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Post by Eric Brantner

The key to becoming truly great at online marketing is to constantly push yourself by getting out of your rut and trying new techniques. Many of us have gotten so caught up in following the same old formula over and over again that we never evolve. Sure, we get consistent results with our websites by playing it safe, but truly great results come when you push yourself out of your comfort zone, forcing yourself to stop relying on the typical SEO/ internet marketing crutches.

What follows is a list of 7 challenges that can ultimately help you sharpen your SEO skills.

1. Promote a friend’s website without changing its structure- If you provide SEO services to outside clients, you understand why this challenge is important. There are those clients who are stubborn and who don’t want you to mess with their site too much. They restrict you from fully doing your job, but they want the same great results you normally produce. This will challenge you to find unique ways to make their site visible in the search engines without altering significantly.

2. Generate 15 links to your lowest performing content- Let’s face it, we don’t always hit home runs with our content. In fact, sometimes our articles just plain stink. But what if you have a client who needs inbound links and doesn’t want you to write new content for them? You need to find creative ways to generate quality links to even your worse content. This doesn’t include spamming in forums or blog comments either.

3. Overhaul your website- Again; this pulls you out of your comfort zone. It can be easy to fall into a rut of designing every page with the same general look. Comfort stifles innovation. For this reason, I challenge you to completely overhaul your website. Include an element in it that you don’t usually use (video, graphics, interactive elements.) The more you push yourself, the better you’ll become.

4. Follow 5 new blogs and guest post on them within a month- Guest posting on other blogs is beneficial for several reasons. It builds new connections; generates inbound links; improves your site’s visibility; and it establishes you as an authority. The goal of this challenge is to help you find a completely new audience and to build great relationships in a short amount of time.

5. Follow 5 new blogs without promoting yourself- The reason for this is simple it’s not always about you. You don’t have to constantly be promoting yourself. Become an active member on 5 new blogs without ever promoting yourself. You’ll find that you can learn new things from others, and that it feels good to not have to be constantly marketing your site.

6. Write an SEO e-book your mom would understand. Quiz her at the end- I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard SEOs say My parents don’t even understand what I do for a living. If you can’t even explain to your own mother what you do, how can you clearly express the value of SEO Company to a prospect? Write a brief e-book over the basics of SEO, and quiz your mom at the end to see how well she understands it.

7. Get a press release published in a reputable newspaper or trade journal once a month- Online press releases have completely changed the entire press release process. With self-publishing, you no longer have to fight with editors to get your press release in their newspaper or journal. As a result, the internet is flooded with boring, poorly-written, keyword-stuffed press releases. Try to bring back the art of press release writing by getting one published in a reputable newspaper or trade journal once a month. This will make you focus on writing quality pieces that truly engage others.

There are several more things you can do to become a better internet marketer. How do you challenge yourself on a daily basis? Share your challenges with us in the replies you just might help someone become a better Internet marketer!

Post by Eric Brantner
As social media has become increasingly popular, trends have developed in the people using them. Social media users fall into one or more of these descriptions. Which type of social media user are you?

1. Sir Spam-a-Lot- Everyone is familiar with this social media user. This is the guy who submits spam, spams the comment section, tries to befriend you so he can spam you, and keeps on spamming until he finally gets banned. He’s a pain in the @$$ and nobody likes him.

2. Clueless Self-Promoter- At first glance, this social media user is the same as Sir Spam-a-Lot, but he’s a bit different. The clueless self-promoter is, well, clueless. It’s not so much that he’s trying to be a spammer; it’s just that he really doesn’t know any better. He read an article about social media marketing and assumed he could endlessly promote himself on here. He’s also a pain in the behind, but he usually disappears after his efforts produce no results.

3. Mr. Rain on Your Parade- This guy has severe mommy issues. He obviously wasn’t hugged enough as a child. So, he acts out by bringing his elitist attitude to every post he can find. Nothing is good enough for him. Every article he reads sucks, and he’s going to let you know it. He peppers in a few complex words to appear intelligent, but the truth is he’s a college dropout living in a cramped room at his parents house.

4. The Know it All- This guy is annoying enough in real life, but he’s ten times worse online. Whether the topic is movies, music, politics, or sports, it doesn’t matter he knows everything. He’s a cousin to Mr. Rain on Your Parade because he also hates everything. His opinions are usually complete garbage, but he says it with such a condescending tone that you want to cyber slap him into oblivion.

5. Crazy Political Extremist- He’ really active right now because it’s election season, but he’s always around waxing political. Unfortunately, the Political Extremist is slightly off his rocker. He only submits stories about conspiracy theories, and he swears he has the inside track on all the inner workings of the government. He’s hurriedly preparing himself for 2012 when he claims we’ll switch to a 4 President system.

6. The Guy with No Spine- This social media user is nice enough, but he’s really pretty useless. He’s nowhere near a top user, and he’s not completely clueless. He’s just hanging around posting comments that offer no insight into the topic at hand. He seems to think every submit is pretty cool, but that’s about all you’ll get out of him.

7. Casual Observer- This is someone who isn’t looking for any trouble. He’s kind of like the Guy with No Spine, but he doesn’t post as often. Instead, this social media user is content to watch the action from the sidelines. He’s having a good enough time watching all the other users interact, but he has no urge to jump in.

