Enter social media and the quick boost it provides to startup and established websites.

The Emergence of the Social Media Platform

One of the most important tools to emerge today is the use of social media platforms for a variety of causes, may it be for profit or not. Facebook and Twitter spearhead this movement and both sites have already had substantial influence in the world today.

There used to be a time when social networking sites are not included in the search engine results pages of most search engines out there. But through the years, SERPs have already considered updates coming from social networking sites as part of their searches. Several companies have used these social networking sites to further connect with their target customers. Aside from this, non-profit organization and advocacy groups utilize them in spreading their advocacy to a wider range of audience.

Taking Advantage of Social Networking

Web developers have found several ways to ramp up their rankings by using social media as one of their tools. Here are some ways to take advantage of social networking sites for your SEO processes:

1. Have as many friends as you can

The whole point of social networking is networking! Establishing a connection with your customers is what it’s all about. Facebook and Twitter are great platforms that specifically make this job easy for any web developer and company.

In the realm of search engine optimization, more followers or contacts mean that your webpages have more authority. The difference between a social networking account and an actual website is that social networking accounts are usually judged by the number of followers that it has whereas websites are primarily judged through the quality of the links that point to it.

Having as many “friends” as you can increases the relevancy that search engines will put to your webpage. It may also be the simplest and most obvious gauge of how successful your web marketing is going so far.

2. Use Meta Tags and URLs to your advantage

Meta tags and URLs are most of the time automatically generated by the social networking sites you are signing up for. But many of these sites allow their users to have a go and customize their tags and URLs to their liking.

For example, Twitter usually creates their users’ URL by using the user’s name and chosen username. The bio submitted by the user usually becomes his accounts’ description tag.

Facebook has now also allowed their users to edit their URLs according to their liking. Using your username, company name or keywords related to your industry in your URL will make it easier to be found by search engines and post them in their results pages.

3. Produce new content regularly

Content is still the heart of search engine optimization. Without great and unique content, your search engine strategies will all be considered moot. Even in social media platforms, new content is basically the foundation that will keep your customer coming.

A caveat: no-follow tags are now the norm in social networking websites. Nonetheless, it seems that search engines are keener towards posting new content in these social networking sites in their SERPs. Quick to recognize the potential, many web developers have been using their social media accounts to post links to newly published content. Posting content here also gives your followers the opportunity to easily repost and link to your content in their other sites, like their blogs.

4. Make your updates count

Making updates with regards to new products, promos and other news usually make up most of the time we spend on social networking sites. Besides, these are probably the easiest avenues to connect with customers and followers. So why not make even your everyday updates count in the eyes of search engines?

In Twitter, 140-characters serve as the maximum length of a tweet. The title tags are usually comprised of around 42 characters which include the first 30 characters of the tweet and then the username of the one posting. Positioning your keywords within these limits is a very advantageous albeit subtle way of doing SEO.

In Facebook, on the other hand, keeping your status messages and updates related to the line of your company’s work or the industry you are in is the way to go. Building theme for your Facebook page is the whole point here which makes it easier for search engines to index your account in the SERPs.

5. Post links

Going back to the traditional way of search engine optimization, links always count. Keep in mind that search engines have a keen eye for inbound links. Posting links of your social networking accounts to your actual website can help bolster your search engine rankings. It also serves as a guide to your customers so they can log in and connect to your social networking accounts.

The SEO Game

Social Media websites are great tools not only for search engine optimization but for communication as a whole. Because of the far reach that these social networking websites have, it is only imperative that businesses use them for their advantage. But always keep in mind that SEO has always been a game of quality content and link building, never forget the basics of the game.

This application works quite differently from Twitter since aside from updating our status and connecting with friends online, this app allows you to find your Twitter friends in real time when you are in the same place at the same time and find out new things to do in different places.

This app has already gained substantial popularity and has attracted a lot of buzz amongst social networking fanatics. It has been dubbed as the next Twitter or Facebook, as the social networking powerhouse of the future. This innovative app is none other than Foursquare.

What is Foursquare?
Foursquare is essentially a location-based social networking website, an application for mobile devices, and a social game. It allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Foursquare utilizes the built-in GPS of a mobile device like that of iPhone’s to display your current location and show restaurants, bars, parks and other attractions found in your location. When you visit in any of these different venues, Foursquare enables you to “check in” using text messaging or a device specific app. It updates and broadcasts your current location to your friends, while also being able to actively take part in a fun social game with other registered users as Foursquare awards you points and badges for checking in at venues. You can also unlock new features in Foursquare when you check in more later on.

Foursquare in turn allows you to see where your friends have checked in. This is helpful especially if you want to meet up with them or just find new things to do in those places where your friends already checked in. This application was initially planned to be used like Twitter, but basing post on a user’s location. Instead of posting random ideas or news like in Twitter, Foursquare users can enjoy using the app by updating their friends as to where they are by updating their location. Thus, you can post shouts about what you are currently doing in a specific venue. It also enables you to search for your friends, add more friends and find more venues within your city.

Moreover, Foursquare also allows you to wire reviews and tips about a certain venue, which will appear to other Foursquare users. These tips would include everything from the best selections to order off the menu of a well-known restaurant to the prices of the services you might want to avail in a local salon.

The Foursquare mobile app is currently available to iPhone, Android, webOS, and Blackberry and Windows Mobile Application users. A Maemo version of the app is currently on its early stages of development and is not being offered in the Foursquare website yet.

Rising from the Ashes
Foursquare was created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai. Crowley and Selvadurai previously created a similar social networking app to Foursquare called Dodgeball in 2004. Internet giant Google bought the rights to Dodgeball from the two in 2005 and even got them in to further develop the product. However, Google decided to shut down this social networking app without much explanation last 2009. Crowley definitely disapproved of Google’s move to dump the project, but he decided to join forces with Selvadurai once again to work on another product very identical to its disappointing precursor.

Hence, Foursquare was created in 2009, and albeit very similar to Dodgeball, it received an opposite reception from the virtual community. It started with availability in the 100 worldwide metro areas where the service was only accessible. When the Foursquare founders decided to extend the service further by changing its location model to permit check-ins from any locale worldwide in January 2010, the service started to boom and become increasingly popular. The site is exponentially increasing its registered users each and every day; it has closed in with around 1 million users from across the globe in April 2010.

