No matter if your brand is on Twitter or not, people will always talk about your business on Twitter, good or bad.

The worst part that could happen to you if you’re not on Twitter is getting fake parody accounts that users create for your business to poke fun at you, so the choice is yours, but we tend to think having a presence on Twitter, and doing at least a small amount of monitoring of your company is the way to go.

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Google has released Page Speed Online, a Google Labs project that analyzes any website for its speed and gives suggestions on how to improve it.

The experimental tool is straightforward to use; just type in a website and Google will come back with suggestions for how to improve that website’s speed. The suggestions are ranked as either High, Medium or Low. In addition, Google displays which rules of thumb a website is already following. Each website also gets an over score out of 100.

Continue Reading: New Google Tool Tells You How to Make Your Site Faster

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With the old tab system you were quite limited in how many characters you could use so tab names needed to be very short, which made it hard to be descriptive in some cases. I’m not sure what the new character limit is but it’s over 50 characters and your titles can take at least two lines. This won’t matter to you in cases where short titles, like “About Us” or “Contact Us” will work just fine, but it does come in handy when something like “Free Videos – Learn How to Get the Most Out of Your Blog” works way better than “Free Videos”.

Another thing you might want to consider is using your banner to point out the tab links. Hugh uses a bright red arrow and a bit of text to direct the viewers attention to the navigation links.

Original Post: How to Make Facebook Sidebar Tab Page Links Stand Out and Get More Clicks

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In my opinion there are two that are absolutely a must: Twitter and Facebook. All the others are optional. Depending on the type of business you have some niche social sites might be compulsory too. For instance, if you are a photographer you should try to secure your name/brand on Flickr too.

That being said, if you have time available it could be a good idea to secure your name on as many social sites as possible. This will solidify your brand and enable you to interact with your audience/customers on many different platforms.
There is a web tool that helps with this task. It is called namechk.com.

You just need to put the desired name on the search box and the tool will check whether it’s available on not on around 150 social media sites. You can also use it as a list of the sites where you can go and create a profile, as some of them will also let you place a backlink to your website.

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An event takes a short time to occur, 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 week, 1 month or even 1 year. A process takes a longer time frame, 5 years, 20 years, 50 years or even a lifetime. An event is for the short haul, a process is for the long haul.

A beautiful story in “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” a book by Robert Kiyosaki, will help explain this further.

There was a village that had a water problem. They villagers called a meeting to solve their problem and decided to give 2 contractors the contract of supplying water to the village. The first contractor quickly ran out and bought 2 buckets and started hauling and supplying water from the stream to the villagers. The second contractor was no where to be found. The first contractor started making some money almost immediately. The villagers had complains about dirt in the water so he bought a filter. He later employed his sons to help in the work. All this while, the second contractor was nowhere.

The first contractor toiled and worked very hard till one day the second contractor appeared. All he had on him was a paper. The paper was a document that carried an agreement signed by his company, some investors and a construction firm. While he was away, he founded a company, employed a president, got investors and contracted a construction company to build a standard water supply system for the village. The water system would supply cleaner water at a cheaper rate, all year round to the people in the village. He didn’t have to carry any bucket like the first contractor. The only money he made was a few cent for every bucket fetched.

To cut the story short, the first contractor ran out of business while the second contractor travelled the world, enjoying the success he got from following a proven process.

What Does This Have To Do With Blogging? Well, a lot.

Firstly, success in blogging or in anything at all, is a process. It takes time. A lot of bloggers are like the first contractor, the wake up, set up a blog, slap Adsense ads on it and start making cents. Well, there is nothing wrong with that, only that they neglect the things to be done in making their blogs successful in the long haul. They forget the necessary and important processes that will lead to blogging success.

The second contractor went through the pain of writing a business plan, building a company, hiring people and getting investors to support the water project. He took his time to build his success. He followed a process. A time wasting process maybe, but it was worth it at the end.

So What Are The Processes That Lead To Blogging Success?

There are so many processes and things you must learn and do to succeed as a blogger. Frankly, I believe you know or have heard about the different things already. What you may have not been told or remember is that all these things are processes not events. They take time to learn, to perfect and to succeed in.

