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Social Voting Madness! (Reader Poll Included)

Gerald Weber — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:14:01 +0000

Arguably, the most popular type of social media web sites are social voting sites. The reason that social voting sites can be more addictive than crack and more alluring than the song of a siren is because they can send a huge surge in traffic if a piece of your content gets popular.

As many of our regular readers know, I have taken time to explore most of the major social voting sites. While they are all alluring, I have discovered that they have their distinct advantages and disadvantages, as well as their own unique social culture. So, without further ado, let’s review six of the most popular social voting sites:

Digg.com: Digg seems to be one the most popular and well-known of the social voting sites. My personal views of Digg are that they can be excessively picky about the source of the content, and it definitely takes a significant investment of time and commitment to succeed on this platform. However, I still think Digg is a lot of fun, as well as a great platform for networking. I know that I have personally made many great friends from Digg!

photo credit: NightRPStar

Reddit: Personally, I like Reddit a lot. Not only does it seem much easier to hit the Reddit homepage (although most of the content that hits the homepage is actually quite interesting) than the Digg homepage, but it can also send just as much (if not more) traffic. In addition to having a huge selection of categories to choose from, Reddit also has a lot of comment participation. The only strange thing about Reddit is the moderators (who are also users) randomly delete other user submissions. Although there seems to be an active comment troll community there, Reddit is still one of my favorites!

photo credit: George Donnelly

StumbleUpon: This is definitely my favorite social voting platform. To begin with, the community seems to be a bit more warm and friendly (not as many trolls). Additionally, because StumbleUpon is designed to send you content from your areas of interests, you are always looking at content that appeals directly to you (and not just what others have voted up). As an added bonus, while sites like Digg and Reddit send a huge surge of traffic and then it all disappears, StumbleUpon can send residual traffic that carries on long after the initial popularity factor has worn off.

photo credit: topgold

Mixx: Because I have been hearing a lot about Mixx lately, I signed up and now have a Mixx account. However, the interface is somewhat confusing to me, so I’m not really sure about the best way to use this platform. Hopefully, some of you who are reading this post can shed some light on the best way to use Mixx in the comments section.

Sphinn: This one is a bit different from the other social voting sites listed here because it is an SEO/Social Media niche voting site. I like Sphinn , because it has content that is directly relevant to my areas of interest and it is relatively simple to get on the homepage. Additionally, most of the Sphinn community knows one another. The main disadvantage is that a piece of content which hits the Sphinn homepage will never send 10,000 visitors. However, because of the content relevance to my interests and the community, I will always enjoy and use Sphinn.

Propeller: This is AOL’s version of a social media voting site. While I have personally not yet used this one, it is on my list of social voting sites to check out (due to hearing about it on a regular basis). Once again, I’m hoping that some of our readers can shed some light on the advantages and disadvantages of Propeller in the comments.

OK, now that I have given my quick rundown on these sites, I asked nine of my friends who are active, well-known members of various social voting sites the following question:

Of the 6 social voting sites discussed here, which is your favorite and why?

Jeff Flowers @bukowsky says:

“While I contribute to many different sites, my favorite site is StumbleUpon, hands down. The community is better as a whole, with very little hostility and flaming. You have more categories to browse and submit stuff too. Plus, the content is generally better, just because the best tends to stick around longer, giving you ample time to find it. The only real downside that I find in Stumble, is that you can’t get any real news, which is one of the main reasons I love digg and reddit… and at this point, the only reason I stick around.”

Jason Lankow @jaybol says:

“I like Digg because I have the Digg Alerter program by Moojj at Adamant Solutions and every time a front page goes off it makes the most beautiful sound in the world, which programs my brain to submit again in hopes of hearing the sound again”

Ann Smarty @seosmarty says:

“My favorite is Sphinn because I know most people and I feel at home there. I used to love SU a lot but after I was banned there (I don’t say unfairly because I assume there was also my fault), I don’t like it as much as I used to. Digg (and sometimes Reddit) are too rude for me (too many trolls), Mixx is too quiet (or I just can’t figure it out), so Sphinn is what is left, though it is a niche community unlike the rest 5 – but it’s the closest to my heart.”