With its growing popularity, Foursquare has been considered by a lot of people as the next Twitter. With this potential at stake, Foursquare is now being pursued by another Internet giant, this time Yahoo! Inc., which has offered the founders as much as $125 million. Google must be regretting its previous decision now.

Foursquare Mechanics

Here is how Foursquare works: each time a user goes anywhere in the world, they can use their mobile devices to check in to these locations and earn points. Some locations have tags for check-in frequency, thus a user can earn badges by checking into such venues. Some urban locales offer users city-specific badges that can only be attained in a specific zone. Foursquare has already made updates on the way they handle badges. Thus, when a user acquires a certain type of badge, that person will have the same type of badges across all cities. Once a badge is acquired by a user, it will stay in his or her profile for an indefinite period.

This social game allows users to play with and compete not only against the network of friends on Foursquare, but also against every Foursquare user not included in your network who are also in the same city on a weekly basis.

Users are also able to create their own “to do” lists for their own use, where they could list down all the locations that they would want to visit and check in. Foursquare also features a Tips section where users can key in information about the city attractions they have checked in, such as the things to do or the food to eat at the venue.

The social gaming feature of Foursquare has become beneficial to business establishments. Founders Crowley and Selvadurai have started to secure partnerships from different local companies to work with them and to have mutually profitable relationships. Last February 2010, Foursquare partnered with Zagat, Bravo, Conde Nast, and the New York Times. These companies will share information and tips to Foursquare users through their website and offer special badges at city attractions they have featured in their publications, websites, and shows.

Superuser Status
To make the playing field more competitive, Foursquare provide three level of “superuser status.” They can be attained by users who check in regularly or enter new information about several venues into Foursquare. Obtaining superuser status will unlock additional features and give users the ability to perform new tasks, depending on the superuser level.

Superuser status level 1 will allow users to edit venue info like address, phone number, Twitter details and map pin location, mark venues as “closed”, and inform Foursquare about duplicate venues. On the other hand, Superuser level 2 can edit venues, remove tags, add venue categories for any venue, and merge duplicate venue listings; while Superuser level 3 adds the ability to create and delete venue aliases and delete fake/spam listings, which are starting to infiltrate Foursquare.

Foursquare Mayor
Foursquare has a feature that allows a user to become the “mayor” of a location. If a user checks in to one location on several days more than anyone else, that person becomes the Foursquare mayor of the location. Becoming a mayor allows you to receive actual prizes or benefits from some business establishments in a city, like dining discounts and free drinks. The title can also be stripped off if someone else checks in more than the previous mayor.

Location-based Social Network
Foursquare is not the first of its kind that helps you connect with friends on a location-based social network format through a mobile device with GPS capabilities. Actually, Brightkite was one of the first online services of its kind to penetrate the market. However, what made it unsuccessful over the years is because it had so many features but missed its essence. Indeed Brightkite took technology to the next level and offered a lot of features. But, the all proved useless, unlike Foursquare that has a clear-cut purpose. Its service did not appeal users who are not interested in knowing about where people are unless they know them personally and are their friends in the first place.

Google Latitude is another location-based social network service that failed to become successful because it lacked originality, foresight and usefulness. Google just ripped off the concept from Brightkite and assumed that their LBS will gain more popularity because it was, in fact, Google-made. And yet Google did not make the extra effort of creating unique features that would make it stand out and useful.

It would be wrong to assume that Foursquare is another just another app that jumped on the LBS bandwagon, copied the concept and improved on it, and was just lucky enough to become popular. Remember that the founders of Foursquare are the creators of Dodgeball, the certified first ever LBS app. Foursquare is just the product of the continuous perseverance of Crowley and Selvadurai to make their initial vision into reality.

The Twitter Contender
Foursquare was much in the same shoes as Twitter in its early days. Initially, their services have been mocked and misunderstood as useless apps. But both have been considered as game changers as more people have been starting to take notice, actually use them, and realize their importance. However, with Twitter’s resounding success, Foursquare is coming from behind and daring to challenge Twitter in the social networking wars.

Foursquare is already considered as the next Twitter, but the founders are not contented by this. It wants to become the perfect LBS app and a more useful service than Twitter. Unlike Twitter, where a random tweet goes off into cyberspace to no effect, Foursquare users’ check-ins and other activities would actually help other people. Foursquare’s “tips” feature allows users to share information on places that are worth checking out. Users can leave tips about a location with friends and strangers alike. The service is also beneficial to business establishments found under Foursquare’s radar that need help to flourish.

Points to Considering in Maximizing Digg

Endorsed by Google and other search engines, Digg has become one of the top choices for websites and their developers when it comes to building link popularity. Basically, Digg is a web directory that features web articles visitors can link to if they found it interesting enough. But more than this, there are a lot of aspects to Digg that web developers should know and take advantage of.

• Although Digg eventually directs customers to a website, its main focus is always on link building.

Building link popularity only comes as a result of the links produced by being published in Digg. Getting listed on Digg mainly serves the purpose of getting as much natural links as possible. You write an article, have it published on Digg and hope that readers and visitors find it interesting enough to link to it and share it in their websites.

The traffic that Digg will direct to your web page is already a given. It is the natural inbound links that will be disputed here. Having ten thousand customers troop to your website does not mean anything if no one links to it, at least from the search engines’ point of view.

• Being on Digg should have you focused and more careful about the articles that you make.

Are they interesting enough to read especially for your target readers? Are the titles catchy enough to entice even those who are originally not searching for your topic? Are they keyword rich, enough to convince readers that yours is a good site to be linked to?

These are just some of the questions that web developers should consider in seeking publication on Digg. One can drop the thought of making Digg a selling place. Instead, developers should focus on the things that will encourage readers and fellow web developers to link to your webpage. Once this is done, you can say that you have successfully used Digg; sales would almost always follow.

• Digg is all-natural.

