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How To Learn SEO Online

Nov 10th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
1 comment

I’m a trainer with the Search Engine Academy in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I teach classes to business owners who want to learn how to get to the top of Google. We teach many different techniques to get to the top and help people to learn the right ways to beat their competition.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible for everyone to travel or take several days off from work or running their business in order to learn in a classroom setting.

Now there’s a new way to learn search engine optimization (SEO): online!

A New Online SEO Learning Program

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet about what is the “right” way to optimize your content for the search engines. There’s also just a LOT of information that makes it difficult to know what’s the best strategy to take.

John Alexander and Robin Nobles, the founders of the Search Engine Academy, have taught online courses for many years. I’ve been working with them to put together a new program that is affordable, and gets to the core of exactly what people need to know.

We’ve heard a lot of business owners tell us that they get so frustrated trying to cut through the (mis)information just so they can do things right without:

  • Wasting time
  • Hurting themselves on the search engines
  • Fiddling with “code” and being a “web geek”

Eight SEO Learning Modules (Plus a Bonus Module)

So we’ve heard you and have created a program that cuts through the junk and gives you bite-sized chunks that will allow you to be effective and time-efficient in getting your site to the top. These steps include:

  1. Fix your website – most websites need some changes to get the search engines to rank them higher
  2. Get found locally – most people search for a local business to spend their money with, so get found easier
  3. Stop shooting in the dark – find out what people really search for and optimize for that
  4. Build links to your website – links are the “votes” that will get you to the top
  5. Get indexed quickly – It can take weeks for your site to be indexed, so we’ll show you how to get indexed more quickly without tricks
  6. Set up measurement tools – find out what your customers are really doing on your site, and what they’re not doing
  7. Get more information from Google – how do you get rewarded by Google and get indexed more quickly?
  8. Fix the little things with your website to notch ahead of your competition

Finally we’ll have a bonus module that will show you a legitimate way of getting to the top of Google within an hour or two that can reap big rewards from people searching for you.

Learn SEO Online

Our new program is called “Learn SEO Online” (quite simply), and anyone can learn the right way to get listed at the top of Google for their keywords!

I hope to “see” you there!

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization.
Tagged: · · · ·

Five Free Keyword Research Tools for SEO and Article Generating Ideas

Oct 13th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
4 comments

Recently, I wrote that the “right” keyword phrase to optimize your website for is what your customers are searching for. The point is that if you try to guess what people want, you’ll be wrong.

Instead, you want to try to do some “keyword research” which sounds really intimidating. There are many fine paid programs available to you, like WordTracker, Keyword Discovery, and Market Samurai. I personally use WordTracker all the time. But if you don’t want to spend the money, or just want to do some simple research, there are several free tools available for you to use. This isn’t an exhaustive list, as there are others. But it’s a list that will get you started.

When picking a tool, they each have good and bad points, strengths and weaknesses. There is no perfect tool to give you “the” right answer. Instead, use the tools you have as indicators and do your best without sweating the details. That’s really all you can do to try to predict what your customers are looking for on the search engines. So here is my list of five free tools, and why they’re each unique in what they deliver.

Google Trends

http://trends.google.com

Difficulty Level: Moderate

This tool is somewhat specialized, but it can give you some great ideas for trending topics that have been happening over the last 24 hours or so. If something is big in the news, and it relates somehow to your business, you might be able to ride the coattails of that trend. Click on the “More Hot Searches” link and look for topics that might be related to your industry or business in some way. Use it as an idea generator for a blog post or press release that you can get onto the search engines very quickly. Make sure the phrase is in your Title tag (or headline), and get it on the Internet as fast as you can. If it’s relevant, people searching for that topic will find your article and click through to see what you know about it.

Google Suggest

http://www.google.com

Difficulty Level: Easy

As you type in the search box on Google’s website, they are kind enough to suggest five related searches for you. Google is giving you suggestions that a lot of other people search for, trying to anticipate what you’re actually searching for. This is great for you, because you can generate some other ideas for keywords. Shoot for keywords that are four or more words long – longtail keywords – because you’ll have less competition, the longer the phrase.

