Online Reputation - The Way Others See You

A business’s reputation is the foundation of all of its work. While most businesses are careful with their business reputation within the community they work with; they worry about any negative information that could turn up on the radio and on television, most rarely worry about their online reputation; and in truth, this is the information that could most seriously damage a business reputation, just because it remains visible the longest (sometimes being accessible for years after its posting). To compensate for the effects negative online comments, information and reviews, it is crucial that businesses of all sizes implement the management of online reputations and make it a crucial element of their marketing plans. 

What is Online Reputation Management and why is It So Important?

Reputation management is the “tracking of a business’s actions online” but it is also the following of other people’s reactions and opinion to those actions. A company that has devoted a portion of their budget to online reputation management will have positive reviews will have positive branding results,whereas one that doesn't may see the effects in their profit margin or even in the quality of their work force. 

Let’s look at a few examples of companies that take online branding seriously.

Coca Cola – They continually work on their online reputation management by posting positive information, managing social media websites, offering slideshows, videos, wiki web pages and more. But all of this information places Coca Cola in a favorable light. There is not a single derogatory comment, at least not for several pages of the search engine listings when you Google the company. 

Microsoft – When you Google, Yahoo or Bing Microsoft you get an endless array of information, tutorials, news and more, but there isn’t a single negative comment you can find that puts the company down, or offers a negative review. 

McDonald’s – So let’s Google a business that is not so Internet focused. By the same token McDonald's has no negative information posted about the company. You’ll see company stats, information, social networking websites, and even financial information, but not a negative review, comment or negative news article (and there is a great deal to talk about here).

What Difference Does This Make?

Well, as an Internet researcher or user it makes a great deal of difference. When you Google these companies, you see them as being reliable, interesting and very successful. Does that mean that this type of branding is only available for the “Big Boy” companies? Of course not! But it does mean that a positive online reputation is important, and it is a relatively inexpensive way to get positive branding and advertising for a business of any size. Even so, there are also other additional benefits to giving your company a positive online reputation.

Having many pages of search engine indexing references that put your business in a positive light gives viewers an opinion of your company. They see you as being trustworthy, reliable, upstanding and honest. This increases revenue as research indicates that most people conduct online research of a company before buying from them. A positive reputation attracts a competent work force. Qualified people looking for a job change or who want to start a new career prefer to reach out to companies that are well known and who hold a positive reputation within their industry.

Bottom Line 

Positive reputation management testimonials are crucial to a business of any size, and the cost involved is minuscule compared to the cost of not having a qualified work-force, bringing in significantly large client accounts, and of making important work alliances.

SeeVolution - A Great Heat Map And Real-Time Analytics Tool

If you are a website or blog owner, naturally, your first focus would be attracting as much traffics to your site as possible. As the saying goes, traffics = money in the online space. 

This is perfectly right. However, if your traffics doesn't convert into clicks or action that you want your visitors to take (e.g. subscription to your newsletter, buying your services/products or "likes" your Facebook Fan Page etc...), all the traffics will just remain TRAFFICS i.e. they would not be converted into anything tangible (which is your ROI).

SEO And Its Most Important Buddy – Content [Infographic]

When come to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Content is its most important buddy, this is especially prominent when the Search Giant, Google, implemented its latest Search Algorithm (Panda). Thus, there are more and more marketers (online or offline) are incorporating content marketing as part of their SEO strategy. To me, this is a fair game plan, as a user who search online almost everyday, what we expect the least is the search result with quality and relevant content.

On top of content, the other key element in SEO is social media. Yes, you hear me right, that’s where the phrase ” Social is SEO and Content is Social” come about. If you have not already know, the search giants (i.e. Google and Bing) already (or have plan to) integrate the Social sharing as part of their search ranking i.e.

“Bing uses Facebook Likes as ranking signal for logged-in users”

“Google is working on using Google +1 as a ranking signal”

“Tweets help Google index faster”

In short, when we talk about SEO nowadays, we need to include Content and Social Media as a a total SEO solution! Brafton has generated an informative Infographic to explore how content made a difference in search engine visibility. Check out the Infographic, Why Content For SEO below:

Cheers!

