How To Customize Your Twitter Background

The 6th tab in Twitter account settings is design, and we encourage you to do exactly that! Customize your profile page with one of our 12 profile templates, or get creative with your profile by changing the colors of the background, text, links, sidebar, and sidebar border to create a custom profile of your own.

You can add background images large or small, and even tile an image if you'd like. Background images must be in PNG, GIF, or JPG format, smaller than 800k. To customize your design:

1. Log in
2. In top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the last settings tab, Design
4. Select a template, change your text and background colors, or upload your background image
5. Save your changes

While there is no minimum size for your background image, the max is 800k, which will resize the maximum width to 2048. To start from scratch with the default background, select "Use the Twitter default style" and save your changes.

Twitter Background Tips

Twitter Background Tips

Show Yourself - Transparency Builds Loyalty

In social media world, you are the brand. With Twitter, being one of the major players in social media, showing yourself on the profile page can be very effective way of strengthening your brand and community around your website.

Example: Todd Defren - Shift Communications @Tdefren



Example: Darren Rowse - ProBlogger @problogger

Download This PSD Twitter Background Template #1

This Twitter background was provided by Chad Engle. His backgrounds have gained a lot of attention from Twitter users, this was his response when asked how he design his Twitter backgrounds and get everything to look right. So, instead of telling everyone- He took a few minutes and made a twitter template. Inside of the template he made guides that match up with different resolutions.

Twitter aligns all backgrounds to the left.

Make note of this when designing your background. Also, you can put elements to the far right but be aware that some users will not see them depending on what monitor/resolution they are running. I included the “twitter container” (logo and space where your tweets are housed) it is actual size. So you can move it into different resolutions to keep in mind what other users will see.

File Type: PSD
Number in Set: 1
License Type: Creative Commons 3.0
Author: Chad Engle

Durex Condoms: Viral Marketing Gone Wild

Brilliant illustration of edgy viral brand marketing. This Viral marketing video was conceived by Robert Rugan, creative director at Superfad. Durex PR firm Fitzgerald+CO conceived the viral, which was then produced by Rugan of Superfad New York.

"When you get the chance to create 'karma-balloon-animal-sutra', everyone involved gets really stoked about pushing the boundaries as much as possible."

-Robert Rugan, creative director at Superfad

A very clever viral production, perhaps one of the most risque viral productions I have seen illustrating what the product is used for but also incorporates the product itself into the advert. Genius! Too risque for mainstream Americanism and its moderate media palette It is a bold approach to play out the "act" with balloon animals made out of condoms simulating the "act" where condoms are required. The media campaign was a huge success in the UK and inspired a couple leading female contraceptive suppliers to follow suite with its own flavor of viral madness.

Durex is the number one ranked global supplier of condoms, a testimonial that if you shout a littler louder, you will stand out in a crowed space.

37 Best Practices Using LinkedIn for Business

Have you created your LinkedIn acoount? Is your LinkedIn account being maxim ized? LinkedIn is an amazing social media stategy that packs a lot of bang for thebuck, and its FREE. . Below, I have drafted an outline of some best practices that will supercharge your social media campaign to expand business or personal brand awareness, improve your Google PageRank, or enhance your search engine results.

Here are 30 ways to use LinkedIn more effectively.

1. Fill out your profile completely to earn trust.
2. Use widgets to integrate other tools, such as importing your blog entries or Twitter stream into your profile.
3. Do market research and gain knowledge with Polls.
4. Share survey and poll results with your contacts.
5. Answer questions in Questions and Answers: show expertise without a hint of self-promotion.
6. Ask questions in Questions and Answers to get a feel for what customers and prospects want or think.
7. Publish your LinkedIn URL on all your marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, email newsletters, web sites and brochures, so prospects learn more about you.
8. Grow your network by joining industry and alumni groups related to your business.
9. Update your status examples of recent work.
10. Link your status updates with your other social media accounts.
    
