Microsoft Midsize Business Center

"A cool appraisal of Web 2.0 marketing for businesses can help ensure that your company spends its Internet marketing dollars wisely."

Computer software giant, Microsoft, in an article written for their mid-size business center, shows the basic concept of Web 2.0 Marketing for businesses. Although not a complete list, this is a great place to start. Take a look at the five items every online business must have in order to be in the best possible position to succeed.

Social Networking Sites- facebook has over 400 million users. Can you really afford to ignore them?
Business Blogs-One of the best link building tools available. A must have tool.
Podcasts-Youtube gets a billion page views per day. Make videos and start a channel
Intelligent Press Releases-Your business can't survive without credibility.
Targeted Advertising-Know your audience, and target them directly with the right keywords.

The fact that Microsoft controls the 2nd and 3rd largest search engines on the planet (Bing and Yahoo), it's important to follow what Microsoft has to say, in order to know what it takes to become visible inside their search engines.

Google 101

What Google Wants

"PageRank is the measure of the importance of a page based on the incoming links from other pages. In simple terms, each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site's PageRank."

There have been books written on how to achieve ranking inside of a search engine like Google, but let's face the facts: There are only 10 positions on the front page of Google, and millions of website owners that want to be there. We consider ranking within any search engine to be nothing more than a giant popularity contest. Each link from outside your website pointing back to you is a vote of popularity. The more popular you are the better your position will be. If someone types in one of your keywords, and you are the most popular for that keyword then you will be listed. (That's why search engine optimization is important) However, just because you optimized your site for search engines doesn't mean you will ever be found by consumers. Take a look at this article written by Google. It will tell you in a lot of detail exactly what it takes to gain exposure inside their search engine.

Pepsi-Chooses Social Media over Super Bowl

Pepsi going Viral?

social media advertising "...the company will be spending $20 million on a social media campaign it’s calling The Pepsi Refresh Project." Since 1997 Pepsi has spent $195 million dollars on Super Bowl Ads. This year you did not find them there. Instead they have decided to invest $20 million dollars on a social media campaign called Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi, like thousands of other companies, know that social networks help them build a community of people around their brand name. Pepsi doesn't seem to be worried about the loss of sales from their popular soft drink by opting out of the Super Bowl this year. Time will tell the long term affects of their decision, but our guess is that they made

the "right Choice". We wanted to know just how serious Pepsi was taking the campaign, so we visited their website at www.pepsi.com and found that they are into viral marketing with both feet. We couldn't find anything on the front page of their site that didn't scream "Social Media". If this type of advertising is good for big business, then that must mean that is even more important for small businesses like yours.

Intelligent Press Release- Credibility | Visibility

Optimized for the Web

"Once dedicated solely to the media, professionals are tasked with incorporating Search Engine Optimization techniques into their writing style." A Search Engine Optimized Intelligent Press Release does two things for your business. First of all it lets people know who you are. If you are in business online, then you have no door to walk through, and people like to do business with people they know. A press release puts a friendly face behind the counter. Second of all, it is one of the most powerful link building tools available. It's crucial that the release be written professionally. The content must be newsworthy, be completely optimized for search engines and have a measurable affect on your online business. If a company offers to write a press release for you, be sure they offer the following features (or walk away).

Improve rankings on search engines like Google and Yahoo!
Drive search results with targeted keywords in your release
Build your inbound links value to increase visibility in search engines
Track search traffic and identify key search terms used to find your news

Your competition has established themselves as a credible reliable source for the products and services they offer. Isn't it time you do it too? Launching your press release through a news wire with mass distribution capabilities is crucial to any online businesses success.

Search Engine Optimization

Do I need SEO?

The short answer to this question is "yes". But before you get all excited about showing up on the first page of Google for your new gift basket business there are a few things you need to consider. First of all the key word "Gift Baskets" has a competition level of about 42 Million (the number of web pages competing for page 1 position 1). Most of the gift basket companies on the front page have been established for over 10 years and have already

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