8. Average User- The Average User is a fairly active user who understands how everything works but usually doesn’t put in the time to become an elite user. This social media user won’t spam you, and they’ll lend a helping hand whenever they can.

9. Good Samaritan- For every 10 Mr. Rain on Your Parades, there is at least 1 Good Samaritan. These strangers go out of their way to provide you with useful supplemental resources, and they tell you not to listen to the haters.

10. Sheltered Person – The sheltered person is someone who’s heard about sites like Digg, but they never got around to visiting them. Now that they’re here, they can’t believe the things people are saying. The comments they read are a sharp contrast to the dialogue they hear on Leave it to Beaver. At first, they try to ask everyone why they have to be so offensive. After a few weeks, they realize the battle is too big to fight alone, and they leave the site for good.

11. Wide Eyed Enthusiast- This is a pretty good social media user. They’re just now getting into it, and they want to take the time to learn it properly. They won’t be spamming you, and you don’t have to worry about them hating on your content (although they could turn into a hater after a few years.)They’ll usually submit useful content, and they’re down to help out their friends.

12. Second-Tier User – The Second-Tier User probably started out as Wide Eyed Enthusiast. Now that he’s learned his way around the networks, he’s quickly rising in popularity. He even has connections with the top users on the site, but he’s not quite on their level. A good percentage of his submits go hot, and he’s usually willing to help a friend get his content promoted.

13. The Bragger- This guy is usually a combination of several of the previous users, but where he really separates himself is with his success on his submits. He likes to talk about how often his submits go hot. He’s usually not willing to help out others; instead, he sits back talking mess about how great he is and how much you suck. Eventually, it comes out that he’s gaming the system, and he ends up getting banned.

14. The Elite- This is who The Bragger really wishes he was. Few make it to this level, but when they do, the social media world is in the palm of their hands. If you notice, you always see the same users hitting the front page of a given social media site. They’ve taken the time to figure out how the network works, and they’re successful because of it.

So, which category do you fall into?

If you’re still waiting to see if social media marketing is worth your time, I have one question for you, what are you waiting for? Forget about all of the talk predicting social media marketing is going to play a big role in the future; it already is.

Forward-thinking web development companies are using social media to gain invaluable connections with their audience and to increase their online visibility. And they’re reaping the benefits of their marketing efforts.

Authority, inbound links, visibility, and trust are just a few of the things active online brands are earning through this form of marketing. So, are you ready to jump aboard the social media train? Here are 10 steps to creating a successful social media marketing strategy.

1. Do Your Research- Every successful marketing strategy is based on good research. You can’t just blindly go to a social media site to submit your content and expect immediate success. You need to find social media sites that fit your niche. For example, if you’re trying to promote your medical business, you should find sites where health related articles tend to be popular.

2. Interact with the Community- The biggest rookie mistake in social media marketing is to completely ignore the community. It’s called social media for a reason. Take advantage of the social platform by interacting with the community. The closer you become with community members, the more likely it is that they’ll help promote your content.

3. Write for Your Audience- This is Writing 101, but many people tend to ignore it. If you want your content to go hot, it has to be tailored toward the audience on the social media site. When you’re interacting with the community, get to know their likes and dislikes. Also, take note of what type of stories tend to get the most attention. You’ll see patterns develop in the types of themes and content that consistently go hot.

4. Be Relevant- Relevance is the key to social media marketing. Don’t believe me? Just go to the front page of Digg or any other social site. The vast majority of the top content is related to late-breaking news. Be the first to break a story in your industry; or, give your unique insight on a hot news item.

5. Keep it Short- Internet users don’t like reading long passages of text. They tend to scan online content rather than taking the time to fully read it. For this reason, you need to accommodate their reading habits by keeping your content short and easy to scan. Brief paragraphs and bold, descriptive headings are great ways to make your content more scanner-friendly.

6. Focus on Design- When users come to your page to read your content, are they greeted with a clean, welcoming website design? If not, they might just turn around and leave your site. Remember, it’s not just enough to have great content; how you present it is important as well. Use a design scheme that’s easy on the eyes and that assists the reader in scanning the content.

7. Stop Trying to Sell- Another social media marketing rookie mistake is to constantly try to sell your products. Sure, the ultimate goal of marketing is to promote your brand, but you’ll never gain any respect on these networks if you’re constantly pimping out your products. Instead, contribute useful content that the community can learn from.

8. Create Great Headlines- I don’t care if your article is good enough to be the cover story in Time Magazine. If it doesn’t have a great title, it won’t get any attention on these sites. Think about it- thousands of users are submitting content to these sites all day long. What makes someone click on a post to read more? An eye-catching title.

9. Help Out Others- This goes back to #2 and #7. If you want to become a top user on a certain social media site, you have to help others out. Don’t just submit and promote your own content. Find useful articles from different sources that your audience will enjoy. By promoting content that’s not yours, the community will begin to see you as a great resource for relevant information.

10. Convert Hot Content- One mistake many social media marketers make is to not capitalize on hot content. If you’re fortunate enough to have a piece rise to the top, you need to make that attention last. How can you do this? By creating another great post to follow the hot one. That way, when visitors come to your site to read the popular post, they’ll see you have new content. Ride that wave as long as you can!

The bottom line with social media marketing is there are no shortcuts to success. If you put in the time and effort, your brand will experience numerous benefits. Set realistic goals for your marketing campaign, and stick with it to the end.