Here are a few that you know already.

1. Content production and writing
2. Search engine optimization
3. Traffic generation
4. Product development and launch
5. Guest posting
6. Online networking
7. Social media marketing
8. Linkbuilding
And many more.

All of these things take time to do and perfect. They are more of processes than events.

Writing a single blog post could be seen as an event, but writing 100 great posts on your blog that will get people coming back to your blog is surely a process. It doesn’t happen in one day. You don’t wake up one day and become a top blogger; even Darren Rowse followed and still follows a process. You don’t just start a new blog and make $10 000 in 2 days. Making money with blogs is also a process.

The bottom line is, there are so many things to learn and do to become a successful blogger but these things are all processes and will take time.

So, be like the second contractor. Invest your time, continue in the process and build on every step made in every process.

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Consider the following statistics:

• 57 million Americans read blogs
• 12 million American adults maintain their own blog
• Over 120,000 new blogs are created daily
• 89% of companies feel blogs will be more important than ever within the next 5 years
• 22 of the 100 most popular sites in the world are blogs

Regardless of the motivation to create a blog, it is clear that blogs are on the verge of taking over the web as we know it. Unlike static websites, good blogs constantly updated provide valuable information to their audiences on a regular basis. Blogs have the ability to elicit conversations between post author and reader, creating lasting relationships along the way. For this reason, many well-known corporations like Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and GM now have blogs. They understand the value of relating to their audience on a more personal level-your visitors will become your readers, your readers will become your leads, and those leads will turn into sales for your company. This holds especially true for pool industry professionals. Through a blog, you can become a trusted and respected source of information on swimming pools in your area. By providing valuable insight into the business of pools, your readers will come to see you as knowledgeable and experienced which will then cause them to choose you over your competition when it comes time for them to build or service a pool. You will also gain notoriety with your colleagues which can turn into a source of income through referrals. This makes blogging a powerful tool in building your personal brand and swimming pool business.

You don’t just want to appeal to people-you want to appeal to the search engines as well. Here are some interesting facts concerning the usage of search engines like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN in the U.S.:

• 75% of Americans use search engines on a regular basis
• 56% of Americans use search engines daily
• 40% of searches are for local businesses and services
• 54% of Americans use the internet instead of the phone book to find local services

Do you want to be found when people in your area are looking for pool construction or service? Any sane business person would want to get a piece of the internet action. Good placement in the search engines is how you are going to obtain traffic to your site. Blogs are very attractive to the search engines because of the constant addition of content that occurs on a blog. Every time you add new information to your blog, the search engines are alerted that you have added something new and they come and visit your site. The more content you add, the more your site gets visited and if you are creating quality content, you will see your blog move to the top of the search engines faster than a website ever possibly could. Adding new content to your blog consistently takes dedication and time but attaining high placement in the search engines will unlock earning potential beyond your imagination.

If you want to create an online presence that will create visibility and leads for your business, a blog is the way to go. Websites are becoming a thing of the past so don’t wait another day to start a blog for your pool business.

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A new service called NutshellMail aims to be the Mr. Clean of your email inbox! With it, you can add all your social accounts, even other Webmail providers such as Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. And instead of getting hit with a barrage of notifications you get one sleek email that gives you a daily rundown of social happenings from all your accounts!

I’ve been using NutshellMail for a couple of weeks now, and I find it to be a very useful way to consolidate all my email notifications. Which honestly reduces the distractions, stress, and organizational efforts I once dealt with.

So, exactly how does NutshellMail work?

Well, according to one of the founders, Mark Schmulen, it’s so easy to use…his grandma signed herself up and customized her account in 3 minutes! So to get started, visit NutshellMail to sign up for free. You will be prompted to add the accounts you maintain on the Web. In fact, there is really no limit to the number of accounts you can add.

When it comes to adding your Facebook account, you have several options to customize. You can set it up to receive general notifications for new friends, birthdays and events. But you can also add Fan Pages you wish to monitor more closely. You even focus on particular friends by creating a list of targets or influencers inside Facebook, and then add that list within the Nutshell Facebook account settings.

