Twitter Tips: How And Why To Use Hashtags (#)

I would like to thank CG Lynch with CIO for this posting
Guest Blog By C.G. Lynch
Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

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While you can use Twitter's search tool to find specific people, companies, and their messages ("tweets") on the service, Hashtags allow users to sort topics into useful categories to revisit later.

If you've spent any time on Twitter, you've probably seen a hashtag before. A "#" symbol sets off a hashtag. For instance, if you wrote a tweet about Google, it might look like this:

Here's a look at how to utilize Hashtags to organize information that you contribute and consume on Twitter. As the tweets pile up, the extra time you take to thoughtfully categorize your tweets with a hashtag will help the greater Twitter community (and you individually) make the most of the service.

The story behind Hashtags

Twitter (the company) didn't create hashtags. The Twitter community's early adopters came up with the idea to put a "#" in front of topics to add context to tweets. The tag would also help filter and sort them out for future readers.

According to a Twitter fan website, the hashtags achieved significant notoriety with Twitter users in 2007 during the San Diego fires, when users designated their tweets with "#sandiegofires."

The trend to use hashtags led to the community-driven site hashtags.org, where a semi-official index of Twitter's hashtags now resides. To access the site, Twitter users merely need to opt-in (for free) by following @hashtags on Twitter.

If you're writing a tweet about a topic you think might have a unique hashtag assigned to it, you can visit hashtags.org to find it.

When you arrive at the site, choose "Tags" on the right-side menu. After the menu drops down, choose "directory."

Hashtags are listed alphabetically, but the directory won't be helpful unless you have a lot of time. It's jammed with obscure-looking hashtags (many are acronyms). As a result, you might have better luck searching the site for your hashtag of choice.

Say, for instance, that you want to assign a tag to a new product that Google released. To find the official hashtag, type "Google" into Hashtag.org's search bar. It will return results with a list of Google-related hashtags.

The site also keeps analytics for popular tags, showing recent messages in which people used the tag, the people who tweeted it, and related tags.

How Hashtags Are Born

The Twitter community organically and collectively decides what a hashtag should be as it pertains to a certain topic. Third-party sites, such as tagalus and HashDictionary allow Twitter users to define hashtags. HashtagNation facilitates discussions around how certain hashtags should be defined and formed.

All of these user-generated sites have drawbacks. For one, they often fail to return definitions for common hashtags on Twitter. This could be due to the fact that some are really obvious — if you type #facebook into tagulus, for instance, no results appear, as no one bothered to take the time to note that it would be used for a tweet about the social network.

Secondly, because multiple dictionaries chronicle Twitter hashtags, definitions for the same hashtag can vary.

Use Twitter Search to Find Hashtags

As Twitter hashtags became more popular, Twitter integrated them into its search tool. You can search for a hashtag in two ways.

The first: If you perform an advanced search, under the "Words" section, you can search for a hashtag.

Or, you can simply use Twitter's main search bar (which they recently made available on people's home pages), and put a "#" symbol in front of your hashtag.

Whichever method you decide, Twitter will return back results with tweets where users employed the hashtag. The upside to an advanced search is that you can define dates, so you don't return hashtags since the beginning of Twitter time (unless, of course, that's what you want).

Use Hashtags Judiciously

Hashtags can be overused. Chris Messina, a San Francisco-bases social media consultant (who was credited as first formulating the hashtag idea in his blog), noted some of the drawbacks in a post about how to make the most of hashtags.

"Already it's been made clear to me that the use of hashtags can be annoying, adding more noise than value," Messina wrote. "Some people just don't like how they look. Others feel that they encumber a simple communication system that should do one thing and one thing well."

As a result, he said users should make use of hashtags sparingly and only when they bring additional context to a tweet that would otherwise be absent. For instance, take these examples:

"@google gave a nice presentation. #CIOconference."

That tweet, with the hashtag, would provide better context than:

"@google gave a nice presentation."

In this case, the writer of the tweet informs people that his message is meant within the context of a conference he is attending. The benefit: his followers do not need to read past tweets in his Twitter stream to find out where he is or what he means.

My Two Cents

Twitter's hashtagging system remains a nascent form of organizing the Twitter world. Messina's contention that they should be used sparingly is well-taken. Hashtags have largely been employed by Twitter's first adopters, and their overuse has two unfortunate consequences.

