Blogging For a Career – Add Fun and Function to Your Blog with Tag Clouds

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Tom Antion

The Internet has brought many new terms and practices to the business world. One of these is tag clouds. If you are a frequent Internet surfer, you may have used tag clouds. Tag clouds are trendy navigation tools that make it easy for site visitors to jump to the most popular links on your site. They also add some visual fun to the web page or blog, often appearing as a group of words stacked on top of each other, with some words much larger and bolder. The visual prominence of the words is determined by the popularity of the word.

What is a tag cloud? Basically, tags are related hyperlinks that allow the user to drill down into your site. The more frequently used tags are often represented in larger bolder fonts and stronger colors. Typical tag clouds have between 30 and 150 tags.

Types of tag clouds: There are three primary types of tag cloud applications, characterized by their meaning rather than their appearance. The tags can appear in alphabetical order, in random order, sorted by weight, or in clustered according to the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence or text.

* A tag cloud for each item: With this type, there is a tag cloud for each item. The size represents the number of times that tag has been applied to a single item.

* Global tag clouds: This type, which is more commonly used, involves multiple tag clouds combining the frequencies of all items and users. The size represents the number of items to which a tag has been applied, indicating each tag's popularity.

* In the third type, tags are used to categorize content items. The larger tags represent the quantity of content items in that category.

If you would like to create tag clouds, WordPress has many plug-ins. For a list and description of available plugins, search the WordPress Plugin Directory at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/. Be sure to check out the WP Colorful Tag Cloud plugin. WP Colorful Tag Cloud allows you to display an attractive tag cloud using a variety of customizable colors. (Like the one you see on the right!) Colors depend on tags weights and sizes.

Here's how to install the WP Colorful Tag Cloud plugin.

1. Unzip and upload wp-colorful-tag-cloud directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory

2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins' menu in WordPress.

3. Customize your settings using the menu item under Settings, Colorful tag Cloud.

4. Remember to save your settings.

Get the info you need to start a career as a blogger today!

Internet Marketing Education – Online Vocational Schools

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Tom Antion

http://www.imtcva.org

The Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia is an Internet marketing school designed to teach you everything you would need to know about selling your products online. Not only can you sell your products and services, you can also get hired by companies looking for the same thing. Check out http://www.imtcva.org for more information.

Internet Marketing – What Makes IMTC Different?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tom Antion

http://www.imtcva.org

Colin, an instructor at IMTC talks about the school. The Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia is an Internet marketing school designed to teach you everything you would need to know about selling your products online. Not only can you sell your products and services, you can also get hired by companies looking for the same thing. Check out http://www.imtcva.org for more information

Internet Marketing Training Center – Blog Linking In Your Posts

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Tom Antion

When posting to your blog, don't forget to put a clickable link towards the bottom of the post with a call to action. This call to action can be a text link saying for example:

* Change Your Life. Free Info!
* Get Your Free “Killer Website Designs” Ebook!
* Make $5000 Every Time You Speak!
* Learn The 7 Steps To Leadership Success!
* Find Love In 90 days Or Less!

or any call to action that relates to your business. The point is, your blog post is full of great content. Reward your reader with additional content such as a free white paper, report or special training that they will reward you back with by leaving their email or buying a product. You should at least get the visitors email to build your database, so that you can market to them throughout the year.

What happens if there is no call to action link? The reader may read a few of the posts, get reminded of something they read somewhere else and disappear. What about your opt-in box at the top of your blog? As they scroll down to read additional posts, that box disappears from their line of sight, and they may forget all about it. Those opt-in boxes at the top right corner of your blog are notoriously weak for sign ups. A link to a “freebie” or further training embedded in the post, while they are still engaged in the material they are reading, is far more effective.

Don't let the reader get away without giving you their email address. It takes alot of work to get them to your blog in the first place. The blog is not the “end point” of your marketing, your opt-in or sales letter is. The blog creates interest in your business or service, and quality posts can entice the reader to make a further decision or conversion. Not only that, the search engines love “anchor text” or clickable links made of keywords. Don't leave links that just have your URL or “click here.” Use a strong call to action and reward your reader with addtional quality info and they will give you something in return.

