Are you using your existing multimedia for effective SEO on your hyperlocal blog? Generally, I think we all fall somewhat short getting the most out of what we have. It can be a little tedious to SEO your hyperlocal blog but today I want to share some SEO Tips to generate traffic to your hyperlocal blog.

For this illustration I am optimizing for the term “Your Neighborhood Produce in Monroe, NC.” I will illustrate simple ways to do it that takes little effort and time on my part. I want this article to give me traffic for years to come. If I do a little extra, I’m pretty sure my efforts will pay off.

This is a real life example of what I have done to a particular article on my hyperlocal website in Monroe, NC, The Monroe Scoop.

I recently went out and shot a video of an event called Your Neighborhood Produce. I want to show you the ways I have used the video to give my article and site an SEO and traffic boost.

Hyperlocal Social Media

The first thing I did while editing the video was to take a short segment of the video and post it to the Monroe Scoop Facebook Page. I was editing the video anyway. I took an extra 3 minutes to post a snippet of the video. I wanted to generate some buzz for the article before I published it. Below is a screenshot of my Facebook Page.

The next thing I did was to take a snippet from the video I was editing and upload it to YouTube. This takes virtually no time whatsoever because I’m already sitting and editing my video. It takes just a few moments to grab a piece of the video and upload to YouTube to give your site and article the SEO boost for some long term traffic to your site.

Below are the 2 videos I uploaded. The first video was a short clip and the second video was the completed version. In the video description on YouTube, I linked out to my site in Monroe, NC. YouTube is awesome for the links and traffic. Hey, you already know that though.

The next thing I did was to grab a few screen shots from the video and upload them to my Flickr account. I use the handy Flickr uploader and it took a total of about 3 minutes to upload and tag 7 photos. I did this while I was still editing the original video. I have posted a couple of the photos below just to give you an example.

Since I’m showing you these photos, I will also put in “alt tags” on these photos and they will link back to my original article. Might as well do it since I’m writing about it, right? The links from Flickr are no-follow but they may send me some additional traffic based on searches. I made sure I placed appropriate tags on the photos.

The next thing I did was to grab the embed code from Flickr for my 7 photo slideshow. You can see that below. Your readers love photos, video and slideshows. Give them what they want, it’s easy and takes very little time to do a little something extra.

I hope you are still following along. Writing this article has taken a lot longer than what I actually did. Since I have more than one hyperlocal blog, I did a little extra work to send more links back to my original article. I placed a couple of the still photos in a new article. I placed the photo slideshow into the article on my second site.

Here is where I got a little fancy, I placed a screenshot of my video into the new article. It looks exactly like the video but instead will hyperlink back to the article on Monroe Scoop. This created even more links to the article and will also count toward my traffic. I’m hoping to get traffic to both sites because of this little maneuver. Below is the screenshot I used to send traffic back to the original article. If you click it, it will take you to the original article also.

I actually host my own videos on my own hosted server on my sites for the most part. I occasionally post a youtube embedded video when I’m pressed for time. YouTube is great for the links but I do not like how they stream video. I don’t think they operate on enough bandwidth and cause videos to stop and stutter.

I estimate it took me an extra 15 minutes of work to do what I have described above. It’s important that you use what media you have and turn it into multimedia. The SEO benefit for your hyperlocal blog will be long term and beneficial. There are SEO Experts out there that would do more and are much more talented than I am, but for the citizen journalist trying to get more out of your articles, these few extra steps will help immensely.

Of course I will also send out a few tweets to get visits to the site.

I have no idea when you, the reader, may stumble upon this article. Why don’t you test me out and type in Your Neighborhood Produce in Monroe, NC into Google and see how I did. If I’m not outranking the actual site, hopefully I’m just under it. I could certainly go after the top ranking with more links but that is not necessary for my purposes.

Give this a try the next time you are working on video or posting some photo’s on your hyperlocal blog. Try to get the most out of your multimedia.

If you are a hyperlocal blogger you absolutely should have a Facebook Fan page. The benefits to having one are many as you can imagine. Today, however, I want to discuss with you one aspect that I think is important in managing your Facebook Fan Page associated with your hyperlocal blog. There are a lot of things you should do, but let’s focus on one small aspect today.

