Importance of Social BookMarking

Although the concept of shared online bookmarks dates back to 1996, the term social bookmarking is a relatively new concept and was first used in 2003 by Delicious web service. The term ‘tagging’ is also associated with social bookmarking. Using social bookmarking, users can search, save, manage, and organize web pages/websites for sharing or for remembering. With the rising number and growing popularity of online bookmarking services, social bookmarking is also called social bookmarketing. Over time, bookmarking services have proven to be excellent tools for online marketing. When combined with Search Engine Optimization, social bookmarking can be the key to success of online marketing campaigns.

Higher rankings by search engines facilitate brand awareness. The primary objective behind search engine optimization is thus, to ensure better rankings, and thus, social bookmarking has emerged as an effective tool for providing back links and getting higher traffic, which in turn help in securing better Search Engine Rankings. Bookmarks represent links through tagging. Unlike a hierarchical structure, tagging is done through a bottom-up method, which create many broad categories to fit in the links. As a result, the users can assert the metadata adding relevance to the links. This equates the marketing appeal as a ‘word of mouth’ campaign, in which friends and families validate the quality of the product/service.

Just like keywords tags and the links they are attached to are indexed simultaneously by search engines. As a result, content supplied by you adds the links with the appended keywords. Thus, along with getting links from websites with heavy traffic frequency, you also get links from websites that are relevant. Once you start getting links from big bookmarking websites, your website will automatically get indexed by the web spiders of all major search engines.

Apart from providing SEO benefits, social bookmarking can be a very good marketing tool in itself. Viral marketing campaigns can be very successful using these kinds of web services since the ranking of the bookmarked links depends on the ratings by the users. SEO firms tend to count on the well known users in order to get their assertions for the web pages/services included in bookmarking sites. Sometimes, this might pose some risk if the service/product receives negative reviews from the authoritative users. Moreover, there is a risk of getting branded as a spammer if the users find the submitted links to be irrelevant. All this makes optimization a tricky business! In spite of some risks, the importance and benefits of online marketing through social bookmarking has proven to be phenomenal over the years.

About the Author:

Convonix is an SEO Company that provides customized Search Engine Marketing Strategies to help improve the Search Engine Rankings of your website. Learn more about our consultative SEO services to leverage your site’s online presence.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/importance-of-social-bookmarking-825230.html

Author: Mike Smith

What is Social Bookmarking All About

Social bookmarking is optimized for documenting and sharing lists of links to useful information. In contrast, blogs are optimized for creating and sharing content, allowing for commentary while keeping the original content intact.

It is an all-out phenomena and is growing at a sonic boom clip. Understanding social bookmarking gives you the ability to reach millions of users you might otherwise miss. Social bookmarking is the sharing of websites within an online community. Here is how I like to think of it.



This is the process of moving your "favorites" or "bookmarks" (links to web sites you visit on the web) to a web-based service like del.icio.us , magnolia , or Yahoo or Google . These services allow you to capture these links or (URLs) to their service and provide you with settings to keep the link private or to share it with others (make it public). Social bookmarking is a way for Internet users to store, share, classify, and search Internet bookmarks.



There is some debate over how important social bookmarking is in SEO, but the consensus seems to be leaning toward the idea that social bookmarking, along with many other social media optimization (SMO) strategies, is quickly becoming a serious consideration for SEO. Social bookmarking is a great way to make your posts public. There are various places to go for you to post your articles.



Social bookmarking is all about the collective voice. Most of the social bookmarking networks increase the profile of items that receive numerous bookmarks. Social Bookmarking is the flagship of the web 2.0 movement. The basic concept behind social bookmarking is similar to Add to Favorites or Bookmarks that you are most familiar with using your web browsers like Firefox or Explorer.



It is a term for allowing people to publish, categorise and share their bookmarks. Del.ici.ous uses a non-hierarchical keyword categorisation system, know as folksonomy, where user tag their links with one or more freely chosen keyword.



Social Bookmarking is definitely getting a lot easier lately, but there seems to be too many of them. Sometimes social bookmarking sites can get boring if there are not enough of good links. Social bookmarking is becoming the newest and most effective way of producing quality traffic. Social bookmarking is all about the collective voice. Most of the social bookmarking networks increase the profile of items that receive numerous bookmarks.



This is all about labeling the web, making it easier to find the content that you're looking for by passing on what you've found. The labels applied to web sites are commonly known as tags, and over time a kind of taxonomy grows, whereby persistent tags help information to be aggregated and mined for information.