Next, type that phrase into Google, and see how many “results” they display (right below the search box). Whatever that number is, that’s your competition. If, for instance, it’s 50 million, that’s probably a pretty tough phrase to optimize for. If it’s 50,000 on the other hand, you’ve got a much better chance of getting found for it.

Google Insights for Search

http://www.google.com/insights/search

Difficulty Level: Moderate

First, make sure you log in with any Google id. They’ll give you more data than without logging in. Use it compare up to five phrases to see which are more popular. Do people search for “San Francisco employment lawyer” or “San Francisco employment attorney” more? (It turns out they search for “attorney” more.) But if you type those phrases into Google (the “regular” Google), you’ll see that competition is far less for “lawyer” than attorney.

Now take out the “San Francisco” part on both searches, and down at the bottom, you’ll see ten “rising searches”. Use these as clues into what people are searching more for, because they’re trending upwards. Experiment to see what highly searched phrases you can find that have low competition. It takes a little extra work, but it’s really worth it.

Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Difficulty Level: Easy

The Google Adwords tool just got a new look and functionality. It can generate some great keyword ideas for you, and gives you more than ten at a time. The problem I have with it, is that the data is from the advertisers’ perspective, and not from the searchers’. I want key phrases that have a lot of searches, not those that the advertisers are willing to pay high dollars for. But nonetheless, it’s worth a peek to generate some keyword ideas.

WordTracker Keyword Questions

http://labs.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

WordTracker is a paid tool, but they do give you a little sip of some of their data with their free “Questions” tool. Type in a single word or a phrase, and they’ll generate a list of 100 questions that people type into Dogpile (where they get their data). Again, a great idea generator to see what your customers are typing into the search engines. It’s not data from Google, but can give you some great ideas.

Unfortunately, there are no tools that will give you “the” perfect answer to what your clients and customers are typing into the search engines. But these free tools give you some reasonable data that you can use to generate ideas for articles, blog posts, press releases, or another page of content on your website. You sure can’t beat the price too!

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization, Tips.
Tagged: · · · · · ·

Livermore Chamber of Commerce Marketing Summit

May 4th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
1 comment

Last year I helped organize a marketing summit at the Livermore Chamber of Commerce. The economy was in a slump of course, and I wanted to see whatwe could do help businesses get back in the game. Even though the economy is showing signs of coming back, it’s still going to be a long road. It’s just as important today to adapt to the new ways of marketing that businesses have available to them as it was before.

The Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Doubletree Hotel in Livermore to host the all-day session. It will include four experts who will provide participants with some very specific plans they can put in place now to help them attract their ideal customers.

E-mail Marketing

Stu Carty is a veteran sales and marketing specialist at Constant Contact with more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise software industry. He is going to demonstrate how email marketing is a cost effective and easy-to-measure tool. It’s suitable for all experience levels, and this session will teach participants how to master email marketing communications with a comprehensive look at best practices and winning strategies for getting and keeping quality subscribers. Everyone will get access to a free 60-day trial account, which is fully active.

Marketing Message

Michele Molitor, is a highly sought after executive coach, business consultant and speaker at Nectar Consulting, Inc. She helps entrepreneurs create substantial organizational growth. She leverages her extensive management, branding, design, and marketing experience from leading edge multimedia and web development companies with an engaging coaching style and interdisciplinary approach.

During this engaging talk, she’ll teach participants the keys to successfully marketing their business and attract all the clients they need to grow their organization more effectively and easily!

Social Media

Lee Richter is CEO of Richter Communications and Design Group in downtown Oakland. She has more than 20 years experience in marketing and public relations for clients such as Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Baxter Healthcare, Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, Edmunds.com, the Republic of Tea and many others.

Social media has become the hot topic for all businesses, but most don’t know what it is, where to start or why to put together a social media plan. Lee will provide some specific steps that businesses should implement right away to set up a social media plan, and start benefitting from the power of social media.

Search Engine Marketing

Then there’s me. I’m the President of the Bay Area Search Engine Academy, which has a single goal of teaching business owners how to get positioning on the search engines through keyword research and proper content building techniques. I’m only one of approximately 2400 HFI-Certified Usability Analysts® in the world.