    
    

6 Ways To Get More Out of Flickr

• Always use tags – as many as possible while still being accurate. Put multiple word tags in surrounded by quotation marks “”

• Make descriptive titles for your photos

• Create thematic Sets for your photos

• Links on profile, sets and collection pages are not nofollowed
  

• If the photo is location specific, go into Flickr’s tools and geotag the picture
  
  • Go into the Flickr set tools, and locate the location on the Yahoo! Map, then drag the picture onto the map to pinpoint its location

• Creative Commons license your photo and put how you want the user to credit you in your photo’s description

Twitter Guide-Book

The Twitter Guide Book, a one-stop shop for getting up to speed with everything Twitter (), from managing your Twitter stream to promoting a business. Now, we’ve packaged up all of our best Twitter resources in a downloadable presentation so you can flip through all of the content in one place, and print and share it with your friends and colleagues.

Presented by Adobe Acrobat 9, sponsor of this year’s SlideShare “World’s Best Presentation Contest”, the Twitter Guide Book includes a special audio introduction from Mashable Founder and CEO Pete Cashmore, as well as five chapters:

1. Twitter 101: The Basics
2. Building Your Twitter Community
3. Managing Your Twitter Stream
4. Sharing on Twitter
5. Twitter for Business

Please note that Acrobat 9 or Adobe Reader 9 is required for viewing. You can download Adobe Reader for free here. We’ve included some screenshots of the Guide Book below. You can view and download Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book here.

Search Engine Optimization Tools

A collection of my favorite keyword research tools. I will soon begin the videos lessons of a couple of these. I'm leaning towards Wordtracker just pay the upgrade fee.

• SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool - tool shows top keyword phrases from Wordtracker.
• Wordtracker Free Keywords - free keyword suggestions from Wordtracker. Wordtracker also has a more advanced paid version, and sells top keyword reports.
• Google AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool - recommends keywords based on a keyword you enter or a URL you have the tool analyze
• Google Suggest Tool - shows frequently search for phrases starting with the words and letters in your query.
• Keyword Discovery - free keyword tool from Trellian.. Trellian also has a more advanced paid version of Keyword Discovery.
• Microsoft Keyword Forecast - shows predicted Microsoft search impression count and historical trends.
• Wordze - nice for generating decently large keyword lists quickly and inserting them into paid search campaigns.
• Yahoo! Search Marketing - Yahoo! has a keyword research tool inside their platform. It is really bad marketing of them to only have the new tool accessible inside their platform, while neglecting their old keyword tool.

Analytical Tools

Free Analytical Tools, basic functionality is solid, many require you upgrade in order to access advanced features.

• Google Analytics - powerful full featured analytics tool. Has built in feature that gives you accurate financial reporting of ROI by keyword for each AdWords ad position. Google AdWords also has internal split testing and conversion tracking software.
• Google Website Optimizer - almost sure it was release in 2007, it allows you to A/B split test landing pages and track conversion within Google AdWords.
• Microsoft adCenter Analytics - not publicly launched yet, but accepting invite requests.
• Piwik - open source web analytics program
• Site Meter - starts off as free, but charges for advanced features
• Stat Counter - starts off as free, but charges for advanced features and bandwith usage.
• Webalizer - default log analyzer on many servers.
• Analog - default log analyzer on many servers.
• Awstats - another popular default log analyzer on many servers.
  
  
  

Monitoring Tools

Part 1 / 2 of free social media monitoring and measurement:

Brand Overviews

• HowSociable? - A simple, free, tool that can measure the visibility of your brand on the web across 22 metrics
• Addict-o-matic - A nice search engine that aggregates rss feeds, allowing you to quickly see the areas where a brand is lacking in presence
• socialmention - A social media search engine offering searches across individual platforms (eg blogs, microblogs) or all, together with a ’social rank’ score. Whether or not the score is transparent enough to be meaningful is open to debate.