You can be assured that when you get published in Digg, all those links back to you are almost always natural. Search engines turn a favorable eye on pages that have natural links in them. They frown on those that have links that seem to have been bought and unrelated to the topics of their pages.

Out of the thousands of traffic that your website will be receiving, a small number of them will probably be interested enough and link back to your site. These are natural links that you actually did not exert that much effort for.

How to maximize the Usage of Digg for your Website

Digg, as was said above, provides an easy process for websites who would want to avail of its services. Here are a few steps that developers can do to maximize the use of Digg for their websites:

1) Write readable and keyword-rich articles

Of course since this is Digg, a well made, researched and original article is a must. This is the main bullet used by developers to get published in the Digg directory.

2) Have your story “dugg”

Having a story published on the Digg home page is the main goal that developers would want to achieve when they sign-up for its services. Digg basically ranks articles according to two criteria. These are:

• The volume of Diggs for the story

60 Diggs is the magic number that an article must achieve in order for it to be considered being featured in Digg’s homepage.

• The speed with which the story received its Diggs

For the first hour at least, an article is required to accomplish a third of the 60 Diggs in order to get published in the front page.

With so many developers submitting articles everyday in the hopes of getting published, the windows for opportunity are very thin.

3) Invite and take advantage of your Digg’s friends feature

Invite a few friends, family members or officemates to sign-up for Digg and remind them to Digg your articles whenever you publish something. The more friends and relatives present in Digg, the better.

You can also try adding other users that also Digg. Though you do not really know who the person are, connecting to them and linking back to their websites can form a bond between you and another Digger. This can lead to exchanges of Diggs which is a WIN-WIN situation for both parties.

4) Publish as many articles as you can and aim to be a top-submitter.

There are some developers that are confident enough to make just one article and pass it on to Digg. Before you can become like that, make several articles and submit them to Digg for publication. Authors who submit a lot of articles and then make it often to Digg’s front page can be awarded as top submitter by the directory.

5) Web developers can focus their articles on topics that are not about SEO.

In Digg, anything SEO is almost always rejected outright. Although it may be a well-written article about search engine optimization, Digg users usually have the tendency to categorize these pieces immediately as spam. Web developers however still have a lot of choices left with regards to topics they can write about and pass to Digg to be published. Top subjects include:

• Humorous Stories

It has been proven that “Diggers” have the tendency to link to articles that features funny everyday happenings. Hilarious reviews of shirts from Amazon have been one of the most “dugg” posts during the past year.

• Updates on Political Issues

These articles usually get thousands of Diggs per day. Digg users usually are people from various backgrounds so articles made from any viewpoint can be expected to be received popularly in the directory.

• Videos and Pictures

Not only can Digg be applied to text articles, authors can also submit and post other media such as videos and photo files. Hilarious and cute videos usually do the trick for Digg users.

• Celebrities and other Entertainment News

There are a lot of people out there who use Digg to find for the hottest and latest celebrity issues or gossips circulating the Internet. Writing about these can guarantee you Diggs all day!

• Linux and other Open sources

If you are a technology buff who likes to blog about technology news and developments, you’ll score big when you write about Linux and other topics related to Open Sources. For example, Digg users usually favor articles talking about Ubuntu, KDE, and Debian.

• Apple and other Trendy Technology topics

The release of the iPad by Apple has created write a buzz in the Internet and reviews about it are searched by lots of Digg users out there. Diggers are generally more biased towards Apple when it comes to technology than other companies such as Microsoft.

• Video Gaming

There is always gaming news popping out of Yahoo or other News Pages everyday. From reviews to releases to planned releases, gaming is always a popular topic in whatever website. Digg is no different. Never a day goes by when one article about gaming and other gaming related news do not make Digg’s front page.

• Digg itself.

Or if there’s no other choice left, you can talk about Digg itself! Articles about it, like its developments and new features, usually score well among Digg users. Also, articles talking about its founder Kevin Rose usually find their way to the directory’s front page.

Digg, a Valuable SEO tool

Making use of Digg as an SEO tool may not be as simple as others but equally as effective. For link building, Digg and other similar websites are crucial not only in providing customer traffic but more importantly providing the links that will make your web pages matter in the eyes of search engines. Taking advantage of Digg may be one of the best moves you will ever do in the whole process of your link building.

Dofollow blogs are a trend nowadays. Simply put, blogs are almost always set up in order to drive customer traffic into a site and hopefully have some of these readers link back to your web page. The comments section of a blog page is where most of the interactions take place.

The comments section of a blog usually serves a dual purpose:

One, it serves as an interactive part of your page that your readers can go to drop their thoughts about the topic you are talking about. Many readers browse through a blog’s comments section because this is where the conversation is continued. Many readers themselves are educated and are willing to suggest a thing or two to further expand the topics you are talking about.

Two, the comments section can provide your blog with a handful of inbound links from readers who found your entry or entries interesting and relevant with regards to their own sites. Many users actually leave links to heir favorite sites or even their own web sites in the comments section for further reference on the topics discussed. These result in many inbound links for the web site’s usage.

But today, Dofollow blogs have also been encountering infiltrations from spammers and other hacks that do nothing but bring the page’s rankings down. These bad links can also cause a web page to disappear altogether in the search engine’s indexes and rankings. Being vigilant is always the way to go with regards to these bad links especially if you are maintaining and would like to continue using a Dofollow blog.

Here are some things you can do to avoid the negative results of bad links in your Dofollow blogs:

1. Follow your comments section closely

This is especially so if you are on top of the SEO rankings and have a large customer base that is following your blog. But if you have both of these covered already then it should be safe to say that you are vigilant in maintaining the sanctity and authority of your web site.

But for some other who do not, it is time to start doing so. Google, through all these years in the search engine business, has come up with newer and more advanced ways in tracking down spam or bad links. Anything they see as malicious, no matter how high the rank of that particular website is and how established it is, is going to be dealt with.

Follow your comments section as you would the other parts of your blog. Remove all the bad links and enjoy high authority rankings throughout your blog’s lifetime.

