value in the marketing and PR services?

By streamlining operations, clients receive cost efficiency of a team of senior experts in marketing, PR, web development, Search Engine Optimization(SEO) and social media. Collectively we determine the most effective strategies based on each client’s budget and goals, not big overhead.  Our community service is to empower our clients with the knowledge and tools to flourish and most importantly track the results of their programs in a meaningful way.


New World Collaborative Co-Founders:  Elizabeth Blair / Webjunkees, Gabriel Marguglio / Destiny Technologies, and Gayle Williams/ Vision PR & Marketing.

         

Three Local Not-For-Profits Compete for a Free Website  - Winner will be Announced at Lotus Boutique in Downtown Sarasota at One for One event on Saturday, April 17
 
[Sarasota , FL-March 28, 2010]  New World Collaborative, founded by three digital marketing professionals and their companies, is launching its One for One Website Initiative to build a free website for a not-for-profit for every corporate client website they develop.   This generous commitment to the community follows in the footsteps of the highly-publicized mission of Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS.
 
New World Collaborative (www.neWWWorld.com) has selected three not-for-profit organizations that provide basic human services which also are in need of a search engine friendly website that they can modify through content management and an integrated blog.  Each of the three organizations are featured on www.neWWWorld.com  where their supporters and the general public can cast their vote for the organization they wish to receive the website “make-over” and watch the competition as it heats up.  
The three organizations selected are Every Child, Inc. , Mothers Helping Mothers, and Second Chance Last Opportunity.  “We are honored that we can highlight three exceptional organizations that do so much for our community,” says New World Collaborative co-founder Gayle Williams of Vision PR & Marketing. “We’ll have one grand winner, but we hope that when we are done everyone will know of their good work and their support will be multiplied.”

 

               

On Saturday, April 17 from 10 am to 3 pm all three organizations will be highlighted at downtown Sarasota’s Lotus Boutique (1451 Main Street) where there will be TOMS Shoes for sale.   Visitors to the store have an opportunity to purchase a pair of TOMS shoes and give back to the community twofold.  By purchasing a pair of TOMS Shoes, each person will know a pair of new shoes has gone to a child in need.   They will also be given a Power Ticket (worth 5 votes) to cast in favor of their chosen not-for-profit.  At 3 pm votes will be tallied and the winning organization will be announced.
 
TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what they're all about. The TOMS One for One business model transforms customers into benefactors, which allows TOMS to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.
 
“TOMS Shoes is a real inspiration and we couldn’t wait to put this One for One Website program into place because in this new world of marketing, a highly functional, visible and results oriented website is as essential as a pair shoes,” says New World co-founder Gabriel Marguglio of Destiny Technologies.
 
As part of TOMS Shoes “Style Your Soul” project,  downtown screen printing shop, Clothesline and  local artists will be there decorating your shoes for an additional benefit and special treat for your tootsies. TOMS takes it one step further asking “How do you express your individuality?” Your own design  could end up as part of a real TOMS limited edition shoe and sold on TOMS.com if you submit it for their Style Your Soul contest promoted at www.TOMS.com.  TOMS and TeenVogue will select 10 finalists, and then it’s up to you to pick the winner. The contest will run through the submission deadline on April 30, 2010.
 
“This is an exciting collaborative effort working with Wendy Getchell of Lotus and TOMS Shoes to raise awareness of how we can all make a difference in the world with the choices we make every day,” says co-founder Elizabeth Blair of Webjunkees. “We hope everyone will come out and show their support.”
 
About New World Collaborative – Founded by three marketing/PR/web development experts, each heading their own company, New World Collaborative came into being from the belief that collaboration among professionals on behalf of our clients and the community at large was the highest order of business.   Using the most current, most effective and most efficient strategies in this new digital world with streamlined operations, members of New World Collaborative offer clients the cost efficiency of a team of senior experts in marketing, PR, web development, Search Engine Optimization(SEO) and social media. Collectively, we determine the most effective strategies based on each client’s budget and goals, not big overhead.  Our community service is to empower our clients with the knowledge and tools to flourish and most importantly track the results of their programs in a meaningful way.  www.NeWWWorld.com    

         

 

New World Collaborative Co-Founders:  Elizabeth Blair / Webjunkees, Gabriel Marguglio / Destiny Technologies, and Gayle Williams/ Vision PR & Marketing.

Google launched an interesting new tool – Google Buzz. Google Buzz is Google’s way to help you connect and engage with the people in your social circles. It's Google's version of Facebook and Twitter.

Sort of like Facebook, but built right into Gmail. And it turns out there is a huge mobile and local component to it.


How Google Buzz works on Mobile Devices:

When using Buzz on mobile devices like iPhone or Android, it:

• Uses your location to identify places around you.
• Allows you to create messages based on your location (kind of like Foursquare, Gowalla or Yelp)
• Adds a Buzz layer to Google Maps on your device, where you can post public comments or photos. Perhaps most interesting is you can visit a Place Page for a local business and see what others are “buzzing” about there.
• Voice shortcut – this is pretty cool. It allows you to post buzz without even typing anything when you say “post buzz” followed by your post.

Small Businesses Could Leverage Influential Buzzers to promote their site




If you could get “top buzzers” buzzing about your business… This would be cool in a couple of ways – updates from a top “buzzer” would show up in their activity stream on their Google Profile, and also on your business Place Page.

And nearby people who are in Google Buzz on their mobile devices would see the activity about your business on the new “Buzz Layer” in Google Maps too.

Take Aways for Local Businesses

Here's what Local Businesses could do with this new technology:

• Claim your Google Local Business Center Profile if you haven’t already!
• Add photos and other details about your business so that your Place Page looks sweet. Make sure to get some online reviews too.
• Set up your Google Profile, and find and connect with “Buzzers” in your area!

What do you think about Google Buzz? Is this huge for local businesses or will it be ignored?




Original post by:  www.expand2web.com

Destiny Technologies, as a founding member of The New World Collaborative is excited to launch it's "One-for-One" initiative in collaboration with Lotus boutique and TOMS Shoes. The idea comes from Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes. He established the one-for-one model by donating a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair he sells — so far over 400,000 shoes to children all over the world. Click here to learn more about TOMS One for One We were inspired to do the same: For every website we develop for a corporate client, we will build a free website for the not-for-profit organization of the client’s choice. Why?  Like Blake, we want to give back!

	Every Child, Inc. Founded by community volunteer Judy Alexander, this grassroots program started by making sure that every child residing in public housing in Sarasota was given a backpack full of school supplies prior to the beginning of each school year. During the holidays, every child is invited to a Christmas party complete with Santa and his elves distributing gifts. And finally, each spring Every Child’s Cinderella Projects, helps dreams come true for young ladies who need a fine evening dress to wear for prom.  Local business rally to provide some of the other things now expected preparing for and enjoying prom nights – hair styling, manicures, restaurant meals, limo service.  Every Child is an entirely volunteer run organization dependent upon the support of the community and individuals. (NO WEBSITE)
	Mothers Helping Mothers Mothers Helping Mothers is a network for necessities that has been helping families for over 20 years. We help those who are falling through the cracks and have exhausted other resources. We provide cribs, clothing and baby supplies for working families in Sarasota County. We are a 501(c)(3) and we are an all volunteer organization. (NO WEBSITE)
	Second Chance Last Opportunity Second Chance-Last Opportunity (SCLO) is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization whose mission is to teach life management skills to at risk teens, teen mothers, homeless and low income families in our community. The  non-profit agency holds the view that in order to make a permanent change, the disadvantaged in our community must be given the opportunity to learn to be self-sufficient.  SCLO provides them with the tools, guidance, and the opportunity they need to make a better life for themselves and their families.      (www.secondchancelastopportunity.org)

Lotus (www.lotussarasota.com) 1451 Main Street, Sarasota, FL a chic, stylish boutique, located in Sarasota, Florida.

