Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Did you know that social media helps your search engine optimization (SEO)?

If you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube or have a blog, link these sites to your website and you will notice within a week or so, your company name will be higher on the search results on Google, Yahoo and Bing. And the best part is, this all happens organically.

So what’s your best bet in terms of increasing SEO?

• Blogs — For starters, have a blog.  Search engines love blogs.  Blogs are a wonderful tool for marketing and getting your message out there. Since they are technically authentic and raw, they are believable.

• Facebook — There are thousands of social networking sites on the Internet — some created specifically for a particular area of interest and others more general.  Facebook attracts people young and old and has wide spread popularity across the US and internationally.  If you don’t have a Facebook page, open one up.  You’ll notice how high up on the search engine Facebook gets you.

• Twitter — Not only can you get valuable information about trends in any industry but by having a Twitter account, your name will appear higher on the search results.  It also enables you to communicate effectively with your target market.

• LinkedIn — By having a LinkedIn account, your rankings will certainly increase.  Search engines love the site and your company will certainly appear higher if you on this site.  LinkedIn is great to connect with your contact’s connections and there are many different groups that you can get involved with that will help your business grow.

• Youtube — Videos are important for viral marketing.  If a video is clever and interesting, it can be spread to thousands and thousands of people within minutes. It’s also a great way to get other site owners to link to your web site and help your SEO.

• Flickr –In addition to posting your photos on Flickr, there are many different aggregators out there that use the photos for blogs.  For example, Zemanta uses Flickr for photos for blog posts.  This linking will certainly help your SEO.

Social media is a great for lots of things including building up your business, providing you with lots of resources and it naturally take your brand and increases your SEO.

I was taking a couple of former client’s out to brunch and decided to look on line and see where most people recommended going on Long Island.  When I did both a Bing and Google search, I found that the most popular choice for Brunch on Long Island was Rothmann’s Steakhouse in East Norwich.

I easily made a reservation.  Since I  was running late, I called to secure the reservation and the hostess told me “no worries… There aren’t that many people here.”

I walked in, met my party right away and took a quick peruse of the food.  They had lobster, king crab leg, shrimp, fresh sushi, omlets, steak and more. There was an abundance of food.  Everything looked better than the thing before!

However, my major complaint, when we sat down, no one told us what the brunch included.  It was never mentioned that drinks were included along with juice.  I had a cup of coffee, the other two people had water.  They never even mentioned the price, but I knew it would be pricey.

The thing that bothered me most was that they included the tip.  I had to seek out waiters for more coffee and for a refill of water and yet had to pay almost $30 for the tip?  Does that make any sense to you?

At first, I would recommend going to Rothmann’s for brunch but after seeing the check and finding out that it included drinks, I was very upset.

You may say, I should have asked.  But, I think the waiter should have told us what is included with the brunch…. At least he could have refilled our water!

Image by YankeeInCanada via Flickr

People still say to me that they think that Twitter is a waste of time.  And I tell them that I know Twitter is  perfect for business.

Why?

It enables businesses to have conversations with their consumers in real time and allows for quality  “customer service.”

Major corporations use Twitter to learn about the needs and wants of their customers. Active Twitter players include @JetBlue, @DunkinDonuts and @Kodak. And if you want to watch corporations that do it right, follow these three.

It also enables retail stores and small businesses an opportunity for cost effective promotions.  Just take a look at Black Friday.  @BestBuy used social media and specifically Twitter to get the word out about sales and special promotions on that day.

Non-profits use Twitter for awareness of their cause, fund raising and recruitment of members and volunteers.

Many businesses also use Twitter for market research and to see trends.  Individuals use it to share information with others, to communicate and to get their news.

Who learned about Michael Jackson‘s death first?  People who conversed on Twitter!

Remember the plane that crashed in the Hudson River?  It was found out from a tweet from a bystander who saw the accident.  Or what about when Lance Armstrong lost his bicycle?  He tweeted it out and within an hour got his bicycle returned.

Twitter is a powerful tool and when used right, can really help your business grow.

Do you have a twitter story to share? I would love to hear it….

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I don’t know about you, but I remember a time when you had one pair of sneakers for everything.  Whether you ran, played sports or rode a bike, you used the same pair of sneakers.

I don’t remember when things changed. But since I’ve been getting into running and spinning, I was recently told that the sneakers I had been wearing were not appropriate.  So, I decided to buy a pair of running shoes.

And boy, did they make a difference.  Before the “running shoes,” I ran a mile straight without a break before the back of my legs cramped up.  After the “running shoes,” I was able to go much further!

A friend told me that I should also buy spin shoes if I really enjoy spinning.  I really couldn’t see how they would make a difference but I decided to take him up on it and buy a pair of good shoes.

Today, I used the spin shoes and WOW.  They really worked.  It was so much easier to pedal.  I was able to go the distance without my knees cramping and I felt really good.  I guess good shoes for each sport is a necessity…

Love to hear your experiences…

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If you know me, you know that I love shoes.

When I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago at Blogworld, I decided to go shopping and found a Taryn Rose shoe store in Ceasar’s Palace. I was excited.  I had one pair of Taryn Rose shoes in my closet and they were extremely comfortable.

That night in Vegas, I bought two more at full price. (But don’t tell anyone because you know what they say about Vegas…)

One pair was black suede with heals and a cute little puffy pom pom on top with a sparkly jewel in the pom pom.  The other pair was short leather boots.

I was so excited to wear the little black shoes that I wanted to wear them all the time.  After the third time wearing them, though, the little jewel fell out.

I called the store where I purchased the shoes. “One of the jewels in the pom pom fell out of my shoes,” I told the store manager in Las Vegas.

“Well, we no longer have those shoes in stock,” she told me. “We’re actually closing this location.”

“Really?” I asked, ” I was just there a couple of weeks ago.”

She told me to hold on and when she came back on line, she told me that there is a store in Manhattan (it figures, I go to Vegas buy shoes only to find the store is a few blocks away from my Manhattan office!).  She said that they were holding the shoes for me there.

So the next time I was in Manhattan, I returned the shoes and got another pair with no hasle.  That was nice!

The next day I was on line and got a message from Ruelala.com (an online discount shopping site) that Taryn Rose was having a sale.

My heart raced. I clicked on the site and what was the first thing I saw?

The black suede shoes with the pom pom!  And get this, they were 1/4 of the price I paid for them in Vegas!

Of course, I had to order two more to level out the price to bring down the purchase price of four shoes!