2. Use tools that are available online

Sometimes, web developers and bloggers do not have that much time in their hands to manually patrol their web sites and see if they are inadvertently harboring spam messages and links. This is where software programs and services such as Akismet come in. These anti-spamming service providers can be used by bloggers and installed on their pages in order to track down and eliminate spam.

You can also use CAPTCHA to avoid spam messages and links in your comments sections. Basically, the CAPTCHA eliminates the possibility of automatically-generated messages (meaning spam messages) from being posted especially in your vulnerable Dofollow blogs. Make your readers type a code that usually spam-generating software won’t be able to understand and you can sit back and see your page rankings stay on top of the lists.

Dofollow Website Lists

Here are some web sites that employ the Dofollow scheme in providing service to their users.

• Wordpress.com
• Tumblr
• Live Journal
• Blogspot
• Thoughts.com
• Blogetery
• Blogster
• EasyJournal

Some social networking web sites also use Dofollow in providing services. These include:

• Xanga
• Yedda
• RateItAll.com

Article submission directories oftentimes employ the Dofollow feature in their web pages. Some of the more popular brands include:

• Ezine Article Submission
• Yahoo MyWeb
• Reddit
• GoArticles
• Propeller
• Idea Marketers
• Article Dashboard Directory
• Article Alley

Four months ago, the biggest search engine in the world launched Google Buzz and embedded it as a feature in Gmail. Dubbed as the brand’s “Twitter killer,” Google Buzz needs no set-up and automatically adds Gmail contacts to Buzz’s Friends page. Google Buzz fuses the social networking features found in renowned websites such as Facebook, complementing the mailing service that Gmail provides.

Here are some of the key features of Google Buzz:

• Automated Friend’s List
• Rapid sharing of updates, photos, videos, etc.
• Public or private sharing has been made easier.
• Integration of updates
• The “Recommended Buzz”

Aside from all of these features, Google and other developers in the market have come up with several tools for people to further enhance their Google Buzz experience. Google has been known to be an advocate of web developers. They usually take up applications that are made by whomever and have them available to use by their Gmail or Buzz users.

Many developers have constantly taken advantage in bringing their own developments and make it available for use in Google Buzz. These web tools can be used and integrated into their Buzz accounts to effectively manage Buzz accounts:

1. Buzz Can Tweet

This Buzz tool is prefect for users who have Twitter accounts and would want to simultaneously manage Buzz and Twitter accounts in one go. In this set-up, a user who signs up for the Buzz Can Tweet service will be able to post tweets on their Twitter accounts and make these appear on their Google Buzz pages, and vice versa. Your Buzz updates will also be sent to your Twitter account making it easier for your followers on both social networks to know what you are doing.

Another advantage of this set-up is the easier sharing and posting of various files such as pictures and video. Your followers on Twitter will be able to see your posts even without their own Google Buzz accounts.

2. BuzzStats

Like your typical search engine optimization, Google Buzz ranks its users according to the popularity of their posts or accounts. By using BuzzStats, users can manage their rankings and find other high ranking users with whom they can connect to.

This tool will also give you the raw status of your website in the overall Buzz landscape. It will show you data about the number of your followers, the number of people you follow and the trend with which your network is growing. BuzzStats will give you an idea of how effective your over-all management of your account is. From there, you can make necessary adjustments to pull your site up the rankings.

3. Buzzzy.com

Much like search engine optimization, which Google has been known for, Google Buzz can give its users search results from among the Buzz updates by its users. Buzzzy is an advanced search tool that enables Buzz users to search for a keyword from among the updates of Buzz users. This search tool will return results related to the keyword or topic being searched for.

4. Buzzr.com

A poll-like Buzz tool that enables the account owner to make a mock poll of all his posts to see what are the most read ones and most popular. The Buzzr also allows your followers to re-buzz your posts to their accounts resulting in natural links and added visitor traffic.

Each Buzz by your followers accounts for a vote which Buzzr will tally in its on-site rankings. Here you will have an idea of the topics that are more popular to your followers so that you can make adjustments according to what’s hot and what’s not.

5. Rebuzz This

Rebuzz This is a social bookmarking tool that allows your followers to mark your posts that they like and buzz them in their own accounts. Much like Buzzr and TweetMe, Twitter’s bookmarking tool, the posts and files rebuzzed by your followers are then indexed in the home page of Rebuzz This.

6. NJuice Google Buzz Button

This a is web service tool that Google Buzzers can use to scan other social networking websites that may have posts and contents that may interest you. Some of the social networking sites scanned by NJuice include Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter among others. In this way, you can post in your Buzz account something that your friend had posted on Facebook. Significant amount of natural links can result in using the NJuice Google Buzz button.

7. Gone Buzz

Linking to other popular users in Google Buzz will greatly boost your rankings and popularity. Google Buzz has this feature of automatically connecting your Gmail contacts to your Buzz account. But if you want to expand your network to include the popular buzz users, Buzz will leave it all up to you. This is where Gone Buzz becomes handy.

Gone Buzz will give you the most popular Buzz users so it would possible for you to connect with them and follow them. Your search will return not only the names of the popular users, it also includes a short description/bio, their location, a list of their posts and the ranking that they have with Google.

Rapid Development of Google Buzz

Google Buzz is relatively new in the social networking industry but the majority of Buzz users have already seen the advantages it offers barely four months after its inception. Though not as popular as the biggest social networking site, Google Buzz has already gained a foothold in the industry.

Stumbling Upon Innovation

StumbleUpon was created on November 2001 by Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, Eric Boyd, and Justin LaFrance. The group expanded when Silicon Valley investor Brad O’Neill helped them on moving to San Francisco, where the headquarters of StumbleUpon is currently located. Other investors subsequently brought in more funds for the program. These include Ram Shriram of Google, Mitch Kapor of Mozilla Foundation, Ron Conway, and First Round Capital.

Since then, StumbleUpon has delivered its potential to become of the most-used social bookmarking sites, catering its service to about 7 million users. In fact, it became very successful that a change of ownership transpired when the Internet giant eBay purchased StumbleUpon on May 2007 for $75,000,000. On April 2009, StumbleUpon was once again acquired by its original founders, Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith and other investors to become an independent company. At that time, StumbleUpon has extended its reach to 10 million subscribers, generating up to 20 million personalized “stumbles” everyday.