I want you to consider the Fan Page as your personal internet piece of real estate and treat it such. Yes, it’s called a Fan Page but it is an extension of you. What happens on the page and what you allow is a direct reflection of you. Protecting your fan page is like protecting your reputation in your community. If it’s full of negative, you will be perceived as being negative. If your page is lively and fun, you also will be considered in the same way. Get that into your mindset and you will be well on your way to creating a successful Facebook Fan Page.

Facebook Fan Page Tip

I’m going to share what I do on my page. You may disagree and that’s ok, but this works for me. Do not allow anyone or any business to promote themselves or their business in such a way that it doesn’t benefit your community as a whole.

If you allow your page to become a community billboard for self promotion, you can kiss it goodbye. It will become a place for spammers and you will be taken advantage of.

Businesses will be on it everyday promoting their own special interests without regard to you or the other members. Who wants to see the “Buy 3 Tires, Get One Free” ad every other day? What is the benefit of the community by allowing these type posts on your Fan Page? Zero.

I have my guidelines clearly posted but every now and then someone breaks my rule. I immediately delete the post and then I send a nice direct message explaining why I did what I did and I always offer alternatives.

Here is the note I have placed in the sidebar.
Please, read this! We support community events and local business. If you would like to post an event or promote a business, we ask that you first contact us and inquire about a promotion using the Fan Page. Please read “notes” tab at top of page.

Now, when they read my guidelines, here is what I have written.
Due to the large amount of Facebook members on the Monroe Scoop Fan Page, we feel it is necessary to post some guidelines on appropriate use of the Fan pages.

If you are not already a Fan, please become one. This is a great Fan Page because of our members.

I rarely have anyone break the guidelines I have set. Our Facebook page is a vibrant page with a lot of interaction and no spam. As a result we are growing in numbers every week. I personally believe this policy I have put in place is one of the main reasons for the growth of our Fan Pages. I run 4 hyperlocal websites and each has it’s own individual Fan Page. When you total the Fans from each site, it is believed that my network has the largest Fan following in my county.

I wish you success on your community Fan Page. This is the absolute first thing I would do when starting a hyperlocal Facebook Fan Page.

Please visit the Monroe Scoop Facebook Fan Page.

I’ll be bringing you more practical tips in the weeks ahead. I’ll soon be focusing on how video can make a real difference. Make sure you subscribe, you do not want to miss any of these tips.

If you play any active part in Social Media where you live, you are bound to discover what I have discovered in my area. First thing is you will begin to discover is who may be your local Social Media Experts or Social Media Rockstars. Those are the names that always seem to be appearing in your twitter stream and re-tweeting and being re-tweeted. You see their names on Facebook and Foursquare etc., etc.

If you start peeling back a few layers you may also discover that a lot of the local Gurus’s are basically self-established through their own hype. In my area, there are always the usual suspects and the world seems to revolve around a few names. Once you start to peel back the layers, you may find a different story. I will tell you right now that it may leave you scratching your head.

Do a name search on these folks and find their blogs, their Facebook accounts and you may start to see a different picture.

Oh sure, they will proudly exclaim that they are at a lunch meeting with so and so working on a project. They will also tweet and Facebook messages that they will be at Friday night’s local tweet up. You get the idea. You start to think these select individuals are connected to the entire universe and you may begin to think that you are a nobody and have a long uphill battle to make a dent in the local Social Media scene. It’s too easy to be real and honest and to become a real Social Media Player in your city.

Don’t believe this for one second on 99% of these folks. I really like to search these people. I find their blogs, their Facebook, I follow the links they put out on Twitter. What you will most likely find is fluff. I rarely find true players in the game. It’s up to you to seperate these individuals with the true players in your community. Find the players and follow those people. When you discover the real players, follow them and watch what they do and don’t try to re-invent the wheel. Do what they do.

