Our good friend Ross Goldberg (aka Mr Traffic) says in his typical no BS style – “Your blog is the cornerstone of your social traffic campaign”.  While most of us share his enthusiasm for blogging not everybody is sure what is needed to create a brilliant blog that stands out from the crowd. To assist you in creating that awesome blog we would like to share with you “7 Brilliant Blogging Tips”

1. Get Serious and Buy Your Own domain
It’s important to be in control of your own destiny. If you are in it for the long haul you will want to have your own domain. Although it might sound complicated it’s not. There are heaps of hosting sites and domain purchasing sites that have great help desks and instructions for newbies. Personally we use Hostgator, and are a huge fan of its live chat feature.

 2. Choose a domain name that suits your blog 
I know it sound as blatantly obvious…But lots of people overlook this step. It’s no use having a  domain name like www.carwidgetsRus and having a blog that talks about growing tulips.

3. Use WordPress and wordpress plugins
WordPress blogs are easy to use, manipulate and there are thousands of themes. Don’t forget  to install wordpress plugins. There are heaps of wordpress plugins with specific functions so make sure you pick wordpress plugins that suit your blog, and assist with SEO and social  traffic optimisation.

 4. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Blah Blah Blah…Personally we get bored with lots and lots of words in a post. Make your post brilliant by the inclusion of pictures. Give the words a break every now and then by including a picture. Pictures serve two purposes they make the post more interesting and they can  convey a concept quicker than the words in lengthy paragraph 

5. The three C’s
Consistency, consistency, consistency…It’s important to blog with consistency. Resist the urge  to go off on a tangent, stick to the topic of your blog. Try to publish a blog post at least once a week. You want to deliver to your readers consistent information on a regular basis, this will assist in developing a relationship with your readers.

 6. Don’t Ignore Comments
We get a real buzz out of people leaving us comments. It means that people have read our post   and it had an impact on them… Make sure you approve the valid comments, and disapprove the spam. If the comment includes a question it’s imperative that you reply to the comment. A  blog is supposed to be interactive and you should take any opportunity to interact with your readers.

 7. Content is King
People visit your blog looking for useful information. Provide useful information with heaps of content and you will have them coming back for more. Remember that blogs are supposed to be interactive and your readers are no different to you. They want interesting and informative content. Our previous blog post 7 Reasons Why Blogs Are Vitally Important can assist with more blogging info.

We hope that you found these 7 Brilliant Blogging Tips useful. If you liked this post feel free to share it with your friends or leave a comment.

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1. Stand Out From The Crowd
Your personnel brand is how you can stand out from the crowd and rise above the noise of your competition. Make sure you take the time to create a remarkable personal brand! Remember competition is fierce, you have to make an unforgettable impact.  Define your target audience, give them high quality content jam packed with solutions to their most annoying  problems.

2. Follow People With Similar Interests
Lots of people get hung up on the number of followers they have. BUT this means nothing if the people who follow you are not interested in your business or product. It’s best to build and nurture a following of people who have similar interests because they are more likely to be genuinely interested in your business or product.

3. It’s A Conversation, Not A Continuous Sales Pitch
Twitter is a  Social  Media  site, it’s for conversations. Get involved with others by responding  to other peoples Tweets or start a conversation with others. Mind your manners and resist the urge to jump into twitter and broadcast one continous  sales pitch.

4. Tweet , Tweet, Tweet
Its important to tweet often.  Make sure your tweets are of high quality, interesting, and informative. The idea is to engage other people in conversation not send them to sleep. Mix it up a bit… You can include quotes, links to videos, pictures, jokes , or interesting articles .

5. Dominate Your Niche
It doesn’t matter what your niche is its imperative that you own it .  Position yourself as the expert in your niche by solving problems for others. Comment on blogs within your niche  and  don’t  forget to include your Twitter URL.  This can assist  in connecting you with the kinds of followers you want to attract.

6. Get Retweeted
It’s simple you must be Retweeted to GO VIRAL. But don’t panic!  Getting  Retweeted, is easier than it sounds. Simply add conversational value,  tweet about interesting things, share news or other content that people will want to pass along.  If your stuck for words, we invite you to  check out  one of our previous blog posts ” Twitters Top 9 Most Retweetable Words and Phrases”

7. Ask For A Retweet!
Don’t be shy you’re running a business. Ask for a Retweet, that’s right all you gotta do is ask. Simply add  ”Please Retweet” at the end of your message. Some people prefer to use a shortened version Plz RT since it uses less characters.