First, hashtags can give Twitter an insular feel that will detract people from staying on the service, as evidenced by Twitter's poor retention rate of new users (60 percent bail not long after joining, according to recent Nielsen research). Second, it's presumptuous (and ironic, considering Twitter power users' championing of social technologies) for these folks to assume they know the best way to organize the service before more average Joe Web-Users have their say.

© 2008 CXO Media Inc.

 

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Twitter Tips: How to Write Better Tweets

Guest Blog by C.G. Lynch, CIO, CXO Media Inc
Original Post on CIO, Guest post on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

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Twitter's growing popularity has yielded one unusual result: It has exposed the frailty of writing skills in the business world. You can fudge bad writing in a 20-slide presentation, but not in a 140-character tweet. From abbreviation-laden tweets with no discernible value, to tweets that fail to compel followers to click through on a link, examples abound. The process of constructing a good Twitter message takes careful thought, time and analysis.

More Twitter Tips on CIO.com

Twitter Etiquette: Five Dos and Don'ts

Twitter Tips: How to Safely Blend the Personal and the Professional

How and Why to Launch a Business Presence on Twitter

Clearly, the 140-character limit adds a degree of difficulty for people who already struggle with writing for less restrictive, more long-form friendly mediums, such as e-mail or blogs.

While we failed to find a panacea for constructing the perfect tweet — since the "perfect tweet" largely depends on your audience, your profession, and how you use Twitter — we compiled some guidelines from industry analysts and people who tweet uncommonly well.

Avoid Abrevs

Every day, we all receive work e-mails that are littered with improper grammar, spelling and all-lowercase letters. Given how many e-mails most of us receive in a day, such messages become, at best, an unwelcome sight, and, at worst, disrespectful of our time.

Twitter is no different. Some people follow thousands of other people on Twitter, populating their streams (home pages) with, in some cases, hundreds of tweets a minute. Obviously, people will skip over sloppy tweets, or trivial tweets, because they simply don't have the time.

"If you sound like a 13-year-old in an instant message conversation, that's not going to make people want to read your [Twitter] messages," says Susan Daffron (@susandaffron), president of Logical Expressions, a company that helps people self-publish books.

As your user-base diversifies to include people from different backgrounds, you should avoid abbreviations unless it's absolutely necessary, says Laura Fitton (@pistachio), who runs Pistachio Consulting, a firm that helps companies utilize Twitter.

"I generally go out of my way to avoid abbreviations," she says. "There are so many abbreviations you really can't always assume people will know what they are."

Twitter power users can be particular offenders with regards to that rule. Despite the fact that Twitter's user base has broadened substantially during the past six months, the majority of its users descend from a technical background. Depending on how your follower list has diversified, people might not know a lot of the Twitter lingo.

"I had people asking me what are these "#" signs," Daffron says, referring to Hashtags, which Twitter users employ to categorize topics, such as #sanfrancisco. "By writing things that are more obscure to new users, you essentially block them out."

Take Your Time

Twitter allows you to publish information instantly. The open field to tweet a message sits in your web-browser or in an app on your desktop. Since it's such a short message, the natural inclination is to post away without much thought. Much like you'd proofread an important e-mail message, you should consider sitting on a Tweet, Fitton says.

"Don't feel shy that, even though they're short, they [tweets] can be a lot work," Fitton says. "If you take your time, you will most likely put more thought into it. Thoughtful tweets are more likely to be appreciated."

Due to the fact a tweet must measure 140 characters, a quick writing job combined with lack of context can create misunderstandings. If you take time to not only construct the tweet, but also analyze your audience to see how it might be received, you can avoid upsetting people, Fitton says.

Tweeting Links: Headlines Matter

On Twitter, people often tweet links to their own published work, or articles that they have found relevant. In fact, so many people tweet links now that it requires a lot of work to get people to click on them. As a result, you must have a headline that sets your Tweet apart for the other stories of the day, says Stowe Boyd (@stoweboyd), a social media analyst who writes the /message blog

"It could be humorous or topical," he says. "But you also must pare down to the absolute minimum."

