I’ve talked a few clients through the process of registering their business with Google and, based on that experience, the idea of talking someone through the same process on Bing is a little more daunting, but doable. Here’s a comparison of the user experience for each site:

Google’s Home Page:

The process:

Step 1. Get a Google Account, if you don’t have one already.
Step 2. Go to Google.com and click on “Business Solutions” below the search terms window.
Step 3. On the next page, click on “Local Business Center” in the bottom half of the page.

Now you are all set to start listing your business with Google. One precaution: Make sure you are near your business phone so you can verify your listing with Google’s automated call to your business phone. They will call with a PIN that you will need to verify that this is actually your business.

Bing.com’s Home Page:

The Process:

Step 1: If you haven’t already, sign up for a Windows Live account (click on “Windows Live” in the top left corner of the page to get started)
Step 2: With your Windows Live email and password on hand, go to Bing’s home page and select “Maps” from the search options listed under the main search field.
Step 3: In the Maps page search field, enter either your business name or your location and business category.

Step 4: In the listing of search results, scroll all the way down until you see the words “local listing center” in page gray and click on that to get started with your listing.

Now for the real way to do this.
Go to: https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
-and sign up from there.
I only listed these steps out to illustrate the fact that Bing’s method is; 4 (non-intuitive) steps as opposed to Google’s 2 somewhat obvious ones and that trying to explain this to a client over the phone is not high on my list of fun and easy activities. The only bright spot in all this is that, at the end of the sign-up process, Bing.com promises to send you a letter for verification about your listing as opposed to a phone call that can take some people by surprise.

Step 1: Take a survey of sites you find useful. These days, with everyone and their dog on seemingly every social networking site known to mankind, it’s a good idea to come up with some simple coping mechanisms to combat the information overload that can result from joining YASNS. Take a few sites that you visit frequently and gather a list of the social networking tools they employ. Basically, the whole broad topic of Web 2.0 sevices can be broken down into three basic categories:

Bookmarking Tools: Those little badges for services like Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us make it easy for your readers to save a link to your content and then share their links on their profiles.

RSS Tools: These buttons allow a reader to add a feed from your site to a feed-reader service. While most blogs and feed-enabled sites already offer this via that little orange button you see in your browser’s address bar, there are plenty of services out there such as Netvibes and Google that make it easy to track your favorite blogs via a personalized feeds display. Feedburner, recently acquired by Google, is a good tool for maintaining your feed(s) and the service gives you a feed url to use as well as some button generating tools.

Social Networking Tools: Join a site like Facebook or Twitter and you can get the code to display a badge on your site that links to your profile. Other services such as Google’s Friend Connect and MyBlogLog allow blog owners to build an online network with other bloggers.

Step 2: Once you have a sense of the types of services you want to offer and info you want to display, create a way to keep track of everything. When I sign up for a site or service, I make sure I keep a record on paper of the username, password, screen name and url of my profile page if necessary. And, since a lot of these services like t send you a confirmation/activation email, I have a folder in my webmail just for membership-related emails. (I draw the line at subfolders though. There’s only so much OCD I can take.)

Step 3: Now that you have a way to keep track of your various memberships, go create them! Here’s a list of popular services, separated by category of service:

Bookmarking Tools:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Stumble
Reddit
Slashdot

RSS Tools:
Feedburner (if you only join one rss service, make it this one!)
Google
Newsgator
BlogRovr
MyBlogLog
My Yahoo
Netvibes
Amazon Kindle
Viigo
Bloglines
Windows Live
Wikio
Blog Networks

Social Networks:
Facebook
MySpace
LinkedIn
Twitter
Flickr
YouTube

Step 4: Now that you’ve joined everything, you’ve probably noticed that there’s a lot of interconnectivity out there between services. You can post your Twitter Tweets to your Facebook Wall, your Flickr Feed to your Myspace page and put your LinkedIn badge all over creation. Don’t stress that yet. For now, you want to make sure your loyal readers know how to make the most of your site. It’s time to add some buttons to your site. Sign into your Feedburner account and burn a feed for your website.