Social bookmarking is a free and easy way to get loads of traffic to your website. It is a new trend in search engine optimization, which has gained recognition as part of a new type of website optimization, termed social media optimization (SMO).? Social Bookmarking, also referred to sometimes as social bookmarketing, is the term used for bookmarking sites on the web and sharing them with friends.



This is certainly the wave of the future. Maybe another video on which sites to use and which sites to avoid. Social bookmarking is an emerging type of a Web service that helps users share, classify, and discover interesting resources.



The concept of an enhanced search, in which data from social bookmarking systems is exploited for enhancing search in the Web. Social bookmarking is a new fashion developed by webmaster today in search engine optimization which has brought up a new type of optimization trend called social media optimization. The idea of marketing your website through social bookmarking is also called social bookmarketing.

About the Author:

Todd Ash Is An Entrepreneur and A Master Of Network Marketing.To Find Out More About Succeeding Online Click Here To Visit Toddash.com For Free Information

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/what-is-social-bookmarking-all-about-397485.html

Author: Todd Ash

A Fail-safe Way to Increase Your Profits

It's distressing how many businesses attempt to sell and advertise their products online to no prevail. And if you're already a successful marketer, there still may be loopholes in your current tactics that, if corrected, could skyrocket your profits even more.

One of the first mistakes I notice about many of these companies is that they've failed to create a fail-safe business plan.

A sound business plan is crucial to making your internet marking company successful. If you haven't established one already, it's in your best interest to do so as soon as possible.

The first thing you should consider when creating your business plan is marketing. A good marketing plan will address the issue of funding your marketing as well as the ideal ways to appeal to your customer base, thus increasing sales.

In remaining unsuccessful when it comes to their marketing and business plans, many companies fall short when they would otherwise succeed. They reveal that they are willing to overlook essential marketing strategies such as hiring a copywriter or boosting their website's traffic via SEO keywords or email autoresponders.

A good professional copywriter can be one of the biggest assets your company can hire. Hiring a copywriter that knows your business and your products can ensure that when customers visit your website, they are treated to concise, eye catching information about your products and policies.

However, a sales letter isn't the only thing you should worry about. There is also the matter of increasing your website's traffic.

Creating internet traffic is one of the more challenging aspects of internet marketing. Many companies assume they can write a sales letter, build a website, include a mailing list, and the profit will come rolling in. Sadly, this isn't true.

Without a good, solid marketing plan, these precautions do very little for your business in the long run.

Creating the best marketing plan for your business entails that you conduct extensive study. You will need to know how much you're willing to pay for sufficient advertising. You will need to know your consumers and what will appeal to them. You will need to consider both your short and long term goals.

How does one go about creating the ideal marketing plan? You can go about this in a variety of ways. Hiring someone to do it for you is an efficient way to create one, but this will require that you pay fees. In the long run, it's cheaper and more beneficial for you if you study your company and your market and determine for yourself what you need.

Fortunately, there are several marketing techniques available to you that generate traffic to your site. A few of these are tips I've already mentioned, such as building a website and hiring a professional copywriter. Mailing lists also ensure you build a solid consumer base while email autoresponders send automatic messages pertaining to subscriptions and customer transactions. More steps to generate traffic to your website include:

- Search engine optimization, or SEO. Establishing a presence on high profile search engines ensures that your name will be the first that pops up when someone searches for similar keywords, products, or companies.

- Affiliate Marketing is a wonderful way to make contacts as well as bringing more customers to your site. Essentially, you acquire two or more business affiliates that will link back to your company's website. In doing so, you are directing any customers that stumble across your affiliates to your website and vice versa.

- Article Marketing is another way to bring customers to your website. This involves you writing a series of articles and then submitting them to online article directories and websites. For example, say you own a pet grooming business. You can higher a copywriter to write articles on the benefits of grooming cats, then provide a link that directs the reader back to your website.

- Pay Per click (PPC) is another affordable marketing technique. This requires that companies use certain keywords in their advertising. Each time a customer clicks on an ad containing these keywords, the advertiser must pay a certain amount. Depending on the popularity of the keyword, they can be as little as $0.01 per click or over a dollar per click. These keywords can lead to sponsored matches, which are ads that show up on a search engine, as well as content match, which are ads that show up on your website, emails, and more. This can be extremely beneficial in the long run.