Victor Barrera @overmind12812 says:

“As much as I participate on Digg and enjoy it, I really do have a soft spot for Reddit. I’d have to say Reddit is my favorite social news site if I had to choose just one to participate in. I really enjoy using Reddit because it puts more emphasis on the content, less ads, and usually provides better discussions that are actually relevant to the article at hand.”

Irfan Polani @irfanmp says:

“Although Digg is the social news site I visit most frequently, I would have to say my favorite site is Reddit. Reddit is probably my favorite social news site to use, because whereas the novelty of the story ends at the content for most sites, the Reddit community takes it a step further and engages in rather riveting discussions. The comments tend to become more entertaining than the content itself.”

Gerri L Elder @absolutelytrue

” Digg- It’s the thrill of the chase. Finding exciting content and watching it climb until it pops to the front page is really satisfying. And the ones that don’t make it just make the roller coaster ride more fun.”

Miguel Lopez @mklopez says:

“My favorite site, hands down, is Digg. Is the first one I learned to use(as a submitter) and after a few years of use I have made a lot of connections (and real friends) there. Mixx and Propeller have come close to lure me in, but Digg feels like a nice, comfy pair of old jeans.”

Reg Saddler @zaibatsu says:

“Mixx, is one of my favorite social voting sites because of the community. The people are incredibly approachable and giving. In addition Mixx .com responds to users requests for site changes. It’s truly incredible, and they keep on pumping out the updates month after month. Unlike sites like Digg.com which make their users wait up to a year for new features, Mixx can toss out a dozen in a month. ”

JD Rucker @0boy says:

“Digg is the most fun to master. Reddit is a great filter for quality. Stumble gives me new stuff I’d never see otherwise. Mixx and Propeller have good communities but not the best content. Sphinn is my roadmap for marketing. In short, I hate them all, but love them all at the same time.”

Now that you read opinions and insight from some very prominent social media personas, please cast your vote in the reader poll, as well as providing your personal opinions and insights in the comments section below!

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Facebook’s BK Sacrifice App and 6 Other Examples of Brilliant Viral Campaigns

Eric Brantner — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:59:49 +0000

Hamburgers. TV shows. Office products. These are just a few of the things being promoted in an unorthodox manner through viral marketing campaigns. For those who don’t know, viral marketing is any technique that entices users to pass on a company’s marketing message to their friends and family, thus creating more exposure for the message.

Of course, doing this often requires an “outside-the-box” approach. After all, few people are going to spread a blatant advertisement to their friends. That’s why I’ve created this list of some of the most brilliant and successful viral campaigns. The one thing that each of these has in common is that they engage their target audience and elicit a response.

BK Sacrifice- Burger King is no stranger to viral marketing. Almost everyone came across the Subservient Chicken at one point or another. This time, Burger King used Facebook to launch their newest viral campaign. What is it? Users install an app that gives them a free coupon for a Whopper after they delete (or “sacrifice”) 10 friends from their profile. Every time a user sacrificed a friend, a message would be sent to them stating their friend chose a Whopper over them. Of course, Facebook wasn’t thrilled with the campaign, and they pulled the plug shortly after its launch. However, the buzz had already been created, and all in all, the campaign was a success.