Blog Search Tools

• TECHNORATI Search - Technorati’s new search interface. Use it to find top blogs based upon inbound links only.
• TECHNORATI Advanced - Technorati’s advanced search page allows you to search for blogs (rather than posts) based on tags.
• Google Blog Search - Google’s index of blog posts. The advanced search tab allows you to search based on additional criteria. Very good for searching between specific dates.
• IceRocket - Blog search tool that also graph-ifies!
• BlogPulse - Search for blog posts by keyword. Developed by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.
  
  

Social Media Tools

• Tweetdeck - The ultimate Twitter management system.
• Hootsuite - Manage multiple twitter accounts from one dashboard.
• Twitterfeed - Set your RSS feeds to post automatically on Twitter.
• Twitter Search - Find anything on Twitter real-time. For tagging, use the # (hash) tag (#magsu event)
• Tweetmeme - Find what's hot on Twitter.
• Twilert - Twitter search alerts via email.
• Yammer - It's Twitter for inside the company walls (courtesy of Paul Dunay)
• Tagalus - Directory of Twitter hash tags (courtesy of Kyra Reed)
• MyTweeple - Manage tweets and followers. Especially good for managing multiple profiles (courtesy of Laurie Dunlop).
• Twitter Facebook App - Updates Facebook via Twitter (courtesy of Greg Padley).
• Selective Twitter Facebook App - Updates Facebook only when you use #fb (courtesy of Greg Padley).
• Seesmic - Managing with multiple accounts (courtesy Brad Hays).

Public Relations Tools

www.pitchengine.com - Social Media PR Press Release Builder

Analytical Tools

Great selection of free tools, basic functionality is solid, many require you upgrade in order to access advanced features.

• Google Analytics - powerful full featured analytics tool. Has built in feature that gives you accurate financial reporting of ROI by keyword for each AdWords ad position. Google AdWords also has internal split testing and conversion tracking software.
• Google Website Optimizer - almost sure it was release in 2007, it allows you to A/B split test landing pages and track conversion within Google AdWords.
• Microsoft adCenter Analytics - not publicly launched yet, but accepting invite requests.
• Piwik - open source web analytics program
• Site Meter - starts off as free, but charges for advanced features
• Stat Counter - starts off as free, but charges for advanced features and bandwith usage.
• Webalizer - default log analyzer on many servers.
• Analog - default log analyzer on many servers.
• Awstats - another popular default log analyzer on many servers.
  
  

Common Good Policies Dilute Free Choice, & Personal Pesponsibility

Modern economic theory analyzes human action within a “society” or a “nation” and attempts to predict how it might respond to various policies. Let us turn to a basic philosophical principle concerning free choice; Groups don’t make choices, only people make choices. Classical Economics, and advocates of the Libertarian creed vehemently reject polices aimed at the maximizing utility of the “common good”.

In opposition to “common good” policies, classical economics defends the intimate relationship between economic freedom and personal liberty. In order for liberty to thrive, natural rights without exception or equivocation must be an integral consideration when public policies are on the table.

The underlying philosophical doctrine of Classical Economics is rooted in “Aristotelian Philosophy” adhering to rationalism, private property, social responsibility, subjective individuality, natural law, natural rights, and universal truths of human action.

Search Engine Optimization - Methodology

Methodology

SEO Phase 1
A Key Phrase is a combination of keywords that most appropriately define your product offerings and/or your area of operations. One of the most crucial steps in Search Engine Optimization is the process of Key phrase Identification. Our criteria while choosing the appropriate keywords for you are the following:

1. They will bring to your website the most qualified leads
2. They most concisely describe your products or service offerings
3. They are Specific, less-competitive and with the potential to get your website ranking high on all major search engines

For the above, we will discuss together your market, demographics, competition and business objectives. From here I will research on the keywords you’ve suggested and choose the right Internet marketing keywords.