- Social Bookmarketing is a marketing technique that allows you to see just how popular your website is. You are able to determine how many times your site is bookmarked. By using social bookmarketing sites such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, and several others, you can also increase traffic to your website by advertising your site on websites like these.

- WSO stands for Warrior Forums Special Offer. By visiting WSO, you can not only find a wide variety of unique deals for you, but you can advertise your own for free! The key is to make your sales letter stand out. You can also use WOS to advertise your products at clearance prices-otherwise known as a Fire Sale.

- Link building and banner advertising are two essential internet marketing techniques. Link building involves you making your online presence as strong as possible by posting your link in as many places online as you can. This can involve search engines, forums, mass emails, and affiliates. Banner Advertising involves you paying certain websites to display your banner ad. Costs vary depending on the website, the location of the banner, and the size of the banner.

Be sure that you're using most, if not all of the above traffic techniques to ensure that your business get's the highest number of visitors necessary.

About the Author:

An award-winning copywriter, Christie helps companies achieve their direct mail and email marketing objectives. She can be reached at http://www.businessmindedcopywriter.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/a-failsafe-way-to-increase-your-profits-736477.html

Author: Christie Love

How to Increase Your Online Traffic and Significantly Skyrocket Your Profits

As more high profile online companies emerge each day, it becomes more important that your business stands out from all of the others. Are you tired of running a mediocre business? Do you want to take your business from six to seven figures a year or more? These aren't impossible dreams. By increasing your online traffic, you can accomplish these goals.

The key is in maintaining a positive online presence. The right online marketing can ensure that your products are always in high demand. Even in times of economic recession, it's possible to advertise your company in such a way that consumers will forget the need to scrimp and save.



One of the most important steps in increasing your online traffic and thus boosting your company's profits is to promote the fact that you are a specialist when it comes to your business and the products you sell. There are several successful methods I've found to do this.



-Create a website. A company website is one of the most important steps in creating a good online reputation. Websites can advertise your products in ways that television and magazines don't. They also offer fast, convenient online purchase methods and delivery.



-Create a blog. A formal, professional blog can emphasize your expertise when it comes to your products. It is also a useful advertising tool, as you can use it to promote new deals, establish schedules, make announcements, and other useful features.



Creating traffic to your website and blog can be tricky. Fortunately, there are several ways to establish links and ads throughout the internet that can help.



Many of these methods involve the purchase of keywords. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, involves using keywords to establish the top positions in popular search engines, ensuring that when a potential consumer searches your product, you will be the first business he or she finds.



Pay Per Click (PPC) is a marketing technique that allows you to distribute ads related to your site. The only fee you have to pay is when a user clicks on the ad. Depending on the keywords used, this can be as little as one cent per click. Banner advertising, in contrast, allows you to display a banner link that leads customers back to your site. In this case, you pay the website displaying the banner link a certain amount. Fees depend on the size of the banner and where it's located on the site.



WSO, or Warrior Forums Special Offer, is extremely beneficial in making your website and your products well known. This is especially useful if you have an extremely rare product or deal to advertise, as WSO specializes in distributing your ad to corners of the internet you wouldn't normally reach.



Affiliate marketing is a simple concept: You link your site to one or more affiliates. As internet users type in keywords, they may stumble on your affiliates, which in turn leads the consumers to your website. The more affiliates you have, the more exposure you'll gain.



Social bookmarketing sites like reddit, Del.icio.us, and others not only let you know how popular your site is becoming, but it also lets consumers do the advertising for you. Social bookmarketing allows for users to display their bookmark lists publicly. This means that if you're bookmarked, you're displayed on their bookmark site as well as on search engines.



By using these methods and more, you can establish a shining online presence and prove to your consumers that you know what you're doing. Once you've convinced them that you are a legitimate, beneficial business, your online traffic will soar.



Once you've established what online marketing methods you want to use, the next step in the process of increasing your profits is to hire a competent, professional copywriter. An ideal copywriter is not only one who knows your products as well as you do, but one that knows why your customers want to purchase it. This results in sales letters that are not only interesting, but reasonable and convincing as well.



The downside is that this will not be an instantaneous success. It's always a good idea to continue to expand your product list. Keep your prices affordable and do your best to establish one-of-a-kind deals for your consumers. These methods will act as padding until your online presence grows.

