'Net Features : social media articles

Facebook Social Plugins on WordPress – LIKE IT

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:19:00 GMT

Web marketers looking to further their businesses’ presence on Facebook are turning in droves to the Social Plugins recently offered up by the social networking powerhouse. The group which I predict will have the most immediate rate of adoption is site owners using WordPress.

So how do you add Facebook Social Plugins to your installation of WordPress? The upcoming issue of Website Magazine (professional version only) will provide some detailed guidance but if you are interested in getting started today, the best way to do that would be to add the Facebook “Like” button – and we’re going to show you how. You’re going to be very surprised at how easy this is.

- On each of the individual social plugin pages you are able to retrieve the code. Visit the Like Button reference document and choose the button style, making sure to enter your weblog’s URL.

Editors Note: For the purpose of showing you exactly how to do this, I’ve asked our Senior Editor Mike Phillips to offer up his music blog Sound Citizen as the test environment.

- FB provides the code in an iframe format an in XBFML format (but you’ll need to be using the JavaScript SDK for the latter.

- When you have successfully grabbed the code, you will need to paste it into your blog’s theme file (single.php) where you want the FB Like button to appear.

Now the fun begins.

- Inside the code a reference to the URL can be seen (show in bold below):

- To display the FB Like button, simply change that URL to WordPress’ dynamic URL code ( <?php urlencode(the_permalink()):?> ) like so:

- Save the single.php theme file and you should then see your new Facebook Like Button on every blog post and page.

When someone visits your site who is logged into Facebook and clicks your FB Like button, it will display their name on your site and that they liked it along with being displayed on their profile.

100 Retweet Targets for Web Professionals

Mike Phillips — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:48:00 GMT

There's no question that Twitter drives website traffic. This is particularly true when one of your updates (blog post, special offer, etc.) is retweeted within the industry. And the effect is two-fold: You not only get a good dose of traffic to your site, but will also likely gain new Twitter followers as a result. This will help with future Twitter marketing and can even land you on other users' lists.

Also, take into account a September, 2009 study by Middleberg Communications and the Society for New Communications Research, that found 70 percent of journalists said they use social networks to assist in reporting - up from 41 percent the previous year. In all, social networks, including Twitter, can be a very powerful way to get your message and your brand in front of people who are seeking news stories and resources to share with their audiences.

With that in mind, Website Magazine conducted a little research to come up with a list of 100 Twitter accounts for Web Professionals to follow, and target as retweet prospects. This list is in no way scientific and it is not all based on the accounts' number of Twitter followers. In some cases, the account's willingness to retweet has been weighed along with total followers. We cannot guarantee that each account is an expert in the industry, or that they will follow you back - some will, but some will not. However, even if they don't follow you, consider an occasional "@" tweet to get their attention - just make sure it's a quality update that is relevant to their interests. The following list is in no particular order. Of course, you will want to start by following @WebsiteMagazine. Good luck.

BLOGGERS

twitter.com/shoemoney
twitter.com/SalesBlogcast
twitter.com/problogger
twitter.com/Scobleizer
twitter.com/copyblogger
twitter.com/TheNextWeb
twitter.com/ryan
twitter.com/socialcitizen
twitter.com/StartupPro
twitter.com/chrisharrington

MARKETING

twitter.com/adage
twitter.com/SocialMedia411
twitter.com/MarketingProfs
twitter.com/danschawbel
twitter.com/HarvardBiz
twitter.com/PublicityGuru
twitter.com/RickM
twitter.com/ducttape
twitter.com/eMarketer
twitter.com/JoeTrippi

SEO

twitter.com/dannysullivan
twitter.com/reelseo
twitter.com/SeanSEO
twitter.com/leahsoleil
twitter.com/briancarter
twitter.com/AussieSEO
twitter.com/SEOTipADay
twitter.com/fadisemaan
twitter.com/the_gman
twitter.com/theDukeOfSEO

INTERNET MARKETING

twitter.com/ShawnRobinson
twitter.com/ezyhelper
twitter.com/atniz
twitter.com/joshlam
twitter.com/AlexGoodall
twitter.com/Bullhunter
twitter.com/tomsebastiani
twitter.com/shawnafennell
twitter.com/Pat_Lorna
twitter.com/giaiphapso

PR

twitter.com/prnewswire
twitter.com/steverubel
twitter.com/Steveology
twitter.com/wearesocial
twitter.com/MagicSauceMedia
twitter.com/PublicityHound
twitter.com/Kathy_Johnson
twitter.com/ereleases
twitter.com/PressAbout
twitter.com/justinkistner

