Twitter Helpful Quick Tips from @SEOMom2

The most recent SEO/SEM conference was PubCon in Las Vegas. Because I had clients that actually pay me to visit them and it will be next week, I was unable to have the time to head over to PubCon this year (next year I WILL be there!). But, no matter, I was able to feel like I was right there. I had Twitter.

Twitter is an online social service used to instantly message people all over the globe. What makes Twitter unique is that you “follow” people, friends or those with common interests and info you want and they “follow” others who then “follow” more people (Tweeps or Tweeple). By your mini conversations, or Tweets (nor more than 140 letters/characters), you gather “followers” who have other “followers’ who then have their own “followers”. This allows your messages to travel all over the place in an instant.

Once you are following and have followers you can sit back and simply feel like a fly on the wall for awesome quick and brief bits of news, information and general gossip – and you can contribute to it all at any point.

I was able to attend PubCon with the use of Twitter. I had friends and co-workers Twittering me bits of information, links to web pages with good or new information, blog posts, useful SEO tools and even live video streams to conference sessions. – Rumor had it that the live streaming wasn’t really allowed as the sessions were for “paying” visitors only. But, with Twitter, we were able to confirm that the session speakers were totally cool with the events. Yey for me – and special thanks to Chris Drake (@FirePowered – http://twitter.com/firepowered). I latched on to Chris when I found out what he was doing. I had no idea who he was, never met him before in my life, he just managed to Tweet at the right time when I was paying attention and noticed his message that he had live video streaming from his computer. Every day since Tuesday, I was able to attend some sessions.

Ok, so, now you have a bit of info on this Twitter stuff you should want to check it out. Well, go to Twitter.com and sign up, creating a username or use your own name (do yourself a favor and create an account with your own name no matter what) and start playing. My Twitter name is @SEOMom2. I was dubbed “SEO Mom” at Bruce Clay Inc because I always seem to take people under my wing, sort of a mother hen character. SEOMom was already taken so I added the “2” because of my two kids. – I also am @LydiaMazorol (my name, in case there was a question). This was done for personal branding and to keep my name so no one else could take it!

With a few quick tips on things that will make your Twittering more fun and useful you may get just as hooked on it as I have - I guess it’s safe to admit now to being a social media convert!

Some Twitter Quick Tips:

1)@username - the symbol used when you want another Twitterer to get the message, example, type:
@seomom2 Hi!
This will send me a “hi” from your Twitter account.

2)D username – “D” stands for Direct. Use a D then a space then the username instead of the @username to send a message that only the recipient can see, example, type:
D seomom2 Don’t tell anyone I sent this!
And no one but me will see!

3)# - The pound sign attached to the front of a word is a way to search tweets for a specific reference. You can search for any word but the # symbol in front helps identify that this particular word is worth searching for or referencing when looking for others info when using that word. Example:
I was able to attend #pubcon using Twitter.
I can search on “#pubcon” or even “pubcon” using Twitter search to see who else is talking about things going on at PubCon.

4)RT username – “RT” stands for Re-Twitter. One uses this generally to suggest that another username Tweeted the comment and you are Re-tweeting for your followers to see too. You can RT your own stuff too. Example:
RT @seomom2 Twitter Helpful Quick Tips: http://www.searchvisiblewebsites.com/blog/seoblog.html
Suggests that there was already a Tweet about this helpful web page. If the URL you point to is too long for the 140 spaces then there are tools to create shortened URLs, like TweetBurner and others.

5)Tweets, tweeple, twits, twitterverse – Miscellaneous Twitter vocabulary. You guess what they mean!

6)Twitter on your Phone – You can setup your phone to send and receive Twitter messages. You will send a message to 40404 in the US, 21212 in Canada, and +44 7624 801423 for all other international locations.
OR
Set up your phone with Twitterberry or go to m.twitter.com if you have internet on your phone. Blackberrys and I-Phones like Twitter – any phone with internet access can display Twitter streams.

7)Public verses Protected – You can set up your account for public or private viewing. If it’s private other Twitterers can still request your Tweets but you have to ok for them first.

8)Backgrounds – If you can create a graphic, you can create your own Twitter background. You can set it up to show a special picture, your business name, logo, phone numbers, email, whatever. Do it to help others get to know you better. And don’t forget to add a picture in your profile. It is recommended that you actually use your own photo – but, whatever!

9)Twitter messages show up in Google alerts. They can be set to show automatically in your Facebook. There are applications everywhere for special fun things to do and see in Twitter, like scheduling your Tweets or seeing who ranks highest in Twitter. You name it, it is out there. Search for them or just Twitter that question to your followers. You’ll be amazed at who answers and the answers you can get in a flash.

10)Ok, I am getting tired of writing about all the things you can do and how to use Twitter. I haven’t even suggested the social media aspects or the SEO value. That’ll have to be another post. Anyway, find additional applications, plugins and suggestions here: http://wtips.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-tools.html, a fellow Twitterer's, Warren Whitlock's book on the Twitter Revolution and Twitter’s own help here: http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=26

11)Last tip...now send me a Tweet that you are there: http://twitter.com/seomom2

SEOs are the Legal Advisers to the Online Search World

I am an SEO consultant, analyst, engineer - yep, that is why I am writing this blog post for this particular website! Anyway, this means I work with websites to determine what they need to be better optimized for search engine rankings. Being able to analyze websites and know exactly what they need to do better online actually requires a fair amount of knowledge and skill! And I’d like to think (at least my clients think) that I am a pretty good consultant. So good, in fact, that I have little time to do much else but help those clients with their websites.

The main reason for the “legal adviser” title above is that I am frequently asked about my services and what and how it is worth the expense of hiring an SEO firm or analyst such as myself. My logic is explained to these questions in this way:

I am much like your legal adviser in that I know all the rules, tools, good things, bad things that it takes for a website to succeed. I can give you this information in the time it takes to snap my finger – well, maybe a little longer. I do also believe that because of the Internet and how things work that there is always a way to perform this service yourself.

By performing the service yourself, as far as SEO goes, you can find a wealth of free information online. There are answers to all of your questions, every one of them. My advice to you at this point is to start reading at Google's Webmaster Central. And don’t stop now, there are blogs and readings to be had all over the place. You can find answers and suggestions on website content development to link building and PR sculpting (if that’s your thing).

The problem you will have is that there is so much information and so many SEO companies to choose from how will you know what’s good, bad, or simply ugly (as in stupid waste of time!). Well, do some research first then you will probably see that finding a good adviser (consultant, analyst, engineer – whatever) will be the key.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t look at the SEO company because of its price, look at it on reputation and recommendations. How did you find out about that company? Then talk to them. Find out if you understand what they will want to do to help you and your website. If you don’t understand them or don’t get their suggestions then I’d steer clear because you will never know what’s going on. It’s not only your website, it’s your reputation and brand on the line, and online! You should know and understand everything that is taking place and why.

The SEO consultant is the legal adviser whom you can trust to tell you what’s right and what’s not and what will be more worthwhile than anything else for you and your website is what you are looking for. I have spent years understanding and working with websites. This is my livelihood. I live and breathe the Internet, especially the part that relates to websites and what makes effective websites. I can tell you at a moments notice what to do next and what to plan for. I am there so that nothing hurts you or surprises you. I will stick by your website’s side. As my client’s know their websites become my family. I want them to succeed every bit as much as they do. Everything a proper SEO consultant advises should be good, tried and true. It should also always follow online moral and ethical standards.

A good adviser will save you tons of time and money.