Note: This article was first published in someplus.com (Social Media Plus)

FREE Page Rank Checker

If you have any online presence in terms of website or blog, you will need to made yourself familiarised with the term Page Rank and its importance For the benefit of fellow newbies, Page Rank is actually a link analysis algorithm used by Google to assign a number or rank (from 1 to 10 whereby 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) to each hyperlinked web page. For those web page with Page Rank 0, it means the site has not been indexed by Google for various reasons.

Page Rank is one of the important indicator used by Google Search Engine in determining the relevancy and importance of a particular page against the searched keyword(s). Thus, it is critical to know and monitor your site/blog's Page Rank on regular basis. There are many web tool or Page Rank Checker (paid or free) available online. Today, I am going to recommend a FREE Page Rank Checker called Check Page Rank (Yup, you read it correctly, that's the name of the tool!).

Check Page Rank is a free tool that was developed by WireWalkersVA. With this tool, you can easily check any site's Page Rank in 2 clicks. On top of that, you can also choose to display the up-to-date Page Rank by embedding the Page Rank icon in your site. And this can be done simply by "cut and paste" the scripts into your site.

To give you a feel, this is how the site looks like, simple and elegant:

With this FREE Page Rank Checker, checking Page Rank can never be easier! So, give it a try and let me have your review in the comment section.

Cheers! 

Facebook's Top 10 Asian Countries

Yesterday, it has been officially announced by CEO and co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zukerberg that Facebook user base has finally crossed the 1 billion mark. Anyway, it is just a matter of time and the time is NOW.

Also, in a separate earlier report from Socialbakers.com, Asia is the largest Continent with 256 millions users. Today, I am going to share a slide that I've prepared recently on the Facebook's Top 10 Asian Countries. Check out the slide below (if your browser is not able to view this embedded slideshow, click on the link below the slide to view it in slideshare):

Facebook's Top 10 Asian Countries from Richard Ng

Special Note: You will notice that China is nowhere in the list, it is for the simple reason that Facebook is still officially banned in China!

Cheers!

NuffnangX - Top Asia Advertising Platform for bloggers went mobile!

Nuffnang, one of the top Asia advertising platform for bloggers has gone mobile recently. The new brainchild is called NuffnangX. Nuffnang was initially started in Malaysia and now it has strong presence in many countries like Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand, Philippines, Australia and Hong Kong.

With the launch of its mobile platform, it will sure to bring the Asia Blogsphere to the next level. I am part of the Nuffnang family and am happy with their services and opportunities so far (it's free to join anyway). With this new mobile platform, bloggers can read their favourite blogs update on the go, communicate with the fellow bloggers and built relationships with existing and new friends/fans.  

So, if you want to bring your blogs to the next level as well, do check out their free mobile platform here : NuffnangX. 

By the way, I liked their new slogan "Social Blog Stalking"!

Cheers!

Gangnam Style - The Anatomy Of Its Success [Infographic]

Gangnam Style gone so viral until it has its very own Infographic now. Psy (the singer) is everywhere in the US media coverage (online and offline) recently busy demoing his dance movements. This is another perfect example showing the true power of social media (youtube in this instance). 

I am pretty sure that majority of the viewer don't even understand what the song is all about but with its cheeky and hilarious dance movements from the MV (especially the Horse Dance), it hits the jackpot many times over.  

As at this moment, the official Gangnam Style MV in Youtube has reached the top 1 video with  175,295,251 viewership and is still going strong. In case (just in case) you still haven't seen the MV, check it out below:

Ok, now that you have at least watched the MV above, interested to find out why is the MV so hot? Check out the infographic below (in English, of course) detailing who is Psy and what is Gangnam (click on the image to view the larger version of the infographic):

So, What do you think of Gangnam Style? Are you addicted to the MV as well? Share your view in the comment section.

Cheers!

SPECIAL : "Adding Oil" To Your Online Venture

Recently, I've published a post entitled "Add Oil" in another blog of mine which I thought quite meaningful to re-share it here with minor touch to make it more relevant to internet marketing theme. For Chinese, whenever we want to express our encouragement to other whenever they are facing with some challenges like sporting event, exam or during difficult times, we will usually use the words "加油" which literally translated into "Add Oil" in English.