One key differentiator can be pulling a quote from a piece that might entice people to read it. For instance, if everyone knows the general news of the day on a certain topic, tweeting an article with a general headline on the topic ("Democrats Reach 60 Seats in Senate") might not be as compelling as a new quote from President Obama or a Senator. In other words, assume people already read the nuts-and-bolts news story that first hit the wire, and show them why you read something that has greater depth or value. This approach also shows what about the article stuck out the most for you.

On Pistachio's website, a guest blogger, Marshall Thompson, published a helpful guide, seven steps to writing a successful Twitter headline. In the piece, he includes the following guidelines: keep it short, no puns, use keywords, use hashtags, don't consolidate stories (one tweet per story), link directly to story (not home page — don't be a page-view monger), and don't use subheads.

Learn from Past Tweets

Twitter's web-based version, and its ecosystem of apps such as TweetDeck, track every time your Twitter handle appears in a tweet. After you tweet a link or make a statement, watch how your followers receive it and whether they retweet it.

In addition to following your retweets on Twitter's search tool, other tools help you track the pervasiveness of the links you share. TweetDeck users utilize bit.ly to shorten URLs they tweet. If you visit bit.ly's website, you can track the performance of links you tweet.

Over time, you should notice patterns for what material your followers receive well. In many cases, it will depend on the audience, which can be quite diverse. Figuring out what makes your Twitter followers click and retweet is a process Boyd calls "micro-psychographics."

In his blog post explaining the phenomenon, Boyd observed that, based on anecdotal evidence, Twitter users respond to tweets differently. Some engage more heavily with questions or declarative sentences, while others prefer emotional prompts evincing anger or happiness. "I have noticed very different responses to different styles of URL-ed tweets," Boyd wrote. "And I think it has to do with the psychological makeup of the recipients of the messages, just as much as the text in the message."

Staff Writer C.G. Lynch covers consumer and social technologies for CIO. You can follow him at @cglynch.

© 2008 CXO Media Inc.

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Things are heating up – Combating project management delays

These last couple days have been got. We are breaking records, and the cool weekend can’t come quick enough. Yesterday it was 97 degrees, breaking the old record of 94 degrees set in the 80’s. It normally isn’t this hot this early. At work our air conditioning is only working in half of the building, so it is working overtime just to maintain a tolerable temperature. So what does all of this have to do with project management? Happy, comfortable employees work harder.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

Big Things Coming
We have a big event coming up on May 23rd, and plan to release about 7 new products. Only half of these are even ready for full production. And if they all were all ready by now, we probably would have already launched them. The fact that these products aren’t ready is not an issue. The challenge is that we need to get all of them created, reviewed by legal, and then sent to print. Once the products are ready we need to create all of the marketing material, such as web promotions, print promotions, flyers, postcards, store display signs, video for the internet, and videos for the live events.

Adjusting to Cuts
I’m sure that IT departments across the US have made cuts over the last year. We have all had to deal with the reality of the current situation. So how do you deal with the staffing adjustments you made in the past, and compensate for the increased work load of the current?

One solution would be to pick up some temps. Without committing the long term work force, you can hire some very well qualified individuals to help get you over that hump. We have had tremendous success with Pride Staff, and Express Employment Professions, both of which are temp agencies here in Stockton, California. Though we use Express nationwide, as we host events across the US.

Having a strong workflow management is the only way to adjust to increased work load, without adding additional staff. IT receives projects from just about every imaginable source within a company, and even outside of a company. If all of these tasks are not funneled through an easy to manage task management list, you will lose too much time.

Lost Time
Your staff needs to be effectively communicated to. Without an easily managed task management system for all projects to funnel through, your staff will have a lot of dead time between projects, and questions will not be addressed very quickly. In addition, if people are allowed to circumvent the task management system, tasks will not be completed on time, and your days will be chaotic. Often executives of companies feel that their tasks will be completed more quickly if they circumvent management, going directly to the laborers that perform the task. While their personal task might be completed slightly a head of schedule, the company will suffer. They do not see the impact on the overall workflow.

Team Work Project Manager
About two weeks ago I started putting our current projects into a site on http://www.teamworkpm.net/, and then 3 days later, I introduced the site to our graphic designers. The following day, to our programmers, and the next to the balance of the IT department. This site was met with excitement from everyone. It was rolled out in stages to the department to ensure a smooth adoption, and was a complete success. The next step would be to start introducing the site to the rest of the company.

