WEB 2.0 & SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION MANUAL

Facebook . Twitter . YouTubeWidgets . Niche Social Networks . StumbleUponExclusive Social Networks . Business Exchange . Keyword Research

FOUR ELEMENTS LLC

14 Sleepy Hollow Ct, Allentown, NJ 08501•telephone: 609.357.8487•the4eblog.com•the-four-elements.com

Introduction

We live in a 2.0 world. However, many CEOs still refuse to adopt web 2.0 technologies and begin theprocess of integration. Web 2.0 is not a fad! If you think that your company will do just fine without blog-ging or establishing a company page on social networks, you are strongly mistaken. The last thing youwant your company to be known as, is outdated and behind the curve. Great companies, like Google,Apple and Amazon are always ahead of the curve. Each of these companies not only embrace web 2.0, but they also shape it by creating their own widgets and platforms.Web 2.0 tools are virtually free, however their benefits are astronomical. When implemented correctly,your web 2.0 initiatives will synergistically solve the biggest problem companies are facing today. Thisproblem is SEO, better known as Search Engine Optimization. When a potential client is looking for theproduct or service you provide they will search a specific few keywords. If you want to be a dominantforce in your industry, you must be on the first page of search results. To show up on the first page of search engine results, your companies name and website must be linked to from hundreds of thousandsof other pages. Your twitter followers, Facebook page fans, blog readers and YouTube viewers will allplay a vital role in increasing your rankings. Without the careful utilization of web 2.0 tools, you put yourcompany in a deep hole. Here is your personalized web 2.0 action plan:

Blog

: Set up a corporate blog using a platform, such as wordpress, typepad, squarespace or blog-ger. Write great content as frequently as possible, while maintaining an overarching theme.

Fan Page

: Sign up for a membership on Facebook and create a product or service fan page. Cus-tomize it to your liking and link your content (blog, YouTube, etc.) to it to increase trafﬁc.

YouTube

: Sign up for YouTube and create a custom company channel. Upload videos that estab-lish your expertise and then get creative and produce advertisements for your company and/or blog.

Twitter

: Create a company Twitter account and begin micro-blogging. Feed your Twitter updatesto your blog and other pages to keep fans and customers up to date while you’re on the road.

Ning

: Go to Ning.com and create a social network just for your employees or for your employeesand fans. This will give your company a unique advantage over the competition, since you willhave a much more personal relationship with your customers and fans.

Widgets

: If you have the luxury of having a tech team, then brainstorm on a widget that yourcompany will develop. If you are a real estate company, think about developing a listings widget.Follow the API instructions at Google and different social networks, so it can be distributed eve-rywhere. If you create a truly useful widget, it will provide better marketing than a $25,000 cam-paign.

Submit Blogs

: Once you write content for your blog, be sure to submit it to sites like Stumble-Upon, Technorati and RSS blog directories.

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Web 2.0 & Search Engine Optimization Manual1

Research!

: New web 2.0 tools are constantly being developed and it is tough to implement all of them. However, you should spend at least 15 minutes a day reading up on a web 2.0 tool you arenot familiar with. Not every one will be useful to your speciﬁc company, but some may play quitesigniﬁcant roles, so keep reading!This action plan is just the tip of iceberg, so once you have implemented the following be contact us forfurther instructions. We specialize in creating personalized web 2.0 plans for companies in every industry.The following sections go into more detail on the above bullet points.

Facebook

When talking about web 2.0 and social networks in particular, the first name that usually comes up isFacebook. Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild currently has more than 100 million active users worldwide. Thesocial networking giant acts just like all the others, in that users can create profiles, add friends, write onwalls, upload photos and most importantly…POKE. These applications do not separate Facebook fromcompetitors, like MySpace, but there are several factors that do. Firstly, the clean user interface came as a breath of fresh air to all the MySpace users who became aggravated by their cluttered profiles. Secondly,Facebook started out as a college student online social network, where members had to register with a.edu email address. The security Facebook instilled in their members came just at the right time in themarket, as MySpace was becoming a haven for stalkers. Finally, Facebook opened up its doors to outsidedevelopers, who have created over 50,000 applications for the community. Applications have been devel-oped, which allow members to send bumper stickers or find real estate listings. Their incredible successand mass utilization makes it a perfect web 2.0 tool for all types of businesses.Everyone understands the concept of Facebook, but few business professionals understand how theircompany can capitalize on utilization of the platform. This article will be your step-by-step guide for un-locking the hidden value of Facebook.

Registration:

The ﬁrst thing to do for all new members is obviously registration. Once logged in,take a look around your home page and become familiar with the new feed. Your news feed willkeep you up to date with all the actions of your friends. The setting can easily be changed if youonly want to be notiﬁed of certain actions.

Friend Requests:

Once you have your bearings it is time to invite partners, friends and col-leagues to become your friend. Now it is time to get down to business.

Complete Proﬁle Info:

Fill out all the information in your proﬁle exactly how you would withyour LinkedIn Proﬁle. Search engines are going to crawl this page, so you want as much profes-sional information as possible, as it will help with your ranking.

Add Application:

Browse through the application gallery and add apps that you see useful. Irecommend adding the RSS reader to your page and then linking your personal or corporate blogto it. This will drive trafﬁc to your blog and will add another link to your blog. Another usefulapp to add is the Twitter app, which will directly feed all your twitters to your proﬁle.

Create Groups

: Create a group for your whole company, departments or project teams. You canset these groups to private or leave them open for the public based on the reason the group wascreated. Applications can be added to groups if needed. Use the discussion forum and wall toquickly communicate with team members on speciﬁc projects or problems.

Create Product/Service Fan Page:

Establish your brand by creating a large following on Face- book. Fan Pages are vital because they allow consumers to communicate directly with the com-

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