Using Blogs for Social Media Optimization

Blogs are one of six broad types of social media. This post will discuss how PR and marketing professionals can use blogs (even if you don't write your own) to increase brand awareness and credibility; the next will discuss all of the other tools of social media.

Blogs are a big deal; they are mainstream and competing with traditional media. There are a lot of them—Technorati tracks more than 15 million active blogs, and although the rate of growth has slowed, there are still thousands of new blogs started each day. Blogs help with SEO, whether you have your own or are generating links to your website from others. More than 60% of U.S. Internet users, and more 70% globally, have read a blog within the past 12 months. And blogs have become a key source of information for executive decision makers.

The first step in developing a blog strategy is understanding the landscape of blogs in your industry. You can search for relevant blogs using keywords pertaining to your business as well as searching for competitor names. While regular search engines can be used, that's a tedious process; it's much more efficient to use blog-specific search tools such as Google blog search, Technorati, BlogMarks, Blogarama and/or Blog Catalog. In addition, check out the blogrolls of the most relevant blogs you find.

The next step is to monitor blogs to discover what's being written about your company, product or other specific topic of interest. You can set up Google Alerts for free, although these won't catch everything (they're likely to miss quite a bit actually). Bloglines is a helpful free tool for monitoring blogs you've already identified; you can add their RSS feeds and monitor posts from one spot. If you have a modest budget (hundreds of dollars per month) for monitoring, try a service like WebClipping or CyberAlert. If you've got a bigger budget (thousands of dollars per month), you can step up to a professional-strength PR monitoring and current awareness tool such as Vocus, Moreover or YellowBrix.

Once you have a feel for the blog ecosystem in your industry, you can begin blogger outreach:

Commenting is a great way to start. Make sure your comments add something to the conversation and aren't simply self-promotional.

Contact the blogger as the next step. Contact should be personal (use the blogger's name, refer to the blog directly, act like you've been there before), compelling (tell a great story) and of course relevant to topics the blogger normally writes about.

Provide assets the blogger can use to enhance the post, such as original research results, images, video, or the offer of an interview with a key executive or other expert.

Writing a guest post is an excellent next step once you have a relationship of trust established with a blogger.

Promote posts when you get coverage. Increasing their exposure (and traffic) is a key incentive in getting bloggers to write about your topic.

And finally, follow up with key bloggers on your list. If they write about you, THANK THEM. If not, ask if it's okay for you to send them an occasional update on your firm/product/service and any interesting developments.

If you have your own blog, you can use many of these tactics to increase your audience through exposure on and links from other blogs. But even if you don't have your own, you can use these practices to increase exposure and build credibility for your company or product in relevant industry blogs.

Top 3 Ways To Get Free Inbound Links

There are numerous reasons why incoming links weigh a lot from a search engine's point of view. First off, they establish your page rank and search engine rankings. The amount of sites linking to you is proof of your worth to Internet users. If you’re really doing well, you'll be able to land even at the top spot of the natural search results, which means heavy traffic and greater conversion rate for your online business.

So how exaclty do you get free quality inbound links? Here are 3 easy ways to achive just that:

1. Write keyword rich articles and send them to as many article directories as possible. Content is without a doubt the king of the World Wide Web. You should add links in the body of your article, which will bring quality targeted traffic to your site, not just incoming links. Also, remember to write a compelling resource box, one that will make the reader want to find out more of what your site has to offer.

2. Develop your own blog. More and more people discover and enjoy reading blogs. This is because bloggers are very generous with their information. They reveal some personal insights and past experiences that can help you in your business and/or personal affairs. Blogs, from the SEO point of view, provide a major advantage as they get indexed by Google a lot easier than a normal site. That alone provides you with a big advantage. Moreover, if you leave a link to your blog by making comments on other people’s blogs, you’re actually providing yourself an incoming link.

Developing your Blogroll is also very important - this means exchanging links with other bloggers witch will benefit both parties.

3. Take part in forum discussions. You should begin searching for related message boards and chat rooms. After developing a good list, you should start signing up. You will discover that these forums actually let you to build your own profile as well as add your signature, which should contain links to your sites which will of course appear in every single post you make. As long as your chosen discussion boards have a good Google Page Rank, you can look to benefit from their increased page rank. Even more, webmasters could find your site useful to their readers and link back to you from their site thus sending you quality traffic.

It is recommended to use all of these different methods on a regular basis if you really want to grow your site and your business.

Bollywood Movie Review - Singh is Kinng

Just a word of caution before you watch this film: SINGH IS KINNG is not for the intellectuals or those pretending to be one. It's not for the hard-nosed critics either.

Now read on…

Vipul Shah. Anees Bazmee. Akshay Kumar. Katrina Kaif. Four names for whom success has become a habit. That makes SINGH IS KINNG the most awaited movie of the season. Must add, the wait was worth it!

You know the rules when you watch a hardcore entertainer: Just don't look for logic. If you do, too bad for you, for you would never enjoy a film of this genre and more specifically, SINGH IS KINNG.