To learn more click here to go to the New World Collaborative website (www.newwworld.com)

Google Island Presents... Lindsey Ray in a FREE Concert! Who: Lindsey Ray, singer/songwriter/recording artist What: Free concert on Google Island, Sarasota Where: Let’s repeat, Google Island, Sarasota When: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm Why: To bring Google Fiber to Sarasota! What to Wear: Google Glam GO TO THIS FACEBOOK EVENT FOR MORE INFO: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107566075928695&ref=ts

The Sarasota Farmers Market was temporarily renamed: Sarasota Google Market READ THE BLOG ENTRY HERE: www.sarasotafarmersmarket.org/blog/ We want GOOGLE FIBER IN SARASOTA! Go to www.googleisland.net to VOTE FOR SARASOTA TODAY! Became a FAN on FACEBOOK

BROADCASTING LIVE VIDEO FEED OF THE SARASOTA FARMERS MARKET ON THEIR WEBSITE: Now you can watch a Live Video Feed of the SFM on their website (www.sarasotafarmersmarket.org). Here's a link to the live feed:    http://www.sarasotafarmersmarket.org/sarasota-farmers-market-video-feed-live

NOMINATE SARASOTA NOW!

Google is looking for nominations from the community. Our city and county officials are working on the formal proposal to send to Google, but WE need to show community support too!

We encourage to do all this as soon as possible!!!! Let's get Google Fiber in Sarasota Florida!!!

SUBMIT YOUR VOTE HERE:     http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options
Here you have a video created to push this idea:


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is Google trying to do?
They are looking for optimal cities to deploy ultra-high speed networks. These networks would be over 100x faster than what we currently have available. They are gathering data from communities, and looking for community support before they choose the best locations.

How will they decide where to deploy?
Nobody knows but Google, but we believe it will be based on three major factors. 1) How much "dark" fiber is available for them to buy or lease 2) How easy it will be to work with local municipalities and 3) Community demand and support for the project.

How will is effect Sarasota?
Broadband is a major catalyst for economic growth. In today's digital world, bandwidth is the lifeline for many different industries including health care, technology businesses, creative industry and more. The applications that require ultra-broadband will drive businesses to setup offices in Sarasota, it will create jobs and improve our ability to compete in a digital economy.

Who is driving this effort?
Everyone is participating. The HuB is working with city and county leadership, business leaders, Ringling College of Art and Design, Mote Marine, and many other organizations. But the most important component is getting the community behind the initiative.

When will they decide?
The deadline for the application is March 26th. According to their website, they will make decisions by the end of the year. We need to push as hard as we can over the next month to show them that we want to make the short list!!


Original post:   http://www.googleisland.net/

Social media can be many things: a place to network with friends, a way to follow market trends and monitor brand sentiment, a customer service tool for identifying unhappy customers. But is it a tool for demand generation? I believe the answer is yes, but that it requires a different mindset for lead generation and measuring ROI.


I’ll begin with a short history of B2B marketing trends, including the evolution of social media.

The Changing Buyer and Evolving Marketing Trends

A key tenant of Modern B2B Marketing is that buyers will use search and the ready access to information to take control of the buying process – and as a result do not want to engage with Sales until they are much further along in the cycle. But this was not always true:

Before Google (more than 10 years ago)

Buying behaviors: Information was not readily available and the only way a prospect could get the necessary information way to engage a sales rep from your company. Mistrust ruled the day, and buyers created RFPs and purchasing centers to try to equal the playing field.

Marketing trends: Marketers focused primarily on brand building and awareness. Most investments focused on hard to measure methods such as mass advertising, tradeshows, and PR with traditional print media. Direct mail and cold calling made up the majority of targeted interactions, and marketers passed all new leads to Sales for follow-up.

Before Social Media (2 to 10 years ago)

Buying behaviors: Corporate websites were mature and search became the dominant way to find information. Prospects were willing to share their contact information in exchange for the information they wanted.

Marketing trends: Marketers began to focus on SEO, PPC and email marketing to drive traffic, and created content such as whitepapers and webinars to convert traffic into leads. Marketers reallocated budgets towards highly measurable channels and began to be more accountable for lead generation. The best marketers realized that their leads were often too early to send to sales, and invested in lead scoring and lead nurturing to find the hot leads and develop the rest.

The Age of Social Media (today and future)

Buying behaviors: More and more information is available off the official corporate website and on social media sites ranging from LinkedIn and Twitter to YouTube and SlideShare. As buyers tire of “marketing speak” and over-aggressive marketing tactics, they search social sites as part of their research, and interact with other prospects to get and share word of mouth recommendations. Prospects are less likely to register for early stage content on the corporate website, and typically contact the company only when they are ready to engage in a sales cycle.

Marketing trends: Marketers will reallocate investments back to brand, buzz, and awareness – but instead of mass advertising and traditional PR, marketers will invest in smart ways to build brand such as social media, search engine optimization, and content marketing. Lead nurturing will evolve to include building relationships with prospects before they ever give you their name by sharing relevant and useful information across a variety of sites and channels. These changes will have a positive impact on lead generation by increasing the number of highly-qualified inbound leads, but measurement of ROI will be a challenge.

Social media translates into higher quality inbound leads.



Original post: blog.marketo.com

We have launched our new collaborative website www.newwworld.com (NEW WORLD COLLABORATIVE) and the One for One program for Non-profits. One for One is a simple concept – for every website we develop for a corporate client, we will build a FREE website for the not-for-profit organization of the client’s choice. Why?   Simple answer – it’s for the good of the community. We want to give back. We got this idea from Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes who invites everyone to join him in the One for One model he established by donating a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair he sells.

He’s given over 400,000 shoes to children all over the world.  That’s inspiring.
Click here to learn more about One for One

Disclaimer- One for One websites will be of comparable size and functionality to the original host client’s site.

Google has launched a new tool called Browser Size on their Google Labs. This tool could help you analyze the content on your website and distribute most important information, buttons or calls to action in the right place (where they will have more visibility)

BrowserSize allows you to bring your website (thru a web url address) and showing it at the same time than a grid of visibility. This will show you the percentage of people that will see the content and help you decide if you want to move something.



Even though this is not a new concept, it is a nice tool that helps us realize where we put content and how we can make our landing pages work harder for us.

Try it, click here

 

• 300,000+ business have a presence on facebook
• Participants in online communities usually spend more $ online.
• 70% of companies plan to increase investment in social media by an average of 40% in 2010.
• Social media = Low Cost Marketing + Getting Traction
• Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

What do you think about social media?  Share your story and if you need more information on how social media can help your business grow please call us at 1(866) 388-2697, or click here to contact us.