Start your life changing education right now! (See how we did that?!)

IMTC – Creating Product Launch Excitement With Facebook

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Tom Antion

Facebook is a great way to promote specials and promotions for small businesses on the web. Using the power of the friends that you have spent time collecting and nurturing, businesses can get a interactive kick from comments, testimonials and post sharing with the ease that Facebook provides. In conjunction with Twitter and Youtube, businesses can plan out a promotional strategy that could put their offerings in front of the eyes of thousands of people.

A couple of weeks before any type of special promotion, the business will want to create small video productions that can be uploaded and shared on social media sites. Videos that are no longer than 2 – 3 minutes in length showing customers giving testimonials, using the products, having fun at past events… anything that creates fun and excitement. No matter what kind of business you have, there are ways to create an informative or commercial aspect to the video production.

These videos can be uploaded to Youtube and Facebook on the day before the big promotion and shared with your friends on their home news feeds. Contact your friends and followers a couple of days beforehand to solicit their comments on your wall in exchange for a special coupon or giveaway just for them. Every video you upload to Facebook or Youtube notifies all of your friends and subscribers to invite them to watch. Each of your friends that makes a comment on your Facebook Wall stating how much they like your business creates a notification to all of their friends. You have now started a domino effect that could put the promo video before the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people.

Your account administrator can leave “thank you” comments in response that will create a sense of interactivity and a personal touch. This kind of buzz is a powerful branding tool that keeps your logos and products on the top of your friends minds and makes them feel as if you care and are taking the time to connect with them.

Facebook's “Events” tool gives you the ability to invite your friends to a special event that involves a specific date and time such as a store opening or a three day only sale. The RSVP feature in the Event tool lets staff keep track of how many people may show up or just to see how effective the promotion is going. And of course, the Facebook email system can notify all of your friends about special events and promotions that can lead them to websites where menus, additional testimonials, driving directions and printable coupons are there for the taking. The videos you can upload to Facebook will create a visual powerhouse of excitement and education that gives your social media followers something to always look forward to from your business.

Learn what it takes to have a career using Facebook!

Internet Marketing Training Center – Social Marketing Jobs

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Tom Antion

As American companies look for traction in this slow-motion economic recovery, the market for marketers is back. And although these employers’ marketing needs are more diverse than ever, their marketing budgets are trim.

“So many companies are operating lean in marketing right now,” says Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group, a recruiter of interactive design and marketing professionals based in Menlo Park, California. “Professionals who have a depth and breadth to their experience — they rule right now.” Several marketing careers beckon in 2011, from social media marketing and event marketing to sports marketing jobs.

Social media is all the rage, and even if you’re seeking a traditional marketing job in a conventional industry, you’ve got to have some of the right digital stuff. “About 90 percent of marketing openings are still traditional, but the people competing for them have to understand how the emerging technologies merge with the traditional ones,” says Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University in New York City.

Social Media Coordinator

“People in these marketing jobs look at Facebook and respond in the name of the company and of the brand,” Chiagouris says. But that’s just the beginning. Because this is the in-the-trenches job of the social media revolution, these go-getters are not just monitoring and measuring activity around the company brand, but also doing lots of posting themselves. They may even launch and manage social campaigns as they build bases of fans and Twitter followers. At larger companies, the social media coordinator may outsource the bulk of posting. Social media savvy, an intuitive understanding of metrics and an evangelistic attitude are the chief job requirements. Related marketing jobs: social media director, social media marketing manager.

Find out how IMTC can help you learn a skill like this!

IMTC – Increase in Online College Courses

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Tom Antion

http://www.imtcva.org

Learn why there has been an increase in online college courses and what it means to your future. At the Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia, you can get a dedicated certificate in as little as six months that can put you on the path of a new career. Visit the site to download your free career guide.