I have discovered that some of my local peeps who have high profiles haven’t updated their blogs in months. These are the same people who tweet SEO links and marketing links. It’s totally laughable. They do not practice what they preach. You will find many who do not have a strong Facebook presence and are almost always not social on their sites. I have also discovered that many work Regular Joe jobs 8 to 5. But they make it sound like they are handling huge client marketing promotions.

It’s easy to be real

If you want to make an impact in your local area in Social Media. Be honest and back up what you say. Be patient, it takes a while. A guy like me will soon discover if you are for real or if you are full of $hit. I’ll research the hell out of until I find out. Don’t think for a minute that if you decide to participate that you will not have people watching you and checking up on you.

Don’t act like you have big clients in one field only to be discovered that you have a full time job in an unrelated field. That basically makes you a liar if you carry on that way. I know damn well you are not heading up an advertising campaign at night while you are working retail in a dress shop by day.

I’d like to announce a new project I am involved in with 3 of my buddies, Allyn Hane, Josh Whitford & Brian Matson. We have teamed up together and formed Echelon Media, a Social Media Consulting Business.

Most of you will immediately recognize those names. Over the last few months, we have all realized the fluff and the garbage floating around out there where Social Media is concerned. The so-called A-listers talking fluffy cloud scenarios but never actually giving real life examples and help to those who may be struggling.

The 4 of us have our own specialties in regards to our online work and participation in Social Media. We felt we could give our individual and group thought on how we use Social Media successfully from our own perspective. Thus, Echelon Media was born. Feel free to check out “About Page”, on Echelon to read individual Bio’s about our group.

One of the first things we hope to accomplish is to give you straightforward, no fluff examples of how to use Social Media to your benefit. The 4 of us are real people who actually do what we preach and teach.

The website is about 1 month old now and we have experienced a very successful month of traffic for such a new site. It is our intention to provide businesses and individuals with solid, practical advice on how to build their businesses and brands. We will offer our consulting services to individual and business online through the use of technology or we are available to speak directly to your group onsite.

Echelon Media has just kicked off a series of what we call “Social Media Shorts.” These are quick one minute video tips designed to help you in your daily efforts in Social Media. These are the things that we do everyday and we are sharing these practical tips with you.

Below you will find the first 2 quick vids of our Social Media Shorts series of tips.

If you need Social Media Consultants, or if you just want to brush up on some handy tips, please give us a visit. If you like what we are doing, help us spread the word. We would love for you to follow us on Twitter @echelonmedia. Become a Facebook Fan and ask us to answer a specific question you have about Social Media.

2010 BloggerLens.com

Who: Me. Local Social Media Expert who happens to be frugal.

What: Need cheap Social Media marketing tactics.

Why: I must constantly market myself and my network of community websites.

How: Business Cards!

Ok, you don’t have to be involved in Social Media to use business cards effectively. All of us should carry them everywhere we go.

The most effective and simple marketing tool that each of us should possess are simple business cards. I give them out everywhere I go.

I just had 250 of these cards printed for me at VistaPrint. All I paid was around $5.67 for shipping. I designed the card with their online template. It was easy and fast. The cards arrived about a week later. They are perfect and high quality.

I receive weekly emails and offers from Vistaprints now. I do not mind because the offers are mostly free and I only pay shipping. Last week I ordered 100 postcards for free and paid $6.56 in shipping.

For $12.23 I’ve ordered 250 business cards and 100 post cards. (I know it’s not free if you pay for shipping but free your mind on this one)

I wholeheartedly recommend Vistaprint.

Go to VistaPrint and order your business cards today for cheap.

This has been a “No Fluff, Common Sense, Direct Help” article from a guy who actually practices Social Media in his community.

2010 BloggerLens.com

If you are sensitive, you may want to leave here now and find someone who will stroke your ego and offer empty promises instead of speaking to you honestly.

If you are curious and decide to stay, I am just asking what any Social Media Expert can offer to me or my business and how it will affect my bottom line.

Simple right?

Well, not really. I haven’t been able to find solid evidence or case studies of how the experts do what they do. I haven’t found the CEO of a company giving a testimonial about how the expert changed their company.