You can start by checking these sites:

• facebook
• twitter
• youtube
• tumblr
• myspace

Thanks
Destiny

Twitter Search is a great tool because it can give you real-time feedback about what's going on. That is, if you know the smart way to use it. Both TweetDeck & Seesmic allows you to open special search panels, allowing you to “follow” a search term, instead of a person.

Here's a video about Twitter search and some smart ways to use it bellow.

Here you have some good ways to keep on top of things.

1 - Get up to speed with all the latest news about a specific thing:
let say you want to get all the new links about "internet marketing", not including the many re-tweets that people make use this term:
“internet marketing” -rt filter:links

2 - Find all the people who are not talking about you directly:
If I want to find all the people who mention your name, but aren’t replying to you use this term:
qualityseoweb -to:qualityseoweb -from:qualityseoweb -@qualityseoweb

3 - Get all reactions across multiple twitter accounts:
Lets say you have 5 twitter profiles and you would like to see everything in one place.
to:qualityseoweb OR to:qualityseoweb2 OR to:qualityseoweb3 OR to:qualityseoweb4 OR to:qualityseoweb4

4: Follow what people say about your competitors:
If you want to follow not only what your competitors are saying, but also how people respond to them, try this:
from:competitor OR to:competitor

5 - Only follow links from certain people:
Let’s say that you only want to see the links that I share, then you simply search from, try this:
from:qualityseoweb filter:links

6 - Only get the new info about a topic:
if you want to search for anything about ‘apple’ but without the re-tweeted stuff
“apple” -rt -via

7 - Find all shared pictures about a specific topic:
It can be interesting to see only the pictures that people post about a certain topic or event. Try this:
“le mans” twitpic OR yfrog OR post.ly OR twitgoo OR pikchur filter:links


Have you figured out any other ways to use Twitter Search that you’d like to share?
How about trying these above and letting us know what you think, in the comments?

Destiny Technologies specializes in customizing the open-source, open-market content management solution called JOOMLA. This software is available to any developer who wishes to gain experience and expertise with the system. Programmers, designers and developers at Destiny Technologies have been working with JOOMLA almost as long as it has been available to the public. The advantage for our clients is that rather than utilizing a website developed in a proprietary code which ties the client to the owner/developer, our JOOMLA websites are wholly owned by our clients and there are thousands of companies and individuals working on this community.

JOOMLA is a powerful and efficient tool for developing highly interactive websites and online communities because of the ease of use by the average client with only minimal training. There are a wide variety of modular functions for E-commerce, newsletter subscriptions, blogs, response and comments, interaction with outside social media networks and the development of profile development and sharing (Facebook-style) which can be applied and programmed into a custom site.

We have a deep level of experience with both content management utilizing JOOMLA and online communities and consider these our preferences for development.
All these things make Joomla a GREAT OPTION for Non-profit organizations, since you can develop Content Management Communities with lots of features for a very low price.

Here's a new website we just put live this weekend for a non-profit organization in the Sarasota, Florida Area. (Bertha Palmer Alive!)

Here you have a video of our latest website designs made with Joomla search engine friendly CMS technology. Joomla websites are prepared for the search engines and there are many tools you can use to make them even more SEO friendly. If you would like a FREE WEBSITE EVALUATION please complete the simple form on the right (with your website and email address) and we'll send it to you. This website evaluation will consist on a description of what you could do on your website to make it grow and also how much are you prepared for the search engines. We always recomend usign tolls like facebook, twiiter, and other social networks to improve your inlinks...  this is all part of your website evaluation.
Please contact us if you have any questions.

Many people view online social networking tools, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Myspace as time-draining distractions. But a benefit of Facebook that may not have occurred to you is that Facebook will allow you to aggregate content from around the Web, and easily pull it into one central page, which will help you spread the word about your organization. Facebook also has the benefit of having your installed audience, your network of friends at your fingertips, so you can easily announce new activities, campaigns, and events to your self-selected constituency of like-minded individuals and groups, without having to email a large group of people and risking the effects of a spam filter's black hole.

Facebook can be an essential tool for nonprofit organizing, because it is an efficient way to connect with other organizations and people which might not have known about your organization before. It's also an easy venue to plug into an existing audience that has similar interests. If your nonprofit has video content, podcasts, interviews, or documents just languishing on your desktop, creating a presence on Facebook provides an easy way to upload these types of media, without spending the time or resources required for updating your own Web site.

The way that Facebook interacts with other social media tools, like Twitter, blogs, and Flickr, can provide a simple interface to consistently and easily update your community of supporters with news of your organization's activities.

Best of all, using Facebook is free so the cost is only in how much time you and your staff choose to invest. What's the return on the investment? If not a direct monetary ROI, there will definitely be a marketing return that becomes evident as your network grows. Creating a fan page on Facebook is also a great way to increase your volunteer base and to help your members do the advertising of your organization’s mission for you.

Finally, if you are worried about your personal pictures or information being visible to your nonprofit colleagues, take a word of advice: Nothing on the Internet is private. It is common practice for a hiring manager to search online for prospective employees. You can set up a Facebook fan page and create a network for your organization from there, but you will need to have an account to connect with others. It is more effective to connect with others as a real person than it is as a faceless organization. It's much more effective to become a personality on the Web, no matter the magnitude of your stardom, and let the person'behind the organization make the announcements and grow the network. If you really want something to remain private, don’t post it under your own name on the Web

How Can Your Nonprofit Get Started?

Here are a handful of resources to get you started.

• www.facebook.com
• Facebook for nonprofits
• Nonprofit Organizations Facebook Page

Do you use Facebook for your nonprofit affiliations and networks? Post a comment bellow with the link to your profile and discuss how you use this newly expanded online social networking tool.


Original post: http://blog.techsoup.org/

Destiny Technologies (www.Destiny-Tech.com), a provider of Web site design, SEO and Internet marketing services, has moved its headquarters to Sarasota from its previous base in the Washington D.C. metro area. Known as DestinyTech, the company maintains sales operations in D.C. and in Florida. Additional design and technology operations are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. President/CEO Gabriel Marguglio who founded the company more than seven years ago from his home in Rockville, Md., says, “I have to admit I was attracted to Sarasota for its beaches and weather, but I’ve found the general business climate here far more receptive to the current trends in the creative technologies of Web site development and SEO despite what is being said about the economy.” Destiny Tech has experienced a 60 percent growth in gross income in the past six months (compared to the same months last year) and has already launched several new Web sites for local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Here you have some of the websites we've designed in the area:

• www.sunshinefromdarkness.org
• www.perlmanmusicprogramsuncoast.org
• www.globalflooringsarasota.com
• www.thehaciendacollection.com
• www.europeanfinishes.com
• www.peperonatapasta.com
• www.visionprm.com
• www.comfortshoessiestakey.com
• www.oldworlddesignllc.com

Also working in the The Sarasota Ballet, The Historical Society of Sarasota County, Bertha Palmer Alive! and The Center for Musical Theatre just to name a few.

INTRODUCTION - WHAT IS JOOMLA!?

Joomla! is an award wining open source content management system (CMS). It's open source like the Linux OS, so that means it's free to use and millions of people give up their spare time to develop it.


