LotusJump Blog

While there is some controversy over whether Facebook is an effective way to build awareness, market, and interact with your target market, it’s definitely a cost-effective marketing option you may want to consider.  As with any other social media platforms, there are some obvious and some not-so-obvious do’s and don’ts when it comes to having a business on Facebook.  While the following tips won’t apply to everyone, they’re worth considering and, if applicable, applying to your own business practices on Facebook

• Remember, your Facebook page should be reserved for talking about your business, products and services. Avoid mixing your personal life with business on your business Facebook page – it’s just not professional.
• If you’re going to do it, do it right. Your Facebook page should be a way for you to interact with current and potential clients. If you’re not regularly checking and updating your page, you probably shouldn’t have made it to begin with.
• Facebook can be a great way to assist in your company’s online reputation management. Facebook pages and profiles are now indexed and tend to rank highly in the search engines, so the chance of your business’ Facebook page ranking on your business name and keywords are pretty good.
  
• Keep your Facebook page clean. Don’t join irrelevant, potentially offensive, questionably or controversial groups. You never know who many be looking at your profile and you don’t want to run the risk of putting your company in a negative due to a group that you’re associated with.
• Participate in the conversation. Remember, there are a handful of your current and potential customers that spend a good amount of time on Facebook. The fact that you’re there and interacting with them will impress them. Build relationships carefully and strategically and you’ll most likely see these individuals drive new traffic to your actual site.

One of the first steps to launching a successful SEO campaign is choosing the right keywords or keyword phrases.  Don’t let this task haunt you - there are a myriad of tools out there designed to help you discover which keywords get the most traffic, plus keywords aren’t permanent… more on that in a bit!

Where do I start?

Brainstorm.  Before you start exploring keyword research tools, take a few minutes to brainstorm what someone might search to find your products or services.  What keywords or phrases accurately describe what can be found on your site?  Do you have any pages geared specifically for a certain product, service, or keyword?  (Keep in mind, most people who are searching for your products or services may not be as knowledgeable about industry specific terms so try to think outside the box… what would someone most likely be searching?)

Now what?

As we mentioned before there are a handful of tools out there that will help you with your keyword research.  Our favorite is the Google Adword tool which allows you to type in the keywords that you brainstormed and see just how many people are searching for those terms.  Not only will this tool tell you how many people are searching the term you typed  in, but it will also give you an idea of how many people are searching related terms and it will even give you suggested terms that you may not have previously thought of.  Keywords with higher search volume will take longer to rank on, so we recommend choosing one high search volume term and two “tail terms” (think specific) that may not receive as much search volume, but which you’ll be able to rank on quicker.

I want to change my keywords, how do I do that?

Not to fear, choosing your keywords is not a permanent decision.  Go to Settings in your LotusJump account and select My Domain and Search Terms.  Click Edit and then you’ll have the ability to change your keywords.  Remember, it takes time to rank, so be patient!  It’s not a good idea to change keywords often too often.

Writing articles is one of the best ways to share what you know and to get your name out there at the same time.  Sharing valuable information with readers will help you establish yourself as a knowledgeable source on certain matters and will give credibility and strength to your own website.

Writing original articles can have great SEO benefits as well.  When you leave natural, contextual links back to your site within an article, you are showing the search engines that your site is relevant to what is being said in the article.  If search engines are frequently seeing links to your site surrounded by relevant and accurate content, they’ll give greater authority to your website in regards to those keywords.

Now the real question: What do you write about?

Answer: Anything!

• Are there any current events that can relate to your business?
• Do you have any upcoming company events?
• Are there any community events that you could tie into your services?
• Do you have a flagship product that you could spotlight?
• Search for your keywords on other article submission sites and see what other people are writing about.
• Anything with a human interest angle - bizarre, interesting, heartwarming, out of the ordinary.
• Set Google alerts for your keywords and company name and monitor what’s going on in regards to your business, products, or field of work…write about it!

And Remember….

• Keep a pad of paper handy for those moments where you read something, hear something, or see something that would be good to write about - you’ll be surprised how quickly your list will grow!

When using LotusJump you’ll find that there are a myriad of content building sites suggested as outlets for the original content you create.  While we have a handful of favorites, a useful and easy to use content building site is Knol.  Knol is a Google project that launched a few years ago and consists of user-written articles on a range of topics.   It’s almost like Google’s version of Wikipedia, but with an option for contributors to allow, or not allow, the public to edit their page.

Knols can be on just about anything - create a company profile, an article about your services, a topic relevant to your industry… the sky is the limit.  You can work off a previously created template, or get creative and start from scratch.  Once you’ve written your Knol make sure to add pictures, links and charts to make it even more enjoyable for your readers and then publish your page for all to view.

Writing your own Knol entry is easy and can be fun- especially when you’re writing about something that you enjoy!  So, what are you waiting for? Write your own Knol today!

The incredible power and influence that is now attainable through Twitter is helping connect individuals around the world and is giving businesses opportunities never before thought possible.

However, with power, comes responsibility.