We hope you find these rules useful. If you liked this post feel free to share it with your friends or leave a comment.

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Twitter Marketing Exposed is specifically designed for twitter newbies and intermediate twitter users.  It’s pages are jam packed with vital information that you can apply to your twitter account. Stay tuned while we give you a  sneak peak at whats  included;  

• Direct Messages, Retweets, Hastags, Twitter search, URL shorteners explained and more
• Twitter Tips For Beginners
• How To Start tweeting And What To Tweet About
• Most Popular Retweetable Words and Phrases
• Twitter Following and Follower Barriers
• How To Choose Who To Follow
• Gaining Followers
• Reasons Why People Unfollow You
• Twitter Lists
• Advanced Tweeting Tips

BUT WAIT!!! There is more…Twitter Marketing Exposed is FREE!  Interested? You can grab your copy of  “Twitter Marketing Exposed“  by simply clicking here.

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I’ll  bet that when you are posting on Facebook  you’re not thinking about the millions of people who are also logged into Facebook. You know what its like you get caught up messaging your friends whilst updating your wall, or skimming through the Friendfeed. BUT you need to remember that amongst the many millions caught up in the Facebook phenomenon some are potential employers, business partners, real friends,work colleagues and more.

If you want to make sure that your Facebook account isn’t going to come back to haunt you, here are 5 Costly Facebook Mistakes  that you should avoid. 

1. Keep it Clean

Your uploaded picture should be neutral if not professional. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the picture is going to be boring, but keep provocative and cartoony pictures tucked away where the world cannot see them. Remember, as an employee or future employee you are carrying the name of whatever company you work for. Provocative pictures never look good, especially when you can run the risk of future clients seeing your profile as well. A rule of thumb is that provocative pictures are for private viewing only.

2. Good Manners Never Hurt Anyone
The wall on Facebook, can be used to openly display any thoughts, articles, or comments you may want to share. As tempting as what it may be don’t make the mistake of putting everything and anything on your wall. Remember common courtesy should considered. So…Don’t make plans with people through wall posts. Save personal plans for personal emails or phone calls. If you’ve been invited to an event and plan to go, send an email or text message straight to the person that invited you instead of announcing your plans and confirmation on your wall. Once again it pays to have good manners you because you never know who may be watching. 

3. To Share Or Not To Share – That Is The Question!
If you choose to make your profile visible to everyone, then it is imperative that you make safe choices. For instance, sharing personal information such as an interest in Sci Fi movies, Eating Pizza and Cats is okay. However, showing personal addresses, names of children or children’s pictures may not be a good idea, because you never know who is viewing your profile or even worse still why they are viewing your profile.

4. Guilty By Association 
Facebook is a Social Site and the theory is that your friends are like minded people who are  a reflection of yourself. So you need to be aware of what pictures your friends are posting particularly if you are one of the star attractions. If  your friends are posting pictures that can be considered ‘too sexy’ then it’s possible that employers will view you as a spitting image of your friends. While it is impossible to prevent all friends from posting pictures of their choice, it is possible to prevent who is allowed to see a person’s list of friends. Take advantage of the privacy settings that Facebook offers.

5. Two Is Twice As Much Fun
If you having difficulty in keeping your profile on Facebook professional at all times then the option of having two profiles is for you. Many people have two profiles keeping one profile strictly for personal friends and the other strictly for professional business networking and coworkers. A great way to use two profiles is to make sure everything on your personal profile is private, while your professional profile can remain public. 

However you use Facebook its important to realise that 20% of companies admit to checking social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace in order to verify potential employees, and 24% of employees are hired based on their social networking site. So the next time you apply for a job, remember to check your Facebook account for any ticking bombs, because your future job could depend on it.

We hope this post has been useful. If you liked it share it with your friends or leave a comment. 

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 1. Twitter Lists are dynamic and much more than a static listings of users. Twitter Lists are categorized  twitter  streams of the latest tweets from the users on a list.

2. Twitter Lists give you the ability to organize the people you’re following on Twitter, or find new people.

3. Each Twitter list has a list page where you can get a snapshot of the Twitter list users  tweets which are included in a complete tweet stream for everyone on the list.