Blair Witch- The Blair Witch Project was one of the first movies to use viral marketing successfully. The film generated a great buzz by being promoted as a documentary of a real event. Keep in mind, this was when the web was still developing and people were less used to these types of viral campaigns. The Blair Witch message spread like wildfire, and the film made a profit around $250 million.
Office Max Elf Yourself- The last few holiday seasons, Office Max has pushed a viral campaign that allows users to “Elf” themselves. The concept is simple—upload a picture of yourself on the website, and your face will be affixed to a hilarious dancing elf. Need an example? See our very own Gerald Weber as an elf. The campaign captured mainstream attention, and from November 20, 2007 to January 2.2008, the site received 193 million visits.
Quiksilver Dynamite Surfing- Quiksilver’s fake surfing videos generated millions of hits from youth around the world. The staged video featured a teen throwing a stick of dynamite into the water to create a wave for his friend to surf. Even though the surfers were nothing more than actors, users still passed the video to everyone they knew, gaining Quiksilver an immense amount of exposure in the process.
Dexter Hit List-Dexter is a TV show about a serial killer. A viral campaign to promote the dark comedy featured a mock video of a press conference talking about a death list of the serial killer. Users can go to www.thedexterhitlist.com , enter a friend’s name and some details about them, and the video will show them as the next target on the hit list.
Snakes on a Plane- Say what you will about the movie, but Snakes on a Plane generated an enormous amount of buzz online. One reason for this buzz was a viral campaign that allowed you to send your friends a personalized phone call from Samuel L. Jackson. Sure, the idea had been done before, but it was never personalized and it never featured Samuel ****in’ Jackson.
Transport for London Do the Test- One of my favorite viral ads was the awareness test launched by the Transport for London. The video asks you to count how many passes are made by the basketball team in white. While the user is busy doing this, a twist comes up, making the campaign true viral gold.

Which viral campaigns do you love? Tell us about your favorites in the replies.

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It May Almost Be 2009, But Duplicate Content Still Isn’t a Good Thing

Gerald Weber — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:40:36 +0000

Of all the topics that are discussed within the SEO blogosphere, one of the topics that creates the most controversy and disagreement is that of duplicate content. I think one of the reasons that there are so many different viewpoints surrounding this issue is because there are multiple ways that people define the phrase “duplicate content.”

Since I always believe in going straight to the source, let’s find out what Google has to say about duplicate content. According to Google, “Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.” Now that we have Google’s definition of duplicate content, let’s look at what they have to say on the issue of how it can impact a website’s ranking:

“Mostly, this is not deceptive in origin.”

“However, in some cases, content is deliberately duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or win more traffic. Deceptive practices like this can result in a poor user experience, when a visitor sees substantially the same content repeated within a set of search results.”

“Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results.”

So, if you actually look at what Google is saying about duplicate conent, their stance is that you will only be explicitly penalized if they feel the duplicate content you are publishing is intended to deceive users or manipulate their search results. An example of this would be a Made for AdSense (MFA) website, which only contains content from other websites. The only purpose of a MFA website is to attract visitors who will click the AdSense ads.

If you are wondering how Google judges content and determines malicious duplicate content, this illustration from Elliance (which was published on Search Engine Land) should make that process clear to you:

Now, while you may think that I’m taking the “duplicate content doesn’t matter” stance, that is simply not true. Even if you aren’t publishing duplicate content with malicious intent, you may still run into problems. For example, I think Dave Feldman really hit the nail on the head in his post on SEL earlier this year, which was titled Got Duplicate Content? Don’t Let It Dilute Your SEO Efforts. The main focus of his post was that even when duplicate content isn’t published with malicious intent, it can still hurt your site’s rankings by diluting the weight of your links. Here’s the example he uses:

“Let’s say you have 30 external sites lined up to provide a link to your site; you just need to tell them what page to link to. If all 30 of those links point to the hiking boots page in the Men’s Clothing section, a good deal of link value will be passed to that page.

However, what happens if those 30 links get divvied-up across three different versions of that page, and are split between Men’s Clothing, Footwear, and Outdoors? Potentially, each page would only get 33 percent of that total link value. Clearly, 100 percent would be better.”

In addition to link dilution, the other major area where duplicate content can cause issues is with affiliate websites. As you may know, Google is getting more aggressive in their filtering of “thin affilaite websites” (which are affiliate websites with little original content). Not only can you run into problems with their algorithm, but if your website is hand reviewed by Google, a lack of original content could cause you to fail that review (and thus incur some form of a ranking penalty).