About Paul

Paul Clark is a passionate social media marketing consultant who thrives on teaching business professionals and organizations how to stand out in a crowded space, such as the internet. Mr. Clark has been optimizing websites since 1996 where he started his career providing technical support, web design, and internet marketing for an internet start-up in East Lansing, Michigan. From there he went on to an engineering firm in Troy, Michigan where he served as lead network administrator.

His past experience has included working with Non-profit organizations, Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, Real Estate Firms, Mortgage Companies, Law Firms, Financial Institutions, Public Policy Think Tanks, and Educational Institutions. He currently works as an internet strategist, as he prepares to begin the Media and Information Studies Ph.D. Program at Michigan State University beginning in January, 2010.

Having graduated from Michigan State University with BS in Telecommunications, and the pending graduation of his Masters in Economics, (August 5, 2009), Paul not only has the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge, but also has the business know-how to effectively ensure that resources are efficiently aligned with business objectives.

My Social Sites:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Blog

Paul Clark Social Media Resume

View more documents from Paul Clark.

Libertarian Links

Libertarian Links Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of some (not all!) important libertarian organizations - a place for you to get started in your exploration of the movement for liberty. ENJOY!
	Acton Institute Adam Smith Institute Alliance for the Separation of School and State Americans for Limited Government Antiwar.com Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Association of Libertarian Feminists (ALF) Atlas Economic Research Foundation

Social Media Marketing Campaign - Monthly Rates

Social Media Marketing Campaign $299/ $999/ $2,999/ per month
Monthly Maintenance Agreement:

It is highly recommend that you maintain a 6month commitment, however my services do not require a contract. All plans include elements of Search Engine Optimization, Link Building and Social Media Marketing. The matrix below serves as a general framework to illustrate the various deliverables involved with Social Media Marketing. In practice, this matrix becomes a living document, reflecting a customized set of tactical social media strategies to engage and convert your audience. Search engine ranking is an ever-changing, dynamic environment and long term consideration should be given to maximize your online success.

Select Plan	All Inclusive Silver Plan $999/month	All Inclusive Gold Plan $2,999/month
Month One	30 Day SEO Campaign (Included) Competitor Research Site Analysis & Suggestions Keyword Analysis (deep) Initial Rank Report	30 Day SEO Campaign (Included) Competitor Research Site Analysis & Suggestions Keyword Analysis (deep) Initial Rank Report
Month Two	(Target 10 Niche Keywords) Keyword Analysis Setup Google Web Master Tools Setup Google Analytics Examine No Follow Links Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report	(Target 50 Niche Keywords) Keyword Analysis Setup Google Web Master Tools Setup Google Analytics Examine No Follow Links Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report
Month Three	Fix Meta Tags (10 pages) Source Code Optimization Continued Site Optimization 200 Directory Submissions 200 Social Bookmarks Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report	Fix Meta Tags (50 pages) Source Code Optimization Continued Site Optimization 300 Directory Submissions 300 Social Bookmarks Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report
Month Four	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 200 Directory Submissions 200 Social Bookmarks I will optimize and distribute (10) articles for you and submit it to the top Article Marketing Web Sites Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 300 Directory Submissions 300 Social Bookmarks I will optimize and distribute (50) articles for you and submit it to the top Article Marketing Web Sites Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report
Month 5	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 200 Directory Submissions 200 Social Bookmarks We will install (10) SEO Articles on your web site and update your site maps (XML + site map) We will create 500 word Squidoo lense, Hubpages, 1 Word Press Blog, 1 Blogger Blog, 1 Facebook, 1 MySpace, 1 Linkedin, 1 Twitter, Each social site will have 2 modules on your topic and up to 3 links of your choosing. We will also promote them via social bookmarking. Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 300 Directory Submissions 300 Social Bookmarks We will install (25) SEO Articles on your web site and update your site maps (XML + site map) I will create 500 word Squidoo lense, Hubpages, 1 Word Press Blog, 1 Facebook, 1 MySpace, 1 Linkedin, 1 Twitter, Each social site will have 2 modules on your topic and up to 3 links of your choosing. We will also promote them via social bookmarking. Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report
Month 6	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 200 Directory Submissions 200 Social Bookmarks We will submit (10) variations of your targeted SEO Articles to the top Article Marketing Web Sites We will create a 500 word Squidoo lenses and a 500 word Hubpages with about 2 modules on your topic and up to 3 links of your choosing. We will also promote them via social bookmarking. Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report	Continued Site Optimization Source Code Optimization Continued Keyword Optimization 300 Directory Submissions 300 Social Bookmarks I will submit (50) variations of your targeted SEO Articles to the top Article Marketing Web Sites We will create a 500 word Squidoo lenses and a 500 word Hubpages with about 2 modules on your topic and up to 3 links of your choosing. We will also promote them via social bookmarking. Forward Looking Comments Ensure White Hat Compliance 1 Social Media Press Release Monthly Rank Report Monthly Website Position Report