We, human being, are just like machine or car that require regular maintenance/booster and oil is one of the necessity to lubricate the internal parts of the machine (in the case of human being, our body and mind) so that we are not stuck with the less optimal condition due to the wear and tear. It's a way to reignite our aspiration and push forward! Anyway, that's just how I link "Add oil" to the encouragement connotation.

Talking about oil, I will have to mention Schaeffer Oil, which is THE go to brand when come to specialized lubricants (for example Dexos-1 synthetic oil ). It serves across multiple industries like agriculture, manufacturing, trucking and high performance racing. Mind you, it was established since 1839. So, with 173 years of history, I am sure they have done something right!

So, to all the internet marketers or aspired internet marketers, ADD OIL!

Cheers! 

SPECIAL : Have A Break, Have A Kit Kat Or Maybe Angry Birds Game

As the saying goes, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", thus, whether you are a full time employee, self employed, freelancer or a successful entrepreneur, it is important to take regular breaks from your busy schedule and find ways to get yourself entertained and have fun! 

In the current mobile society, when we talk about entertainment and having fun, I think the first thing that come to our mind is the mobile games (especially those game apps in your smartphone). When we talk about mobile games, the first thing that come to many of your mind is non other than  Angry Birds. Why? Why is Angry Birds so popular? Great graphics and fun elements aside, this is one of the most addictive game that incorporated the physic science into the game. The force of the slingshot, the flying of the "angry" birds and the tumbling structures etc. look so physical scientifically real (even in slow motion). And the best part is, you can fully entertained even with their free to play game sets.

So, it's time to have a break, have an Angry Birds game!

Angry Birds Space - The latest craze

Cheers!  

Book Recommendation: Blogging The Smart Way (by Jeff Bullas)

Whether you are an existing or an aspiring blogger, one influential personnel in the blogsphere as well as social media arena that you would not want to miss is Jeff Bullas. He is a consultant, coach, mentor and speaker helping companies/individual to optimize their online presence and brand through digital marketing and social media channels. He is also one of the "Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers".

Recently, he has released his new ebook called Blogging the Smart Way - How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media. It's a 119 pages eBook [Kindle edition] which aim to help aspiring bloggers to succeed in their blogging venture (through social media) with valuable tips and tricks.

To help you have a glimpse of what to expect from this ebook, following is the content of the ebook (source: jeffbullas.com):

Introduction
Chapter 1. What is a Blog?
Chapter 2. My Story – How I grew my traffic to 300,000 page hits per month with social media
Chapter 3. The Secret to Every Successful Blog and How to Discover It
Chapter 4. 12 Blogging Essentials and Getting Started
Chapter 5. The Personal Blog
Chapter 6. The Business Blog
Chapter 7. How to Find Inspiration and Ideas for your Blog Content
Chapter 8. Why Headlines are Important
Chapter 9. Marketing your Blog: The 4 Key Essentials
Chapter 10. 10 Key Steps to a Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy
Chapter 11. Tips on Marketing on the Top Social Networks
Chapter 12. How to Market your Blog on Twitter
Chapter 13. How to Market your Blog on Facebook
Chapter 14. Optimizing your Blog for Social Media to Super Charge Sharing
Chapter 15. Monitoring and Measuring your Blog
Chapter 16. The Blogging Journey – Putting it all Together

I am recommending this book to all bloggers (or bloggers to be) who want to step up their blogging venture to the next level, especially through social media. For more details on how to purchase the ebook, click on the image below:

Cheers!

Google vs Facebook : The Fight on Online Advertising Goes On [Infographic]

For those of you who are are watching the online space long enough will know that online advertising is a huge and booming business. It is estimated that the online advertising spending in 2012 is valued at USD94.2 billions (USD39.5 billions in US alone) [source: GO-Gulf.com].

The current giant and top online advertising network provider is non other than Google (enjoying 44.1% market share [source: GO-Gulf.com]). Of course, the other social media giant, Facebook is gaining its momentum in the online advertising space as well. Check out the following infographic from Wordstream detailing how each of them performed in the area like Advertising Reach, Revenue/Growth and Ads Format etc. (click/download the image for the expanded image). 

