Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

Today I wish to talk about a topic that was instrumental to me in developing MakeGirlfriends.com, and one that is creating much debate among all age groups. Cyber friendships compared to Traditional friendships. The difference of opinion goes like this, and please understand that I am talking generalities here as there are extremes in every case: the “older” generations hold the belief that the world is becoming far too technical, mobile, cyber centered, and that we are losing critical interpersonal skills in the process; the “younger” generations feel that cyber networking is the normal way to develop relationships, and that the “old folks” just don’t get it. Well, as always, I have my own opinion on this matter, and it falls somewhere in the middle.

The inevitable and onward march of technology has no opinion in the matter, for it is only a tool for us to use as we see fit. Modern technology has given us the ability to communicate, and make “friends” with others on a global basis. Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messaging, Email, and Text Messaging have all made it possible to have “friends” that we never meet, and will in all likelihood never meet, face to face. I’ve seen people on Facebook who have over a thousand friends. I ask myself is that realistic? The easy answer is to say of course not, nobody can possibly have that many friends, but when I ponder it deeper I come up with a plethora of different answers.

Maybe the definition of “friend” needs to be updated. Maybe we can have thousands of friends in this new cyber world. Perhaps face to face interaction is no longer necessary for a friendship to develop. Maybe we are better off communicating with each other via our computers and phones rather than look someone in the eye and actually talk to them.

All of these wonderful leaps in technology have given us the ability to communicate with everyone and by doing so we get a sense of self importance. We update our various “profiles” with the latest, greatest things that are happening in our lives, we let everyone know what music we are listening to, what our mood is, where we are going and where we have been, BUT does anyone really care? Do all of our cyber friends have any real desire to know that we are listening to Katie Perry, that we are feeling melancholy, going hiking this afternoon, and had a bad experience at the grocery store last night? Probably not, but by announcing all these things to our multitude of friends we get the sensation that people out there really care. We give them a thumbs up, post witty things to their wall, punch them back, wink at them, and the list goes on and on. How many of these people care enough about us to be a real friend?

When life becomes tough are they there to watch us cry, listen with a compassionate heart, and give us a sincere hug as our tears flow? Only a real friend can do this, someone that we have a real life relationship with, a person that has intimate knowledge of “us”, and not simply the cyber face that we present to the world. These friends see us in action and are the impartial judges of whether our actions match our words. They are the ones who might know the cyber us, but you better believe that they know the “the real us”, and hold us accountable for both personas.

Perhaps the whole debate can be summed up by saying that we have multiple different friendships. Our cyber communities allow us to reach out, share information, become involved in lively debates, and form friendships that are limited to how we portray ourselves via words: our cyber face. Our face to face friends allow us to use our interpersonal skills to interact with one another on a person and intimate level to build true and lasting relationships. These friends see us for who we really are and they hold us accountable to our impeccable word by watching our actions. Technology provides us with the mechanism to locate those who we share similar interests with, but in order to forge true and lasting friendships there is still no replacement for looking someone in the eye when talking to them, and using our intuition to determine if that person has what it takes to be our “friend”. My hope is that MakeGirlfriends.com provides each of you with another tool that can be used to meet those who you can develop real world friendships with.

“Remember, may the possibilities of today excite us all!”

Whether you have a site that sells products or if you blog, I have said many times that you are selling. Your visitors that you engage with and keep coming back identify and connect with you through your site. They remember things like your content, your layout, and your logo.

When it comes time that you want to take your site brand to the next level, these factors will change. How can you successfully take your site brand to the next level without confusing people?

Well, change is inevitable… which whomever came up with that phrase, I do not know, but it is true. You will have to change in order to grow as a brand. McDonalds has, Pizza Hut, Adidas, IBM, Apple, Chris Brogan’s site, and so on are brands that have had some brand changes for the better throughout the years. Whether it was through advertisements or actual logo tweaks or changes, they have done it.

As a blog owner or business owner, you will have to do this at some point. While I am sure you like to keep hold of some things, it might not always be the best idea, especially when you want to improve your image. You may have an idea of how you want to take your site, and have a web designer try to fulfill those wishes, but find out that you may have taken two steps back instead of two steps forwards with improving your brand.

While you do not want your site to look exactly like other sites, you can certainly learn from what is already out there on what you like or do not like, what works best for some of the leaders in your niche, and from articles like this one, how to improve your site.

Before even doing a design tweak or redesign, remember that as long as the general message you already convey on your site, through your content is consistent and that you keep engaging with your visitors (or even customers/ clients.)

Logo Branding

If you are doing a logo tweak, keep some part consistent in the transition, whether it be the words of your site or company, colors, or if you have a specific image you use, something needs to still tell people “You are you.” It might seem silly, but it is not uncommon for people to become confused and think your site was taken over by another company or person when you change up your logo.