How StumbleUpon Works

Like Digg and Delicious, StumbleUpon is one of the social bookmarking tools available in the web. However, StumbleUpon features more unique ways of viewing different web pages and generating traffic into these pages and websites. As mentioned above, it plays around the concept of channel surfing on the web, where a different web page is shown when users click the “Stumble” button on a toolbar that users have to install directly to their browsers. (The toolbar works on almost all kinds of browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera.)

Hence, every click of the button allows you to “stumble upon” random pages all over the web. But StumbleUpon does not just flash any page randomly; it depends on what kind of interests a user (referred to as “Stumbler”) indicates in his/her profile. The chances that a certain web page is served up also depends on a Stumbler’s ratings of previous pages, ratings given by his/her friends, and the ratings and recommendations given by other Stumblers who share similar interests. The StumbleUpon toolbar shows you a “thumbs up” and a “thumbs down” button that you can use to rate Web pages.

The more “thumbs up” a specific webpage receives from StumbleUpon users, the more frequent the page would be shown up to people. And when a page gets a lot of “thumbs down”, the higher the chances that page won’t be seen again in StumbleUpon’s rotation.

In addition, this tool allows Stumblers to tag specific fields of personal or professional interest from a list of topics in the StumbleUpon website to filter out and serve up web pages that are related to their interests.

An Effective Solution for Your Web Traffic Needs

With so many webmasters wanting their sites or a specific page to have a greater flow of traffic, StumbleUpon is used as an effective social media marketing tool to:

1. generate a broader exposure for a website immediately
2. create an expanded reader base for a blog rapidly and
3. gain numerous backlinks from users.

StumbleUpon follows the premise that a content that is truly interesting and beneficial to online users will have more high-quality inbound links. The program also follows what search engines do in ranking websites. It is also an efficient link building strategy since you don’t have to trade links one-by-one to have a consistent stream of traffic, assuming that your articles or resources have high-quality content and are useful enough that it really deserves attention.

StumbleUpon can deliver a more consistent stream of traffic compared to other social bookmarking sites since it always serves high-ranked pages to new users everyday. You can take advantage of StumbleUpon’s link building prowess by knowing the right kind of content you should share to other users. Typically, Stumblers want to see useful and comprehensive articles based on their interests and not just some product advertisement. Selling something directly to users will get you nowhere. If you serve them with something valuable and interesting, expect a lot of “thumbs” up from them and more links to your site.

Creating the Right Content to Share in StumbleUpon

You can launch your content into a broader StumbleUpon audience and attract people to your website effectively if you know how to present the articles you will share appropriately. Comprehensive lists never fail to attract users, such as “10 Ways to Overcome a Breakup” or “8 Tips to Save up a Lot of Money for Retirement.” Aside from this, providing a catchy title or headline for your content is a surefire way to get you noticed, as they always read this first. Putting some high-quality pictures and videos to accompany your message or write-up will also attract people, especially if they serve the viewers’ interest, humor, and curiosity.

It’s always safe to check out what’s hot out there in other social media sites and blogs before creating and submitting content to StumbleUpon. Chances are, if a page or topic related to the fields of interest you are following on your StumbleUpon profile has high volume of viewers and good ratings from other sites like Digg, Delicious, Mixx and Reddit, it could be worth sharing to StumbleUpon as well. Just be sure to submit the content before anyone else does.

The Right Website to Promote

The page or website you are trying to promote and attract traffic into should contain a lot of content that users won’t finish viewing in a single visit to ensure repeated visits from StumbleUpon users. Longer and more in-depth articles and resources are more preferable than less-substantial ones. If content involves current events and latest trends, there should be consistent updates since current news would eventually die down and receive lower ratings and traffic in the long run. More importantly, the site should possess a visually appealing design and a memorable branding or URL to ensure higher ratings from visitors.

As mentioned earlier, it is not advisable to saturate a specific page or the entire website with many poor-blended advertisements using applications like Google AdSense.

Connecting to a Wider Audience

StumbleUpon gives users the opportunity to attract viewers and increase incoming links to their respective websites by disseminating content to other users who share the same interests. It also allows you to subscribe to other users’ favorites. Other users in return can subscribe to the pages that you have stumbled on and reviewed, therefore further increasing traffic into those pages and the probability of those StumbleUpon pages being kept in the site’s rotations.

It is important to maintain an active profile to build credibility and mutual subscriptions in StumbleUpon. People won’t just subscribe to you if your profile is empty of activities. Being active in StumbleUpon will ensure other users your reliability and more people will want to connect to you. In turn, this expands your network and connection with other users whom you share the same interests with whom you can serve your pages to. The more active your profile, the more people will subscribe to your pages.

Becoming Involved in StumbleUpon

To be involved in StumbleUpon means using it regularly and reviewing and/or rating sites consistently.

To do this, you can be involved as simple as thumbing up numerous sites a day. Better yet, you can go beyond this and write reviews for several web pages and tag them with relevant keywords. This is more applicable if you are submitting your own content; giving your article an initial review that shares what is good about the page will help your submission receive significant amounts of StumbleUpon traffic. Also, labeling your page with relevant keyword tags will help your page be stumbled upon by more users who are interested in that topic. Moreover, using popular keyword tags will send more traffic to your pages.

Increase Your Subscribers to Increase Traffic

The more subscribers you have, the more people you can send and recommend your pages to, and thus more traffic for your pages and website. If you have more mutual subscribers, there is better chance that the articles you share will be given a “thumbs up.”

It’s easy to add subscribers. You can connect with your friends who are already in StumbleUpon by importing your address book from your email or by looking at the profiles of the users who liked your page and subscribing them. You can also add users who share the same interests with you because they are more likely to add you as well. And you can also join groups related to your interests, since the people who belong to the group will be more likely to see the pages you have submitted and reviewed.

Once you have a considerable number of friends in your list, you can send your articles to them through the StumbleUpon toolbar to get more thumbs up that can lead to more traffic and higher StumbleUpon visibility.

