Blitz Ezine #303 ~~ May 4, 2010
Online Reputation Management, What to tweet about

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 303, May 4 , 2010

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Blitz Comments
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Hopefully your Spring is going well. I can't believe that soon it will be Summer time.

Every Thursday in our Blog we talk about 2.0.

http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com/

We've been writing a lot about saving money in our blog. Make sure you check it out.

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In this Issue
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- What to tweet about
- Online Reputation Management

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Food for thought
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"Help thy brother`s boat across, and Lo! Thine own has reached
 the shore." - Hindu Proverb

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What to tweet About

So you've worked on building your followers now it's time to keep them and to get more.

The most important thing to remember is to figure out first why people are following you. This is pretty easy to find out (if you want to try it). After someone follows you just ask them. After someone follows them send them an individual message (not a spam autoreply) that asks them why they are following you. If they answer that message, usually about a fourth will do that, ask them what things they would like to learn from you.

Let' say that you find out that most people want to here 'how to's' from you. Then the majority of tweets should be about how to... let's say that you tweet a couple of times every day or 10 tweets a week... then about a third or so should be about how to. So what should the rest of your tweets be about? You can check out this url for some great examples about things to tweet about.

http://www.bookmarket.com/50WaystoTweet.htm

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Online Reputation Management
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Google is sometimes thought to be the bane of the Internet, and it certainly can be a thorn in the side of search engine marketers. Many fail to look beyond the search of today, toward what the implications of indexing and storing information will have on future generations. Forget the slogan "diamonds are forever" -- "Google is forever" is more accurate in regard to the Internet. And if not Google, then some other search giant will be able to retrieve information from previous years within a few seconds. If something is online, it does not just "go away". Like it or not, the entire world is being indexed and categorized, and will be searchable for years to come.

Individuals today have a personal brand. Employers and colleagues will search on your name, so it is imperative that you keep this in mind when posting online. You must control your online reputation.

The web is not always a friendly place, so what do you do if you are not using an alias and someone is posting derogatory information about you, your company, your products, or your brand?

Monitor Your Brand
The first step in monitoring your brand is to setup automated notifications within the various search engines, either via email or an RSS feed. This way, you will know when you are being discussed, either in favorable or unfavorable terms. For example, the "Google Alerts" feature is a free service that will send email notifications to you when specific words or phrases appear in new search results. Simply use your name, company name, product name, or brand as the phrase being monitored. Ego Feeds work in a similar fashion, except the alerts appear in a custom created RSS feed that updates whenever new mentions occur. For more information about Ego Feeds, see a related article at http://www.feedforall.com/ego-searches.htm

Control Your Brand
The second step in protecting your brand is to take a pro-active approach to appearing in the top search results when your name is entered into a search engine. You can do this by offering interviews, reviews, SEO, and writing articles or posting blog entries. At the very least, make an effort to control the top search results for your name. This will ensure that when your personal brand is searched, those items will be listed in the top 10 search results.

Damage Control
If you find something that is damaging or harmful, do damage control. Control your responses, and behave in a professional manner so it is clear that you took the high road when the exchange is viewed by others at a later time.

Social
The final bit of advice is to simply keep personal things personal. While the social sites are great for maintaining friendships, they are not helpful for people who have an occasional lapse in judgment. Refrain from posting pictures that show anything that you would not want your mother or future grandchildren to see, or saying anything when you are mad or upset since we often say things "in the heat of battle" that we regret later.

The Internet is preserving and archiving personal history in a way that has never previously happened. Control your online reputation for posterity.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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SEO Links
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A great linking tool -

http://www.seomoz.org/linkscape

Track keywords for you, your competitors and more.

http://www.semrush.com/

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Links you can use -
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Spring Cleaning for Lazy People

http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/lifestyle/spring-cleaning-tips-lazy

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Some Fun Links
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A great time waster - Young Me / Old Me - told in pictures.

http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/

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Useful links
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Ezine Archives links to all our past issues (well most of them) in one place.

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Next Issues
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Our next issue will be June 1, 2010

Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com