About the Author:
An award-winning copywriter, Christie helps companies achieve their direct mail and email marketing objectives. Christie can be reached at http://www.businessmindedcopywriter.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/how-to-increase-your-online-traffic-and-significantly-skyrocket-your-profits-762221.html

Author: Christie Love

Social Bookmarketing - Spreading the Word to Millions of People

Social Bookmarking: Get ready for some heavy traffic!



The social bookmarking site that we at iyazam.com like to recommend for starters is StumbleUpon.



http://www.stumbleupon.com/



StumbleUpon allows you to tag sites within your areas of interest that you think your peers should check out. It also recommends sites to you based on what others have tagged within your areas of interest.



There is debate whether energy should be focused on social bookmarking, since traffic coming from such sites tends not to be quality traffic. Visitors tend to stay on the site for only a very short time, and they rarely convert into buyers. Despite these drawbacks, StumbleUpon is an excellent tool that can boost your rankings in the search engines. We will explain how it works very soon, but first we’d like to show you how to use the site.

1. First, go to stumbleupon.com and download the toolbar.

2. Before creating your profile, StumbleUpon will ask you for your areas of interest. Browse the topics that are in your areas of interest – make sure to check boxes related to your business.

3. Follow the steps to create your profile.

4. Add “friends” (you are limited to 200). When selecting friends, it is best to search for people with whom you share common interests.

On the stumbleupon tool bar you will note the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons in the toolbar.

The stumble button is like the channel changer on a television remote control – it allows you to flip through a wide variety of sites, all within your selected areas of interest.

If you come across a website that you like, you can give it thumbs up. A small box will pop up for you to give a description of what you like about that site. When prompted, make sure to tag and categorize the site.

The thumbs down button is for a page you don’t like.

SHOW ME THE TRAFFIC!

Get started by promoting your own site on StumbleUpon:

1. Go to the homepage of your site.

2. Give it thumbs up (you can only do this once).

3. Write a good description about your site.

4. Tag it and categorize it.

5. Do this with every page of your site.

How does this process generate massive traffic? Whenever your site is given thumbs up, it will appear more frequently in the StumbleUpon search. The more thumbs up your site earns, the broader your traffic.

If writing is in Rick’s area of interest, whenever Rick flips through websites by using the stumble button, sites related to writing will show up. Suppose Jack has a website that discusses writing, and his website has received thumbs up. Jack’s website will appear in Rick’s Stumble search.

Note the word “social” in the term, social bookmarking. If you want others to stumble upon your site, if you want your site to appear in the stumble search, then you must Stumble other sites and give them thumbs up. This is an incredible tool for driving traffic, which will in turn elevate your position in the search engines.

TO TAKE STUMBLEUPON ONE STEP FURTHER…

• Every time you submit an article, post on a forum, add content to your website, publish a press release or even a classified ad, stumble that page and give it thumbs up, writing a description and tagging and categorizing.

• Stumble and give thumbs up to every website where a link to your site appears. This puts those sites into the stumble search, and therefore your site as well

About the Author:

Hillel Porath is the founder and developer of http://www.iyazam.com . Hillel has been working in marketing for several years learning many valuable lessons along the way, the fruits of which appear on his website. Hillel lives with his wife and toddler in Israel.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/social-bookmarketing-spreading-the-word-to-millions-of-people-504430.html

Author: Hillel Porath

Getting Published in Fantasy - Why is it so Hard?

Fantasy is a genre where most books are produced by a very few (big) publishing houses in the UK and USA. These are the houses that can afford to take the risk on large print runs because they have many other titles too. They produce a few fantasy titles (bad luck, authors) in big volume. Big volume is necessary for most kinds of book printing, but fantasy is the most critical, certainly within fiction.

Let's see why. I'm a fantasy fan. I won't buy a fantasy title unless it is (a) thicker than a doorstop (b) reasonably priced. I don't buy hardcovers or large format (expensive) paperbacks - I look for that small fat little book which opens up to a world where I can get lost for days and days. The fatter the better.

Mass-produced magic

So to sell, the fantasy book needs to be long, most often double or triple the length of the common novel. That means it costs almost three times the amount to produce. And yet, the average selling price for these books is very close to that of your mainstream fiction titles. So you've got a product which has a low selling price and a high cost price. The only way to get your cost per book down is to drive the size of the print run up. Short runs or on-demand printing just don't work when you've got a 650+ page book.

