Blogging News

How to Merge the Popularity of Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button with Your Website

Looking for a simple way to integrate social media into your web business? Thanks to a new technology developed by Facebook engineer Matt Kelly, e-commerce professionals can now fuse the legendary popularity of Facebook’s Like application with the homepage of their website.

Currently, more than 350,000 websites have utilized this social plug-in to encourage the same interaction, feedback and excitement garnered by the mega trend of Facebook Like. On a side note, however, the technology is not affiliated with the official Facebook name and is considered to be a personal side project of Kelly.

“The script makes it possible to have Like, Recommendations, and Activity Feed features on any Firefox page you visit,” Facebook told Mashable.com.

So, how can you obtain the Like script on your website? The necessary technology is a simple Greasemonkey extension that sets the Like bar atop any web page (expect Facebook.com). Facebook Like is compatible with Firefox – as long as the Greasemonkey add-on has been installed – and Google Chrome, while Safari requires a Greasekit.
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10 Quirky Truths You Probably Don’t Know About Facebook

While most social media users are at least somewhat familiar with the innovative origins of Facebook, many remain unknowing about a collection of quirky facts that stem from its beginnings. But before we discuss the peculiar truths of this phenomenal social network, let’s examine a brief history of how Facebook came to be.

For those who have evaded any biographical knowledge about Facebook, here are the key points to remember. Facebook was launched in February 2004 as TheFacebook.com by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg as a project of personal interest. Within the few short months that followed its debut, Facebook emerged as a smash across campus dorms and then – just a few months after that – it was extended to the students of Stanford and Yale where it became widely endorsed.

Shortly after, Zuckerberg – joined by fellow Harvard-students Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz – transformed Facebook into a national marvel of student networking. Then, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to pursue the Facebook dream full-time, dedicating their lives to the paramount project. In August 2005, TheFacebook.com officially became Facebook and the domain Facebook.com was purchased for a reported $200,000.

And now, thanks to Mashable.com, you’ll find the juicy truth about Facebook as a startup with 10 remarkable and little-known truths.

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Recognizing the Value of Women’s Role in Social Media and Societal Change

A short time ago, Jessica Faye Carter – an award-winning author and columnist – wrote a piece for Mashable.com that outlined “how social media presents women with increased opportunities for influence and professional development.” The feedback she received from readers (men and women), however, was heavily weighted with opinions that depicted women’s interest in social media as superficial “girl talk” or summed it up as a natural ability as “connectors.” Today, Carter presents a more in-depth examination to support her theory as to why social media presents women with a platform for professional gain and cultural influence.

Let’s start with the boldest reality: Of the 87 million women active on the Internet, an estimated 67.5 million women are engaged with social media, Carter explained. In fact, she claims that such an outstanding measurement clearly demonstrates that there’s a bit more to the story than the simple enjoyment of social interaction.

Sociolinguists denote women as innovators in communication, especially in regard to new forms of languages. Therefore, Carter began her research at the foundation of this principle and uncovered an impressive timeline of women’s innovative movements and cultural influence throughout previous centuries. Below are highlights of her findings.

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5 Fabulous Resources to Tackle Small-Business Questions

It doesn’t matter if it’s been two weeks or several years since your entrepreneurial intuition led you to create an online enterprise; the fact remains that no matter how far your e-commerce skills take you, no small-business owner is prepared to handle the many unfamiliar hurdles that are certain to arise.

However, don’t become overwhelmed by moments of uncertainty and sink-or-swim scenarios that can generate an endless stream of questions in your mind. It’s important to know you’re not alone. And as you dive deeper into your brand development and marketing strategies you’ll find that these puzzlements will cause you to rethink the ways you once searched for answers and information.

Some of the best advice around comes directly from someone who has already overcome the same obstacle. Therefore, you’ll want to visit online resources – there are many – designed to service small-business owners with helpful tools such as Q&A forums and the ability to connect with other entrepreneurs in your industry.

Below you’ll find five valuable sources, thanks to Mashable.com, to get you started.