Certified to operate by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

Internet Marketing Careers – Online Video Power For Corporations

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Tom Antion

Video marketing continues as the go-to technique for businesses large and small who want to make a quick and effective impact on their sales. In fact, a recent University of California study discovered:

– A small business can instantly increase their credibility over 50% in their customers and clients eyes by placing a video on their website.
– A video can give a small business a decisive marketing edge over their competition if their competitors have no videos.
– The marketing message can be communicated and visualized more easily from a video than from the written word.
– A client is more prone to believe video messages over a written one.

That's because video will give people more opportunities to analyze body language, voice inflection and other physical factors the written word can never convey and as a result proves more convincing and credible. All these facts are not that surprising, why? Because a whole new generation has been raised with online videos. We now have a generation who not only accept video messages, but expect and even demand them. That's why a business who ignores video marketing will be in danger of playing catch up with their competitors.

Many small, unknown companies have literally leap-frogged over larger, more established competitors because of the power of video marketing. In fact, this may be one of the last frontiers for the little guy to level the playing field with larger competitors. Stories continue to abound of tiny no-name businesses who catapult to fame and fortune because of a well placed marketing video. The good news is, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Video marketing is still in its infancy, that's why those who can effectively use video messages will reap the largest rewards in the future.

Video marketing is a part of the formula companies who have the competitive edge enjoy now. That's the quiet secret most companies who effectively use video marketing hope their competitors never find out. Get with the program! Choose Video Marketing for a great career!

Internet Marketing Education – What Are META Tags?

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Tom Antion

Let’s look at an analogy that might help you understand what HTML coding is. Have you ever been to the theatre? What you see on stage is the actors, the furniture, the scenery, etc.

Behind the stage is all the rigging that makes the play work.What you see on stage is analogous to your webpage. What you see behind the stage is analogous to the HTML code. Your browser (most likely Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox) interprets all the crazy looking HTML code from “back stage” and makes it look like a webpage.

So, now that you know what HTML is, let’s look back stage and see how META Tags apply to your site.META Tags are being used less and less, and you certainly shouldn’t depend on them to get high rankings, but you still should have them because they help you control what the search engines results list says about your site when someone does a search for your topic.

If you want to see some samples of META Tags, open a browser (Internet Explorer) and click on “view.” Then click on “source”. A new window will pop up and you can look at all the behind-the-scenes HTML programming of just about any webpage.

Here's an example of what the META Tags look like:
Sample META Tags

Note: The <TITLE> Tag should be the first thing after the <HEAD> Area of the page and then comes the “description” META Tag and then the “keyword” META Tag.

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Customer service training</TITLE>

Making web pages is pretty easy to do now and you generally don't have to know much about HTML. However, you do have to go a little bit behind the scenes to learn about META Tags, But you don’t have to go too far because the new web authoring programs help you make the Meta Tags. Also, WordPress has plugins that make META Tags for you.

Interested in learning more?

IMTC – Distance Education Experience

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Tom Antion

Hi! My name is Colin and I'm one of the instructors here at the Internet Marketing Training Center. Not only do I have the experience of having worked for Tom Antion, the founder, for over four years now, but I also took my own distance education course back in 2005 for a degree in Gemology. Without a choice to take a distance education course, I would never have been able to attend.

The school I attended online is in California. I live in Virginia and didn't have the opportunity to leave my job and live out west while I took that course for 18 months. I was also a single dad. Distance education gave me the opportunity to get an education that I really desired. When I saw that they had an online education available I signed up on the spot. I knew it was the answer I was looking for.

How about you?Could learning online change your decision about a starting a new career? I took the tests online, completed my assignments online and had easy access to my instructor. It couldn't have been any more convenient. That's why I believe in the success of this school, IMTC and how it can open up opportunities for people just like you (and me!) to attend the school they want to. Dreams really can come true, even if you live far away and maybe a single parent just like I was. When you're ready to find out more, we're here for you.