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Comment Management Tools You Should Know

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What is Comment Management?  Virtually all blog software offers commenting functionality, so why would you need a 3rd party comment management service?  Many of the comments and “reactions” to content posted on a blog never make it to the blog itself – the source of the conversation. Comment Management tools provide all the expected features and also pull in mentions & citations of the post as well. That way when someone reads a post on your blog, they can see comments made directly on the post as well as mentions made of of the post on other sites like Twitter. Should you add a comment manager tool to your blog? It depends how much of your social engagement is happening off your blog and also whether you feel it will add to the user experience to see a collected list of on and off site interactions. For many blogs, citing comment and reaction counts is simply a matter of social proofing and popularity. For others, it’s an attempt to harvest all the conversation about a post at the source. To help you decide, here are the three main comment management tools to consider: ECHO from JS-Kit offers a wide array of features. It can be embedded on a blog or static web site and pull in comments from Twitter, Digg, comments from other blogs, FriendFeed and several others. Commenters can choose to promote their comments simultaneously to Twitter, Facebook or Google Friends. Sites like Technorati and Guy Kawasaki use ECHO.  We tried JS-Kit but didn’t like not being able to show comments on top of the off site citations under each post.  JS-Kit ECHO Live is $12/year and ECHO Live white label is $48/year. There is also a PRO version with many other controls and features with costs according to page views ranging from $195 to $1995 per year. Disqus , as you may have noticed, is the commenting system we are currently using on Online Marketing Blog . Disqus lets readers choose their identity, via: Facebook Connect, OpenID, or Twitter Sign-in, when they leave a comment. Comments can be threaded and the moderation dashboard is easy to use. Off site references to your content on Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, and YouTube are pulled in as “Reactions”. You can sort comments as we do, on top, then show the reactions below. Readers can choose to cross post their comment to other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.   You can edit comment content but not the names of commenters, which is frustrating because some spammers write really useful comment content but spam them hell out of their names and links. The base version of Disqus is free. Disqus VIP offers much hand holding support and analytics. Cost is not disclosed on the site so it must be very expensive. IntenseDebate was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress and therefore, can be easily added to WordPress blogs as well as TypePad, Tumblr or Blogger blogs. There’s comment threading, notification by email, commenter profiles and points, moderation, cross posting to Twitter and several other features.  IntenseDebate is free. Which comment management tool is right for you? It depends on your use. If you have a static web site and you’d like to add comment features, then ECHO might be a fit. If you want something that offers all the basics and works natively with WordPress then maybe IntenseDebate is your pick. If you want more features and also don’t want to pay anything, then it’s possible Disqus is the choice for you. The great thing about these tools is that they are easy to install and test out. Here are other reviews you might find useful on these comment management systems. Blog Comment System Shootout: Disqus vs. Intense Debate vs. JS-Kit Echo – 40 Tech 3rd Party Comment System Roundup – Dave Mosher’s Blog Although I pinged Facebook and Twitter connections for examples of other 3rd party comment management tools that pull in off-site citations, I didn’t hear about any. I didn’t find much on Google either. There are other comment management services, tools and plug-ins, just not any (that I’ve found) that automatically pull in 3rd party mentions of your content. If you know of other comment management systems that pull in comments from other social media sites, please share in the comments. Do you use any of the the tools mentioned above? What has your experience been? What features would you like to see added? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Comment Management Tools You Should Know | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Comment Management Tools You Should Know

Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

Posted by under Blog Marketing, Pay-Per-Click

As companies that realize the value of online marketing understand the need to publish engaging content, one of the most common considerations is a company blog.  Blog software is fundamentally one of the easiest content management software systems to install and use. Of course the software isn’t magic. The content and ability to reach and engage with customers is a big part of what makes a business blog successful. For those companies that are thinking of starting a blog or reinvesting resources into a company blogging effort that has gone stale, some of the most important questions to ask are:  Have you identified specific goals for the blog? How will you measure success? In sports you can’t score if there isn’t a goal and it’s no different with business blogging.  There are a variety of reasons why publishing ongoing communications that allow readers to interact adds value to a business. Add to that the distribution via RSS that extends the reach of your message and  it’s easy to see why so many companies start blogging. The failure for many business blogs is centered around not making a connection between business goals, blog specific objectives and most importantly, how meeting customer needs leads to the first two. Here are three key questions to consider as you design your plan for business blogging success: Why start a business blog? What end goals or outcomes can you reasonably expect? There are many good reasons to start a blog. But are those reasons good enough to start and stay blogging for the long haul? Our survey on blogging and SEO showed 90% citing blogging as important, significantly important or a primary SEO tactic. 94% of bloggers reported seeing measurable SEO benefits from blogging within 12 months. Initiate and foster customer engagement Improve coverage by media and bloggers Improve search engine visibility Increase mentions on other blogs, social networking, news, bookmarking and media sites Build thought leadership Provide an informative communication channel Recognize employees, clients, marketing partners and especially brand evangelists How will you know your blogging efforts are successful according to those goals? How are you measuring blogging success? We ran a poll last year with our readers that ranked their most important measures of blogging success. Here is the distribution: Engagement: comments, links 36% Improved brand recognition 31% Build thought leadership 31% Search engine rankings 31% Better communicate with customers 30% Traffic to the blog 27% Coverage by media and other blogs 18% Traffic to the corporate web site 16% Sales leads 16% Industry Recognition 13% Sell products 2% Improved customer satisfaction 11% Page views 9% Time on Site 6% Ad revenue on the blog 5% What tools are you using to measure blog performance? Goals for business and the blog are great but it’s essential to have the right tools in place for analytics. One of the biggest mistakes is to rely on things like Google Alerts. Web analytics (Google Analytics, Woopra, Clicky, etc) Feedburner Social media monitoring tools Link analysis tools Comment tracking tools Clipping services Forum conversation tracking tools It’s fundamental, this notion of setting goals, understanding outcomes and the tools needed to measure. But you know the saying, “Common sense is the least common thing on Earth.”  Companies can achieve great return on investment with the right plan and leadership in a blogging effort. The key is to do the baseline work to build a foundation upon which it can grow and succeed.  Stay the course and leverage both listening and engagement tools to guide content. Develop networks and distribution channels to grow readership and reach. Take the time to really understand the impact of data provided by reporting tools and create reports for executives that highlight business goals. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced with setting, measuring and reaching business goals through corporate blogging? Have you started a business blog only to shut it down? Have your company blogging efforts been successful beyond expectations? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

Advertise On Bing?

Posted by under Pay-Per-Click

I decided to write this article after thinking “advertise on bing?” After doing some intense research I have found that Bing is formerly Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search and is from Microsoft.  This new search engine was unveiled by Steve Ballmer on May 28, 2009 and since when full on inline June 3, 2009.  Since its release it has become the third largest search engine with roughly 3.6% being dwarfed by Google at 85.35% but awfully close to Yahoo at 6.15%.   Some of the reasons you would want to advertise on Bing are: Daily changing of background images Enhanced view where third party site info can be seen inside Bing Some sites you can search within the website Video thumbnail that allows you to preview the video automatically Change size of length, screen size, and resolution of videos Instant stats on Sports scores, teams, leagues, and players Inquiring on stocks or finances of a company shows stock chart, price, volume, in a website that you can subscribe to Have a math calculation you need help with? It’s amazing, that’s all I can say. Flight tracking-tells you flight delays Local restaurant reviews Integrates easily with Hotmail   While all these are just a few of the great features of Bing, I challenge you to find more that will be beneficial for your life!   So why advertise on Bing? Bing is a very promising new player in the search engine industry that isn’t saturated with everyone “being an expert” or trying to sell you a piece of toast looking like a famous person.  If you are into PPC marking on Google you know how expensive it can get with the amount of people competing with you.  If you advertise on Bing, they have the same concepts based on two factors. Your monthly search campaign budget Your maximum bid per click For example, if you advertise on Bing and your budge is $10.00, and you win the bid at $.10 per click, it’s going to take 100 people clicking your advertisement.  They also have small and medium budget solutions for people with a budget of $500 to $25,000 a month.  A few established companies that advertise on Bing are: although this is only a few of the many: Smile Box Buyer Zone EBay Toyota Snapple Sprint Also to help drive Bing’s presence on the web they are spending $80-100 Million to promote online, TV, print, and radio advertising.  I really do believe that as I have been listening to the radio for the last hour and half, I’ve heard 10 to 12 advertisements for Bing.  One of largest privately owned digital communications company in the world called Waggener Edstrom has been the driving force behind their marketing and it has seen phenomenal results.  They have partnered with many of the world’s leading brands like GE Healthcare, MasterCard International and T-Mobile USA to name a few.   So to answer the question, “Advertise on Bing?” I would say you would be silly not to be part of the creation; in the engine, not back in the caboose trying to catch up. - About the Author: Robert David Strong www.robertstrongmarketing.org   Article Source

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Advertise On Bing?