4.  Make following people easier. For instance when you find a twitterite who has an awesome list  you will  beable to add the whole list.

5. Twitter Lists  give you the opportunity to follow people using  a Twitter list without following them as an individual. So…you can view their tweets without actually following them.  In this way Twitter Lists that you belong to can include people you’re not following.

6. Searching for twitterites with similar interests will be so much easier using the twitter list features. 

Twitter Lists why would you use  them?
Not sure about why you would use a Twitter List? Don’t  worry here are a few ideas to get you started

•  Create a Group 
  Use Twitter Lists to organize your tweeps into groups based on anything you want. For example, podcasting, cats lovers, golfing enthusiasts. When you view a  list, you easily see all of  the tweets of the  list members.
• Recommend Your Favorite Tweeple 
  Twitter Lists were designed to allow people to recommend other users to follow. Simply create a public list of people you think other Twitter users should follow, then anyone else can visit that list and follow the people on it (or follow the list).
• Follow People You Aren’t Following
  By following a Twitter List, you’re actually following the entire list not each user on the list.  So… you can use Twitter  Lists to follow people without really following them. How does this work?  Well say for instance that there  are users whose tweets you’d like to follow, but you don’t want in your main Twitter stream, you can add them to a list and then check their latest tweets when you want to by viewing your list. 

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Wouldn’t it be great if someone could demystify the most popular Social Medias and tell you how and when to use it. Yep sounds like a great idea to me.  In fact this idea sounded so great that we at Social Traffic Espionage decided to just DO IT!

We gathered all the information you could possible wish to know about the popular social media sites and transformed this information into what we believe is the ultimate guide to Social Media  “The Social Traffic Intelligence Manuscript“.

It’s pages are jam packed with must have information. It reveals the basics of the most popular Social Medias, exposes their strengths and weakness’s, explains how you might use social media to generate FREE social traffic, market your product, promote your business or to just make a difference in the world by supporting causes like  saving the whales.

BUT WAIT!!! There is more… The ”Social Traffic Intelligence Manuscript” is FREE. Interested? You can grab your copy of the  ”Social Traffic Intelligence Manuscript”  by simply clicking here.

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MySpace has nearly 130 million users and massive amounts of  it’s site traffic each day is generated by messaging accounts.  In real figures MySpace estimates  that messaging accounts for nearly 20 percent of its site traffic. By entering into the mail category MySpace has the  potential to be the second largest mail provider in the U.S. and the fourth largest globally.

With so much at stake,  MySpace is  approaching the roll out with the utmost care and  plans to roll it out to all global users within the next couple of weeks.  We all know the type of  publicity a bad  product brings to a company and it is for this reason that the MySpace email will initially carry a beta tag.

Of course there will be lots of questions that MySpace users and others will have as they become aware of  the MySpace  email service.  We at Social Traffic  Espionage  thought it would be useful to reveal a couple of the more obvious aspects of the email service.  

 1.Vanity URLS
Dont panic MySpace have got this one covered.  For those MySpace users who have vanity URLs,  and hey nearly 70 percent of the network’s users do… They have reserved addresses with that user name @myspace.com.  However you are not locked in to this arrangement you also have the option of changing  the URL to get a different mail address in a one-time offer. While others can get a vanity URL when they sign up for e-mail.

2. Spam And Privacy 
The good news is that MySpace have promised users a spam free mail service.  They have given careful consideration to the  issues already faced when it comes to privacy and online safety.  MySpace mail service also has  a feature that allows users to only receive mail from their MySpace friends.

We look forward to hearing what you think about the  MySpace mail service. If you have enjoyed this post share it with your friends  or leave a comment.

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How do you share these great articles?  Facebook makes it easy… Just follow these  simple directions below and you will have your friends waiting on the edge of their seats  for your next article.

1. Click The Facebook Icon
You see  it here,  you see it there  – “The Facebook Icon”.  Most articles online  have a Facebook icon nearby.  Simply click on the icon and you will be automatically directed to sign into your Facebook account.  Once you have signed in just follow the prompts and a link to the article will appear.