As for Twitter, you can modify the Nutshell settings to receive new followers, most recent DM’s, and the most recent tweets from your Twitter Lists. And what I think is pretty cool is the fact that I can accept new friends, reply and even retweet right from my email inbox. So basically, I have all the functionality of Twitter.com from my ONE daily NutshellMail!

Once you have added all your social profiles and email accounts, you can choose how often you want to get notified (days & times during the week). I’m a daily kind of gal…and I’ve also selected an AM and PM delivery! But 2 daily email notifications are far better than…well, I don’t want to tell you how many I was getting before…but it was more than 100!

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There is some validity however, to the shear amount of effort required in implementing social media marketing strategies….or ANY effective marketing strategies for that matter. And that’s why I’m not surprised when pool business owners ask me if I can do “the social media” for them. But if you know me, then you know I’m not an automator…I’m an educator. Which means I prefer you learn about the new strategies available to you, best practices for using them, and how to measure their effectiveness.

So whether you or your marketing assistant is sending an email drip campaign, blogging or engaging in social media channels…KNOW the plan, the process, AND your role in it! By being a participant who’s just as knowledgeable about your own business as you are about your market area it’s much easier to become a trusted advisor. But obviously it’s not just about being a trusted advisor…it’s about closing deals too. So no matter the strategy or the channel…you need to create an opportunity to convert.

Now the reason I’m so passionate about social media as a pool service company marketing strategy is because it gives owners who are willing to be a participant….a huge conversion opportunity. When you take an active role with blogging or Facebook comments and posts, you can directly connect with current and past clients, as well as potential leads.

For example, let’s say you’re passionate about the schools in your local market area. So you decide to get involved with a local “Back to School” cause. You post information about the cause on your Facebook Page telling locals about the supplies needed, where to donate, associated fundraising events, interviews and pictures of local teachers setting up for the school year, etc. If you’re a part of the plan and the process…as well as actively engage on the Page, then you’re creating an opportunity to convert. Especially, when you run into thankful teachers, parents and locals who you’ve been engaging with online. Taking an active roll in your online engagement means it’s easier to take an active roll in your offline engagement.

When you haven’t got a clue what social media strategies are being deployed on your behalf, you’re missing out! Sure you might be getting more online exposure for your brand and company….but the opportunity to convert is greatly lessened. That’s because when potential client Susie Q sees you at Starbucks and thanks you for helping her neighborhood school you won’t have any idea what she’s talking about. But had you taken an active engagement role online you would be easily able to strike up a relevant and thoughtful conversation…a conversation that could possibly lead to new business tomorrow or someday in the future. And that’s your ROI when it comes to social media.

But if you’re still of the “have it done” mindset, there are plenty of “blog for you, tweet for you, post for you” services popping up. These companies are happy to take your money and create your Web presence for you, as well as automate, duplicate, replicate, and syndicate “relevant” content on your behalf. So if you’re looking for the shortcut to success with social media, there you go! And to be honest, you may very well get the exposure you want….but I highly doubt you’ll get the conversion opportunities you need to take your business to the next level. But who knows, I could be wrong.

I WILL say that there is a happy medium. The relevant content that you drip out through the various channels you participate in can be created by others (but should be supplemented by your own) and can also be scheduled. Tools like HootSuite and Tweetdeck let you schedule and post to a variety of networks. In fact, I created a Tweet Plan for using Hootsuite for both general business and for pool services.

Probably the biggest social media roadblock for pool service company owners is identifying content that can be shared, retweeted, commented on, blogged about, curated, etc. So I am all for making the organization of content much easier with a homepage or dashboard of content. Alltop, Regator, My6Sense, and Google all offer great options in the organization department.

So clearly there IS a benefit to “systematizing” your content flow to maximize online exposure…BUT remember that if you go the route of scheduling resourceful tweets and/or posts, that you still need to be listening, responding…and initiating social interactions! More importantly, you still need to be you and bring your passion to whatever marketing strategy you plan for!

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