OPEN SOURCE IS GOOD NEWS

Open Source is generally good news for individuals, non-profit organizations and those companies on a budget. You can spend a lot of money on a commercial CMS, but there are solid reasons for going open source. To start with, your web site won't be in the hands of a software company that can go bust at any moment and you won't be paying expensive maintenance contracts to these companies. 


Static HTML or DYNAMIC site? Take your pick.

a) What is a good news/media site? Actually today what is good site? ANY SITE needs these things.

Put simply:

• It has a 'front-end' (home page)  that changes frequently
• A template design that will appeal to the audience and is easy to navigate.
• It also has 'back-end' database that is stacked full of brilliant content generated by a team of journalists (or perhaps just you!).
• It's search engine friendly.

All major news sites are built around a CMS. Some 'big beasts' include Tridion (used by Emap) and eScenic (used by Daily Telegraph, CNN, Informa  and The Independent) - but you obviously pay a lot for these solutions.

b) Would you benefit from a CMS or are you better using straightforward HTML?

You don't have to be a big media giant to benefit from using a CMS.

1. Do you update your site more than once a week?  (you should if you want to come up in the search engines)
2. Do you have multiple contributors (e.g. writers) to the site?
3. Do you want to keep design separate from content?

If you answer 'yes' to any of the above - a CMS would definitely be worth a look.


JOOMLA! - FREE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND

There is something about using a CMS that sounds:

• Really complicated
• Really expensive

You can certainly make expensive mistakes - particularly if you take the advice of the designer/programmer, who created a CMS back in 2005 and he still thinks it's REALLY great.

So have a reason to reject open source solutions before looking to a commercial CMS.

Joomla its easy and free, so if you are developing a website with a design company using joomla you'll save lots of money and lots of time.

There are a number of free CMS to consider, alongside Joomla!

• Drupal see a video of some well-known sites that use it
• Wordpress (yes, this 'blog' tool is increasingly being used for websites)
• Xaraya see my post for more info.

There are others worth looking at like:

• Movable Type
• Expression Engine
• Radiant
• TextPattern
• DotNetNuke

It's amazing the number of editors that seem to 'apologize' for using free tools and want to keep it secret. All of them had a good look around and have concluded that Joomla!, Drupal, or WordPress actually fit the bill just fine. So say it loud and proud - I USE OPEN SOURCE!

WE WENT WITH JOOMLA! and RECOMMEND IT to ALL OUR CUSTOMERS!

For more information about Joomla you can go to www.joomla.org or just contact us.
We provide affordable, search engine friendly, CMS websites using Joomla technology. Click here to see some websites developed using this great technology.


Original Post: http://srh.typepad.com/blog

Draw traffic to your website using Twitter:

Every time you have a new product, a new services, a special or anything that might be useful for your customers you should communicate that to your followers on Twitter. There's a chance they will click on it and go to your site to read more about it and that generates more traffic to your site.

Follow your brand and products on Twitter:

Twitter has become one of the best tools to see what people think about your brand and products, competitors and keywords related to your business. This allows you to reply to any concerns immediately and really know what is what people is saying about these issues.
You can use Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com) to find your brand on twitter and subscribe thru RSS Feed to get updates of that search.

Use favorites in Twitter as your Testimonials:

Mark all good comments about your company and products in Twitter as Favorites and then use this as a new source of Testimonials. This is done thru the STAR icon on the top-right of every tweet.

Be the expert and leader on your area:

Use twitter to help other people, send tips, recommendations, and valuable links thru Twitter. This will help improve the credibility and image of the brand and company on twitter.

Use Twitter as a customer service tool:

• Reply to all comments about your company and brand:  Designate a person in your company to check search.twitter.com every day and if there are questions or issues about your products reply to them as soon as possible. This will help keep the image of your company and your customers happy thru good customer service.
• Use twitter to let people know your site or blog is under maintenance or down: This will help communicate this to a lot of people very easily and fast.

A few months ago YouTube announced that organizations that are in the YouTube Nonprofit Program would be able to use the overlay advertising feature to create donation links. They call the feature “Call To Action”. While this feature was nice, it was really limiting. In addition to only appearing in a very limited way on the video, it only works on YouTube and not when you embed the video on other sites.

The good news is that now, Nonprofits that are part of the YT Nonprofit Program, will have the ability to create links to an EXTERNAL WEBSITE (not only youtube videos). All they’ll have to do, when creating an annotation, is click the “link” symbol and select “external link”. Then they’ll be able to link to external sites right from the annotation. Better still, these annotations should show up on embedded videos.

If you still aren’t sure what all of this means, it means that nonprofit YouTube videos can have buttons built into the videos that say DONATE NOW or SIGN THE PETITION and these buttons will work—they will link to any site you point them to. You can even go back to all your old videos that are on YouTube and make your logo into a clickable link, add annotations to donate with a link, and otherwise make your video into a center of engagement. This is now, by far, the most important reason to be in the YouTube Nonprofit Program.

People who watch videos on YouTube are very likely to do one thing when they are done…watch another video on YouTube. Not any more. With this new feature, YouTube can become a center for creating effective calls to action and engagement.

If you need more information about the Youtube Nonprofit Program click here to contact us or go to the youtube nonprofit website.

Here's a video we found explaining and showing this featured working:

Original Blog post:  beth.typepad.com

Having a Blog inside your website and blogging often, will help you with your online positioning.

How is this possible?

• If your Blog is inside your website (in the same domain and structure of your site), every time you create a blog entry, a new page is created for the site (a new potential indexed page by google).
• On the other hand if you keep your website updated google will come back more often to you for new information.
• Let say now that you also assigned tags to that blog entry, now every one of the old tags you assigned (which was a page by itself) is going to be updated and also all the new tags you created for this specific blog entry will be created as another new page.

So as you can see, a simple blog entry could make your website grow exponentially and keep your pages updated, both things google and the other search engines love.

Blog every day if you can!!! and remember to asign tags... Also remember, an external blog (not inside your domain) will only generate inbound links from the outside (which is fine and you also need) but those keywords, tags, copy, etc will not be taken as content inside your site.

Lets get Blogging...

Here's a good example of Google maps helping you on your internet marketing campaign. If you search for SEO Sarasota (Search engine optimization Sarasota) which is one of the services we provide in one of the areas we provide it locally you'll find us on the map at the very beginning of the first page of Google.

You can make your business come up locally on the first page of google or bing very easily using maps.

Many people don't know that you can actually add your business into google's map or bing's map systems. This is a very easy, FREE way to put your business on the first page of google if someone is searching LOCALLY. Adding your business into GOOGLE's MAP or BING'S MAP can help your company's website come up on the first page with selected keywords when people is searching in your area or using the city or state that you are located in the search string.


How to create a Google Map entry for your business?
You just need a GOOGLE ACCOUNT... If you have a gmail or use any of the google or youtube services you already have one.
Login with your google account or create one here (https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount)
After login go to Google maps (http://maps.google.com/) and click on the Put your business on Google Maps or go directly here (http://www.google.com/local/add/)
Follow all the steps in google's map entry creation.
Remember to use KEYWORD ORIENTED descriptions, names and information. This will help your google map entry come up with those keywords in the search. Also remember you need to be RELEVANT, you need to have those keywords also on your website, blog entries and other profiles you might have.
At the end of the process google will ask you to verify your business, you can do it thru a postcard to your address (takes time) or the easy way, by phone (We recommend this one).