  

Cheers!

FREE Tool To Check Potential Questionable Outbound Links

Nowadays, whenever you are visiting a website/blog, you will notice that there quite a number of outbound links (links that direct users to another website/blog) scattered around the page. In fact, Link Exchange is a common practice in harnessing the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the respective site/blog. In short, it helps to improve the site/blog's SEO if it is done appropriately.

On the other hand, it could be detrimental to your site/blog's SEO as well if too many of the said outbound links are heading towards the sites that are deemed questionable, from Google's perspective, e.g. adult entertainment, online gambling etc. Thus, it is important to monitor the health of the outbound links regularly. 

Recently, I've chanced upon a FREE tool called Text Links Checker that will help you to scan through your site/blog and provide you with stats and potential links that deemed questionable (Note from the site: This tool is intended as a guide to assist webmasters in locating potential problem areas with their linking strategies, it is not intended to dictate who you do or do not link out to). Even though it is only a guide, it is good enough to have an interim assessment of the health of your site/blog's outbound links. Thus, give it a try by simply punching in your site/blog's URL and let the tool do the work for you.

Do you have any similar tool to share? If yes, please feel free to share it in the comment section.

Cheers!

10 Paid To Blog Networks For Your Blogging Venture

Sorry for being  MIA for the past few weeks, I am back now. The reason for my MIA is due to my eye condition which I shared it in my personal blog post : I am back with almost fully recovered vision. 

Time flies and we are already in the beginning of Aug 2012. How is your internet marketing or blogging venture goes? I hope you have a great first half of the year and have nicely planned out the remaining  months of the year.

I am pretty sure many bloggers started out their blogging venture out of interest, i.e. the hobbyist bloggers. Along the way, after getting the hang of it, they started to get more involved into it and started to look into ways to monetize their blog(s) i.e. becomes the professional bloggers. Blogging is a long term venture and you need to like what you are doing and writing in order to enjoy it and out run it.

So, if you are blogging for money, do check out the following Paid-To-Blog Networks which might come in handy for your venture:

1. Blogvertise

2. PayU2blog

3. BuyBlogReviews

4. InPostlinks

5. LinkVehicle

6. PayPerPost

7. SponsoredReviews

8. PostsGenius

9. SocialSpark

10. Contextual-style

Except Blogvertise which I have done a few paid blog posts, I have no partnership with the other networks yet. Thus, please read through their T&C and FAQ before signing-up any of the above networks.

Do you have any other Paid-To-Blog networks to recommend? If yes, do share them with us in the comment section.

Cheers!

Soak the red dot in vinegar

Facebook Cheat Sheet (Sizes and Dimensions)

I believed most of you folks would have a few social media accounts, among them, I am pretty sure that facbook will comes up top or second in your social networking activities. For me, facebook is my top social media both for personal sharing as well as my internet marketing venture.

Talk about facebook, I believed the last major revamp is the introduction of the Timeline. I know it has been quite awhile but noticed that there are still a number of users doesn't find it (the timeline) attractive and resort to the older user profile. For me, I find the timeline more graphical and catchy, also, it does provide more control for the user to place the more important message/statuses in a more prominent  section/position of the overall timeline.

However, one challenge that many of us are facing is to find out the appropriate sizes and dimensions of photos/videos for various section of the timeline that can yield a perfect view. Here comes the help, the Facebook Cheat Sheet (sizes and dimensions) from dreamgrow.com, presented in an easy to digest infographic format:

  

Cheers!

  

5th Anniversary for the Mother Of All Smartphone aka iPhone

On 29 June 2007, Apple launched the very first version of iPhone. Since then, the mobile scene has never been the same, iPhone has single handedly changed the world of mobile computing. Throughout these 5 years and the subsequent necessary handset upgrade to 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S and the upcoming 5, iPhone is still deemed as the mother of all smartphone, globally.

The vision of ex-CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, changed the way how millions of people live their life (including myself) for the better. With his recent passing and Tim Cook taking over the helm now, Apple is going through an internal adjustment phase, this has given the competitors some breathing space and chance to hit back. Samsung's Galaxy S3 being the most talked about worthy contender now.

