Big Mistake, Google. Big. Huge!

"My business is not closed! Do you hear me, Google Maps?!"

Yes, the title of this blog post is a Pretty Woman reference – I hope at least one person out there got it!

I just read an article about Google listing businesses that are actually open as CLOSED on Google Maps due to spam. Since users can make updates to business listings, they can incorrectly list a business as permanently closed, costing that business countless lost customers and profit. I don’t think I know anyone, (except maybe my Grandma) who doesn’t use Google Maps. Can you imagine the consequences if hundreds or thousands of people were searching for your business on a weekly basis only to have a supposedly trusted listing telling them it’s (incorrectly) closed?

This brings up a good discussion for business owners. Do you regularly ‘Google’ your business’ name? Do you check Google Maps to ensure your company’s info is accurate? Do you check review sites like Yelp to find out what people are saying about you?

Being proactive about your business can help you maintain a positive reputation for your company, help you retain customers, and help you find errors (like a closed listing on Google Maps) before they can spell disastrous results for your business.

Here's that article in full: Google Maps Spam Erroneously 'Closes' Open Businesses

What do you do to ensure your business is correctly listed on the web and how do you maintain your business’ reputation with so many review and social media sites out there?

And if you're interested in increasing your visibility amongst search engines, Voice of North America can help. Voice of North America lets you post blogs about any topic you want, getting you quality link backs from relevant content.

A Company Cannot Exist on Social Media Alone

There's more to a marketing strategy than social media

When it comes to social media, anyone looking to promote a business, product, or service should definitely have a strong presence on sites like Twitter and Facebook. But relying on social media alone to gain business exposure isn’t a good idea. If you want optimal results, you will need a well-rounded business plan that attacks all mediums of exposure.

• If you’re already on social media sites, make sure you’re tweeting and posting regularly on every account you have set up. Initiate conversations with your fans and followers and make sure you respond when they talk to you. Try to engage with your followers on a daily basis by posting interesting content and links to informative articles. If you’re not yet on social media sites, make sure you set up your accounts ASAP. Developing a strong following takes time, so don’t expect results overnight. Instead, be patient and make growing your presence on social media part of your everyday routine.

• Don’t forget about the power of press releases. Press releases are a great way to announce a new product or service or highlight important company news. You can incorporate SEO keywords into your press releases too, making them easier for your target audience to find them. There are free press release distribution sites out there, so do some homework and submit your press releases to a few of them. You can also pay a company to do this for you as well as post press releases on your company’s website and/or blog. (Be sure to send out an update or tweet on Facebook and/or Twitter with a link to the press release to gain more readers). Here’s an article with more in-depth tips on how to distribute a press release: Effective Free Press Release Distribution in 5 Easy Steps

• Email newsletters and announcements are an easy way to reach hundreds (if not thousands) of potential and past customers. The key is making your newsletter content interesting enough that it doesn’t get thrown into the trash bin the second it hits their inbox. If you’re not a great writer, hire one. Make the content interesting, informative, witty, or funny depending on your product or service and eventually your customers will look forward to seeing your newsletter pop up in their inbox. Don’t have enough customer email addresses to send out a newsletter? Why not offer a special email-only discount that requires customers to sign up for your newsletter to receive? Again, you can cross-promote this on your blog and social media sites. Here’s a helpful article on email newsletter writing: How to Write Email Newsletter Articles Your Audience Wants to Read

For help growing your business, check out Voice of North America, a site where you can blog about your products and services in all 50 states. You’ll gain exposure on the search engines and increase quality linkbacks to your website or blog.

Get More Out of Social Media with Crowdbooster

Want to learn more about your social media followers? Try Crowdbooster!

If you have a business, product, or service that you’re currently promoting on Twitter or Facebook, you might be interested to learn about Crowdbooster.

Crowdbooster is a free (of course, you can also upgrade to a paid membership) site that analyzes your social media accounts and provides you with detailed feedback on how you can improve. Some of the data they’ll give you includes your follower growth, influential followers, recommendations on how you can improve your content and gain more readers, audience insights, and even a content scheduler that analyzes the best time for you to post updates and send tweets and then does it automatically for you!