How to create a Bing Map entry for your business?
The process is the same, but you have to create a live.com msn.com or hotmail.com account (click here to create one: https://signup.live.com/)
Then login to it and go to this address to put your business into the BING MAP (https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx)
Follow the steps, using KEYWORD ORIENTED content.
And verify your business thru their process (they only have the postcard option here).

On the other hand if you have a new website, embedding a google map inside your website will help you bring Google to your website faster for indexing. But remember, your website has to be search engine friendly, you should have a blog, use tags, and have a nice organized keyword oriented copy inside your site. Without that you will not be RELEVANT for google or bing and the MAPS could just not come up on the search.

For more information about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) tips, click here.
For more information on Search Engine Friendly affordable Joomla Websites, click here.

We created a youtube channel to share videos with Internet marketing tips, good SEO practices and search engine friendly website design. Here's the first video with some of the websites we created...

Here's a great video showing how Social media is changing everything and why you should be doing it. Incredible numbers that show how marketing changed in the past years and why it is so important to be part of this change.

We recommended before using linkedin in your SEO campaign in this article: http://www.destiny-soft.com/improve-your-seo-campaign-tip-1-linkedin-profiles.

Here you have a great video about Linkeding and how to use it to not only help your web presence but also make your business grow thru online networking.

 

del.icio.us is a web-based bookmarking site. Delicious users save their bookmarks on the website so they can access them from any browser. A website that has many bookmarking it is generally popular and will get more traffic. You can use del.icio.us bookmarks to help improve your SEO campaign. The public social component of del.icio.us makes it a great tool to make your website stand out form your competition. 

Here's a video explaining how to use del.icio.us and why is it SOCIAL:

 

You can also use Social Bookmarking as a great online collaboration toll. Since your bookmarks are public delicous allow you to easily share important or useful links with coworkers, customers and partners. 

We believe there really is a new era emerging in the Web's evolution. So what's next?  What will define Web 3.0?

One explanation is that:

Here are a few trends that are distilling the conversation and, in the process, defining Web 3.0:

1. Aggregators

 No one wants to manage accounts on 25 different social sites. This frustration has driven the creation of tools like iGoogle, FriendFeed and Netvibes — all aimed at streamlining your social Web into one space. But more importantly, it has led to the reinvention of Facebook as the ultimate social aggregator.

Recent redesigns of Facebook have turned it into a place where your photos, videos and blog posts can be easily (and automatically) funneled into one place. That's an approach that FriendFeed pioneered years ago, but there's a big difference: Your friends are actually using Facebook.

And now they can even comment on your shared items without leaving the social network. That's bad news for YouTube and other sites that need traffic to create ad revenue, but it's good news for users who don't want to scramble all over creation just to say "Cute video!"

2. Simple sharing

 We've all been seeing those "Share this!" buttons for years now. If you're a marketer or PR person, you've probably plastered them all over your work in hopes of helping it "go viral." But the reality is that these links to sites like Digg or Reddit just haven't been that useful.

That's finally starting to change thanks to Web and smartphone tools that simplify the sharing process.

A few examples:

 • Hootsuite's Ow.ly Social Bar: A bit more comprehensive than TBuzz, this tool shares sites but then also makes it easy for the viewer to share it again. So if you like the link I send you to, you can click a button at the top of the page and keep the share train rolling.

• Smub.it: Designed to make sharing easier on an iPhone, Smub actually works on just about any device with a Web browser. You simply add "smub.it/" in front of any URL, and it will pull up a page of simple buttons to share that site on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc.

3. Un-Sites

The design-heavy microsite has been under serious assault lately. Why? Because businesses and marketers are realizing that there's an infinite supply of content out there, being refreshed every day. Why go through all the trouble of creating 100% of your site's content yourself?

And here's another point: A few years ago, if you wanted video on your site, you had to write or find a code that would let you host the video. Big pain in the butt. Now Google is dumping millions of dollars into making YouTube the best, most advanced video service on the planet. Why would you still go it alone, when you can just embed YouTube on your own site for free?

Right now, this concept is being pushed to its limits by ad agencies and others who want to get buzz by showing how minimalist their Web design can be. The most notable examples are Modernista's pop-up home page, the similar Skittles project by Agency.com, and most recently BooneOakley's bizarre conversion of its agency site into a YouTube video. (watch bellow)

 

For now, these kinds of projects are mostly just publicity stunts. But there's no denying that repurposed content from sites like Twitter and YouTube is going to become the norm with almost any site design in the near future.

-----------------------------------------------------------

On another angle we've heard that if Web 1.0 was characterized by connecting people to content, and Web 2.0 is connecting people to people, then Web 3.0 is certainly connecting objects to people and to eachother. The Internet of things. Tim O’Reilly has also been talking about this for a while.

Inanimate objects can be embedded with sensors and connected wirelessly to the Internet. This enables us mere human objects to effectively communicate with those formerly inanimate objects. The hope is that as we are able to collect data from these embedded objects and analyze it we’ll be able to make better, more informed decisions based on all the available information we have.

This requires, of course, better analytics to makes sense of it all. But coupled together (data+ analytics) it’s truly the next transformative era of computing. 

----------------------------------------------------------

So what's your take on the term "Web 3.0"? Is it a bold new era? Or just a reorganization of all the information we have today? I'd love to hear what trends you've noticed and where you think they're taking us.

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Original Blog Posts: thesocialpath.com  and  asmarterplanet.com

If not done properly you could be missing out on very valuable keywords. If you do not take your time you could put keywords on pages that don't belong or target keyword in your pay per click campaign that do nothing but produce clicks and burn through your marketing and advertising budget. When conducting keyword research there are some things you should be looking out for.

What Niche do you want to be In? You will have to find out what type of group you want to be visible to and get inside their shoes in order to figure out what types of keywords will fit best on your website. Really find out and isolate what type of products you are servicing and find all the niche keywords and phrases that revolve around that niche. Don't always worry about targeting all the high volume keywords because they receive the most traffic. Long tail keyword phrases often times convert the best when it comes to SEO and PPC. The long tail phrases are usually conducted by web users who know exactly what they are looking for.

Budget: Budget meaning how much of a marketing budget do you have to go after competitive keywords? If you are a one person company starting out you will need to bring some heavy ammo to go after the same keywords that your competition that might have been around for 5-10 years and is established is going after. It is important to not only target the very competitive keywords but also the keywords that have medium amounts of traffic and also low. You have to remember that SEO is long term and you won't be visible over night, but SEO could bring better results and it creates an asset over your website (because it could keep building up without having to spend money per every click)

Competition: Take a long hard look at your competition to see what it is that they are targeting. It is always important to take a look at what your competitors are targeting for keywords on their website when you starting conducting your keyword research. You know what they say; the best offense is a good defense. It is always important to know what types of keywords your competition is going after so you can gauge just how much of an effort you will need to put out there in order get into the same area.

Here at Destiny Technologies we include KEYWORD RESEARCH in all our SEO packages, Contact us if you have any questions about this.

 

Original Blog Post: addme.com

At Destiny Tech we believe that if you reduce travel and meet virtually and collaborate online instead, you can save both time and money. We know that there is a time and place for travel, but we believe that with the right tools, a little know-how, and some adventurous spirit, you can save money, be more productive, and lower your environmental impact.
 