All of the staff that have begun using this site have really enjoyed it. I was glad to see that the adoption went so smooth. I had been exploring various project management applications and task management resources, when I stumbled on teamwork. It is very close to Basecamp, but came out a head.

Hopefully within the next couple weeks, I will be able to introduce a login for management throughout the company, so that they can track the progress on their projects, without being able to interfere with our workflow. For now, I just meet with them regularly to give them updates.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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Moving Forward, While Standing Still – Battling IT Security

Creating Security Policies in a Down Market
Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

Security is a big issue for all IT leaders. Whether your a CIO, CTO, IT Director, or an IT manager, you are constantly battling security. It can be very difficult to work on projects to move you forward, when you are constantly fighting to maintain a secure network.

New Sources of Attacks
US infrastructure remains vulnerable to cyber terrorism. While the US seems to behind as a country, many of our corporations practice much stricter polices than our governing agencies. Government agencies will always be targets, but more so by terrorists and other countries. These criminals are not the same criminals that we, as corporations, need to protect against. Don't get me wrong, we still need to be protected, but our focus needs to be on fraud, identity theft, financial theft, etc. Most of our attacks will be geared towards financial gain.

Jump Start your Policies
In a slower economy, often security takes a back seat to corporate priorities. Most projects are going to be focused on saving money or generating money, but security at a time like this is just as important, if not more important. We need to stay aware of the increased risks that are brought on my a recession. There are more qualified, intelligent people in circulation that are getting desperate for income. We need to watch out for threats from past employees, current employees, desperate unemployed, and the casual hacker who is just bored.

So how do you enhance security when your time is already so limited? Here are a couple of tips of increasing security, without having to spend too much time devising your own. When constructing security policies, take a look at Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The SANS Security Policy Project and NIST are also great sources. While these policies might not work for you untouched, they give you a good place to start.

Rising Attacks
Attacks are on the rise. There are even reports of attacks on US power companies. We need to minimize our risks as much as possible and if you are on the internet, have eMail, eCommerce, or just a static website, you need protect yourself from these points of risk. Try starting with something as basic as a Web Agreement like, "By using this website, you agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement"

A well-drawn Web Wrap Agreement can help you to significantly reduce your legal risks. The most basic thing that you should put in every Terms and Conditions is a limitation of liability clause. So even if you get sued and lose, at least the maximum damage award against you is nominal. I'll typically limit damages to something like $50 to $100.

To further insulate you from the claims of users, have them agree that use of the site is at their own risk and that you disclaim all warranties. Also, include a clause making them liable to you if they upload things to the site like copyrighted or trademarked material that they don't have a right to use. This gives you some protection if a third party sues you for something posted to your site by a user. Try including a clause requiring that any lawsuit be filed in my client's home state, not the user's, to discourage getting sued over nonsense. Using the courts looks a whole lot less attractive as the mileage increases.

Be Proactive
Once you get sued, you can't require the other side to come to your home state if you didn't have the agreement already on the site. Don't be like the people that put in the burglar alarm after the burglary. A little preventive law is much cheaper and less stressful than crisis law. Try starting with some basics. Here are 10 steps to improve security within Internet Explorer. Don’t be hesitant on implementing new security practices, even if they seem dumb. Often people reserved when implementing simple security practices, as they now change is always met with resistance, and many people fear being hated. But even the SEC is has many basic security challenges to overcome, such as plain text passwords, or shared security accounts.

And if you’re still looking for an extra little oomph to get that financing for that security project that you just can’t get past… Try going back to some of your current vendors and ask for a discount. You might be surprised how many are willing to negotiate. Then try some scare tactics. Often security is on the back burner because decision makers aren’t aware of the true risks. Try looking into 5 things you can’t see on your network.

Move Forward
Even though you might think that your IT security is at a stand still, try working on some basic, free, and time optimized tasks. Some of these things might be new policies, such as the above mentioned password or data policies, or others might simply be applying new updates to your software. Software updates are often free, simple ways to maintain your security. Oh… and read about the updates. The holes they find and fill, might give you ideas about other holes that you need to fill in your own network and applications.