I haven’t found a plumber explaining the virtues of the services of these experts. I have not found any evidence that the puffy “Law of Attraction” BS crap that these experts push, actually changes the lives and business of real people.

I do find Amazon links, fluffy book reviews and which blog theme I should use. Oh Boy, that’s helpful as I’m trying to figure out how to use these tools to feed my family.

During the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a little “stirring of the pot” in the circle of friends I hang out with online. You know, all the bloggers who are on the D-List. Seems the D-List had a go at some of the A-Listers this week. Might I say it was well deserved also.

I will not mention any names of the A-Listers in this post, I don’t know that it will serve any useful purpose. You can figure it out on your own.

My plea to the Guru’s of any category. Tell me what you have done for someone else and how you or your methods can help me. Show me what you have done for a business that helped them. Tell me why I should follow you, re-tweet you and subscribe to you.

Don’t tell me how I should follow certain etiquette about trying to make contact with you.

Do you have an actual client list that you could post on your site? I think that would be awesome.

Don’t tell me what you learned about Chinese midget thong washers and how it helped you blog.

Please teach me what I need to know. Speaking as a guest of a marketing company who puts on some sort of summit is cool. I know what that would do to my ego.

I have certainly seen what it has done to your ego. I congratulate you. The problem is that you were a guest speaker of a marketing company. You were simply a tool of a real company trying to get real business. When you leave the auditorium, you are done. It’s the marketing company who signs deals and get paid.

When I look at your About page, you tell me that you work with real companies, yet you never list these companies. I see Summits, Expos and Podcamps.

I want substance. Can I please have some real substance?

Personally, I don’t care what Wordpress Theme you are using. I thought you were big time?

I know how to start a Facebook page and a Twitter account. I pretty much have a handle on all that.

If I’m a Florist and I have payroll to meet and families depend on me, can you tell me how your Amazon Affiliate link to a puffy cloud book will help get customers through my door? I know how it will help you, I’m not stupid.

Certainly you can write about how you personally helped a small business in your local community. I can’t seem to find how you personally affected the lives of people and business for the better on your blog.

As a matter of fact, I don’t see a lot of comments by your readers and yourself considering you claim to have a Gazzilion readers and followers. I have looked for your nuggets of wisdom hidden in your comment section but sadly, you must be too busy speaking at an Expo.

Guess what? I speak to local groups. It’s not big time like you, but I layout specific concrete ways for local business to market, and use Social Media for their business.

I love to make fun of Social Media and the way people use it. It’s what I do. It doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. It would be a mistake to underestimate us D-Listers.

I promote individuals and their business everyday. I built a platform for these businesses. I actually share my platform and encourage my readers to submit their info to me. More often than not I promote for free and sometimes for money.

I put thousands of readers on people and businesses in my community using the network I have built from the ground up.

I am contacted everyday by people using Twitter, Facebook, email and the telephone. Not once have I ever admonished a single soul for double-tapping me (stupid term). I like it. Triple & Quadriple tap me, I dig it.

Maybe I’m more of a Social Media expert than you are. I guess that’s not for me to decide.

Can you teach me how to rank on the first page of Google in my town for Florist? What’s the best way to use Twitter and Facebook if I’m a florist or a plumber?

I know some D-Listers who can tell me how to effectively use Social Media for my business. I personally make money every week because of a Canadian D-List blogger who does not use Thesis. He uses an ugly free blog. You should see his comment section. He shares more knowledge in his comments than in his posts. I don’t see the A-List experts being very social in their comment section.

If I hire you, do you have the resources to help me get ranked? I think it’s cool to Think Big And Get Rich but Google usually looks for links pointing to my Florist business. Can you teach me or send me some juice from your network?

Maybe I am asking too much. Maybe I’m acting like a black sheep in a lily white conforming herd of sheep.

Maybe next time I am asked for Social Media advice I should just point them to my Thesis theme which contains an Amazon link that sells a book about Chinese midget thong washing bloggers who speak at rah-rah seminars and pass it off to my zombie followers as substance.