Layout Design Branding

When taking your layout to the next level, you have to really put it in your mind to not be attached to your previous site. Think of it as a good investment for the future. With a better image, you are. It is unfortunate that part of what attracts people to a website brand is the visual aspect. Even in simply designed websites, the visual aspects of it being clean, user-friendly, and legible are attractive. However, if you have a site that needs improvement, you might want to consult with someone on what they think. You might be surprised from whether it be a knowledgeable friend, your web designer, or a branding coach on how much you need to do to get to that next level.

Do not accept mediocrity. If you are being told that something cannot be done, especially for WordPress design, you are being told wrong. There are a lot of things you can do and next to nil that cannot be done. Imagination is the only hindrance, so break free being stubborn about change or being told “no” and embrace what could lead to further success.

Content Branding

As I said before, your content should be consistent with the message you want to convey to visitors, potential customers, or long time customers. You usually do not have to do much except make sure with your design format that you are showing the way to visitors on what you want them to see on your website. If you have an ebook, that needs to be somewhere visible. If you have special blog posts that are must reads, that too needs to be in a prominent place.

Have you done a site re-brand lately? Do you feel you have taken it to the next level? Are you still uncertain if your brand is still needing that extra oomph? For those who brand consulting, what advice do you have in this matter?

Meetup.com has been a great place for people that have common interests to get together. There are groups for hiking, social media, web design, business, and much more. While you always have Facebook, Twitter and other social networks to talk, sometimes a real face really helps. It also is a time to meet new people without having to hide behind the computer screen.

Local meetups can boost your reputation because these are the people closest to where you live and can probably network with you if you have talents and services they might need. Now, let me emphasize that while you can network, you probably should be engaging and getting to know others, rather than making it a point that you are selling your services. There are not many people who enjoy an “in your face” pitch introduction.

They are more than likely going to be relieved when you go onto the next person and forget about you. However, if you are talking with someone and they have questions, perhaps you might have an open door to do business.

Some of the local meetups might have scheduled speakers or schedule panels where there is a focused topic. This is a great way to learn and take away great information for both yourself, your business, and perhaps even your clients.

If your local meetup group (or groups) that you attend have found you quite influential, your reputation will grow and when you cannot make a meetup, members who missed you on a previous session will more than likely seek you out and ask questions.

Have you been to Meetup.com and joined some meetup groups? If so, have you ever attended any meetup sessions? Any advice for newbies wanting to try to network with locals at a meetup group for web design, business, or even social media?

I like Twitter and have found some great uses for it, but let us face it, 140 characters can be limiting. Some of the trends I have been seeing, as well as participating in at Facebook has allowed me to connect with others, even people not originally in my social networking circle.

So, I have kind of split this into two sections: groups and fan pages.

Facebook Groups

This is a newer feature that I see Facebook putting aside from applications and even fan pages. These are not necessarily forums, but they seem to be. Some of the groups I see taking off are for bloggers, social gamers, and social networkers.

While I know there are a lot of groups out there, some great ideas is to harness this like LinkedIn Groups and Yahoo! Groups. Starting conversation

The great thing is that you can connect with others.

The bad things are that the format is a bit messy and needs more of a forum type of look. I do want to note as a word of caution is to edit your settings or you will be emailed everything that goes on in the group rather than just the messages you have replied to.

Fan Pages

This is something both Kim Castleberry (Kim Castleberry on Facebook) does, and I have too (Nile Flores on Facebook.) We use our fan pages and allow people to share their work. This allows me to be able to actively engage with my Facebook fan page followers. Some events Kim holds are #TribesTuesday (sharing a post link from a friend), #WordPressWednesday (ask a WordPress question) and #FanPageFriday (share yours AND a friend’s fan page.) I hold #SharingSundays (share your most recent blog post) and #DiggingThursdays (share your most recent digg submission link and get dugg.)

Now as I listed those events, they are merely things you can play with for your fan page, whether you want to do a retweet day, which is good for your Klout score, or maybe a StumbleUpon day or something else that is fun and engaging.

Now, I am sure if your fan page following counts are not that high, that you might worry that having an event is not even possible, but you know – even if you tried a once a month event, you are making that extra effort to engage your followers and get to know them better.

What ways do you creatively network on Facebook?

With so many people trying to rise above others with branding and social media techniques, it is bound to cause some confusion with the masses. Are people still confused about you even months or maybe even a year after you starting branding yourself as a public figure or business?

If you are having problems, you might want to ask yourself a few questions. Here are a few that you might want to consider asking yourself:

• Do you still get strange questions that have nothing to do with you?
• Are you telling everyone just about everything about you?
• Are you sending mixed signals?
• Perhaps you like to be a bit radical – however, are people not sure what to make of you and might be put off by what you say or do?
• Are you saying one thing, but doing something else, or perhaps not even doing what you said at all?

If you are facing some of the above, you need to stop and reflect on how you want to present yourself. There is a point to being honest and true to yourself, and there is a point where you might be too in the face that people really do not know how to approach.

If your followers expect and love you for being off the top radical, then great. However, if you are trying to reach a wide variety of people, your attitude may not be welcomed by others. While you might not care – you probably should.