Anyway, what I am trying to highlight is that mobile computing like Smartphones and tablets are here to stay for the following reason:

1. It is Real-Time

2. It allows us to take the advantage  of location-based services

3. It integrates well with social media for greater reach

In my opinion, a few things that can make the mobile computing even more magical are:

1. Faster speed (with the upcoming launch of 4G networks, it will take care of the speed issue)

2. Lower cost of the handset and data services

3. More compatibility across different mobile devices

Thus, if you are involved in any form of internet marketing, do pay equal attention to the mobile marketing as well as it is a totally different ball-game with lucrative potential.

Cheers!   

  

Have You Heard Of The Social Media Day?

Social Media is becoming a very important component of overall marketing strategy in any kind of business (online or offline). In fact, it is so important nowadays that almost every website/blog you visit, there bounds to be few social sharing buttons/icons spread across the site (the main "culprit" will be non-other than Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the more recently Pinterest).

Talking about Social Media, do you know that there is actually a day being coined as "Social Media Day"? It is an annual event launched by the authority Social Media Blog, Mashable since 2010. So, this is the third year and it happen on every 30th June of the year. The original idea of this event is to recognise the digital revolution happening right before our eyes. What it does is to invite you to join fellow social media enthusiasts by hosting or attending a Social Media Day Meetup in your area. 

For more details of Social Media Day Event, check out the links below:

Mashable Social Media Day's Official Page

Social Media Day's Facebook Fan Page

Social Media Day's Twitter Page

Social Media Day's Meetup Everywhere Page

It is a day to learn and share with the social media enthusiasts around your area (physically or virtually). So, mark your calendar and go ahead to check out any Meetup event(s) in the area.

Cheers! 

Facebook VS Google+ [Infographic]

I am sure you folks are aware by now that Social Media is getting more and more critical when comes to internet marketing. It plays a major role in Public Relation, Customer Service, and Traffics/Leads generation. More and more companies and entrepreneurs (big and small) are aggressively making their social presence in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ etc...

Even though Google+ is not very new in the market but it is still the latest heavy weight social media comes into play. Thus, it is common that we will compare it with the existing giants like Facebook or Twitter. I managed to source for an infographic depicting the key comparison between Google+ and Facebook. So, if you are still clueless about the important differences between these two social medis, check it out below:

Cheers!

 

History Of Marketing, Social Media and Mobile Marketing [INFOGRAPHICS]

Marketing has a a very long history, to be exact, it was started way back in 1450 in a form of printed advertising. From then on, it's just natural progression and evolution to find possible ways to reach the masses. Internet made it possible and cost effective to perform the marketing strategies globally and instantly (with lower costs).

Today, I am going to share 3 informative infographics on "The History Of Marketing", "The Email Marketing And Social Media Marketing" and "Mobile Marketing" (last two are the craze at the moment and will be here to stay for many many years to come).

Enjoy...

1. The History of Marketing (this is a very LONG infographic, click on the image for the enlarged version):

2. The Email Marketing And Social Media Marketing:

3. Mobile Marketing (this is a very LONG infographic, click on the image for the enlarged version):

Cheers!

The Only Two Broad Ways Of Earning Money Online!

In the internet/Online Marketing arena, there are many ways to earn money online, in fact new methods/ways are springing up every now and then. However, if we examine it in detail, you will notice that effectively there are only 2 broad ways for earning money online.

In short, regardless of what you do in your online venture, it will fall in either or both of these ways. Don’t believe me? Read on and let me explain why…

First, let me start with the brief explanation of the two broad ways that I am referring to:

1. Earn Money from the advertisers/network providers (advertising, affiliate marketing and MLM marketing effort etc fall under this category). I know what you might be thinking, ultimately the money is still coming from the consumers right? The answer is "Yes" and "No" as there are networks (for example: TradePub) whereby it provides absolutely free content to the consumers and at the same time allow you  (as a publisher) to earn some commission out of it. 
2. Earn Money from the visitors/consumers (selling your own products, services and times fall under this category). In this way, you are getting paid directly from your visitors/consumers.