   V.S. 

We use these tools in every project, meet remotely, use IP phone technology to teleconference with professionals and customers all over the world and best of all, save you time and Money. This collaboration saves us time and money so we extrapolate these savings into your final price.

Personally we prefer CITRIX GoTo Meeting (To do online meetings) but there are a lot of collaboration tools (and a lot of free ones online). We also use Google Docs (to share documents), instant messaging tools for easy & fast communication and Ip phones for free international teleconferences. We also have these tools working with our mobile devices (iphones) to help everybody be connected at all times, updated with the project growth and also communicated with new requests, changes, etc.

Commuting to work and traveling for business is often unavoidable. There are many good reasons to travel: There is nothing like a face-to-face meeting to forge a relationship or read subtle body language cues; spending time immersed in a different culture opens our eyes, minds and hearts; traveling to a client, partner or donor shows them that they are important to you and your organization. However, many of us travel when not necessary. Not only does travel use up money and valuable time that you could be spending in other ways, but it's costly to the environment.

We are rethinking work-related travel (including commuting), just like may non-profits and for-profit companies. Here you have a list of 10 recommendations for reducing or eliminate business travel without completely losing the advantages of meeting face-to-face. We encourage everyone to use these suggestions so organizations and individuals can use technology to save time, reduce travel costs, and reduce impact on the environment at the same time.

10 Ways to Change (Save TIME, Save MONEY & Save the environment too):

Here are 10 technology tips to help you reduce your need to travel:

1. Measure your travel: Determine your organization's travel and commuting environmental footprint as well as the amount of money your organization is spending on travel. Make a list of meetings, training's, and events attended by your staff or volunteers that might be suitable for teleconferencing, Web or video conferencing.

 

2. Attend online trainings using a webbing service or screen-casting to observe its effectiveness, and how you might use it to substitute for a meeting or training at your organization.

 

3. Try out one or more telephone conferencing services. Some good options are: Ready-Talk, Care2Call, and FreeConferenceCall.com, Skype, Vonage, etc. GotoMeeting has its own phone component for teleconferencing wile having the WEB conference.

 

4. Try one or more Web conferencing services. Some good options are: GotoMeeting, ReadyTalk, Microsoft Communicator, and WebEx.

 

5. Check into video conferencing services. Some basic free options are: Skype and gmail voice and video chat.

 

6. Explore an online virtual world environment like Second Life to see how that tool might provide a fun and more personal meeting environment.

 

7. Use instant messaging technologies (chat/IM) like Skype, Pidgin, or AOL Instant Messaging (AIM) to allow more spontaneous communications. Or consider tools like Communicator 2007 that include instant messaging as part of a robust online communications package.

 

8. Collaborate and share documents online. Some free services are: 4shared.com, GoogleApps Education, Google Docs, Microsoft Office Online, Google Groups, and Yahoo Groups.

 

9. Encourage staff to telecommute. Technologies like remote desktop software like pcAnywhere, virtual private networking (VPN), voice over IP (VoIP), and virtual PBX can help make working at home as effective as coming into the office. Many corporations and very large non-profits have used custom-built VoIP infrastructures to facilitate unified communications for years, but VoIP products and systems have recently become more accessible for small-to-medium organizations too making it easier to effectively work from home and stay in touch (Vonage ip phones is a great example of this technology coming available for people and small organizations)

 

10. Look for conferences that have a virtual component or will be recorded and can be accessed online, such as the Craigslist Foundation's Nonprofit Boot Camp. Or ask a local volunteer or board member to attend and report back to your group instead of asking someone to travel.

• One 4,150 KM (2,578 mile) flight emits 762 pounds of CO2 per person, which is equivalent to 5% of the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of an average home for one year. The IPCC estimates that aviation emissions are currently 492 million tons per year and growing at a rate of 6% annually.
• Telecommuters last year saved 840 million gallons of gasoline and reduced carbon emissions by almost 14 million tons.
• The Telework Coalition estimates that $20,000 per year can be added to the bottom-line of your organization per full-time teleworking employee in reduced real estate needs and related overhead expenses.
• Allowing your staff and volunteers to work remotely has proven to increase both productivity and job satisfaction.

 

 

Original Blog post: techsoup.org

Here you have a great video on how Google Docs can help you collaborate within your company or any type of group that needs to share and work on documents. This is online collaboration and it is FREE. Thanks Google.

A CMS allows Web site owners with little or no HTML skills to be able to add, edit and delete content on their Web site. This may include changes to copy, or adding photos, uploading PDFs, adding streaming audio or video and more. You can even set publish and remove dates for press releases, calendar events or special promotions.

Many CMSs (including Joomla) allow different levels of access to the site, both on the front and back ends. Contributors may be able to add or edit pages (with or without administrative oversight), while administrators can make changes to the navigation, choose new page templates, add or remove contributors and more. In addition, creating member-only sections and providing unique username/passwords to site visitors is built into the product.

We chose Joomla in part because of the fact it's open-source and has a big user group; that ensures that if Joomla proper doesn't have a functionality a client is looking for it's probable that a 3rd party has created a module that can be plugged in to enhance the product. Examples are events calendars, e-commerce options, contact forms and more. If you can imagine it, someone's build it.

One very cool Joomla feature is that the site's content is held in a database and served up into multiple, attractive page templates. Ourt designers customize templates for our customers so no two websites are the same, this is what separates us from a lot of other joomla website designers. Templates make it easy to create printer-friendly pages. In fact, Joomla allows you to print or save every page as a PDF if you choose (even though we do not recommend it because of internet marketing reasons - SEO).

It also makes future Web site redesigns less costly as you can just apply a new template and appear to have a fresh new look to your site.

We specialize in Joomla Websites and more and more customers ask for the features and flexibility Joomla can offer. We believe this is because people are looking to take more ownership and responsibility over their Web sites. The idea of being able to update your site as you see fit is a compelling one. If you do find that you're constantly sending updates to your Web developer, a CMS may pay for itself.  For a small site or one that doesn't change often we also recommend Joomla just because it will give you scalability to grow in the future without a huge investment and you can have a blog to improve your web presence and communication with your customers.

If you have a question on whether a CMS would be right for you contact us here.

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Original Post: flyteblog.com

Microsoft, home of the Zune, has just announced that they're going to launch Bing, a rebranding and reformatting of their search engine (they actually call it : Decision Engine). So far, they've earmarked $100 million just for the marketing.

Bing, of course, stands for But It's Not Google. The problem, as far as I can tell, is that it is trying to be the next Google. And the challenge for Microsoft is that there already is a next Google. It's called Google.

Google is not seen as broken by many people, and a hundred million dollars trying to persuade us that it is, is money poorly spent. In times of change, the rule is this:

Don't try to be the 'next'. Instead, try to be the other, the changer, the new.

If Microsoft adds a few features and they prove popular, how long precisely will it take Google to mirror or even leapfrog those features?

With $100 million, you could build (or even buy) something remarkable. Something that spread online without benefit of a lot of yelling and shouting. Something that changes the game in a fundamental way. The internet works best when you build a network, not when you buy a brand. In fact, I can't think of one successful online brand that was built with cash.

