Archive for the ‘social networks’ Category

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Twitter Is The New Google

Posted by jeb on February 11th, 2009




Graph from Compete.com showing Twitter’s growth.


Do you use Twitter? If so how do you use it? The further I get into Twitter the clearer I see it as a threat to Google. It is also encroaching on Facebook, CNN, Linkedin, Email and SMS text messaging.

Where do I go when I need to find out how to do screencasts? Used to be Google, now I send out a “Tweet” to Twitter and within seconds I have a number of responses with links to suggested services.

When I need feedback on an idea I used to send out an email to a select group of friends or associates. Now I post it on Twitter and get a flood of great ideas flowing back in.

How do I keep up with my friends and business associates? I still use Facebook for this but I have seen a marked decrease in my Facebook time as I use Twitter more and more.

When I want to send someone a message I still use email but more and more I am sending direct messages via Twitter and having a fast, real time, conversation via Twitter.

Where do I get leads for my business and start relationships? I’ve set up Linkedin, Plaxo and other business networking accounts. None them bore any fruit. But after only a few months of being active on Twitter I am connecting with companies in a meaningful and comfortable way. Twitter is not a meat market which appeals to my style of doing business.

When the plane crashed in the Hudson I didn’t hear about it from the news or CNN, I read about it on Twitter. News spreads like wildfire there.

The funny thing about Twitter is that they don’t seem to know what they have here. The platform is barely developed. Seems that more companies are setting up businesses along the Twitter highway and making money off the platform more than Twitter itself!

So watch out Google, Facebook, CNN, Linkedin and all these other companies that seemed so secure in their online positions only months ago. Twitter is chipping away and soon you will be scrambling to keep up.


Posted in google, search engines, social media, social networks, technology, twitter | 1 Comment »

Time To Get Serious About SEO – 3 Tips For Good SEO

Posted by jeb on February 7th, 2009
First off let’s not assume you know what SEO is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s often used as a catch-all term for all the things that go into getting a website listed on a search engine for specific terms, usually industry terms. For instance if you sell Widgets you will want to show up for Indianapolis Widgets right?

So why is it time to get serious about how your company’s website shows up in Search Engines like Google? Bottom line is that 72% of all purchases now include research online. How do you think people research? Most will have their first stop at Google.com and their search will probably look something like this…

Are you at the top of the listings when they type in that search? If not you are losing out on business, probably on a daily basis.

How do you get to the top of your listings? Here are the three basic elements of SEO, do these well and you will probably be on page one for your local industry search.

  1. On-site keyword optimization. This is mostly title tags (what shows up in the browser) and on page content. Don’t stress out too much over Meta Tags, do them if you can, they aren’t too important anymore. Use tools like Google Adwords Keyword Suggest to find out what keywords you should be using. Here is a screen shot of some of the results for “web design” a search we compete for locally. Note that it shows the volume of searches on a monthly basis. In general you will want to optimize your site for the searches that get the most traffic.
  2. External links. Make sure your site has lots of good links from other sites including relevant industry directories. Be wary of companies offering to sell you links. Google usually recognizes these links and it can actually hurt your rankings. Not sure how many links your have? Use good research tools like SEO for Firefox to help. Once you have it set up, search for your company and then, with the tool turned on, you can easily see how well your site is doing. Here is what we look like with SEO Firefox turned on when searching for “Small Box”. 
  3. Update your site regularly. A good policy is to update your site in some way at least once a week. To do this you will need a good Content Management System. If you have to use a web company to update your site then you probably need a new web company! A good company will build your site wil a CMS so that you can easily make the changes without having to pay and wait on them everytime you want to update the site. This leads to sites never being updated which is a big no-no. Here is what our CMS for this site, smallboxweb.com, looks like (only partial view but hopefully you get the idea). You can demo our CMS by contacting us.

Obviously there is a lot more to SEO but these are great starting
points. Obviously this is what we do at Small Box full time. Everything
we do relates in some way to SEO. We obsess over it for ourselves and
our clients. We would love to obsess over it for you! Want to see how
good we are? Search for “Indianapolis SEO Companies” or “Indianapolis Web Design” and see for yourself.



Posted in internet marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, social networks | No Comments »

What Is Twitter and How To Use It

Posted by jeb on February 6th, 2009

Chances are you’ve heard of Twitter. Also, there’s probably a good chance you have no idea what it is or how to use it. Maybe you even have an account but never log in since nothing seems to be happening there when you do. Why is everyone talking about Twitter? What’s the big deal? Hopefully this blog will help.

Bottom line: Twitter is a service that lets people communicate instantaneously in a group environment. Basically it’s an information superhighway between you and your friends, peers and a select group of total strangers. You can use it to research, network, provide customer support, chat with friends, get news updates and much more.

Getting Started:

Don’t sign up expecting, like Facebook, to suddenly be awash in content. Chances are you will see no activity on your page at all unless you put it there.