Attract Traffic Effortlessly

Using StumbleUpon is not hard to use and does not require so much time to generate traffic. As long as you take note of the things mentioned here, it would actually take you less time to promote your page compared to other social media sites.

Getting Help from Digg Tools

Even if Digg is powerful and popular in itself, it seems more difficult these days to maximize its potential and promote something that a lot of people will see. With more and more people using Digg, the playing field has become more competitive. Thus, submitting content and making sure that your content is disseminated and given enough positive votes (“digs”) to bring it to the front page needs so much time and hard work. Remember that in Digg, you are always fighting for votes and popularity. The more “diggs” your content gets from other users, the higher the chances Digg will deem it relevant enough to put in on its home page, where it will then get an astronomically greater number of views.

To get ahead of the playing field, we can utilize external tools to help us in our Digg campaigns. The following applications can help Digg users get that popularity and traffic they have always wanted in Digg.

DiggWatcher

DiggWatcher helps you monitor your Digg submission’s popularity and status even while you are not using Digg itself. It is a downloadable application that informs if your story receives new comments, new diggs, and if your story is placed on Digg’s front page. You can consider it your personal Digg assistant.

Social Blade

Social Blade is an external Digg tool that provides users with front page analytics, a list of Digg’s top users, and a social media community forum. Social Blades’ analytics supplies data from the content submitted to Digg and presents in detail each article’s statistics at the time it hits Digg’s front page. It shows numbers and trends about the global story averages based on the number of diggs a submission had when it was placed in the front page. The data are also presented in detailed graph the number of diggs, the percentage of friendly diggs, comments, and diggs per hour of the submissions.

Social Blade also shows the usernames of the top 100 Digg users (“Diggers”) and their respective statistics including number of submissions, frequency of diggs, and profile views. The list is updated every time you click or refresh the list.

The tool also includes a community forum where users can talk and exchange information about different social media sites including Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Twitter. It also includes sections that are not related to Social Blade and social media.

Social Blade is a great tool that will help you understand the trends and the kind of information you can emulate to put your own content to Digg’s front page. With Social Blade’s data, you can determine the number of diggs it took the submissions to get to the front page and make use of the prevailing trends.

DI66

DI66.net provides a detailed analysis of the prevailing trends seen from Digg submissions. This tool presents the common attributes of the popular submissions and how these submissions are doing. It tracks down the most frequently used words in titles and descriptions, the top sources of Digg submissions, the top diggers, and the most popular topics in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly intervals. The data allows you to analyze what are the popular submissions at the moment and what content characteristics are in-demand so you can formulate your own front page-worthy content.

MiniDigg

MiniDigg is an Adobe Air widget allows you to view and track on your submissions and other content. You can conveniently keep an eye on the submissions that rise to popularity in real time while you are away and not using Digg itself. It records the progress of your own content and of others within your niche. Use this to keep yourself updated with what’s hot and what’s not on Digg.

Friend Statistics

Use this utility to find out who among your friends have dugg your last 10 articles. You can enter your username at http://friendstatistics.com/ to analyze your friends list and discover who are following or ignoring you. You can also monitor the users outside your Digg friends list for who have dug more than five of your entries so you can add them to your list as well. This is a very effective tool to help you establish a broad network of friends. As a social media network, connections are crucial in Digg; they can make or break the success of your submissions.

Digg Extension for Firefox

This is a downloadable add-on application if you are using a Mozilla Firefox web browser. This add-on Digg menu is a lightweight extension of Digg that allows you to get connected with the latest popular content on Digg. The Digg extension informs you if the page you are currently viewing has been submitted to Digg. If the page is already submitted to Digg, the extension shows you the number of diggs and comments the page has, the last 10 users that dugg the page, the most popular comments, and other articles submitted to Digg from the same web site, if any. You can also dig pages that you are currently browsing. I

f not, you can submit the page yourself easily with one click.

When using the extension at the same time with the Digg website, you can see your friends’ activities including diggs, submissions, and comments.

BiggBoard

This tool can also help you to find out which of your submissions are hot and which aren’t. BiggBoard lets you identify which of your stories are getting popular across the different “hot” categories and which are getting buried. It will help you identify which categories suit your submissions best and which submissions are already ineligible for a front page stint. You can access the Story Tracker section for the hottest submissions on Digg from all its users, and you can find out if yours are among them at the moment.

Get Some Help

It’s a big challenge these days for your stories to land on Digg’s front page because of the surging number of submissions Digg receives everyday. Despite this, you can adjust accordingly with the help of these tools. If you know how to use them effectively, you can come up with your own surefire strategies to submit content worthy of a front page stint.

Best Strategies for Businesses in Facebook The power and reach that Facebook has is enormous. This presents several opportunities for businesses especially in reaching their target customers and markets. A lot of business strategies have been formulated in taking advantage of these opportunities. Here are some of the best strategies to implement to take advantage of Facebook for your business:

1. Make sure people will notice your Profile through your Profile Picture: Many people often overlook the fact that their profile pictures are the first things that people recognize about him/her. Same is true with businesses. Not everyone has an awesome logo that people can recognize from even a resized thumbnail. This part is crucial because most Facebook users browse through their searches and do not necessarily look at pictures long. Developers should make sure that their pictures are unique and basically tells something about their company. It also helps to post something that is entertaining and not too formal.
2. Create a fan Page for your business: More than personal accounts and profiles, Facebook also offers the Fan Page feature. Businesses can customize their fan pages to their liking to further entice and update their target customers. It is also a good way to gauge how the company is doing in terms of the size of its following.
3. Post relevant and entertaining content: As with any link building process, the most important thing is to always provide customers with quality and enjoyable content that would hopefully make them come back for more and encourage them to link back to your page. Well-written and researched articles are always the life of any web site, even Facebook pages. It should be easily searchable and should be looked at by search engine machines positively. Building link popularity through Facebook is a similar process with that used in search engine optimization processes.
4. Mix and match several apps: Facebook offers its users the chance to spice up their profile pages with different apps that will cater to how they want their pages to look like. Businesses can use these to their advantage because it promotes interaction with their customers and further entices their interest with whatever it is that they are offering. Apps can also be a good way of reaching more customers as there are some apps that promote group interaction meaning users can invite their friends to go to your fan page and use the apps available there. These apps can be games, media players, social interviews, and many more.
5. Customize your URLs and HTMLs: Make your site more recognizable by providing your customers with a catchy and an easy to remember URL. Use Facebook’s Mark-up Language or FBML to create and put HTML boxes in the Facebook page. These boxes can be for newsletter sign-ups, link RSS feeds or other downloadable files.
6. Join the fun and interact with your customers: The main purpose of going through all of these troubles to reach your target market is to interact with them. Directing them to your website alone is not enough because it will take a lot more to really advertise your page to your customers. Add a suggestion, comment or testimonial box within the page and make sure to respond to as much query as possible posted by your customers.
7. Use tagging to inform and update your customers about new stuff: This may be irritating for some but most fans actually like to be updated with whatever new offerings your business offers to them. This is especially true for businesses with a solid following. Tagging is the easiest and surest way of updating your customer base because your videos, slide shows or pictures will appear in their profiles, ensuring greater presence and visibility.
8. Enable to use your Facebook page to order your products or book services: A lot of businesses are doing this today. They allow their customers to order using their Facebook pages. Facebook users will definitely find this more convenient than making an order in another separate website. Make sure that your customers can purchase through Facebook by installing apps that are specifically catered for this function. Also, don’t forget to post hotline numbers, email addresses and other means to enable customers to contact your company whenever the need arises.
9. Use custom tabs: the more, the merrier: Companies should customize their Facebook pages as this can boost up their link popularity and spare customers monotonous and boring pages. Some businesses create accounts but don’t really put the extra time and effort to make their pages more enjoyable for their customers. Instead, customers are stuck with a default Facebook page that does not really appear enticing to potential customers.
10. Use Facebook Ads Sometimes it is very hard to get noticed in Facebook, which has millions of active users. It is good to take advantage of Facebook Ads especially if you are not garnering the sufficient amount of customers to your web page. Facebook Ads may be the fastest way to promote your web site and direct important traffic to it. Despite all of these best practices, developers should know that it is still a very tedious task to raise up Facebook ranks and achieve the target number you set out for your pages. Achieving popularity in social networking sites like Facebook will take a lot of time, effort, innovation and patience from the web developer. Doing these strategies helps in getting closer to the goal.

Google, one of the world’s biggest and most recognizable companies and also one of search engine optimization’s biggest players, has recently launched its own brand of social networking that is sure to be a major player in the market in time. In February, Google launched Google Buzz; a social networking feature embedded within Google’s mailing service, the Gmail. Google Buzz combines the social networking functions found in popular sites such as Twitter and Facebook in addition to the mailing service that Gmail provides. Dubbed as the brand’s “Twitter killer”, Google Buzz needs no set-up and automatically adds Gmail contacts to its “Friends” page.

Key Features Google Buzz is pretty much the same format as other social networking web sites that have been around. But Google, looking to stay ahead of the social networking game have added features to their site that would differentiate it and give it advantage over its rival websites. These key features include:

1. Automated Friends List: While in Facebook or Twitter you would have to search for the names or emails of your friends before you can add them to your friends’ list, Google Buzz allows you to automatically add your emailing contacts into your friends’ list. Contacts can follow your page without them needing to search for you or your email address. Same goes to the friends you are following, Google will determine or single out those email addresses that you frequently communicate with and immediately update you the latest on your friends’ own Buzz pages.
2. Fast Sharing of Updates, Photos, Videos, etc. Google Buzz combines sources like Picassa and Twitter into a single RSS feed. This enables the user to get updated about their multiple accounts whenever they want without needing to open a new browser window or tab.
3. Public or Private sharing is made easier. People can swap files, images or even videos with relatives and contacts very easily through Google Buzz. With Gmail’s functionality embedded within Google Buzz, file sharing can be done within a single click without wasting so much time uploading or tagging the files.
4. Integration of Updates Instead of having to send you emails one by one with regards to the updates that you have on your account, Google Buzz enables your inbox to continuously post updates of a thread in one single email.
5. The Recommended Buzz This puts updates of people who are not in your friends list. The Recommended Buzz shows you the friends of your friends, people you may know or may not know but you may be interested in making an acquaintance. These recommendations take note of how you respond to the Recommendations thus constantly improving on the people that they recommend.

Advantages over Other Social Networking Sites Though it seems that Google Buzz is eerily similar to other more popular social networking sites in terms of the overall function and usage, there are slight advantages that Google has worked on to ensure that they have competitive edge over more popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

1. Longer Posts for Users First, Google Buzz, unlike Twitter, allows longer posts and messages. Twitter only has certain amount of characters that its users can dispose of in their tweets. In the Buzz, messages and posts are longer but not to the point that users can write entire paragraphs and still be able to post these on their pages.
2. Organized Updates While the layout of its comments and replying function is very much like that of Facebook, Google Buzz has an advantage on showing its users automatic updates or new replies even from older posts. Unlike Facebook, when some of your contacts in Google Buzz reply to an old post that you had on your page, that message automatically shows up on the top of your updates, making it easier for you to read new comments even from posts you did yesterday or a week ago.
3. Instant Set-up Also, there is no need to set up a separate account to participate in Google Buzz. Once you have your Gmail account and you click on the link that directs you to your Google Buzz page, everything is already set up there. All of your friends who have begun using Google Buzz will be there together with their updates and posts. Importing files from other social networking sites is also easier, making the Buzz a one-stop site for everything about your social networking accounts.
4. Recommends Interesting Posts Google Buzz also has this very handy function wherein it posts its recommended updates from your contacts and weeds out updates that you may not like or pay attention to. This enables users to easily skip posts that they wouldn’t be interested in.
5. Link Previews Another upgrade from the traditional social networking is the URL preview function that Google Buzz provides. When posting certain URLs of websites for example, followers are given a preview of what the website looks like because Google extracts images and other important stuff from that website and shows them in the user’s post. This makes it easier on the part of the follower whether to click and be directed to the posted page or not.
6. Email Functionality Google Buzz is basically email combined with social networking. The service provides a very handy way of social networking while still being able to function as an email account all at the same time. Users can directly use their Gmail and send email to whomever without leaving their Buzz pages. It needs no new tabs or windows because everything (email, posts, updates, etc) is conveniently rolled into one.
7. Upgraded Mobile Capability When users access their Google accounts on your mobile phones and update your status on Google Buzz, the service automatically sets their location and enables friends to know where exactly they are at the time of the posts. This function is called Foursquare and this has been one of the advantages that Google Buzz has over its direct competitors.