Step 5: Once you’ve burned your Feedburner feed for your site, go to their “Publicize” page. Now you can do some “one stop shopping” for some feed chicklets! Click on the “Chicklets” tab and then simply choose the feed aggregator services you want from their 24 item menu. You can also head over to Top Rank’s blog and get even more chicklets. Tip: save the code generated by these services in a plain text file for easy access. You can then copy and paste the code to display these badges wherever you’d like on your site. For example, if you are using a WordPress site with widgetized sidebars, then you would go to your Widgets page on your dashboard, select the sidebar you want and then add a text widget. Then, simply paste in the code and save your changes.

Step 6: Now that you’ve added a way for your readers to get updates about your blog, you should add ways for them to bookmark and share your content. Addtoany.com is a great service that lets you grab a selection of bookmarking icons to add to the post template of your blog. Addthis is another site that lets you get one button that contains all the code for your bookmarking services.

Step 7: Once you’ve placed some feed chicklets and bookmarking buttons on your blog, you can get to work on your badges. Log into your account at Facebook. Then, underneath the left sidebar of your Wall, you should see a link that says: “Create a profile badge”. Simple enough. Twitter has a couple of ways to make your badge. If you go to your Twitter page, on the bottom there’s a link that says “Apps”. Go there if you want to have a badge on oyour site that displays all your latest “tweets”. If you want a button that says something like “Follow me on Twitter” then here’s a site that has an easy to use interface for creating your personal Twitter button. Extra Credit Project: since I can be a bit of what’s politely termed, “A Control Freak”, I created my own Twitter button, uploaded it to my images file and then linked to it in the sidebar with a surrounding hypertext link to a Twitter profile.

Step 8: If you want your readers to join a network of other bloggers and blog readers, then you can also insert a service for that. I’ve used MyBlogLog which offers an free trial period and then charges $25 for a “Professional Account” and they are pretty cagey about what the benefits are. Therefore, I recommend Google’s Friend Connect, a free service which is more user (and wallet) friendly. All you need is a Google account.
#Jenn Tip: I was able to fully customize the code in the Friend Connect badge to fit into a narrow sidebar and also switched out the hexcodes for ones that specifically matched a client’s logo colors.

Tip #1: Before you even start to look for help, create a WordPress Support account by going to http://wordpress.org/support/ and clicking on “register” in the top left corner. This gives you a profile on the support forum where you can go and track your threads and replies and other users can learn a little more about you. Another nice feature is the RSS feed for your thread so you can track responses from your Google homepage or Netvibes or what have you.

Tip #2: Now that you have a Support username and login, you can start your search. First, enter your search keywords into the upper left corner where it says: “Search WordPress.org”. This is just to make sure the answer you seek isn’t already in the Codex or Support forums. If your answer doesn’t turn up, then focus your search in the Support Forums by typing your search terms into the search box in the lower right of the page. It’s a good idea to make as thorough a search as possible before posting a new topic. If you don’t, not only will you be gumming up the forum with yet another question that’s been answered before, but the forum users who tend to respond with helpful answers will chide you in their answer for not being more thorough, if they answer you at all.

Tip #3: So, once you’ve gone through the first two steps, now it’s time to try Hot Topics. This is a tag cloud located underneath the search support forum box. Find a tag that’s the closest keyword to your issue and click on it. This takes you to a page that lists all the posts that have been tagged with that keyword. You’ll probably notice that some tags have hundreds of pages of threads to wade through. This is most likely because those who came before you didn’t do a thorough search, but you are a different breed!

Tip #4: OK, here’s the nitty gritty. If you clicked on a Hot Topics keyword, you’ll see that when you go to the page for that topic, the keyword is shown at the top right of the page and next to it is a link that says “Add New”. Click that, or scroll down to the bottom of the page. Eureka! There’s a window where you can add a new topic!
(This is also the reason that the WordPress team doesn’t create a link on the support home page that says something like “post a new topic”. They want you to do your homework first.)