Like with anything that you do online, you’re not invisible. What you do, say, and post is available for just about anyone to see. Forever. Even in the last few months, there have been several cases of “tweets” that, while seemingly harmless, have caused an eruption of social media mayhem. (Read more about the PC Magazine and Ketchum incidents)

So, without further adieu…

Our Top 5 Twitterquette (Twitter + Etiquette) Tips:

1. Give props where deserved. Instead of just copying what someone else has said, re-tweeting gives them credit for coming up with something tweet-worthy and exposes them to a whole new audience.So next time someone tweets something you love, do them a favor and RT … they’ll do the same for you in the future.

2. Keep private conversations private. Instead of holding a meaningless conversation with your buddy via 20 @s, consider DMing (Direct Messaging) instead. Which brings us to our next point…

3. Don’t over-tweet.While there isn’t a definitive number of how many tweets is too many tweets, use your head.  Twitter is considered “micro-blogging”, but there are only so many people who care about every “micro” thing you do (i.e bathroom breaks, laundry, what you ate for lunch …*yawn*).

4. Learn to be concise. You only have 140 characters! (The character count even turns red when you’re about to reach your max) No one likes a ……
(…see what we mean? No one likes a half-tweet!)

5. And remember, EVERYTHING you tweet is HIGHLY visible.Don’t say something that you wouldn’t want your mom, boss, future employer, ex or even posterity to someday read.

Setting and achieving your goals on LotusJump is now easier than ever!  If you haven’t seen the lastest reporting tool that is now available, it’s definitely something you want to check out!

See just how many tasks you’ve completed since beginning site optimization with LotusJump.

A detailed list of completed tasks shows you what types of tasks you’ve completed, what keyword you targeted and when the task was completed.

This diagram shows how many backlinks your website has and tracks progression over time.

Want to know what type of linkbuilding efforts your competitors are doing? This graph shows not only the growth of your website’s backlink profile, but the backlink profiles of your competitors.

So, how can you use the reporting tool to your advantage?

Start setting goals.  It feels good to be able to SEE how you’re progressing, so be realistic in how many you’d like to complete and then hold yourself to it.  Heck,  you can even reward yourself with a little something special when you reach your goal at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Darren is not in the future. Unless the future is Australia. Which it is. (Especially if you’re in the United States like me).

Guys, this is big–I’ve just discovered the secret to Darren Rowse’s success! If you aren’t familiar with the name Darren Rowse, you might recognize him by his massively successful moniker, ProBlogger.  I discovered the secret today when I was visiting his TwiTip website and noticed that–brace yourselves–he blogged from the future!!

Make no doubt about it. Today is January 15th and he definitely published his latest post from the 16th! See the undoctored screenshot below (with timeclock for verification):

[Note: If you visit the site and the TwttrStrm post has been changed to read that it was published on the 15th, it's obvious that Darren doesn't want the world to know about his other superhuman ability (the one besides his superhuman blog skills). And who can blame him? He'd be treated like the mutants in X-Men.]

BUT, back to the point. Thursday’s tip is this: If you can, learn how to blog from the future. Think about it–you’ll be able to get first dibs on all the breaking news, you’ll be able to anticipate important trends and you’ll be able to make your readers aware of awesome things from the future, like how in 2010 Matt Cutts gets passed over for a promotion at Google and leaves to become a blackhat SEO. For example.

Editors Note: Our legal department wants me to add that time travel is probably really dangerous. Blog from the future at your own risk. LotusJump can not be held resposible for limbs left in different dimensions.

A LotusJump user recently submitted a terrific idea that helps him get the most out of his company’s LotusJump account–

Every day, this CEO has his three employees do three LotusJump tasks each, first thing when they arrive in the office. Besides creating an effective schedule, it also trains employees and accelerates their overall internet marketing success. If you have any staff with down time (perhaps a receptionist?), set them up with an account to maximize efficiency!

Today we’re spotlighting the LotusJumper Knoxville Quality Inn, “your home away from home in Knoxville, Tennessee”.

We asked Knoxville Quality Inn what the inspiration was behind their company, this is what they had to say:

I first wanted to own the first hotel I managed in 1976.  A customer dared me to go into the owner’s office and offer to buy the hotel for $1 (down).  I never did it, but never forgot it.  In 2000 after consulting with 250 Holiday Inn hotels, I went to one hotel owner and asked the question.  He said, “Yes.”

When asked what achievement they were most proud of, Knoxville Quality Inn said:

We started with no capitalization on May 1, 2001.  The Lord has provided the increase since.  It took 18 months to buy that first hotel.  Since then we have purchased 3 other hotels.  Our finest achievement was to buy 4 contiguous lots, tear down 3 houses and build a beautiful new 102 room Hampton Inn & Suites on 2.5 acres, a $12 million project.

We asked Knoxville Quality Inn why Internet marketing is so important for their company, this is what they had to say:

Internet hotel bookings continue to rise.  Toll free reservations centers are closing all over the world.  The internet is still the new frontier in hotel marketing and sales.

We gave Knoxville Quality Inn a chance to give a “Creative Marketing Tip of the Day”, this is what they said:

Try Twitter!

Leave a comment if you think you’re worthy of a Friday spotlight, and tell us why!