2. Use A Note
Included in  the  row of icons under the ‘what’s on your mind?’ text box, there  is a link icon that looks like a note.  If you place the mouse over this icon the word link pops up.  Simply  highlight and copy the article  link you want to share, and then  click on the little link  icon.   Paste your link into the additional box that pops up  under the ‘what’s on your mind?” text box.  Click the attach button, complete the security check  and hit the share button.
    
3)The Direct Approach – Post It On A Friends Page 
Visit your friend’s  Facebook page.  Simply  highlight and copy the article  link you want to share, and then  click on the link  icon ( remember it looks like a little note).  Paste your link into the additional box that pops up  under the ‘what’s on your mind?” text box.  Click the attach button, complete the security check and hit the share button.

One more tip before we go. It’s  Facebook etiquette to write a comment in the ‘what’s on your mind?” text box that accompanies your link.

If you like this post share it with your friends,  or add a comment.

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1. Spam, Spam And More Spam

Ok so you have a blog and guess what,   you just added a post. Most people appreciate you informing them once, informing them twice is sure to get their attention but telling them more than  5 times  a day is just plain annoying and desperate. Keep an eye on your tweets and develop relationships with people instead of  annoying them.

2. Keep It Clean

Don’t swear… Swearing in tweets will get you unfollowed faster than you can hit the update button.

3 .  Tweet About How Many Followers You Have

It doesn’t matter how may Twitter  followers you have, its tacky to tweet about it. OK  we know its exciting to reach milestones but tweeting this information is  a big mistake. It sounds like you are bragging and indirectly sends out a challenge to people to unfollow you.

4.  Links, Links And Nothing But Links

We love clicking on links in Twitter, you can learn about really cool stuff , but we also like to know the topic of  link. It’s important to put some content with your link. You have got 140 characters, which is enough space to add a phrase or couple of words that indicate what the link is about.    

5.  It’s Called  Microblogging  For A Reason -  people!

Twitter is not an article writing social site.  A post on Twitter is  140 characters. It’s a limit, and should be respected. OK their might be an exceptional circumstance when  you need to send a tweet that is made up of two 140 character tweets, but this is the exception not the rule. Clogging up the Twittersphere with tweets that are 2 – 3 times more than the 140 characters  is self indulgent and will result in people choosing to unfollow you.

6.  Extreme Tweeting – It’s Not  A  Sport

Have you ever checked your twitter stream, only to find that one person has filled up an entire screen? Twitter is not a one person show. It’s about everybody contributing and developing relationships. Stop being a Twitter hog, don’t tweet 50 times a day and spread your tweets throughout the day.

7. Constantly Retweeting

You see an awesome quote and want to spread the word, so you retweet  it to your followers. Nothing wrong with that… Retweeting has it’s  place in the Twittersphere. Retweeting becomes a problem however when it’s the bulk of your tweets. Fellow twitterites don’t want to follow a person who is always regurgitating or  echoing other peoples thoughts and ideas. Make sure you mix in the retweets with you own ideas and thoughts otherwise you will have your followers hitting the unfollow button.

If you enjoyed this post, spread it around amongst your friends. If there is anything you would like to add leave us a comment, we would love to hear from you.

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If you are an Internet marketer you will want to use FREE traffic for your business. This means that you will want to use Social Media. If there is one disadvantage to using Social Media it is that it can take lots and lots of time if you don’t know how to use it properly.

So how do you use Social Media efficiently? The first fact you need to come to grips with is that you can’t market on every Social Media site – there just isn’t enough time or hours in the day. 

If you want to market your product or business  using Social Media you need an efficient  time optimisation strategy.  Therefore it would make a whole lot of sense to include Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn  in your  time optimisation strategy.  Why? Because it’s only logical to make use of the 3 most popular Social Media sites;  Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. 

How much time should you spend using Social Media? The answer to this depends on your circumstances. Generally there is a relationship between how long marketers have been using Social Media and their weekly time commitment. Usually people just beginning with Social Media, spend about an  average of  two hours per week. However, those who have been using Social Media for a number of months spend about an  average  of 10 hours per week or a bit more than 1 hour a day.

What is the reason for the time difference between Social Media newbies and experts? It’s our opinion that the time spent is related to the people’s experiences. Those who are just starting are unsure of this Social Media buzz – does it really work? They are yet to taste success, but once they have made a sale or start to have success they realise the importance of Social Media and spend more time doing it.

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