Mass markets mean lower prices

In a niche market (like non-fiction - Paragliding in South Africa) you could sell a book that thick for R350 ($50 or £24) because there is limited competition and the information has high value to a small number of people. In a mass market such as 'fiction', even 'fantasy fiction', there are so many wonderful books out there which your title will compete with, and they dictate the price - as set by the mass market paperback produced in masses. That's $15.99 or £7.99 thanks to Harper Collins, Penguin, et al. for the trade paperback, and even less for mass market format.

Print on Demand too costly

So you can get your book all made up via Print On Demand services like Lightning Source or Lulu, and still be out on the bench with a product that is 4 times the price of the competitors. I don't care how good your writing is, unless you can make me levitate in my chair I'm not going to buy your one sparkly title instead of FOUR of the top fantasy authors' new releases.

Low volume doesn't work

So I've just printed 5 000 copies of my fantasy novel (in the small South African market the mark of a 'Best Seller' is around 4 000 copies). Will they sell? Yes, I hope so, but that's not why I've printed so many. I've printed that volume because if I print less than that, then the books you buy through the bookstore, priced at current market values make me nothing. (Retail price minus bookshop markup, minus the markup of the distributor, delivery costs, development costs, printing costs, advertising, office, tax). Truly. I could print 2000 copies of the book, market my heart out, sell all of them through the bookstores and not even get my money back. I have to go big, or go home.

Would you bet your money on magic?

When faced with this kind of gamble, many publishing companies will decide to go for another kind of book. It may not be the quality of the writing they are rejecting, it's the risk in entering the market given the minimum efficient print run costs and the small unit returns. Unless they can see it selling by the tens of thousands, it just isn't worth it.

Thankfully there are a few publishers who are prepared to take a long shot, and you can bet most of them are fantasy fans. You have to believe in magic to make magic happen.

____________________________________________________________________
Words © Greg Hamerton

Greg is a fantasy author from Cape Town, South Africa. His fantasy novel THE RIDDLER'S GIFT is the first tale of the Lifesong Cycle

Get free samples of his fantasy book and other fantasy writing on his SPELL FOR ETERNITY website, where you can join the mailing list to keep in touch

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Hamerton

By Greg Hamerton

Othello - Fully Dramatized Shakespearian Play on Audio Book

This audio book dramatizes the second in Shakespeare's great tragedies, Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear being the other three.

Summary: It's a story of love, treachery and jealousy, with an element of racism, set in Venice and written c.1603/1604.

The Main Characters.

Othello, a general in the Venetian army, is read by Hugh Quarshie (of Star Wars fame). He is an associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company and has made many appearances in film and TV productions. At the time of writing he is starring as Ric in the TV hospital drama Holby City.

Othello, also known as the Moor of Venice, is the central character of the play. Although a native of North Africa, he has managed to gain the respect of the Venetians and eventually became the General of the Army. His secret marriage to Desdemona causes much jealousy among other suitors. Othello is easily swayed by Iago to believe that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him.

The scheming Iago, a soldier in the Venetian army, is read by Anton Lesser, a well known stage actor who is also an associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in many stage productions, films and TV plays. He is a well known narrator of audio books and has won awards for his story telling skills, especially Charles Dickens novels.

Iago is an experienced young soldier serving under Othello. He is angry with Othello for not promoting him and he is also suspicious that Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia. As the play progresses, Iago becomes very devious and stirs up hatred among many of the other characters in the play.

The unfortunate Desdemona is played by Emma Fielding, an award winning British actress. She has starred in many radio plays, films and TV productions, the most recent being Cranford, a BBC TV mini series. She is also a talented audio book narrator and has participated in the following productions: Shakespeare's Hamlet, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.

Desdemona's secret marriage to Othello becomes the subject of a Senate debate thanks to Iago's interference. Desdemona is quite capable of defending her reputation and also deals very well with her husband's blind jealousy which was perpetrated by lies spawned by Iago.

Othello has been made into a film on several occasions, the most notable being the earliest version in 1952 starring Orson Welles and in 1965 the legendary Sir Laurence Olivier starred. In the absence of the film versions, this audio book is a wonderful way to enjoy the great bard at his best. Listening on an MP3 player on the school bus could be the ideal way to learn those quaint lines.

Ross Gill is a published author and Internet Marketer. His first novel is a political thriller entitled 'The Patriot Committee' and is available on Amazon.com. Ross has recently entered the audio book market and his main site can be found at http://www.best-audiobooks.com His blog is at http://www.classaudiobooks.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ross_Gill

By Ross Gill