So, whether you are a professional blogger who earn online money through your blog via advertising/affiliate marketing placements or an e-entrepreneur who sell your own products/services, you venture will fall into either one of these ways. Of course, it doesn’t prevent you from getting into both the ways i.e. earning from both the advertisers/network providers and the visitors/consumers.

As most pioneer internet marketer will tell you, as internet marketers, we are here to solve problem(s). It is true but the BIG question is whose problem are we resolving? Thus, depending on which target audience (advertisers/network providers vs visitors/consumers) you are serving, you need to channel your more effort/time towards their needs. In short:

1. If you are earning money from the advertisers/network providers, you need to solve the issue of the advertisers/network providers, which is usually the sales/leads/registration etc…
2. If you are earning money from the visitors/consumers, it means that you are possessing something that the visitors/consumers don’t have/lack. For example: the knowledge, skills, time etc. Thus, you need to ensure that your product/service matches their requirements/expectation.

Do you agree with me on my viewpoint? Feel free to comment if you have any differing view.

Cheers!

P/S: Ticketamerica.com has MLB Tickets and MLB maps for the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies as well as the Detroit Tigers storied franchise. For more details, check out the links here:
cleveland indians tickets
colorado rockies tickets
detroit tigers tickets

SPECIAL: Easy Self Publishing Book Templates

If you are into internet marketing arena long enough, you will agree with me that one of the highest level of internet marketing hierarchy is to generate your very own online product and one of the online product that most internet marketers aiming at the info-product. It could be a physical book, ebook, technical guide (for professionals or hobbyist) etc.

Such publication can be used as marketing tool as well (if your ultimate goal is to sell some other physical products or services). Of course, writing a book for publishing is not an easy task but if that's your goal, I am sure you would want to spend more time in the actual writing instead of being bogged down with the formatting, the design and layout of the book. Recently, I've chanced upon a  book templates provider called Bookloops Premium Book Templates which will take away all the nitty gritty and let you focus on the actual writing itself.

At a low price of $34.95, it provides you with a wide collection of ready-to-use master templates for professional publication (every section within the template are customisable). Also, all the templates can be used for eBook or physical book publication. The master templates are in MS Word format but it can be seamlessly converted into other file types like PDF, ePUB, MOBI, Kindle, iBook and more.

Not only that, this site provides tons of valuable publishing information (like ebook security, ebook marketing etc...) which will be beneficial to you self-publishing venture.

If professional looking publication is what you are looking for in your next info-product (who doesn't?), do check out Bookloops Premium Book Templates as I am pretty sure that it will come in handy to save you time and money in your venture.

Cheers! 

How A Simple SEO Image Optimization Step Send Me 1 To 2 Thousands Traffics A Day?

Recently, I’ve made a surprise (but pleasant) discovery of how a simple SEO (Search Engine Optimization) step can made such a huge difference in the traffics to my blog. And I am talking about the difference between tens vs thousands.

There is no secret that I am a movie buff and thus I have another blog on 3D Movies. As in any movie websites or blogs, it bounds to share many images (movie posters/stills) and clips. Same thing applies to my blog (ultimate 3D Movies). Initially (Nov 2011), I just upload the media (images, video clips etc…) without any image optimization and the traffics then were just merely about 50 to 60 hits a day.

However, it changed drastically from mid-April 2012 onwards as I’ve put in place a very simple image optimization step with the images and BOOMZ, the traffics gradually gone up to 1-2 thousands hits per day (see screen below). So, what is the magical touch? I believed many of you with SEO background would have already known it. It’s non-other than typing in the relevant and keyword rich “Title Text” and “Alternate Text” (Alt Text) in the images. Yes, this is an additional effort but it sure worth your time and effort.

Of course, if you study the above statistic in greater details, you will notice two things:

1. The traffics drop subsequently and pickup again the next few days (I didn’t drill into this too much as organic search result is very dynamic and it could simply due to the reason that it’s weekend! ;-))

2. The most popular post is “Marvel’s The Avengers Assemble” which is the HOTTEST movie at the moment.

From the Google Analytic tool, I also noticed that most of the new traffics were from the Organic search result via Google Images Search (to be exact, it constitutes more than 60% of the new traffics). With this finding, I deduced that there are more and more people searching the images directly from Google Images Search. Thus, if your niche provides load of images, do make sure to apply this SEO step without fail.