While the duplicate content debate will inevitably continue, at the end of the day, you can avoid a lot of potential headaches and worries by simply creating some form of content that is unique and useful to visitors.

[tags]duplicate content[/tags]

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10 Rules the Best Online Copywriters Follow

Eric Brantner — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:51:42 +0000

The success of your Internet marketing efforts boils down to one thing—how good is your copywriting? It doesn’t matter how much you promote your site. If the copy doesn’t connect with readers, you’ll never get the sales you desire.

So, what makes great copywriting? Here are 10 rules the best online copywriters follow.

1. Keywords aren’t Everything- Obviously, it’s important to optimize your copy for relevant keywords to ensure you get high search engine placement. However, keywords aren’t the most important part of your copy. They might be the gateway that brings visitors to your site, but if your copy is stuffed with keywords, your conversion rate will suffer. Always remember your human readers, and never place the search engine’s needs above theirs.

2. Scanner-Friendly is a Must- Numerous eye-tracking studies show that website visitors tend to scan content rather than fully reading it. What does this mean for your website? It means your copy needs to accommodate their scanning habits. This means you should use plenty of whitespace, keep your paragraphs brief, and use bold headings throughout. This will help the scanners grasp the main points from your content quickly and easily.

3. Compelling Headlines are Essential- The best copywriters know that a great headline is one of the most important facets of any online copy. Your headline needs to sell a benefit or connect with the reader in some other way. A simple keyword phrase won’t do the trick. This is your chance to grab the attention of your website visitors. Make it count.

4. Content Must Reinforce Headline- Once you come up with a great headline, you need to make sure your content reinforces it. If your headline mentions a specific benefit, follow up on that by discussing it in your copy. In other words, don’t trick your readers by using a catchy headline and then talk about something completely different in your copy.

5. Converse with the Reader- To me, conversational copy is perfectly suited for the web. The internet is a social medium, so it only makes sense that your copy should feel personal to your readers. Remember, consumers are more wary when purchasing from companies online. Conversational copy that’s free of gimmicks helps them gain trust in your company. How? By making it seem like they’re interacting with a real person who understands their needs.

6. Testimonials are Helpful- Another way to build trust with your visitors is to use real testimonials on your website. I prefer placing a few testimonials in a sidebar on the right hand side of the page. They catch the eye and deliver the message of trust without distracting the reader away from your main website copy. Make sure to keep your testimonials in their original form without any edits. The more authentic they are, the better.

7. Quality Trumps Quantity- We’ve already established that online readers have a short attention span. So, don’t spend 500 words explaining something that can be summed up in 250 words. I realize a lot of websites extend their copy so that it reaches the magic 400-500 word count for SEO purposes, but it can really hamper the flow of your content. Keep it short; keep it simple. This will keep your readers on track.

8. Superlatives are Useless- Don’t say you’re the best at something or that you’re the leader in your field. Everyone says that. Every company thinks they’re the best, and every company is the most experienced. Consumers don’t fall for these silly superlatives. They carry no weight, and frankly, they sound like a bunch of B.S.

9. It’s All about the Benefits- Instead of loading up on the superlatives, talk about the benefits of your product. In other words, how will your company make the customer’s life better? That’s all your readers care about. Let them know what’s in it for them, and you’ll have much more successful website copy.

10. Call to Action Should be Clear- Of course, you can have the best copy on the web, but it’s all for nothing if you don’t have a clear call to action. The point of your copy is to convince the reader they need your product or services, and then, the call to action tells them how to get it. Don’t leave your readers hanging. Have a clear call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do. If you want them to call a number, tell them to call you. The clearer your call to action, the higher your conversion rate will be.

How many of these rules does your website copy follow?

[tags]copywriting tips, online copywriting rules[/tags]

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