Tip #5: If you need to post a new topic, make sure you make your post title as descriptive as possible. “WP Newbie Help!” won’t cut it, but “URL for RSS feed not working in address bar” might. Make sure you know which version of WordPress you are using. You can find out by going to the link in the upper right corner of your admin page where it says: “Dashboard”. If you have any special configuration for your WP install, such as in a subfolder of your site, make sure you mention that as well. Provide a link to your site so people can see the issue if they need to. Make sure you enter Tags (keywords used to find your topic) and choose a Section as well.

Tip #6: Keep checking back for responses to your post by signing into the forum and going to your Profile. If you manage to solve your issue, then make sure you change the status of your topic to “Resolved” this will “pay it forward” to other WP users. Good luck!

-maybe the Pope’s right! ;^)

We’re all familiar with the SEO mantra “ranking is determined in part by the number of pages that link back to your site.” While that is a big slice of the magic pie of good search results rankings, it is a concept that leaves many people wondering how all those wonderful links are created. Plenty of companies are poised to pounce on your money with their promise of acquiring links by the bushel for you, but do you really need to spend any money at all?

Heck, no! Here are five strategies that can be used to seed the web with quality links back to your site. (But no spamming!)

1) Be A Joiner:
A nice thing about social networking is that many sites allow you to join for free and you can instantly start looking for other people you may know on a particular network. When you build your profile page on a service such as Twitter, Facebook or Orkut, you can list your website(s) as a live link.

2) Weave Your Web:
There are plenty of blogging services out there and most of them give you the option of putting links to other sites in a sidebar. So if you have a couple of blogs out there and maybe a site for your business, make sure each of your sites includes links back to the others.

3) Holler Back:
Chances are there are lots of sites/blogs out there related to your business. Find some good, high-traffic ones. Then check out 1) If they have comments enabled and 2) If the comment form allows you list your web site’s url. Then, follow your favorites when you find their content useful, post a comment and include your url.
A few tips:
Do write a comment that is worth reading. While “Great post! Thanks!” is nice, it’s not really saying much is it? Why did you like it? How do you plan to make use of what you learned?
Don’t treat it like a Super Bowl commercial. Most bloggers have approval over which comments get posted and if I smell a “comment commercial” I tend to go for that spam button.
Do check the freshness date on the content you are commenting on. Posts more than a year old are not as likely to be read as something posted up to 3 months ago.

Another method for connecting with other sites is to utilize trackbacks and pingbacks. While this method does not necessarily put a link back to your site on another web page, it will let another blog know when you link back to it. Diligent bloggers like to know who is linking to them and it will help others to know you are out there. I included these because sometimes blogs do not allow for comments, only tracks and pings and it’s good to know what they’re about. Sometimes pings can be utilized via a service like Technorati to let it know when you have added new content.

4) Be A Critic:
Amazon has some great benefits to joining. You can sign up as an Associate and sell products through your web site and create a user profile that can include your website’s url. When you write a review of an Amazon product, your name is linked to your profile. So, if you take care to write helpful reviews for popular items, you can help generate that much more traffic to your site.

5) Be Your Own Press Agent:
If you took the advice of tip #1, then you have a ready-made media outlet already. Whenever you write new content for your site, update Twitter and Facebook and any other sites to reflect that. (Twitter has a function where you can incorporate your tweets into your Facebook wall. Useful in the way of saving time, but try not to create too much “clutter”) For example: “Jenn has just written a post about SEO on jennmearswebdesign.com”. Keep it short and simple.

There’s also an array of aggregate services out there where you can volunteer links to your content. Here’s a few:
Del.icio.us: Bookmark a link to your content on your page.
Stumble upon: Go to your page and click Stumble icon if you have it on your toolbar and/or embedded on your page.
Digg: Submit your new content’s url in the appropriate category.
Reddit: Submit your link.

Jenn Tip: Of course, you join all these services and before you know it, you’re dealing with an onslaught of usernames, passwords and invite emails. How do you keep it all straight?
1) Ensure your browser has the ability to remember signin info (on a secure, personal computer) and take advantage so you won’t have to keep looking up your password.
2) I actually use a similar password for each site. You may want to encrypt a little more than this, but it helps when I use a different computer.
3) Most services you sign up for send you a confirmation email. Create a “memberships” folder in your online inbox and store it there.
4) Maintain a text file that lists your accounts in alphabetical order and keep the usernames and passwords updated.
5) Organize how you are going to find all these sites. I use the bookmarks tool on my browser. You could also use another bookmarking service such as Del.icio.us and a common tag such as “Daily” or “Social”.