Signing up is very simple – you log in with your Twitter or Facebook info and then create an account. Crowdbooster instantly starts analyzing your account and provides you with feedback very quickly. I think this could be a good tool if used regularly to learn how your company can better reach your target audience. What do you think?

Want to increase web traffic and brand exposure now? Visit Voice of North America.

Do You Have Social Media Cred?

She's smiling because her Klout score is higher than yours.

Did you know that every time you post a story, article, link, or comment on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare, you’re influencing your followers? But wouldn’t you like to know exactly how much you’re influencing them and conversely, how much they’re influencing you?

There’s a new site out called Klout that lets you know just that. It gives you your “Klout Score” based on how many people you influence, how much you influence them, and how influential they are. It’s an interesting concept and pretty fun. You sign in with your Twitter or Facebook account and it gives you your score plus a detailed report. Right now, my Klout is only at 28.3%, clearly I need to work on that. Sad face.

Check it out and leave a comment letting me know what your Klout Score is!

Trying to grow your business? Don’t forget to check out Voice of North America to learn how you can start blogging in all 50 states, maximizing your exposure on the search engines, and driving more traffic to your website or blog.

Get the Latest Breaking News on . . . Twitter?

Poor weather man. Social media is taking over his job.

I’ve seen many articles lately about how social media has become an unlikely news source. Take for example the east coast earthquake that just occurred. Apparently Virginia residents began tweeting about the earthquake before it even had a chance to hit New York—leaving Twitter to claim it’s faster than an earthquake.

I can’t deny that my knowledge of major news stories occurring around the world have come directly from my friends’ Twitter and Facebook posts. I first learned that Osama Bin Laden and Michael Jackson had died from a Facebook post and heard about the Casey Anthony verdict on Twitter.

I think the reason that so many social media users immediately post on sites like Facebook and Twitter with news-worthy stories is because they simply want to be the first one among their friends to break the news. This way, they get all the shocked comments and get to enjoy the satisfaction of being the first one to report something big.

Here’s a few interesting articles I’ve seen lately on this topic:

East Coasters Turn to Twitter During Virginia Earthquake by Lauren Indvik

Timeline: How News of Osama Bin Laden’s Death Unfolded on Twitter by Brian Anthony Hernandez

Be sure to check out Voice of North America if you’re ready to grow your business and get noticed on search engines. Voice of North America allows you to blog in all 50 states about your business, product, services, or anything else you want to promote.

What’s Your Favorite Blog?

I bet she's tweeting about her favorite blog right now.

There are billions of blogs out there - how do you choose what to read? I think all of my favorite blogs have been introduced to me by a friend via Twitter or Facebook. I’ve noticed that many of my friends will put a link to a blog post they particularly like in a Twitter or Facebook update and encourage everyone to read it. If I end up liking the post, I will usually keep reading, and before you know it, I’m hooked on a blog I previously didn’t even know existed!

Here’s a few of my fave blogs right now, in no particular order.

The Fitnessista – The reason I love this blog is because it’s a personal take on healthy living. The Fitnessista is constantly posting about working out, eating healthy, new exercises to try, workout DVD reviews, recipes, workout plans, and so much more! She’s even made me crave more vegetables and fruit by posting pics of what she eats at every meal. And she does it all in a fun and friendly manner. She normally updates a few times a day, too, so it keeps me coming back regularly to read her tips.

Hyperbole and a Half -This blog kills me. Every time. It’s so weird but so funny. I love reading these posts and normally always laugh out loud at some point. The weird drawings only make it better. This was the post that a friend initially shared on Facebook that instantly had me coming back for more. This blog is witty, hilarious, and a little demented – just the way I like it!

Diva Marketing Blog – For a fun way to learn about various marketing topics, from social media to blogging, check out the Diva Marketing Blog. The writing is done in an easy-to-read yet interesting style, so you never get bored and a new blog post is always a welcome read!