Because the rules of advertising have changed drastically in just the last few years, many business owners still cling to the old ways. I will teach participants five new ways to market their businesses using the power of the Internet and attract people who are looking for them.

Seating is limited to 100 people, and it includes a light breakfast and full lunch. Cost is $99 per person, and you can register online on the Livermore Chamber Web site. Participants are encouraged to bring business cards, to network, and to come with an open mind about new ways to market their business.

I hope I’ll see you there!

Posted in: Presentation.
Tagged: ·

East Bay SEO and Internet Marketing Meetup

May 3rd, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
1 comment

Last year, I joined a free system called Meetup.com. I don’t remember specifically how I heard about it, but they have a way for people with common interests to get together on just about any subject imaginable. I joined because I wanted to meet other people who are interested in learning about search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing.

I attended a couple meetings at a local restaurant’s bar, and got to meet some nice people. But it was a little frustrating because the bar was noisy and crowded. Not a great place to have in depth conversations about the nuances of META tags.

Earlier this year, I got an e-mail from Meetup.com that the group was adrift without a leader, and they needed someone to step up. After speaking to a friend of mine, Steve Scott, who runs a Tampa, Florida meetup and SEO Search Engine Academy, I decided to take over the group and rearrange things a bit.

The East Bay SEO and Internet Marketing meetup has about 200 members, but I honestly had no idea where they came from, what their interests are, or really anything about them, since I’d only met a handful of people at the local bar. I sent out a Survey Monkey and got some good feedback from. It seems that folks are pretty evenly split between two areas: the Tri-Valley area (Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and surrounding area), and further north in the Walnut Creek, Orinda, Concord area.

After doing some digging, I found two restaurants that had what I needed: free wireless access and a back room that wasn’t too expensive. Now we rotate the meetings every other month between Pleasanton at The Hopyard, and Walnut Creek at the Pyramid Alehouse in an attempt to accommodate both groups of people.

After doing some thinking, I reformatted the meetings a bit to give everyone a little of something:

  • A quiet place to network and exchange business cards (and eat a little food if desired)
  • A place where people can ask questions about SEO or internet marketing
  • Have a little mini-SEO lesson of some sort

I wanted it to be completely open to anyone who wants to join. We have food available if they want it at a nominal fee, but really I just want people to come and learn and network.

Today, we have our fourth meeting, the second one in Walnut Creek. Each meeting has had about a dozen people in attendance, and it’s been fun meeting everyone. I’m hoping that the group will continue to grow and evolve as it gets more wind in its sails, but for now, it’s a great group of people. Everyone pitches in with ideas and suggestions for those who are newer in the group and wanting to learn.

If you’re interested in meeting others who have an interest in SEO, search engine marketing (SEM) and Internet marketing, please join us on the first Monday of each month (generally) from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. sharp. The full meetup calendar is available, and you can register at no cost.

Posted in: Opinion.
Tagged:

Google’s Webmaster Tools Have Exciting New Features

Apr 19th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
3 comments
Google Webmaster Tools

Google upgraded their Webmaster Tools

Google continues to enhance their toolset to give those of us who are professionals in the SEO and Web world, more data. Feed me data! They recently launched a new version of the Webmaster Tools which gives you more data from the back end, which complements Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is great at giving you data on what happens when a visitor clicks through to your Web site, no matter where they came from. In the past, the Webmaster Tools gave us a little information about what people saw when users didn’t click though to you – valuable data too.

But with the new Webmaster Tools, you’ll get a new insight into what’s going on from the search engine perspective, even before your visitors click through to your Web site.

If you haven’t registered your Web site with the Webmaster Tools, you must do so first, in order to get any data.

Segment Data Based on Country

If your business gets traffic from different parts of the world, it’s likely that search results and interactions are going to be different. Click the dropdown choice that shows “All Countries”. You can pick a specific country, and the data and graph will change to reflect the searches that are specific to that country.