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Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

IE 8 increases productivity – Finally a Microsoft Product worth Installing on first release

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

Internet Explorer Developer Tools
One of my developers said “Microsoft finally put out something worth installing.” I had encouraged everyone that I work with to install Internet Explorer 8, even though it has just been released. Many were shocked. You see, the normal policy for installing Microsoft products, is to wait until the first service pack. Microsoft has been known to release software with bugs, so most of us wait until the first service pack before installing new applications. Especially when it comes to security, and network administration of applications.

Debugging New Interfaces
This developer was working on a new feature for Successful Thinkers Meetup, and was having challenges getting everything to line up correctly. We are currently working on increasing a groups ability to customize their group own page. We would like groups to have their own identity, and in order to do this, we need to change a lot of things. With Internet Explorer 8’s new Developer tools (similar to FireFox’s FireBug), he was able to quickly locate the tags, and styles that were giving him the most trouble. A multi-hour project took just a few minutes to resolve. All developers should become familiar with the new IE 8 Developer Tools.

Troubleshooting Tags
Trouble shooting tags and styles for multiple browsers can be very frustrating. Having the right tools can make all the difference in the world, especially when dealing with dynamically created pages. I’m sure that we all have felt the frustration at some point, where we can’t figure out what is wrong. We go through the usual, delete process and border process, trying to pin point which object is causing the problem. You really should install IE8, and check it its new features. There are many time saving features built in. And if you are worried about some of your sites not working, there is always the view in IE7 button.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

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Microsoft On a Roll – New applications to Launch

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

Quick Overview of upcoming Microsoft Releases

The proper tools speed up all development. We all have our favorite tools for each type of project, and the right one makes all of the difference in the world. As IT experts we are always watching for the next releases of our primary applications, in hopes to make our jobs faster and easier. Microsoft's next rounds of applications might do just that.

Windows 7 RC
I think that many of us have been watching to see what the next OS will bring. Windows 7 is coming closer to its launch, and its features will defiantly enhance the user experience for both, your everyday users and for all of you power users. Take a look at some of the enhances on the list for launch. This system is going to blow you away. I realize that time is limited for IT Directors, CIO’s and CEO’s and many of you don’t have an opportunity to follow the ongoing progress on Windows 7. If you’re anything like me, you wait for the final release before you get too excited about a new product. But you might want to take a couple of minutes to review the most recent Windows 7 notes from Microsoft. It looks like Microsoft is stepping things up with this next release. If you’re looking to speed up productivity and enhance security, this operating system is going to be a big step forward.

IE8
Internet Explorer 8 released just a little while ago. Thousands of downloads have been completed and many people share the opportunity to experience more security, faster renders, and truer standards. I know that all top ranking IT administrators are hesitant in installing any new Microsoft products until the first service pack is released and especially with this being your browser. Your browser is your life line. It is where we all go for our day to day operations. Whether it is research, banking, compliance, or just taking care of our day to day tasks, our browsers need to be dependable. I’m sure that most of you are thinking… “I’m not replacing my primary application, until I’m positive that it will work on ALL sites.”

Well… IE 8 is looking up. There are tons of positive feedback posts and after years of being behind in the game, it looks like Microsoft is finally stepping up. Its looking like this next version will help us do our jobs faster, and more securely. You really should look into the latest notes on IE8.

Office 14
The next version of Microsoft Office, Office 14 has been pushed out, but will sport many more features and integrated tools to make collaboration easier and quicker. It looks like there will be a 32bit and a 64bit version of Office 14. As more application go online and many companies looking to turn all of their applications into enterprise applications, you can expect Office 14 to continue in that direction as well. Document sharing and enterprise collaboration will all continue to get more attention with Office 14. While not much information is yet out on it, check out what others are saying.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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Expediting IT Projects – Successful IT Expedition

Expediting IT Projects – Successful IT Expedition
Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

I guess it is time to finally get down to some of the nitty-gritty. Actually, with this being the first post about true expediting, it will be more of an overview. How do you expedite IT projects…?… We all have tons of projects on our plates and receive pressure from all departments, demanding that their projects have priority. Each manager, executive, and director wants to have their projects elevated to the top of the list. They all believe that their projects are the most important and need to be done yesterday.

Every project is important and it is vital that you treat each director with respect, and make sure that they feel important. I’m going to focus on a few of the most frequently requested projects. I almost hate giving away some of these tips, but it will make projects run more smoothly as they come in.