Practical SEO – Read this blog to learn about SEO and everything SEO-related. From optimizing your blog to optimizing your website, you’ll learn tips and tricks for optimal success. Practical SEO also ventures into other related topics, like web development, content writing, and more, so you’ll never get bored and always learn something new.

Not sure how to get your blog or website noticed by the search engines? Check out Voice of North America – a blogging platform that lets you post about any topic you desire in all 50 states. You’ll get found by the search engines easier and get more traffic to your website or blog.

Social Media, Blogging, and You

Even wild horses shouldn't be able to keep you away from social media.

Remember Myspace? It was pretty much the first social networking site to gain an enormous following. However, most Myspace users were young – my guess would be under 25 at least – with most being much younger. This would mean that only businesses whose products or services related to a younger demographic would benefit from having an account or advertising on there.

But with Twitter and Facebook now leading the pack, the game has completely changed. More and more adults are now using both social networking sites on a regular basis. In fact, I received a Facebook request from my Mom just a few days ago—the jury’s still out on whether or not I’m going to accept that request! My cousins (of ages ranging from 26-39) and aunts and uncles (ages 55+) are all on there as well.

Just today, I read an article titled Adult Use of Social Media Soars by Sarah E. Needleman. She noted that 65% of all U.S. adults now use social media accounts and on a typical day, 43% of those adults say they visit sites like Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re a business owner, this news should be very interesting to you. This means that you’re now able to reach a huge demographic through social media and effectively target your intended audience, no matter what their age range is. It seems that pretty much everyone is using social media sites—if your business isn’t represented on them, you’re losing out on exposure, consumer interaction, and potential profit. 

If you’re a blogger, promoting your blog on social media sites is a very valuable tool. Whether your blog is just for fun or for profit, marketing yourself on sites like Facebook and Twitter make for a more personal experience for your readers and help you gain more followers.

I read a blog that I love called The Fitnessista on a daily basis and I’ve made sure that I’m also a fan on her Facebook and a follower on her Twitter account. I know right away when she posts a new blog because she updates both accounts and she also posts different content on her social media sites that cannot be found on her blog. If you do the same, you’re going to gain exposure and keep your current readers engaged.

What social media sites beyond Twitter and Facebook have you found to be the most beneficial to you?

If you’re having trouble getting found on the search engines, you might want to consider enlisting some outside help by visiting http://www.voiceofnorthamerica.com/. Voice of North America is a great way to market your business, gain exposure, and reach potential customers. You’ll get to blog on their site in all 50 states, helping you get found on search engines and increase your web (or blog) traffic drastically! 

The Power of Proofreading

They're reading your blog post right now. Hope it doesn't have any errors!

Before you hit ‘publish’ on your next blog post, make sure you’ve proofread it.
If a post is riddled with errors, it’s not going to be well-received by your readers. Plus, if your goal is to ever have a blog post go viral or to simply have people linking to it in their own blogs or on social media accounts, it’s not going to happen if it’s filled with errors.

Here are a few simple tips to ensure your next blog post is easy to read and free from typos!

Take a break. After you finish writing a blog post, it’s always a good idea to take a short break and then come back to it and proofread. Once you’ve been staring at the same content for any length of time, it gets harder and harder to spot errors. Walk away and then proofread when you come back. You’ll be able to find more errors this way.

Talk to yourself. Reading your blog posts out loud is a great way to find errors you normally may have missed. Once you’ve fixed the typos, you’ll have a post that flows better and reads smoothly.

Use a spell-checker. Such a simple thing, but a surprising amount of people publish before doing this easy task. Maybe you think your post is already error-free and doesn’t need the help of a spell-checker, but it can’t hurt to find out! It takes two seconds and the spell-checker could find something your eyes overlooked.

Enlist a buddy. You may be a fantastic proofreader, but even the most typo-trained eye can miss errors. If you have a buddy you can ask, have them read your blog posts before you publish them.

Follow these tips for error-free blog posts and you’ll establish credibility with your readers! If you’re having trouble getting your blogs noticed, also check out http://www.voiceofnorthamerica.com/. Through Voice of North America, you can blog in all 50 states, which will help you get found on the search engines!