Comment: We predict Bing will take some market share so we need to be prepared for that and we are working on it. Bing is a new search engine and your OLD SEO campaign may not work for it. Our engineers are constantly evolving and working with new technologies and Bing is one of them now. If you need SEO that works today and will work tomorrow, contact us!
If you really want to know what the NEXT GOOGLE is ready this Blog entry about WAVE, the new product coming from Google.

Original Blog entry: sethgodin

# 1 - Drive Traffic:
You can use Twitter to let know your followers you have a new blog entry on your website, or you have a new products line and always include a link to your website or the article you are relating to.

# 2 - Develop Brand Loyalty:
One of the many ways of building BRAND LOYALTY is to release good, related and useful information to your own customers.

# 3 - Improve your Exposure (Buzz):
In Twitter you will be able to interact with thousands of potential customers.

# 4 - Networking using Twitter:
This system allow you to interact with people and it could help you know you clientele or your potential customers a lot better.

# 5 - Real Time Research:
Find out what people is doing, buying, searching, etc. You can decide what content people will enjoy the most by using the search function.

Want to learn more?  Contact us!

 

Here you have a nice video about TWITTER SEARCH:

First of all, what is a WIKI?, well lets go to the WIKIPEDIA definition of WIKI:

A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simple text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, and for note taking. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in business to provide intranet and knowledge management systems.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIKI

A wiki could be use for collaborative projects, events and more. In business all this is going to be published online so you could use it to promote your events and products by creating a wiki about them and having the members of these events or product collaborate. Remember to create links back to your blog (were you talk about the event) or to your website, were you have information about yout product.

Here is a good video about how wikis work and how you can create one.

 

Destiny.

Google has launched a new keyword tool called Sktool (Search-based Keyword Tool).

Google’s new Search Based Keyword Tool (SKTOOL) allows search marketers to generate keyword ideas based on the content of their Web site and back-end data.  The tool maps similar queries to each other and also maps back to the keywords you’re currently bidding on in your AdWords account.

The tool has a number of applications.  The main application is to expand your keyword list in an organized and thematic way.  However, many of the keywords suggested by the tool should not be bid on by search advertisers; in fact, an advertiser would waste a lot of money if all the suggested keywords were added to a program.  The tool should be used to consider suggestions and pick ones that are relevant to your site.

 

The tool also shows the amount of competition on a given keyword, a suggested bid for that keyword, the average monthly searches for that keyword and the best page of your Web site to land that searcher.

This tool will actually help us in creating a better, more relevant, keyword list for your SEO campaign. We will be able to find the keywords that people are searching for a specific market and apply it to your search engine optimization and social media optimization.
Even thought this tool is in its BETA phase, we think it has a lot of potential.

link: Sktool - Search-based Keyword Tool    

 

Here you have some interesting videos about Social Networking and Social Media...

 

Blogging is still soaring in the Web 2.0 era and WordPress is easily the most popular engine on the market.  This multipurpose blogging software is used for everything from personal diaries to business applications, helping many achieve online notoriety and even more bring in consistent revenue.  Although WordPress is generally referred to as a weblog publishing tool, some are calling it a CMS.  Do you agree?  We don’t.  And this article will explain why.

In order to determine whether WordPress is a CMS or not, you should first become acquainted with the three main types of content management systems, as outlined below.

Open-source Systems - Software packages like Drupal and Joomla that are becoming more popular for small to medium sized ventures.

Enterprise Systems - Proprietary solutions like Microsoft Content Server.  This type of CMS is geared towards corporate users that require powerful business applications and frequent database interaction.

Home Grown Systems - These systems are developed in-house by webmasters who have specific requirements for content management.

When comparing the WordPress platform to the software in these classifications, it falls short as merely an over-hyped content delivery system.  Though it has a tremendous following and a number of benefits, WordPress doesn’t have what it takes to be called a real CMS.   In fact, it lacks several of the necessary protocols the average CMS provides as standard.  This includes update features, security tools, user permissions and more complex content management functionality.  When considering the all the capabilities it is missing, calling WordPress a CMS may be like unfairly moving it up in weight class.

Should WordPress be a CMS?

Perhaps the real issue should be whether or not WordPress needs to be more like a genuine CMS.  While this software gives you a lot, there are limitations and thus disadvantages.  Ask a fan of Mambo, Joomla or PHP-Nuke and they will probably tell you that WordPress is highly inferior.

Despite the shortcomings, it still is a very efficient tool and rightly embraced by millions of users around the world.  It can also be a nice alternative to some of the more complex and intimidating content management systems.  For the most part, the user community is happy with the functionality and would probably prefer to keep things as they are.  After all, turning the platform into a true CMS would tamper with a relatively clean code and possibly cause the software to lose some of its natural appeal.  Besides, simplicity and ease of use are two of WordPress’ biggest advantages.

Conclusion

There is no denying the capabilities of WordPress.  The overwhelming enthusiasm the community shares for this platform is certainly warranted.   It is very cost effective and makes and ideal tool for small to medium sized.   Be that as it may, tagging WordPress as a content management system is not inherantly accurate.   In order to earn that title, the software would require a major overhaul which would in turn, cause it to lose so much of the qualities that has made it so popular.

Comment: We personally prefer Joomla since there is a lot more support online in the JOOMLA COMMUNITY, an incredible selection of components and modules available and new and more complex software developed everyday, go to www.joomla.org to learn more.

Another very good article about the differences between DRUPAL, JOOMLA and WORDPRESS:  http://www.goodwebpractices.com/other/wordpress-vs-joomla-vs-drupal.html

 

Original Blog Entry:  http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/04/22/is-wordpress-really-a-cms/

Google Wave was released at the recent Google I/O event as a demo product. It is an amazing real time collaboration and communication platform with email, instant messaging and heaps more combined to form an awesome product.

The demo product is an HTML 5 applicaion built using the Google Web Toolkit. Wave is being released as an open source product. Its open platform encourages developers to build other Wave clients, extensions and embed waves in other web pages and platforms. The product is characterised by the 3P’s namely product, platform and protocol.

The brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen from Google Australia are the creators of this incredible product. Their previous creation was Google Maps which is now the defacto standard for online mapping of geographical locations. This has taken a good couple of years to develop and bring it to its current form. Jens stressed this fact to the audience - You must remember that all this is happening in your browser.

A “wave” contains equal parts document and conversation where people can simultaneously work and communicate together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more.

 

 

How Google Wave Works

You create a wave and add contacts to it. All the contacts on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, videos, gadgets and feeds from other sites on the web. All members can edit the wave directly and also insert replies. You can see all the edits in real time as the changes are made to the wave by others.You can be running a Firefox browser and your friend can be on Safari browser. You can add as many contacts as you want.

The playback feature is a very powerful feature. If a new contact joins the wave, she can see the collaboration and communication that has taken place in a certain form at that point of time. By clicking playback, she can see how the whole wave has evolved from the beginning to the point of time she joined the wave. This is a very powerful feature especially when teams are working on different parts of the same project document.