Impressions and Clickthrough Rate

In the old version of the Webmaster Tools, you could see some basic data about where your Web site showed up in the searches. Now, however, they give you impressions (the number of times your page actually showed up), how many clicks that term got, and the clickthrough rate as a percentage.

Even more exciting is the ability to click the “plus” symbol to expand out more data. They give you the specific pages that show up for a search term, the position number, and again, clickthrough rate.

The graph at the top of the page gives you the impressions compared to clickthrough rate over time. By hovering over a data point, you get a pop up bubble that shows the actual data of that specific point.

Additional Data Insight

The important point of all this is that it’s data about your Web site that Google Analytics doesn’t give you. It’s fantastic to know what people are doing once they arrive at your Web’s doorstep, but to know which pages people are wandering by without coming in the door is gold.

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization, Tips.
Tagged: · · · ·

When Social Media Turns, Well, “Social”

Apr 16th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
3 comments

Last night I attended a local event that my friend Adam Walker Cleaveland had been bugging me to attend for some time. He and two other folks, Chris Riley (who I knew casually) and Nicole Nicolay (“Nik Nik”) have been holding a “Tri-Valley Tweetup” gathering every month for a while. The only excuse to gather is that we all use Twitter, and I think that’s a pretty loose requirement that’s easily forgiven if you don’t. I’ve been to many mixers and get-togethers, and I even run my own SEO meetup group every month. I actually like hanging out with people who have similar interests.

But these Tweetups always seem to be on an evening when something’s going on. So I just couldn’t get there. I realized yesterday that, “Sheesh, I’m going home to an empty home after work.” My wife is out of town, and my step-daughter was going to her Dad’s house. So what the heck? I have nothing better going on.

Tri-Valley Tweetup at Tenuta

Tri-Valley Tweetup and barrel tasting at Tenuta Winery

The Tweetup was being sponsored by and held at one of the local Livermore wineries, Tenuta Winery. (Later I learned that it’s the third largest in the Livermore Valley!) I got there and a couple of my other networking buds were there, June Sablan and Alice Jones – hadn’t seen them in a while, so cool: friendly faces at least.

As others gathered there, we grew to perhaps twenty people. All of us are intensely interested in social media, connecting online, blogging, and well, tweeting. Of course the fact that Rich Rollins from Tenuta was taking us on a tour and dipping wine directly from the barrels for us to taste sure didn’t hurt either.

One of my new-found friends is Sarah Kay Hoffman, and she almost instantly posted a blog about our gathering, complete with photos and videos of Rich, Adam and Butter the Vineyard Cat.

One of Sarah’s comments really struck me: “It’s when you take the ‘online’ to the ‘offline’ when Social Media is even more effective!” That small statement is so poignant and profound. So many of us spend an awful lot of time in our cubes, offices, and fuzzy slippers, banging away at the keyboard to communicate to the untold and unseen masses across the globe. Many of the people I communicate with I haven’t seen in decades – or ever.

But it’s when we as humans come together in a common setting with no agenda, just to hang, it’s when we really turn the “social media” into something “social”. I can honestly say that I’m sorry I haven’t been to any of the previous Tweetups. I had a great time seeing old friends and making new friends. It was truly a joy to just hang out and talk about random things from iPads to what we do for a living.

And no, we didn’t sit around and tweet to each other either. We actually used the spoken word.

Thus the online social connections turned offline, and business cards were exchanged here and there.

Posted in: Opinion.
Tagged: ·

How to Submit Your Website to a Search Engine for Free

Apr 14th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
3 comments

When you’ve built a brand new Web site, or even added new pages to your existing Web site, it’s easy to get impatient and want Google and the other search engines to find you now! Unfortunately, there’s no quick road to getting indexed. It can take two, three or four weeks or more for new sites and new pages to be indexed. It’s just the way it works.

The Wrong Way To Submit Your Web Site

Many people use the “Submit a URL” option that some of the search engines offer to try to get their site listed. The belief is that this is the “right” way to get Google to notice them, and you may even be tempted to use it several times.

Don’t do it!