In summary, following are the Image Optimization steps that I’ve applied in every image that I’ve uploaded into my blog:

1. Write the “Title Text”
 

2. Write the “Alt Text”
 

3. The description (in “Title Text” and “Alt Text”) should be relevant to your image or blog post
 

4. To include the right amount of keyword(s) in the “Title Text” and “Alt Text”

One more thing to highlight is that you might not be able to see an immediate effect to your traffics if the blog post (and its relevant images) is not a popular search topic(s) at the moment. Thus, prior to this, it would be worthwhile to search for the hottest topic(s) in your niche and write something about it. Just think about what is the “The Avengers” equivalent in your niche?.

Bonus Tip: 

If you are using Blogger, you can incorporate the “Title Text” and “Alt Text” by following the simple steps below:

1. When you click on the uploaded image, the following options appear, click on “Properties”:


2. In the pop-up box, input the relevant “Title Text” and “ALT Text” and click “OK”:

 

3. That’s it! Just follow the same steps for every image.

I know this is nothing new and most probably you’ve already applied it to your website/blog but just like to share my joy of discovering its true “value” (in traffics sense). Do you have any great tips on simple on-site SEO to share? Feel free to share them in the comment section.

Cheers!

Recommended CPM (Cost Per Mille) Network for smaller size blog/website

Updated on 5th Aug 2012: ALERT ! CPM.biz is a scam site!  Through my experience, your withdrawal through Paypal will never be materialised, so please avoid this site at all cost 


(I purposely retain this post to ensure that any new comer is aware of this scam site)

If you are just commence your online venture (either via blog or website) and are looking for ways to monetize it, one of the obvious option is through placement of the CPM (Cost Per Mille) advertisements. If you are totally clueless about CPM, following is the definition from Wikipedia:

“CPM is also called cost per thousand (CPT) (in Latin mille means thousand), is a commonly used measurement in advertising and online advertising can be purchased on the basis of showing the ad to one thousand viewers. CPM reflects the cost per 1000 estimated views of the ad.”
For example, as a publisher, if the CPM network offers a rate of $1.50 CPM, it means that you will earn $1.50 per 1,000 views.
Usually, the CPM rate varies from country to country (typically the rates for traffics from US, UK or Europe are higher).
There are many established CPM networks like Tribal Fusion, Casale Media, Value Click Media etc…in the market. However, the bad news is that most of these established networks have stringent requirements on traffics volumn. In short, usually your existing blog/website must have already with ten of thousands (or even millions) Pageviews Per Month before you are eligible to join the network.

Fret not! Today, I am going to share an established smaller CPM network caters for smaller size blog/website. With this network, you can take advantage of the CPM advertising channel without having to worry about your traffics volumn (in short, traffic volumn is not one of the pre-requisite to join the network).

CPM Network Name: CPM.Biz (what a great domain name!)

Some of the great benefits of this network:
1. Quick and automatic online registration allows you to self-register into the network within minute and start to place the ads into your blog/website immediately.
2. Very low minimum payment threshold: $5 for Paypal (and the payment is processed on daily basis i.e. most of the time if you requested the payment via paypal today, you would receive your money the next working day)
3. Offer both CPM and CPC (Cost Per Click) ads format in various sizes (300x250, 728x90 and 160x600). So, you can pick and choose the suitable ad size for your blog/website.
4. Almost real-time online reporting that refreshes every 10 minutes or so.

Do check CPM.biz out as it could be a great alternative for your online passive income stream (on top of whatever monetization channels you are using now).

If you have other similar CPM network(s) to recommend or have any prior experience with CPM.biz, do share your view here. 

Cheers.