Sponsored Posts – Measure The Risk Carefully

Posted by under Pay-Per-Click

Sponsored posts have been a hot topic in the blogosphere and among marketers the last few years. What exactly is a sponsored post?  The simple answer is:  a company pays a blogger cash to blog about their product or service.  This is different than an advertorial since the blogger is paid cash to write the content as opposed to the sponsor creating the message. An entire cottage industry of companies such as IZEA, Smorty and a slew of others have sprung up to offer a variety of methods to pay for sponsored posts.  Some require bloggers to say good things.  Others tell bloggers they are free to write what they wish.  But in either case, there are potential risks involved marketers should be aware of. Many digital audiences appear to have an  issue with sponsored posts because they see it as a breach of unwritten editorial rules of the web.  It is for that core reason sponsored posts remain controversial. For the purposes of this post, I am just talking about cash for blog posts.  This a different animal than offering sampling, trials or demos of products. Let’s dig into why sponsored – aka cash for blog posts – are something you should measure the risk of carefully: Sponsored posts may draw the eyes of the engines Cash for blog posts could be risky behavior if the sponsored links are follow links.  Matt Cutts at Google has publicly stated that paid posts should not affect search engines .   A simple solution for companies brokering sponsored posts is to require the no-follow attribute added to links within the content.  Some pay-per-post companies offering this service state they require it.  Some bloggers may adhere.  But many bloggers have no idea what a no-follow attribute is and may not follow this guideline.  Additionally, bloggers and marketers engaging in outright cash-for-play are involved in risky behavior even with no-follow links.  This is due to halo effect of linking in the social web, and may walk a thin line with the engines who are paying attention to these campaigns. Before engaging in sponsored posts, consider organic outreach More than 80% of bloggers are already writing on products and brands .  In other words: be remarkable, have great marketing/PR and you’ll be talked about.  Learn the intersection of social media and PR , begin content marketing and engage in strategies that inspire natural coverage, conversation and influence.  The organic approach yields the highest results: since sponsored posts must have no-follow links, the SEO and PR intersection does not exist. Sponsored posts may train audiences to expect cash to write about you By engaging in sponsored posts, you may succeed in training audiences to expect a return every time they mention your brand or product.  Instead of growing in an organic fashion, sponsored posts may keep your brand out of the natural conversations and put you on a treadmill of having to pay cash for coverage.  And that’s not a sustainable way to grow a web community . May be seen as inauthentic Due to FCC rules , all sponsored content must be disclosed.  With this disclosure and transparency, readers see the content was influenced by cash, not the author’s true perception of the product or brand.  This potentially destroys the true power of word of mouth .  It affects the blogger as well:  they may lose the trust of a carefully built audience.  Audiences may not believe a blogger thought a product was great because that blogger was paid to talk about it. Sponsored posts are advertising – not social media Companies who pay bloggers cash to write about them are engaging in advertising, not social media.  Would you pay someone cash to talk about your company or product at a party?  What would everyone else at the party think?  That’s exactly what happens on the social web when users see bloggers taking cash to write up products.  So if you think it’s a risky play to pay people cash to talk about your brand or product in person, it’s equally so online (perhaps even more so since the web is referential). Organic push methods do exist Newswires, article submissions, advertorials, syndication products, and other paid methods of gaining exposure amongst web audiences exist.  The social web as a whole has less issues with these services because they are not paying individuals directly to talk about them.  Rather, they are paying to have their messages added to areas they will be found – and then reacted to – without cash going directly to users or leveraging a personal brand for influence.  Communications professionals can use paid tools to cross the editorial line with less risk than directly paying cash to individuals. Conclusion Forrester research has been touting the positives of sponsored conversations.  Jeremiah Owyang says they are here to stay .  There are companies engaging in this tactic and doing fine.  I’m not ruling the tactic out entirely, but I do wish to caution marketing and PR professionals to weigh the risk carefully.  Sponsored posts may run counter to a social media marketing strategy focused on inspiring organic attention and building a community based on trust.  They do not provide the SEO benefits of organic outreach.  Consider your larger objectives and strategies carefully and ask yourself  if sponsored posts are the tactic for you.

Advantages Of Pay Per Click Method In Making Money On The Internet

Posted by BlogPostman under Pay-Per-Click

One of the most popular ways in making money online is via pay per click (PPC) method, but what is this method about?  Can it truly be beneficial? PPC for an Online Merchant PPC involves putting little advertisements on other people’s websites or even on the search engine results pages.  You pay a pre-agreed small amount every time your ad is clicked on.  There are quite a number of nice things about this method.  First, you get to choose the keywords which you want your advertisements to appear under and what the exact wording of your ad should be.  Also, it is your decision as to how much you are going to pay per click and how much you would be willing to spend in a day.  You can also choose which regions you would like your ads to be displayed in (in the case of search engine result pages ads). PPC and SEO PPC is a great advertising technique so you can generate fast traffic to your site.  Search engine optimization or SEO can not give immediate results like PPC can.  If you want to get into this kind of advertising, you can check on the major services: Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Miva, and Go Click. PPC for Affiliate Marketers PPC is a great way to earn money in affiliate marketing.  The affiliate can earn some passive income by simply placing an ad on his or her website.  Every time a visitor clicks on the link (ad), the affiliate gets a certain amount. – About the Author: Aden Clark is an online business mentor that learns average people how to start and develop a successful online business. Join his Free, 7 day, online business course that will teach you how to copy his exact method that generates at least $100/day. - Learn how to make at least $100 per day on autopilot, – Free video tutorials that explain everything step by step, – No experience is required to make money from this method. Visit Profit-Academy.com now to get started on the Free Business Course that teaches you exactly how to Make Money Online ! If you stick to this one method then you can easily create enough income to quit your day job. Article Source

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Advantages Of Pay Per Click Method In Making Money On The Internet