The truth about using these “Submit a URL” pages is that it’s a red flag for Google. Most of the spam sites also submit their sites in the hope that they’ll get listed more quickly, by using automated tools (it’s just easier that way). However, you’ll end up looking just like all the other spammers in Google’s system, and they’ll probably set you aside for awhile.

The Right Way To Submit Your Web Site

By helping Google, Yahoo! and the other search engines to trust you, and believe that you’re a legitimate site, not just junk, there are a couple things you can do. I’ve seen pages show up in Google’s index in as little as one week if you follow these instructions.

How Do You Know If Your Site Is Indexed?

First, how do you know if a page or your site has been indexed? In any of the search engines, type in the search box:

site:yourdomainname.com

Look through the pages to see if your site or specific page has been indexed. If you see missing pages, they haven’t been picked up for any of various reasons, like:

  • The pages are new and not indexed yet
  • The Web site is new, and nothing has been indexed
  • The page(s) can’t be reached by the search engines because there are no active links to that page

Step One: Build Search Engine Trust

Assuming that your page(s) have not been indexed, or you have a new Web site, you need to first register it and valdate your site with Google and Yahoo!

Google Webmaster Tools Logo

First go to Google’s Webmaster Tools site and create an account. Click the “Add a site…” button near the top and enter the URL. Then follow their instructions to Verify the site. You have three choices:

  • Upload an HTML file – Create a special file in the root of your Web site
  • META Tag – Add a special META tag to the <head> section of your Web site
  • Add DNS Record – This one is a new choice, where you a text record to your DNS configuration

Frankly I find either of the first two choices the easiest to do. Once you’ve done that, Google will check to make sure you did as instructed. Now you’ve given Google some reason to trust your site.

Yahoo! Site Explorer

You can repeat this step with Yahoo!’s Site Explorer.

Step Two: Get Your Site Indexed

Assuming your site has many pages, I like to compare it to a building. If you think of each page as a “room”, and your links are the various doors into each of your rooms. The more links you have to each of the individual pages, the more likely someone or a search engine will wander in.

Google and the other search engines index your site by finding links. By opening these “doors”, they’ll go in an check out the “rooms” (your pages). It takes time to open each door and check out all the rooms, so likewise, it will take a while for your site to be indexed.

Instead, I prefer to give Google a blueprint to all the “rooms”. This is called an XML sitemap. There are many free tools that will generate your sitemap, but I like to use XML Sitemaps. Have the tool create a sitemap, which is just a text file. Save it to the root directory of your Web site.

Next, go to the Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo! SiteExplorer and tell them where the XML sitemap is. Yahoo! calls them “feeds”.

Maintain Your Sitemap

As you add pages to your site, make sure you keep the sitemap file up to date with the changes. Both Google and Yahoo! will periodically upload your XML sitemap file, and see if there’s anything new there. That way, they don’t have to go “discover” it by openening all your “doors” and peeking in each “room”.

Posted in: Tips, Uncategorized.
Tagged: ·

Get Your Business Listed On Google Maps In Five Steps

Apr 13th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
4 comments

Google, Yahoo! and Bing all have local business listings with maps. The cool thing about them is that they often show up above the organic search results when someone is looking for a local business. Another benefit is that it can give you a second link on the page, if your business happens to show up in the regular search results too. In my book, more link exposure is better. This post will give you five easy steps that you can use to get listed on the map or get listed at or near the top.

Claim Your Listing or Create It

Google Local Business Listing

Bay Area Search Engine Academy's business listing on Google

Your business may already have a listing there that was automatically created because you’re listed in the Yellow Pages or in some other business database, like InfoUSA. To find out, search for your business name with your city and state. If it’s there, click the “More Information” link. You may see a link at the top right that says “Business Owner?”. That means it hasn’t been claimed and verified.

If you don’t see your listing, go to the Google Business Solutions page, then click the “Local Business Center” link.

Create a Google account if you don’t have one, or log in if you do, then create a new listing.

Fill In All The Boxes

The more complete your business profile is, the more you’ll get rewarded with a higher position. Fill in everything that you can, including your Web site address, hours, company description, what forms of payment you take, and so on. Make sure your address is correct. If the thumbtack on the map isn’t in the right place, you can also move it to put it in the rigth location.