2010 BloggerLens.com

I like to use my personal Facebook for friends and people I actually know and have some sort of relationship with. I’ve not met everyone that I’m friends with but there is some sort of connection usually. I do not friend everyone who friends me either. On my personal Facebook I may post some photos of my family and Grandson and I don’t want everyone seeing them.

Some people don’t get it. Below is a recent Facebook message sent to me from a supposed friend. Notice I received her sales pitch and an invitation to view her website. She finally asked how I’ve been.

She could care less how I’ve been that’s obvious. I wonder how many of her other friends were pounded with the same message. I will have to un-friend her now and it’s too bad. She is a shallow, uncaring person hawking her products on me. I wouldn’t buy a piece of jewelry from her if she was the last salesperson on the face of the earth.

What would you do? Do you consider this acceptable from your friends on your personal Facebook page?

2010 Bloggerlens.com

My Final Traffic Update

This article and video were written and produced based on my opinion of what I call Social Media Hype. You may have a totally different opinion. I base mine on actual events that happened to me and my blog. Please join in the discussion whatever your viewpoint may be.

I thought I would announce the final results of my recent surge in Social Media traffic and non-Social Media traffic. Guess which one won? Anyone who is familiar with this site knows that I was recently posted over at Chris Brogan. I made a spoof video about all the hype and hoopla that was being made over the release of Chris’s “Trust Agent” book. To my surprise and delight, Chris posted the video. What a cool thing for Chris to do for me.

At the same time, Allyn Hane at BloggerIllustrated.net, Internet Marketing Video Blog made several spoof videos of A-list bloggers also. Allyn was mentioned on Grizzly Brears blog, Make Money Online For Beginners. I also have been receiving some traffic from another up and coming internet marketer, Lis Sowerbutts, Passive Income Online. She made mention of our video spoofs and I have received traffic from her. BTW, if you haven’t read Lis, I would go and check out her blog. I dig chicks with attitude.

Allyn received a huge surge in traffic from a non-Social Media blogger (Griz). I appreciated the fact that Chris posted my video, but my Social Media traffic results were disappointing to say the least when you consider the huge amount of so called social media subscribers Chris has. As someone new to internet marketing, I feel lucky to received such a quick and helpful education that I hope I will carry with me as I continue to work on internet marketing in various forms. After I was mentioned on Griz’s blog, my traffic also surged and has been steady ever since.

There is a huge lesson to be learned here in Social Media marketing. However, I’m not the teacher, only a student. I made a video presentation of my Social Media surge and I hope that you will enjoy it and I also hope that the stats will open your eyes and help you on your journey in internet marketing. Your Social Media strategy may deserve a second look if you are serious about traffic to your blog.

For those who may be interested in the technical aspect of the video, here is how I made the video. Everything is Apple Mac based. I first made the presentation using the Apple Keynote program. All of the slides, transitions and typewriter text was made in Keynote. Keynote is how Apple kicked PowerPoint’s rear end.

To embed the video clips in Keynote, I used a screen capture program for Mac’s called IShowU.

Once I finished the presentation, I exported the presentation as a QuickTime movie. This is a very cool feature of Keynote. You can turn a presentation into a movie.

Once I made the presentation into a QuickTime movie, I imported it into my Mac video editing software, Final Cut Express. In FCE, I tweaked the video and added my music etc. I made this particular video in 4:3 aspect instead of the usual 16:9. The process is not a quick process but it’s very flexible. If you can think it in your mind, there is a good chance you can reproduce it in video form with these applications I mentioned. It’s not hard, it just takes practice like everything else in life we do.

Music by the O’Jays.

2009 BloggerLens.com

The following video is the unfortunate result of too many beers and a silly idea. I should have been a good little soldier and sat at my computer re-tweeting the A-listers. I should have been on Facebook engaging my network. I should have been increasing the number of people I follow on Twitter. Yea right. A lot of good that will do you.

Instead, I sat drinking at my computer with my video editing software begging me to do something useless, trivial and of no value to the human race. Here is the result. I completely understand if anyone asks if I ever rode the short school bus wearing a helmet.

I imagined what it would have been like in the 80’s if we had Social Media back then. Don Johnson would have been the King of Social Media.

2009 BloggerLens.com