Anees Bazmee's films are very high on entertainment. The plotline may be paper-thin, perhaps ludicrous and farcical, but when did Bazmee ever promise a SCHINDLER'S LIST or a SAVING PRIVATE RYAN? SINGH IS KINNG works because it delivers what it promises: Full on entertainment!

Bazmee has the knack of making immensely watchable fares that cater to the aam junta. SINGH IS KINNG isn't a laughathon in entirety. Comedy, romance, action and drama, everything is well synchronised in those 2.10 hours here.

But, wait, SINGH IS KINNG isn't a foolproof product. It has its share of flaws, the turn of events aren't captivating at times, but SINGH IS KINNG moves so fast and packs in so much, there's no time to think or analyze.

The final word? SINGH IS KINNG is a delicious and scrumptious pav-bhaji served in the finest cutlery. Your taste buds are sure to relish it... and ask for more!

Lakhan Singh aka Lucky [Sonu Sood] is the King of the Australian underworld, accompanied by his associates [played by Javed Jaffrey, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Kamal Chopra and Sudhanshu Pande]. Far away, in a small village in Punjab, where Lucky was born, there exists someone more notorious than him - Happy Singh [Akshay Kumar].

The village is fed up of Happy's magnanimity, which has resulted in a number of hilariously disastrous situations. Out of desperation, they decide to send him on a long trip [that will keep him out of the village for a while!] to bring Lucky back to Punjab, as his despicable deeds were maligning their image in Australia.

The happy-go-lucky bumpkin, taking his mission a bit too seriously, embarks on his journey, accompanied by his friend, Rangeela [Om Puri], who hates Happy for dragging him into it.

The high point of his journey is his chance meeting with Sonia [Katrina Kaif], with whom he falls in love, but upon reaching his destination, things take a precarious turn as he runs into a series of comic misadventures, leaving him penniless. He is fortunate to find warmth and affection in an elderly lady [Kirron Kher].

In a strange turn of events, an attempt on Lucky's life is foiled by a well-intentioned Happy, who fights off the attackers by risking his own life. Following the altercation, Lucky lands up in hospital paralyzed and Happy, unexpectedly, finds the tables turned on him when he is expected to assume the role of the new King.

Few minutes into the film and you know that SINGH IS KINNG is a lavish spectacle that's high on entertainment. Sonu Sood chasing a gora assassin at the very start or minutes later, Akshay chasing a hen - SINGH IS KINNG starts with gusto.

And Bazmee doesn't let you wear your thinking caps all through the first hour. From India to Egypt to Australia, from the comforts of his home in Punjab, to the humble abode of a woman selling flowers in Sydney [Kirron Kher], SINGH IS KINNG involves you in the journey.

And then Akshay becomes the King. Oh, how he becomes the King is equally hilarious. The sequence at the hospital [Sonu Sood is diagnosed with a weird disorder] is simply hilarious. There's a twist in the tale at the intermission point and the second hour, therefore, shifts gears - it changes from kabhi funny, kabhi drama to a prem kahani.

It's smooth sailing till there's another twist towards the pre-climax [wouldn't like to reveal it, since it would act as a spoiler]. But, frankly, the film could've done without this track. The narrative, thankfully, is back on tracks soon after.

Anees Bazmee has a flair for writing great entertainers that work big time with the masala-loving junta. If you've loved NO ENTRY and WELCOME, you'd love SINGH IS KINNG too. This time, Bazmee shares the writing credits with Suresh Nair and the duo come up with some real wacky episodes. In terms of production design, this is Bazmee's most lavish fare so far. It's a grandiose product.

Pritam's music is already popular and it compliments the goings-on completely. 'Bhootni Ke', 'Jee Karda' and the title track stand out, while 'Teri Ore' is easy on the nerves. Ben Nott and Sanjay Gupta's cinematography is top notch.

Akshay Kumar takes rapid strides with SINGH IS KINNG. Sure, you've seen him in comic fares time and again and perhaps, there might be a doubt, Will he carry it off yet again? Oh yes, he does! There's no saturation point as far as this actor is concerned. He holds your attention in every sequence, irrespective of how strong the scene is, and that's the biggest compliment for any actor. SINGH IS KINNG without Akki is like an ocean without marine life. Akshay rules!

The camera loves Katrina Kaif and it shows in SINGH IS KINNG too. She looks bewitching and enacts her part with tremendous confidence. Kirron Kher is superb and so is Om Puri. Terrific performances! They compliment Akki so well. Ranvir Shorey is first-rate. Sonu Sood is another actor who's finally getting his due in Hindi films. Javed Jaffrey's character works big time till he does a somersault in the pre-climax. Neha Dhupia is engaging. The nok-jhonk between Sudhanshu Pandey and Yashpal Sharma is perfect. Manoj Pahwa is good.

On the whole, SINGH IS KINNG lives up to the hype and hoopla. Want a joyride without taxing your brains? Board the SINGH IS KINNG wagon. At the box-office, the film will fetch a hurricane-like start. The paid previews, the opening weekend, the first week business, everything will be record-shattering. Notwithstanding the new oppositions in the weeks to come, SINGH IS KINNG will rule the hearts of the aam junta [whose verdict matters the most] as also the box-office, proving a record holder in the final tally. Blockbuster Hit!

Rating : ****