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Why Your Company Needs a Business Blog

Business blogs are one of the primary components of Web 2.0 marketing, offering manifold benefits to any company. These benefits only manifest themselves, however, if you use your blog properly, which can be difficult to do. Many business owners ask themselves if a blog is worth the time, money and effort it takes to maintain it: the answer from the experts is a resounding “yes.”

Why You Need a Business Blog

A business blog provides an opportunity to add fresh, relevant content consistently and serves as a means of communication between you and your customers. Instead of updating your website on a daily basis, constantly shifting images and updating text, you can inform clients of sales and new products on your blog. Blogs feature easy-to-use software, meaning you can add a new post in a fraction of the time it takes to update your site.

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Six Social Media Mistakes to Avoid and How to Correct Miscalculation

While many self-starting individuals and businesses have excelled using social media to promote their enterprise, others have witnessed little or no success with interactive media and are left puzzled as to why.

What most people don’t realize is that their lack of success with social media might be attributed to their own actions. Below you’ll find six common social media mistakes, courtesy of SocialMediaExaminer.com, along with simple solutions to get back on the road to success.

Mistake: Making the Wrong Connections
Many new business owners are misguided by their elementary entrepreneurial intuition, which tells them that the larger the spectrum of consumers the better the chance of sales. While reaching out to the masses is important, the key to establishing connections with potential customers is to focus on your target consumer – i.e. the demographic that your product/service was intended for.

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Improve Your Facebook Page and Increase Fans with Simple Equation for Success

Gather round business owners, social media newbies and not-so-savvy computer nerds – this is something you’ll want to hear. Do you find yourself lost, frustrated or just plain overwhelmed by the concept of social media? Do you struggle to integrate such platforms into your online business? Well, prepare yourself a dose of good news.

According to a recent case study, the key to unlocking a successful Facebook page is as simple as believing in your cause and exhibiting that faith throughout your marketing plan.

The subject of the study was the Facebook page of the California State Parks Foundation and the results were jaw-dropping. In just 14 days (plus media coverage) the foundation’s fan base jumped from 517 to 33,000 people.

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Tire-Cover Company Pledges Loyalty to iePlexus After Experiencing Great Success

Two weeks – that’s all the time it took for Cindy and Jerry Jackson to witness a booming success with their web business after signing up with iePlexus.

“Right away we noticed an increased and steady flow of traffic to our website and, by the end of the first two weeks, our sales had nearly quadrupled,” Cindy recalls.

In June 2008 the couple embarked upon their enterprise, www.BreezeByYou.com, and was just staying afloat with an average of three sales per day. Now, with the professional support of iePlexus, the business averages 10 to 12 sales daily.

“I’ve already burned up one printer, and am almost through another, with all the orders I receive. My drop-shipper even struggled to keep up with my order requests; they had to hire more help just to maintain our commissions,” she said.

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Keys to Successful Business Blogging

Blogging about how to blog may seem like a conceited task, but the truth of the matter is that most people who blog aren’t utilizing the medium to its full potential. According to statistics complied by Technorati, there are an estimated 175,000 new blogs created everyday. Albeit a considerable number of these blogs never make it past the first few posts, that is still an astronomical amount of competition. So the challenge all bloggers have to confront is how to get their voice heard through all of the static. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

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Nipping Spam Comments in the Bud

Blogging is an indispensable tool for disseminating information, cultivating multilateral communication and promoting your business. But even if you are simply blogging for fun, we all like to know that are voices are being heard, which is why getting comments on your blog is such a rewarding feeling. And while it would be nice if only well-intentioned people interested in expounding a topic commented to your blog, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the feedback you receive will actually be spam comments.

Any blogger knows that creating a blog and writing fresh, relevant content is a time-consuming endeavor. And, not surprisingly, there are people out there looking to take a piggyback ride on your hard work. Instead of creating their own blog, other website owners will add a comment to your site with a link back to their business page. Not only is this a bastardization of the purpose of the comments section, it also can have a negative impact on your blog. As we mentioned in our previous post on search engine algorithms, your inbound and outbound links are a crucial component in search engine algorithms. So if you have a surfeit of spam comments linking to shady sites, it doesn’t bode well for your blog’s ranking in the various search engines.

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