Developments and Updates with regards to Google Buzz When it was released a couple of months back, Google Buzz generated so much speculation and anticipation as it was thought to be the giant brand’s way of taking down Facebook, Twitter and other juggernauts in the social networking arena. With this kind of attention following its release, many people opined that Facebook and other sites’ days are numbered while other voice out the opposite. Many people have said that Google Buzz hit the mother lode when it integrated Gmail’s emailing functionality to social networking. They believed that this was the main advantage the Buzz has over its rival websites.

Others, though, have disagreed and said that Google is already too late in the social networking game. Others commented that the privacy matters that plagued Google Buzz in its early days will prove to be a serious impediment to the service’s popularity ratings. Early users of the service ran afoul of a privacy flaw: frequent email correspondents showed up on their friends list and could view updates. Buzz developers tackled this problem immediately by allowing users to include who they want to in their friends’ list and exclude those that are for emailing and contacting purposes only. Google has also considered the option of releasing Buzz as a separate application, allowing users to have different Buzz and Gmail accounts. The company, however, will have to think of a whole new strategy of introducing this separate Google Buzz in the social networking market.

Google Buzz Buzzing For now, it seems like majority of Google users are enjoying everything new that Google Buzz offers. With every function brought together in one place, it’s not that hard to see why many users have grown to like this new social networking media so much. Within three days, Google Buzz has already tallied more than 9 million posts with an average of 160,000 “buzzes” per hour. With this kind of showing, Google Buzz will soon be a major player and will be staying in for the long haul.

Social Media’s Influence Social Media has been one of the most important and influential Internet developments that have greatly advanced the playing field with regards to building link popularity today. What with the plethora of social networking sites in the Web, more and more people are logging into the Internet, using it as a tool to connect with friends and meet new people. Together with this, Internet marketing has boomed and the market continuously has continuously expanded at an exponential rate.

Facebook for Businesses Facebook is one of the more popular social networking sites in the web today. With millions of individuals already having their individual Facebook accounts, businesses have followed suit in order to promote their products and websites to millions of potential customers. A caveat though: picking out specific apps for a Facebook web page has become a very tricky process, what with the myriad applications available for businesses to use in their Facebook pages. Some apps can promote certain business types effectively while some serve only as distractions and might even drive customers away.

Apps best suited for any Business in Facebook For any business, choosing what is best among the many options out there is always paramount. Same is true even with just choosing the perfect app to place in a Facebook business page.

Here are some of the best Facebook applications for businesses classified by the function that they play:

• For Content and Blog Promotion

1. “Networked Blogs App” is an app that lists everything that the page owner reads and recommends to his customers. It shows up in the owner’s profile and displays the latest interesting blogs and articles that the owner has read. This particular application is a good avenue for promoting other blogs and websites to your customers.
2. “Notes” is a default app found in anyone’s Facebook profile page. It is basically an RSS feed that shows websites you have fed into it. It also shows your friend’s feeds. It automatically updates whenever the profile owner logs into his account.
3. “Social RSS” is the same as Notes in terms of function.
4. “Simplaris BlogCast” provides a very simple way to feed articles into any RSS. It displays the title of any posts made and a link directing readers to it in your RSS feeds.
5. “Blog RSS Feed Reader” integrates a blog into a Facebook page.

• Business Promotion

1. “My Business Blinkweb” makes use of your connections in spreading the word about your business. It turns your friends into advertising channels as it will show your business page in their profiles.
2. “Define Me” is something like a testimonial page for your business page. It displays words and statements from your customers with regards to how they view and how they are satisfied with how your business does its service.
3. “GLPrint Business Cards” is, like its name, a business card only for social networking sites. One can send this to his customers through their Facebook accounts or emails.
4. “IEndorse”, like Define Me, is an app that features the testimonials of customers with regards to the business. This app allows Facebook users to endorse your business themselves and recommend it to their friends.
5. “Professional Profile” App allows the business to create a tab within the profile for business and professional contacts. It also works like a virtual organizer as it combines all the activities and information and makes them easier for the owner’s to look up and identify.

• For Networking

1. The “Introductions” app is a good avenue for your business to meet new contacts and customers for start-up businesses or for any individual looking for self-promotion in the world of Facebook.
2. “My LinkedIn Profile” has been around even before Facebook. It can now be used by businesses in their Facebook accounts by linking their profiles to their LinkedIn accounts, making it easier for them to access it while using FB.
3. “SocialFly” organizes for you like no other app out their in Facebook. It gives comprehensive details of your connections — from their personal descriptions to the degree of your connection with them. It also details the people connected with your business and when to connect to them again. It keeps notes of your professional and business contacts and lets you know any business activities that you need to be attending to.

• For Other Purposes

1. “Memorable Web Addresses” enables web developers to create a customized URL. This will make their pages easier to remember for their customers and business contacts compared to the random URLs that Facebook automatically provides.
2. “Page Maps” is an app that enables Facebook pages to display various mini maps with links to a larger and more detailed map. This is pretty handy for businesses who want to inform their customers about their location and where they like to conduct business transactions in the area.

Making sure to pick the right apps for your business is crucial in reaching your target market and bringing your business out there especially in Facebook. Mixing and matching some of these apps and applying them in your webpage can be you fast track to achieving business success and fully utilizing popular social networking web sites like Facebook. With over 1.5 million active businesses in Facebook, it is very hard indeed for anyone to make his business flourish in the crowded Facebook landscape. But with the right use of the tools already available for the site’s users, it will be a much easier endeavor to accomplish.