Some of the really cool features are:

• Google Wave offers plain vanilla type email conversation where you can send emails to contacts you choose to.
• Instant messaging where unlike the typical IM chat, you see the message - Sarah is typing
  before you get to see the message once Sarah is done typing, in a wave, you see the chat transferred character by character in real time
• Use playback to see how the wave has evolved to its current shape
• Drag and drop attachments, say photos, into the wave from your desktop and everyone else on the wave can see it almost instantly
• API for embedding your wave to web pages such as a blog
• Wave can be embedded in social media sites like Orkut
• You can participate in a wave from your mobile phone
• Editing of the wave in real time and edits appear instantly with markups denoting the different edits
• Ability to send a private message to a particular contact which others cannot see
• Teams working on a project document can collaborate in real time and communicate simultaneously when working on it

Google Wave can be viewed as a platform with a rich collection of open APIs. This allows developers to build new extensions that can work with waves and also embed waves in other web services.

The Google Wave Federation Protocol is the basis for storing and sharing waves with the all important live concurrency mechanism which allows edits to be viewed in real time across contacts and services. This protocol is designed such that any user’s wave services can communicate with each other and with the Google Wave service. This is going to be achieved by making the Google Wave protocol code open source.

An excellent video on the Google Wave demo by the development team will give you a great idea of the amazing features that have been built into it.

 

Google is encouraging the developer community to create some cool apps that can be incorporated into the Google Wave before it is made public. You can sign up at http://wave.google.com to be notified of the release date when Google Wave is launched as a public product.

 Original Blog Post: www.naturalsearchblog.com

 

This is a great video that explains what twitter is... Now, can you use this for your business?  Can you help your website be more prominent on the search engines by using twitter?  Yes.

1 - Follow as many people as you can, friends, coworkers, customers, etc...
2 - Do not copy paste your website link over and over again every 5 minutes...  try to create relationships, promote your business by helping others...  with their problems, etc.
3 - The Goal here is to have MORE FOLLOWERS than people you follow, IF YOU BUILD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS, more and more people will follow your feed.
4 - Promote your services, products and your website at twitter and your followers will convert into potential customers.
5 - Keep in touch, and you'll see you can get business from this and also make your web presence grow.

Here you have a couple of good videos about search privacy. They talk about how privacy works in the google search and on the other hand what to expect when searching which can help us in a way to understand how we need to do a search engine optimization campaign (SEO). On the other hand it has cool features that not everybody knows about the google account and how to manage some advance features of the google search engine. Enjoy.

Facebook is the fastest growing social networking website and business owners and marketing managers should consider adding conversational marketing to their toolbox of marketing strategies. Facebook has powerful features that can help grow your business if used correctly.  Follow these tips as you implement marketing on Facebook.

1. Profile: Build an attention getting profile that will make an impact. Think of this as your branding for your business. Include a good photo, contact info, a link to your website, education, work history, personal interests, etc.
2. Networks: Take the time when building your profile to include the city your business is in, your industry, and other networking information. Let potential business partners find you and make yourself more searchable.
3. Friends: Add friends to build your networking. There are tools to find friends that are already on Facebook. Use Facebook tools to meet people with common interests, build a relationship and gather them as friends to build up your base.
4. Groups: Join online groups that are related to what you do. This is an excellent way to make contacts and build from there. If you don’t see a group that is a close enough fit, form your own. An excellent way to brand yourself as the authority.
5. Blog: Create and syndicate your own blog on your personal profile page. Broadcast your blog using RSS and increase your exposure and increase your readership.
6. Comment: Make comments on other people’s profiles. By reaching out, you will start interacting and engaging with new people and contacts. The more comments you leave on these virtual walls, the more exposure you get.
7. Events: List your events and new services by creating an events page. Instead of printing flyers and mailers, use the Facebook Events app. to get the word out. You can invite anyone you want. Guests can leave valuable feedback.
8. Gifts: send virtual gifts to show your appreciation. Send a virtual potted plant or flowers to make that great impression. There are third party applications that allow you to give unique gifts. A great way to build strong relationships.

Original Blog Post: webdesignseo.com

Yes. If you embed a video from youtube inside one of the pages of your website, Youtube automatically will create a link back to that page on the youtube video page at www.youtube.com
This is great since you will have a video inside your website which will bring fresh content, it will help you improve your AVERAGE TIME ON SITE and also this link back will create a new INLINK to your website, helping your SEO campaign and your web presence.

So keep adding those related videos and always remember to include some relevant text talking about the video and why it could be important for your audience.

Destiny

MAKING YOUR SOCIAL PROFILES WORK THE EXTRA MILE FOR YOU:

1 - USE THE SOCIAL NETWORKS:

The best way to make these profiles work for you is by actually using them to communicate with your customers, colleagues and other professionals. If you can don't have much time at least use ONE of the many social networks like FACEBOOK or TWITTER, to start communicating and you will see improvement into the web presence of that specific profile and so forth an increase in links from it to your website which will translate in a better SEO campaign and increase in your ranking online.

We recommend taking one of them to start, it could be facebook for example...

Start by writing a different blog entry there or putting part of a blog entry and say "read more here" with a link to your website... You can also publish more pictures (very easily) and having them link to your website.

This will make your social network profile grow even more and also have real communication, since people will start sending you messages about those entries and you may be able to help someone with a problem and even get a customer using this new way of communication.

2 - INVITE MORE PEOPLE:

The other way you can make those social network profiles grow is by actually inviting as many people as you know to join them... the more friends and followers you have the better that social profile will work for you.

 

 

Here you have another recommendation for improving your SEO CAMPAIGN...

  Profiles:

To be able to create a youtube profile you need a video first.  so if you already have a video you created for the company you can ask the people who did the video for you to send it to you in digital format to upload to youtube. Then you go to www.youtube.com and create your new profile. Upload the video and then in your profile information can put text explaining what you do with a link to your website. Then you can also include this video inside your website with a link to this same youtube profile.

If you do not have a video, we have a good example from a customer who took pictures from a project and then created a video with their own computer just making a slideshow of the project using the pictures. You can do that too, most computers have the ability to do it... and then upload it to youtube.

This will create new inlinks to your website and improve your internet marketing campaign.

Destiny.

 

As part of our SEO campaigns we are always looking for new and different ways to put your name out there...  this is going to be a series of tips you can use to make your WEB PRESENCE grow.

 

Linkedin is a professional's social network. Linkedin is not linked to a company but to a person, so you need to provide some personal/professional  information from you for the main people in your company to be able to do this kind of profile...  It will be named after your personal name and then have information about your company website, etc.  We recommend to include your website address, and a litle blurb of what you do. In the future you can even use this tool to connect with other professionals online.

We recomend doing this for the 3 or 4 key people in your company. Ussually these profiles require this information from yo:

• First name
• Last name
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• City were you live now
• Education
• Business name
• Your place in the company: CEO, manager, etc...
• And  a picture if possible to put in the profile...

Contact us if you need help with your SEO campaign, Internet marketing or any website design services.

Destiny.

 

These are some of the applications that may be integrated with a CMS SOLUTION 

• Full structure and content administration
• Online chat and communication / Messages / Forums
• Picture and video galleries
• News + RSS + EVENTS
• Online music and games
• Search and Maps by GOOGLE Customized functionalities

Internet Marketing

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Social Media Optimization (SMO).
• Organic Positioning.
• Viral Online marketing.
• Google Adwords: Marketing campaigns just a click away.
• Traffic Analysis and Website Optimization.

As an Internet marketing strategy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Social media optimization (SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos. Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogsphere and special blog search engines.

Social Media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.

Destinsy Soft can help you with your INTERNET MARKETING CAMPAIGN.