Above all, remember that quality link building is an ongoing, proactive process. Make the time to develop your network. Just create a simple goal like: “I am going to create at least 3 incoming links to my site every day.” and go from there. Good luck!

So I started noticing how much time I actually do spend in front of a screen and realized I had enough time to start looking more closely at social networking sites and strategies. But it does take a while to fully examine all the options out there and hopefully this series of posts will save you some time and you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how to make these tools work for you.

I started by taking a few hours and signing up for the 4 most well-known services; Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. Here’s my initial impressions of each:

Facebook:
Profile Address/User Name: Jennifer Nickerson
Sign Up Process: A little involved, but it’s damn eerie how the names from your past start popping up when you fill out where you’ve worked and gone to school.
Ease of Use: Fairly easy and basically what happens once you sign up is you are allowed to contact people you may know who are already on Facebook and ask them to be your Facebook friend. Then they can post messages for you on your “wall” and you can track what they’ve been up to as well.
What’s in it for me?: Online networking that doesn’t feel like “speed dating in a tie”. You can post a link to your website in your profile. Your profile includes your Wall, Info and Photos on a tabbed page.

LinkedIn:
Profile Address/User Name:http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifernickerson
Sign Up Process: Fairly involved, but the more complete your profile, the better your chances of getting a connection to a potential client/employer/employee
Ease of Use:Fairly easy, once you enter the Profile process. Similar connections look-up functionality to Facebook.
What’s in it for me?: This is Facebook and MySpace’s older sibling with a briefcase and a firm handshake. You can connect with other members and trade recommendations for each other. A couple of nice features are the Amazon Reading List (lots of potential for you Amazon Associates out there) and the ability to list more than one website in your profile.

MySpace:
Profile Address/User Name:http://www.myspace.com/jennnickerson
Sign Up Process:Not bad, but there’s no lookup function built in.
Ease of Use: Could be better. You have to be fairly pro-active to take advantage of all there is and there’s 18 themes to choose from. I now understand all those Craig’s List “Pimp My MySpace Page!” ads. Also, when I tried to add my profile photo it seemed to upload fine, but the photo placeholder was still in place. Nothing tells one to click on the uploaded image and then designate it as the “default” photo. In these days of instant Avatar creation, this seemed a little lame to me.
What’s in it for me?: It’s another way to get your name out there and if you want to create a profile focused on your business, it couldn’t hurt. If I was a little bit (OK, a lot) younger, I would focus on it a little more, but for business/colleague networking purposes, there are better options.

Twitter:
Profile Address/User Name: http://twitter.com/jennsweb
Sign Up Process: Painless and there’s a look up function for finding other users you may know and the ability to send them invites.
Ease of Use: Pretty easy and their blog is fairly useful.
What’s in it for me?: You can stay in touch with your friends and co-workers but it’s passive tracking. You just check on people you are “following” and if they’ve made updates you can read them, but there’s no need to respond if you don’t have to.

Jenn Tips:
Here’s a few things to bear in mind before you plunge into the bottomless pool that is online social networking.

1: Gather together a list of all your email contacts and have it handy. Any format is fine. I actually keep a handwritten one since my webmail doesn’t have the capability to print out a list. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook allow you to search for potential connections via popular webmail services such as Gmail and Yahoo, but if you don’t have a full contact list on each account, then the reference list comes in handy.

2: Build good Linked In karma by offering to trade recommendations with others.

3: Decide which website you will always list on each service and get that website in good shape before signing on.

4: Take advantage of RSS feeds, Favorites Folders, bookmarks, or whatever it takes to make these sites easy to find while you are online. Use easy-to-remember but not obvious passwords and treat these accounts like you would your best friend’s dog while they are out of town. Cobwebby profiles can be a kiss of death to a potential connection.