If you have a toll-free phone number that’s fine, but if you can provide a local phone number with the area code in that area, this will help. Go ahead and list the local number too.

One of the most important parts of the form to fill out are the Categories. You can list up to 10 business categories, and Google will suggest some to you. If you don’t see yours, go ahead and create new categories. Think key words here – what products are people searching for in your town? Add those as categories.

If you want to include some other news or a special offer coupon that your customers can print out, by all means, include that as well. Mix it up and test it out to see what converts your customes.

Upload Photographs

Google gives you a place to put up to ten photos or images. Take advantage of this by adding them all. Make the first image your logo, then it will show up next to your business listing. Fill in the other nine with pictures of yourself, your staff, your store, some products or whatever else makes sense for your business. Again, the more you can fill in all the blanks, the higher you’ll be listed.

Create Videos

Videos are a terrific way of communicating some additional information about your business. Get an inexpensive video camera or use your cell phone to make five short (1 minute) videos. Try to make them as professional as possible, but don’t sweat it too much. Some ideas for some short videos might include:

  • Happy customers giving a short testimonial about how great you are
  • An inside tour of your business, restaurant or shop
  • A video introducing your staff
  • An introduction from you as the owner telling why you love to work with your clients

Just make them short – no more than 2 minutes. Upload the videos to YouTube and make sure your company name is in the Description. Then from your Google Local Business Center account, you can link them to your new five videos.

Get Reviews

Finally, encourage your customers to give you reviews. They can go into your business listing and rate you from 1 to 5 stars and tell why they love you. Make sure that you ask a few people at a time. If they see too many reviews showing up all at once, they may be a bit suspicious that you’re influencing them. Instead, over time, send a thank you card to your clients with a $5 coffee shop gift card asking them to please take a moment to review your business on Google.

Other people will read these reviews, which of course will help you attract new customers (assuming you’re doing a great job!).

Even businesses who, due to corporate rules (like franchisees) aren’t allowed to have their own Web site, can have a business listing for free. All you need is a physical address and a phone number. One of my friends gets business from it every week, because she’s listed right at the top of the Google map! It’s hard to beat “free advertising” from Google and the other search engines.

Posted in: Tips.
Tagged: ·

Facebook Security for Professionals: How To Manage Your Friends

Apr 12th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
10 comments

I was reading recently that there are 400 million people on Facebook, which of course, includes me. It’s growing by leaps and bounds, and as I get more connected on LinkedIn and other social sites, I started having a true dilemma. How do I keep Facebook personal, but not let out too much personal information to total (or even partial) strangers?

What’s A “Friend”, Really?

You may have faced the same dilemma: Who do you accept as a “friend”?

  • High school classmates who you haven’t seen in 30 years?
  • Someone you met once at a Chamber mixer?
  • A client?
  • Someone who you’ve never met, but you’re connected to on LinkedIn?
  • Anyone around the world?

If you’re like me, you have personal information that maybe you don’t necessarily want the whole world to see, like pictures of your family, your e-mail address, phone numbers, and so on.

On the other hand, I want to connect with people who might do business with me, so I can either:

  • Not have any personal information on my Facebook profile
  • Segregate the people I connect with into groups, and give the groups different levels of permission

The former choice is OK, but friends and family want to see pictures and things that I’m up to. I could set up a second profile, but that just gets really confusing to manage.

Instead, I chose to separate people into groups and give the groups permissions that I think are appropriate.

Step 1: Create A Bucket List

You need to create a list of “buckets”, but not what you want to do before you die. Instead create buckets that you can easily segregate people into that make sense for you. I have essentially three buckets:

  • Former high school classmates
  • Professional connections (people I do know or have done business with or met at mixers)
  • People I don’t know

Classmates and professional connections, I don’t mind them having my personal contact information. However, I don’t necessarily want them to have access to photos of my children or other personal information. The people in the “People I don’t know” group are literally people I don’t know and have never met, or haven’t seen in many years. They don’t get access to my personal information, most photo albums, and have various other restrictions (which I’ll explain in a second).