Your followers understand you have opinions, values, and a life outside business and the Internet, but you have a responsibility to be consistent and honest. You can still be loud and proud, but maintain an air of civility. Probably sharing that you do drugs might not be the best thing to be shouting online, nor whom you are having relations with – in detail. I am sure there will be a few that may disagree, but really:

This is an attention seeking behavior, not someone seriously looking to brand themselves as a public figure or even a business person.

Engage with people and get a feel of them through conversation. Conversation is a two way street – you speak, they listen, and then they speak, and you listen.

When reflecting, you can always ask close friends or seek a consultant on how to help you come across less confusing to your followers and clients.

What advice do you have for people having troubles branding themselves online without confusing others?

I know some people say the have either paid for having their site or service tweeted, or even participated in getting paid to tweet. Some have had great results, and some do not?

If you use Twitter, have you noticed sponsored tweets from some of your followers? If so, have you thought of them as spam, ignored them, or actually clicked on them?

If you use a sponsored tweet service or use your own service, do you normally have a decent click through ratio, have problems with people complaining, or generally they are accepted by your followered? And if so, are you tweeting any opportunity or are you picky?

For myself, I do participate in sponsored tweeting on occasion. It is not too often as I am not much for spamming. I like to connect and anything that comes across as a paid tweet is always something I am interested in.

Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of abuse of getting paid to tweet. Advertisers cannot benefit from someone who spams, nor tweets to a following that has not interest in their product. That is why quantity is not always the best idea. Your quality in following should reflect your interests. Of course, most people have a lot of interests, but obviously, you or I are not going to tweet about all of them, especially if you have a few guilty pleasures that could turn a lot of followers away.

Tweet responsibly always comes in mind when it comes to sponsored tweet opportunities. Your followers will report you if you are excessively tweeting ads. Or they may stay a follower, but they are more than likely to completely skim over your tweet.

While you are trying to make money, if you are not keeping your followers in mind, you are missing the point. The tweets being seen by thing should have some relevancy, right? That is the purpose of why advertisers want to hire you to tweet. They hope that you engage enough with your followers that they are influenced by what you say and will hopefully take at least an honest minute look at their product.

So, for the next time you either see a #ad or #spon hashtag, or actually take a sponsored tweet opportunity, think about who are you reaching who you should, or are you spamming? Are they paying attention? Are you paying attention?

I meet with a lot of local and area clients, and one thing they love to have over their website is some type of control. They want to be able to maintain or have access to maintain their website. They want to be able to do a lot of things.

They also, once they get the tools they need that give them control, shut themselves off from further progress. Case in point, I worked for a local business that sold Medigap insurance and maintained a network of the small company’s websites. I set them up using WordPress and gave the owner the tools and directions in maintaining.

However, since I also was the webmaster, I was expected to maintain. The problem is that the owner was so focused on the website, he forgot on huge thing: getting the word out there and connecting with potential customers.

My job description did not include social media consulting or to market his websites, but I advised him from the start that just having a website was only part of the battle. Believe me, he was getting a good deal on employing me and paying me per hour for cheap, but I was really surprised that he was not hungry enough to market his site or take the advice I had to heart.

Because of the issues with Health Care reform in the United States, he had to lay off quite a few people and I was one of them. I approached him later and he is now selling any type of insurance he can. It is unfortunate for him because he relied so much on print marketing and just having a website up. Now that is gone – he sold the site to another person.

I want to emphasize that having a website gives you no control. You have to take up the reigns and market your site online and optimize your site through SEO to try to connect with others. It might take rubbing elbows with a lot of people, but that it the biggest struggle any business will have. Having a business online or offline is the same thing when it comes to getting clients.

Be smart and find out how to market your website. If you are a success offline, then use those skills to do the same online.

Are you still having troubles marketing your website? Are you reaching your potential audience? Are you investing the time or even enough money to make sure your site is helping you follow through after reaching your audience?

One of the things I hear a lot from people when they tell me they hate a place they had been a member of online and got their account suspended is that they believe they did not do anything wrong.

The problem is after asking if they violated the site’s Terms of Service, they said no. This is a big thing a lot of people are not getting. While there are a lot of free services out there, they often have rules. Over the past few years alone, Twitter has put a lot of effort in putting their rules together, along with an extensive FAQ to help users understand how to use their site properly.

While to some it might be an “in your face” response, read the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy or anything you plan to use online. You never know if you might violate the rules and a lot of companies that have been around, do not restore accounts based on “Oh, I did not know that.” Ignorance is not an excuse, especially when a lot of places have a checkbox field asking registering users if they agree to the site’s terms.

This also extends to guest blogging, and commenting at blogs. It is important to know before you use a website. In the late 1990s, this was not much of a problem, but that is also because there was not as many people or websites on the Internet.

It might be boring, but it will save you the headache later of being suspended from any website.

Do you read the Terms of Service for most of the sites you sign up for?