Next use a couple features to find your friends and associates already using Twitter. I suggest http://twitter.com/invitations and search.twitter.com for starters. The first to find people you know and the second to find people interested in similar things.

Now that you are following some people you will find that they will start following you back. This is a good thing, don’t panic. Post something like “Hey I’m new here, hello everyone!” to dip your toe in the communal Twitter pool.

At this point you will see a stream of updates on your page. You will also notice that you are hitting “refresh” on your browser regularly to see the updates. Time to download some software to make this experience a little more user friendly.

I recommend TweetDeck for managing your Twitter account. It will let you easily follow your account via a desktop application. It also greatly facilitates advanced functionality that you will need shortly. More about that below.

So, you have TweetDeck up and running now. It should look a little like this.



Now you can post updates and join in the conversation. You are limited to 140 characters so be concise when posting.

Next Twitter blog will be tips on some dos and don’ts, stay tuned!

Posted in social media, social networks, twitter | 1 Comment »

Having A Meaningful Online Conversation

Posted by jeb on January 15th, 2009


Is Social Media a gigantic waste of time?

A recent column in the IBJ (Indianapolis Business Journal) by Morton Marcus is asserting that this brave new world of online communities are nothing more than that- a huge, colossal waste of time.

Before I do the obvious and prove Mr. Marcus wrong I think we should concede a little ground. He has a point, it is not hard to waste a lot of time online. Building up meaningless connections with people you don’t know has little value. Having 1000 online acquaintances (or “friends”) doesn’t beat having 10 “real” friends.

The problem is that Morton is not having meaningful conversations online. So who can blame him for throwing in the towel?

My wife has recently embraced Twitter and Social Media in general. It’s been fun to watch her get bitten by the Social Media bug over the last few months. First it was Facebook, aka the Social Media Gateway Drug, and now Twitter. Although I joined Twitter over two years ago I have to admit it wasn’t until the last few months that I “got” it. The reason was that I didn’t see any meaningful conversations happening when I logged in.

As anyone who is a member of Twitter will tell you the problem was that I wasn’t engaging in the community. I wasn’t seeking out like-minded individuals to share ideas. Also, I wasn’t posting my ideas and links so why would anyone seek me out?

The Web is a huge, ever expanding universe. It’s easy to get lost and feel like everyone is trying to sell you something. So how do you have a meaningful online conversation?

Here’s a few ideas on how someone like Morton Marcus can have a meaningful online conversation-
  1. Talk To Peers- ask around, what sites are they spending time on?
  2. Look But Don’t Touch- before creating accounts, spend some time on the recommended sites. You don’t need to join every community you come across online. This can lead to Social Media Fatigue (SMF as it will now be called).
  3. Start Slow- join one community, I suggest Facebook, Twitter or a niche Ning community (i.e. SmallerIndiana.com). Spend 10-15 minutes every day on that site. Join conversations that interest you, message users that seem to be on the same path as you.
  4. Know When To Fold ‘Em- it’s ok to leave a community. I left My Space recently. I wasn’t having any meaningful conversations. I left a note on my profile page letting people know they could find me at Musicalfamilytree.com which is the music community site I started with some friends and now has about 1500 members and many quality conversations centered around one of my great loves- music. It’s a Goldilocks’ site. Not too big, not too small, just right. If the community you joined has passed the Goldilocks’ sweet spot then opt out.

You will start to see a return on your time investment as you start to have meaningful conversations around topics you care passionately about with people that share this passion. That return might be in the form of knowledge, friendship, or business. This depends mostly on what you wanted going in.

So I hope you are reading this Mr. Morton and you give Social Media another chance. It does require a different way of thinking especially in how one allocates time. But if done properly it can yield a great return, personally and professionally.






Posted in blogging, internet marketing, social media, social networks, technology, twitter | 7 Comments »

What Went Wrong With Digg?

Posted by jeb on January 11th, 2009


Once upon a time you could go to Digg and pretty much get up to date on new technology, cool sites and tech related news. Now it seems the home page and most popular posts are occupied by entertainment related items with very few tech related Diggs reaching the top page unless it has something to do with Steve Jobs or Apple. What happened?

Bottom line is that Digg has become a victim of its own success. Certain power users have learned how to game the system and are actually being paid to promote certain content to the home page. So Digg has gone from being the place to find out about the coolest, newest web stuff to something closer to People Magazine. Bummer.

How can a site avoid this? What can Digg do to purge it’s ranks of these power users abusing their status? Bottomline is that they need to re-work the way content gets on the site.

As it stands now you can post content that someone else has posted as long you claim “I swear it’s original”. In order for Digg to re-gain it’s legitimacy they need to punish users that knowingly post a new Digg to content that is already posted. This isn’t rocket science. If the URL is already posted then the system can see this and know it is duplicate content.

Meanwhile Digg’s stumble has opened the door for many other niche social bookmarking sites like Mixx and Sphinn.

What do you think? Has Digg “jumped the shark” or can it re-gain it’s stature as the king of social bookmarking sites?


Posted in social media, social networks | 5 Comments »

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