Web Design
With today’s economic downturn, everyone is looking for new ways to revitalize their companies. Many companies are asking for their sites to be overhauled or at least to put a new face on their existing site. The first step is to make sure that the client, whether internal or external, knows what they are trying to achieve, and who the target audience is. From here, I often direct people to look at Template Monster, to get design ideas. While many IT departments and companies don’t like to share sites like this (because other people will de-value the service) it is a great starting point. This site will help put your design projects on the right track. Countless hours, or even weeks will be saved, by starting with what the person likes. If they want to purchase one of these templates outright, then go for it, but they will be back when they are ready to take their company to the next level.

Web Applications
Web applications can take on a life of their own. You really need to watch out for scope creep. The most important time saving advise I can give, is REASEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Many people feel that research is a waste of time, as they try to push forward with a project, before researching to see what already exists. Most things have been done before, just not in a way that will integrate or meet the current business model needs. However, it is important to start with this research to save time by starting with, or adding on to, a module that has already been written. There is nothing more frustrating than to realize weeks into a project that you have succeeded in reinventing the proverbial wheel. Do not re-invent the wheel. Do not try to sell someone else’s work as your own. Let your executives, and clients, know that they can save time (and money) by purchasing something that has already been written. You will gain their esteem & trust in knowing that you have their best interest in mind.

Define the goal. After researching to see what already exists, be sure to re-define the goal. After some research, you will have more questions, and possibly more options. You will need to have another conversation about some of the options that exist, and the arguments for and against the use of them. From here you will have a much clearer picture of what you are trying to achieve. It does not matter how pretty something is, if it doesn’t work. Nor does it matter if it functions the way that was requested, if it does not meet the business needs. You will speed up any project, by first recognizing what exists, and redefining your goals.

Reporting / Dashboards
After a new project has been completed, requests will begin to flow in as to why things aren’t working, or how can they measure their success. Every platform has multiple ways to build reports and dashboards. Start off by reviewing your options, and evaluating the best engine. I have found that the majority of people will be most satisfied with custom reporting modules, that are tied in for real time reporting. While others are okay looking at yesterday’s data. Again, you need to start off by evaluating what type of reports have been created in the past, and what you are trying to achieve with your dashboard. Some of the more common business dashboards are written within the existing applications report writer, such as SQL, and Crystal Reports. The biggest time sink in reporting, is spending time calculating and pulling data that is not needed. Some of these “nice to have’s” will eat up precious time, and lead to a report that does not tell you anything that you did not already know. You can spend a lot of time building a report to tell you that you are losing money, but unless you can identify where you are losing money, the report is useless. The most valuable dashboards are clickable, allowing an endless number of drill downs. This detail is what creates the business value, so before you begin, find out what the director wants to know. Most of the time they are looking to make changes within their corporation or business model, and need to evaluate where to make the changes.

Workflow Automation
Workflow automation doesn’t come up too often, as many companies have already become very efficient. I think that most decision makers already realize that their most costly asset is labor and have already made steps to relieve some of this burden. Though, there are still many things that can be made to run more smoothly. Most automation has to do with moving data, whether in paper form, or digital form. Many companies still pay someone to push data around. Before an automation project is started, a clear definition of what is trying to be achieved, needs to be outlined. A company could invest many hours or months with large sums of money being dumped into automating a simple task, later to find out that it will take them 2 years to recoup the cost they spent on the projects versus what they would have paid a laborer. Where will the company be 2 years from now? Before investing this money, the goals and the return need to be clearly defined, so that everyone knows what they are getting into and everyone knows what the results will be.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I’ve been getting a lot more requests for Search Engine Optimization. Not always in these words… well actually the request is more like “can you make it so that I show up at the top of Google?”. I think that most people believe that I can just wave a magic wand, and they will appear at the top. I wish this was the case, or even if I could fill out one form, click submit, and magic… Unfortunately, this is not the case. Before starting down the road of SEO, be sure to outline all of the steps that you are going to take. Be sure to advise them that this is not a quick process, and that it will be an ongoing process. It is easier, and much faster to move down in rank than up. Once the work has been completed, it needs to be maintained just to stay on the first page. While some projects can begin without having the complete project outline, this is not one of them. You will lose a lot of time if you do not first outline EVERY step of the process. You need to be sure to clearly define your goals.