P/S: Being a movie buff, I like to share resources about movies (especially 3D movies) as well. Recently, I've spent a few days to compile a list of upcoming 3D movies to be released from May to July in a colourful and catchy presentation. Thus, if you are into 3D movies, feel free to download the following “2012 Upcoming 3D Movies guide”, which is hot from oven. (click on the image or hyperlink to download the FREE guide in PDF format):

2012 Upcoming 3D Movies (May to Jul)

Also, do remember to provide your feedback after reading!

Six Most Relevant Infographics On Social Media for 2012 and Beyond

The invasion of Social Media into our daily lives have been on the steep upwards trend ever since the appearance of Facebook. What make it even more invasive now is because of the subsequent introduction of other popular sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google+ and Pinterest (which is the latest craze in the social media space), so, it is just impossible to miss any of such social media mentioning in any of the website/blog that you are visiting.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against any of these social media sites, In fact, I am promoting the use of social media in your online venture as they are the great channel to attract targeted traffics (if you approach it correctly i.e. not spamming). What I am trying to highlight it that Social Media is here to stay and it is something that every internet marketer should pay attention to (if they have not done so)!

I am not an expert in Social Media but it is a keen topic of mine for my online venture. Today, I am going to share the mother of all infographics collection on Social Media. I am pretty sure that all the social medias that worth mentioning are mentioned here. So, check it out on how they each fair through these awesome infographics (click on the images to enlarge) .

1. Infographic On Facebook:

2. Infographic On Twitter:

3. Infographic On Youtube:

4. Infographic On LinkedIn:

5. Infographic On Pinterest:

6. Infographic On Instagram (acquired by Facebook in Apr 2012 for $1 Billion):

What do you think of these infographics? Share your view here.

Cheers!

SPECIAL : Bold Declaration Of Services

Accident do happen! That's where the Accident Insurance (be it Personal Accident or Motor Accident Cover) comes into picture to close the financial gap due to an accident. 

Recently, I chanced upon an interesting website from an Accident Law Firm in Honolulu, Hawaii: Oahu Personal Injury Law Firm. I was not attracted to it because of its web design or the photos/videos placement but rather a bold statement of the commitment of their service that said : NO FEE UNTIL WE RECOVER FOR YOU.


I must say that it is a very bold and confident commitment to all the potential clients out there. From the customer's point of view, there is nothing to lose but everything to gain, so why not? Come and think of it, it is actually a very clever commitment and make business sense!

Note: The company specialized in all types of personal injury lawsuits, such as: car accidents, truck accidents, moped accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian injuries, and insurance claims. There are two offices in Oahu. One office is in Ewa Beach and the other office is in Honolulu. They offer free consultations and do not charge attorney fees unless we win your case.

Cheers! 

Infographics Way To Help You Choose The Blogging Platform

Are you new to the blogophere or planning to kick off your blogging venture? If yes, whether you are planning to blog as a hobby or aiming to become a professional blogger and use it as a platform for passive income stream, one of the first few things that should come to your mind is: Which blogging platform to use?

There is not hard and fast rule in selecting the best blogging platform that suit your needs. Of course, if you asked around, the most popular ones will be: Wordpress, Blogger, Typad, Tumblr etc...Each of these platforms has its pros and cons and most of the more popular platforms like Wordpress and Blogger have the Hosted version, which is FREE. However, most professional bloggers will recommend you to go for self-hosted version as it looks more professional and more customizable (which is true). Of course, self-hosted version comes with a price i.e. you need to purchase the Domain Name (annual cost), Hosting services (annual or monthly cost) and customized template (if deemed necessary). It is a small investment though.

As you might already noticed, this blog is in FREE hosted version (Blogger) and so far I am still satisfied with the result. Thus, it is really up to the individual but if you are newbie to blogging (and not sure whether blogging is something you like to do in the long run), my recommendation is to start with the FREE hosted version first (be it in Wordpress or Blogger).

I've collated 3 infographics on Blogging platforms which hopefully will help you in finding your suitable blogging platform. Enjoy!

1. Comparison among the popular blogging platforms:

2. Survey from 3,000 bloggers for the chosen blogging platform:

3. Wordpress being the most popular platform, this infographic helps you with the pros and cons of the FREE version (Wordpress.com) vs the Self-Hosted version (Wordpress.org):

 

Cheers!