If you’re a Facebook friend who hasn’t been included in any of these groups, you therefore get access to all my information, because you are someone I know and trust.

So far so good?

Step 2: Create Your Lists

In Facebook, choose “Account”, then click “Edit Friends”. At the top, is a button “Create New List”. Click that, and give it a name like “People I Don’t Know”. Click on all the people that you want to include in that list, then click “Create List”.

Create another list if you want, and include more people in that list. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive, in case you want to have permissions for different groups. Someone may be in more than one list.

Step 3: Set Your List Permissions

Now you have to take away permissions for each of the groups of people (“lists”) you created. In Facebook, choose “Account”, “Privacy Settings”, then click the “Profile Information”.

Even if you don’t set up any lists of people, you should review this page anyway. Facebook recently changed your default permissions to give more access, which is a change you may not have wanted.

From this page, you can change the settings for each level of permissions, including allowing something like this:

Who can see this: “Friends except ‘People I Don’t Know’”

Be sure to choose “Custom” for those settings that you want to exclude a group from. Choose who you want to hide it from and add as many groups as you want.

Step 4: Manage Your Lists

It’s critical to maintain these lists or what you’ve set up won’t work. Fortunately, Facebook makes it really easy. When you send a new friend request, be sure to click the “Add To List” drop down and choose which group they should be included in before you send it. If someone sends you a friend request, click the same “Add To List” drop down before you accept it.

You can always (and should) go into your “Edit Friends” list to see who you might have forgotten to include in a list. One occasionally slips through, so check it frequently.

Final Thoughts

If you want to completely separate your private persona from your business, you can create a Facebook fan page. People can become a fan without being your “friend”, and you can still tell them all the cool things going on in your business. But that’s a post for another day.

In the mean time, please comment here and tell me how you’ve implemented this security plan and how well it’s worked for you.

Posted in: Tips.
Tagged:

30 Day Blogging Challenge – Post #1

Apr 11th, 2010
by Thomas Petty.
4 comments

The other day I saw a friend of mine, Gail, who posted on Facebook that she was taking up the 30 Day Blogging Challenge that Connie Ragen Green is encouraging.

I have to confess: I have been too busy or too lazy (or both?) to post on my blog since last November. This is a very poor example I’m setting here. After all, I teach SEO and social media optimization, and blogging is one of the cornerstones of generating good traffic and links to your Web site.

I needed a kick in the pants to get me off my duff and get it rolling again. I kept telling myself that my ideas had dried up, so I didn’t have anything to say. In retrospect, this is probably just a lame excuse for laziness, right? The truth is, that I’ve written some articles for other people’s blogs, but haven’t “gotten around to” writing for myself.

So here goes. My goal is to write one post per day. But the guidelines I’m giving myself are (besides following the “rules” of Connie’s challenge) are:

  • Write meaningful articles about marketing on the Internet, not just something to fill the void
  • Get back into the habit of writing – I’ve fallen off the blogging wagon, and need to get back into a regular daily habit
  • Publish the blog posts in several social media circles to generate more traffic, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
  • Measure the results of the effort after the 30 days have passed

Lots Of Ideas

I had been convincing myself that my ideas for new articles had dried up, when in reality, there are lots of new ideas that keep bubbling up that I want to write about. Let’s just put keyboard to screen and start writing! I’d love to hear some of the ideas or questions you have about what you’d like to learn. Please post comments here or on the Bay Area Search Engine Academy Facebook fan page on what you’d like to see.

After all, I have 30 days to write, and you the reader are who I write for.

Some ideas I’ve come up with include:

  • Using Facebook for business, including FB security for the professional, how to build a terrific FB fan page
  • Is video the next internet marketing vehicle in your future?
  • Is SEO less effective than other means of getting on Google?
  • How can you generate fabulous links and content on other people’s Web sites?

But I’d love to what ideas you have too – sky’s the limit here, so give me your best shot. Technical? Instructional? How-to? Let’s hear it!

I’ll also discuss the results of my 30-day experiment to let you know how this has worked from an analytics and readership perspective too. That’s my promise, so stay tuned!

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