Online Marketing
Social networking has become a huge piece of online marketing. This is the most recent craze, and has shown to be very successful. Included in this area is Pay Per Click, Newsletters, Banner Ads, Press Releases, etc. You will need to utilize a combination of these marketing strategies to be successful. In order to take full advantage of these resources you need to be sure to outline and set your goals before selecting your arsenal of marketing strategies. Each one of these strategies has its own strengths and weaknesses, so before you end up losing time in building a campaign that isn’t going to make fiscal sense, you need to build a game plan and outline your goals. Keep in mind that you aren’t just doing a projects for the sake of doing it, but that the company has real goals that it wants to achieve.

Updates
Be sure to get regular updates from your team, whether your using a project management application, regular SCRUM updates, or even just simple emails. Be sure to stay in constant contact with your team. Just as important, you need to give updates to your requesting party, whether an outside client, or internal manager or director.

Main Concept
Hopefully you caught on that the running theme is being goal oriented. It is important that the goals are outlined from the beginning – and reassessed as needed. Not just the technical goals or the deliverables of the projects, but the business goals. Most IT departments, or even companies, lack this key initiative. They merely build what the client asks for, without understanding the business model or corporate goal. While this is what some clients want, these are not the type of people to work with. If the other departments are asking for things to be done, without explaining the goals, the company will never reach their goals, and everything will always be someone else’s fault.

Goal Oriented
Expediting IT projects is all about goals. When asked to start a project – ask what the end goal is. Most projects are killed or take too long because the project goes in the wrong direction and work has to be redone, or time is delayed trying to steer the project in a different direction. The key is all about defining and measuring your goals for success.

What are some of the techniques that you use to expedite projects? Please leave comments below.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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Expert in Analytics – Google Analytics

Originally Posted At Successful Thinkers Meetup

Tracking your results for greater success

Anyone doing any kind of marketing online should be using some sort of user tracking. One of the biggest keys to success is being able to measure it. You cannot become successful if you can’t measure your success, or have a way to measure your failure. By knowing your weaknesses, you can use them to strengthen your business model.

Hit Counters
There are many companies out there that offer tracking. Most of these companies are just counters, counting how many people visit the site.

- Stat Counter
- Go Stats
- Free Stats
- Google Analytics

But Google Analytics provides a whole lot more for a whole lot less. They are your free hit counter and website analysis. It is important to know where your users are coming from and what they are doing on your site; and Google does all of this for free.

Training On Google Analytics
Google is now offering a free analytics training course. I would recommend this course for everyone trying to increase their online presence. CEO’s, CIO’s, IT Directors, and entrepreneurs should all have this under their belt. For $50, you can take a certification exam, which Google is backing for 18 months. However, there is no logo or branding associated with this certificate, so you can save your money and just be happy with your knowledge, unless you want to pursuing being a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC).

In Depth Training
The Google Analytics training program, called Conversion University or Google Analytics IQ, brings the student from the beginnings of what is Google Analytics, through the fundamentals of installing and reviewing reports, all the way to the advanced reporting. Google Analytics is so powerful that you can even create custom reports, view how much each of your views is worth and track your ad campaigns. If your company requires a higher level of security, you can allow Google’s remote code to execute on your site; and then you can purchase their standalone version called Urchin. Urchin runs about $3000, which shows you the value of what you get for free, but provides you full control over the scripts and data. It is only sold through authorized consultants such as Actual Metrics.

Using The Knowledge
After completing the course you should be very comfortable navigating the reports, but this doesn’t mean that you know how to use the information. The next step is to apply this information to your business model. If you get a spike in hits on Fridays, what does this mean? If most of your traffic comes from a specific search phrase, what should you do? You will find many experts on Successful Thinkers that can help you build a better marketing campaign to elevate your web presence. Maybe some of them will post some comments below (hint, hint ;)). And if you are still stuck, feel free to contact me, or leave a comment below.

More Resources
There are a ton of resources available to help you maximize your site. Here are just a few more.

• Google Analytics - Blog
• Google Analytics Interface Tutorial
• Using Google Analytics with AdWords
• Motion Charts
• Advanced Segments
• Custom Reporting
• AdSense Reporting in Google Analytics

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Originally Posted At Successful Thinkers Meetup