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

twitter.com/leeodden
twitter.com/BrandRepublic
twitter.com/iMediaTweet
twitter.com/larrybrauner
twitter.com/smmguide
twitter.com/ideas4rent
twitter.com/SocialNetDaily
twitter.com/socialmediamind
twitter.com/brandyou
twitter.com/jaybaer

DESIGN

twitter.com/smashingmag
twitter.com/DesignerDepot
twitter.com/inspiredmag
twitter.com/naldzgraphics
twitter.com/DesignNewz
twitter.com/designfollow
twitter.com/Design_Innovate
twitter.com/Reencoded
twitter.com/nishanjoomun
twitter.com/Minervity

AFFILIATE MARKETING

twitter.com/bigmouth_aff
twitter.com/affmeter
twitter.com/affiliatetip
twitter.com/MissyWard
twitter.com/webaffiliates
twitter.com/affiliatesummit
twitter.com/btabke
twitter.com/affiliateapps
twitter.com/affbuzz
twitter.com/robertbarry

TECH

twitter.com/kevinrose
twitter.com/google
twitter.com/LeoLaporte
twitter.com/Veronica
twitter.com/timoreilly
twitter.com/guykawasaki
twitter.com/engadget
twitter.com/mollywood
twitter.com/BBCClick
twitter.com/rww

WEBSITE MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS

Geno Prussakov: twitter.com/eprussakov
Bryan Eisenberg: twitter.com/thegrok
Tim Ash: twitter.com/tim_ash
Heather Lutze: twitter.com/Heatherlutze
Dante Monteverde: twitter.com/SEOcorner
Kim Krause Berg: twitter.com/kim_cre8pc
Ann Smarty: twitter.com/seosmarty
Karon Thackston: twitter.com/karonthackston
Jordan Kasteler: twitter.com/JordanKasteler
Cindy Krum: twitter.com/suzzicks

BONUS: BIG MEDIA

You might not stand much of a chance being retweeted by these, but it's worth a shot due to their sizable audiences.

twitter.com/cnnbrk
twitter.com/nytimesbits
twitter.com/Newsweek
twitter.com/BreakingNews
twitter.com/bbcbreaking
twitter.com/TechCrunch
twitter.com/huffingtonpost
twitter.com/WSJ
twitter.com/wired
twitter.com/nytimesbusiness

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.

Google's Real-Time Search Changes Everything

Mike Phillips — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:59:00 GMT

The real-time Web is here. Google has officially jumped into real-time search, taking full advantage of its recent partnerships and changing the face of search engine optimization. Conduct a search on Google and you might now see a sizable part of the page dedicated to real-time search. This is a scrolling, live update of content from across the Web about your query and one of the most significant public-facing changes Google has made in a long time. It's also one of the biggest changes to SEO (as it applies to Google) in recent history.

The real-time updates - or "Latest results" - take up a significant portion of screen space. After the sponosored listings at the top of the page, then the top organic result comes the real-time updates. In some cases, the box is also very close to the fold. In short, as it stands today, your company's organic listings might have already changed dramatically. While the total number of results does not seem to have changed, you might have dropped below the fold. That means checking your search positions immediately, and getting to work on improving them.

Below is a Google results page for "Obama health care." The first result is the top result, then you will see the real-time results. The bottom result after the real-time box is just above the fold. This is a hot topic, so keep in mind that not all queries will produce real-time results, or results will be ordered differenlty. For example, a search for "zhu zhu" (a popular toy this holiday season) shows real-time results, but at the very bottom of the page. Also impacting the position of real-time results and normal organic listings will be the number of paid search results.

One thing is for certain - Web professionals' stock in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca just went through the roof. Those companies are now partners, waist-deep in the Google mix; and that's where many of the real-time results are coming from. In short, if you're not on some or all of these networks, it's time to get started. And you must go beyond just making a profile. These real-time results will take into account your social graph - the connections you make and your "authority" in the space, as well as the content you provide on these networks. We're talking quality here. Businesses must provide value to their social connections. For example, if you tweet an important piece of information and it gets re-tweeted by your followers, you can bet Google will take notice. Google will be examining accounts' social stock and including those in the updates - on the first page of Google. You will also notice that real-time results are not limited to social networks, but include blogs and other websites. Content creation and optimization (creative copy, keyword-friendliness, etc.) becomes a mission-critical business objective.

It will also be interesting to see if these new partner networks get flooded with "content noise," once publishers realize the opportunity. It's quite possible the personal space users feel they have within networks like Facebook will be come serious spam magnets.

Don't miss Website Magazine's February issue. Included is Dante Monteverde's SEO Corner, focusing on optimization for Google's Social Search and real-time results.

Below is a brief video of Google's latest innovation. It's not hard to see the impact looming for Web professionals.

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.