Benchmarking and Reporting Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

• Monthly Benchmarking Reports: We will run a benchmark ranking report showing all your existing listings, in the major search engines before we start. This concise report will be sent monthly to help document our progress.

• Monthly Website Position Report: Every month, we will run a ranking report to document the progress and send it to you via email. The rank reports include rank reporting on Yahoo, Google, and Bing, and indicates which keyword your web site currently ranks for on the search engines.

Pro-Bono

Warm Regards,
Paul Clark
Non-Profit & Pro Bono Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Marketing

Paul Clark donates 40 hours a year to Pro Bono Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing. The 40 hours is divided on a case by case bases to companies who are chosen for the program. Pro Bono work is usually offered to select non-profits, with a few exceptions to outstanding businesses. If you are interested taking advantage of this great program please send an email to Paul Clark at clarkpau@yahoo.com. Tell me about your company and why we should donate hours to your cause.

Though there are many great non-profits out there, I can’t promise free hours to all applicants, but strongly encourage you to make a request. I’m partial to non-profits that seek to impact social equality — be it through:

* Economic Freedom
* Personal Liberty
* Human Rights

Occasionally we also make an exception to do Pro Bono work for regular businesses who have done great things as well. If you are not a non-profit and your company has demonstrated a commitment to impact social change, please feel free to make a request also. Tell me about your company and what you are doing that makes a positive impact in society.

Contact

Blogs

Blogs

Contact Paul

Paul J. Clark
Social Media, Search Engine Strategist

P: (517) 574-5278  F: (702) 925-3384
E:   sirpauljamesclark@gmail.com

Follow Me Online:
W:  social-media-blueprint.blogspot.com
FB: www.facebook.com/pauljamesclark
L:   www.linkedin.com/in/pauljamesclark
T:   www.twitter.com/pauljamesclark
S:   www.slideshare.net/pauljamesclark

Search Engine Optimization Methodology

Phase 1
A Key Phrase is a combination of keywords that most appropriately define your product offerings and/or your area of operations. One of the most crucial steps in Search Engine Optimization is the process of Key phrase Identification. Our criteria while choosing the appropriate keywords for you are the following:
1. They will bring to your website the most qualified leads
2. They most concisely describe your products or service offerings
3. They are Specific, less-competitive and with the potential to get your website ranking high on all major search engines
For the above, we will discuss together your market, demographics, competition and business objectives. From here I will research on the keywords you’ve suggested and choose the right Internet marketing keywords.

Phase 2
Making your website Search-Engine Friendly
Search Engines and Directories have guidelines – something like a rulebook, which defines what design factors are considered good and bad from the search engines’ point of view. Or rather, what is considered legible and illegible – as search engine spiders are blind and cannot see quite a few factors that constitute part of the aesthetically designed website, e.g. images, flash, etc.
I can either consult with you on an existing website modifying it to meet search engine parameters or help you design a totally new website that search engines can read, understand, index and promote.