Keep reading to find out.

A bit of history

In an interview with Wired Magazine, Udi Manber, Google’s head of search, said that Google will make as many as 550 changes to its search algorithm this year. One of the bigger changes happened this past winter in what has been called the Panda or Farmer update.

According to a report by Sistrix.com, within days of the update, a number of very large websites saw their Google rankings take a drastic drop. Sites such as Ezinearticles.com and Suite101.com lost 90% or more of their visibility on Google.

This Sistrix table shows the domain and the percentage loss since Google's change.

Although a 90% drop in visibility may seem extreme, it was a direct result of Google’s attempts to weed out content farms (websites with high-volume, low-quality content) and those trying to game the system. In the process, a number of unsuspecting websites got caught in the fray.

For the average small business owner, stories like this can be concerning. It’s hard enough to move to the top of the Google search rankings, let alone keep up with the constantly evolving magic that makes Google work.

However, for those looking to build quality websites that achieve high Google search results, nothing has really changed. As always, the key is to focus on publishing high-quality content that readers will want to share.

Here are 7 tips to help your business move to the top of the Google search rankings.

#1: It’s all about the user

It’s important to remember that the reason for the continually changing algorithms and updates is that Google has one objective—to provide the highest quality, most relevant search results possible. If they fail to do so, competitors such as Bing and Facebook are nipping at their heels ready to take up the slack.

Google is not out to penalize websites or hurt website owners. They want to ensure that users find the information they seek on the first try.

When it comes to search engine rankings and improving SEO, start by looking at the site from the perspective of the user searching Google. Does your site provide the best, most relevant information for a given search term and if not, what can you do to fix it?

Google’s Amit Singhal, head of Google’s core ranking team, provided 23 questions to consider when evaluating web content. These are some of the same questions that Google is using to test algorithms and evaluate websites using third-party beta testers. The questions provide an excellent insight into Google’s perspective and a tool to analyze your website from the user’s point of view.

#2: Content: Focus on quality over quantity

In an earlier post I wrote on how to increase your Google ranking, I talked about using blogs to increase the number of pages indexed in Google. And while it still holds true that more pages indexed for a given search term gives you a better chance of achieving a high Google rank, it isn’t enough just to publish text optimized for keywords. The quality of the content is now a factor.

Using the list of 23 questions will help you assess the quality of your content.

Since the Panda update, Google has attempted to screen out those publishing high-volume, low-quality content. Now, in the eyes of Google, it’s better to have fewer high-quality pages then lots of low-quality pages.

Blogging is still one of the best ways to move up the search engine rankings as it is a good way to add high-quality information to a website. However, web pages or blog posts offering little of value can now negatively impact a website. Removing these pages might actually help a website move up the rankings or recover from a drop in ranking.

#3: Links: Focus on quality over quantity

Incoming links have always looked good in the eyes of Google. As a result, one way to move a site up the search engine rankings was to generate a high number of incoming links all pointing to a given web page.

As Google places higher and higher value on the quality of the content, this tactic is not as effective, and can even harm a website’s ranking if overdone.

For the small business website owner, this should come as good news. Instead of generating 50 articles with subpar content, website owners can now focus on creating fewer high-quality articles or incoming links, as Google is no longer placing much value in links from article distribution sites such as Ezine.com.

In another article on ways to improve your blog SEO with inbound links, I suggested that press releases were a good way to generate incoming links because distribution services often generated back-links as articles were placed on various press release syndication websites. This link-building strategy has also changed post-Panda update, as these links are not as highly valued as they once were. However, a well-written press release can still be very effective when picked up and reported by a journalist or major publication.

Focus on getting high-quality links from high-quality websites. Guest posting is still an excellent way to generate high-quality incoming links. If possible, try to wrap links in important keywords. For example, as a content marketing copywriter, a link around “content marketing copywriter” would be more effective than a link wrapped around my name.

#4: Make the most of social media, social sharing and social search

It’s hard to tell exactly how much impact Twitter and Facebook have on Google search results, but at the very least we know that Google is providing real-time social sharing in the search results.

Google’s addition of the Google +1 button and the ability of Google users to block sites take this a step further. Although it’s still unclear how Google is using the +1 button in their algorithms, they have stated publicly that users blocking a site can have a negative impact on returns. This again demonstrates the importance of high-quality content.

If you don't have the +1 button but want to try it out, you can enroll in Google's experiment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAyUNI3_V2c

#5: Let the search engines know you’re there

Once you’ve published high-quality content, it’s important to tell Google about the content and make it easy for users to find. This means that meta titles and descriptions should closely match the content on the page.

Keyword stuffing and intentionally filling meta descriptions with keywords that don’t match the page in an attempt to deceive will only hurt your search engine results. The closer the match, the better.

It’s also important to make the most of the SERP, the short paragraph showing in the Google search returns. Use this space to provide a clear description of the content and encourage users to click through to your site.

Be sure your meta description matches the post and encourages users to click through. This is what shows in the Search Engine Results Page or SERP.

#6: The truth behind duplicate content

It’s not that Google penalizes websites for duplicate content; Google just doesn’t show it in the search results. Remember what I said in the beginning about providing the best possible search returns. When it comes to duplicate content, that’s all Google is doing.

Instead of showing 20 pages with the same content, Google tries to present the most relevant and original content and omit the rest. Users can still view omitted search returns, they just need to make an effort and most won’t.

This only becomes a problem if you’re using canned content or directly publishing RSS feeds from other websites. Content of this sort might be seen as low-quality and result in lower Google returns. Hopefully the days of stolen web content and RSS scrapers will soon be a thing of the past.

#7: Don’t overdo the advertising

Too much advertising can also result in lower Google rankings. This again is a result of Google’s attempts to improve search results for the user. Google tends to equate an overabundance of advertising to lower-quality or “spam” websites.

Excessive advertising can also hurt your Google returns. Note how the actual content on this site isn't even visible above the fold. This website is also "scraping" content from Social Media Examiner which can also hurt search engine ranking.

Be sure that advertising does not interfere with the content on the page. This is especially important with advertising above the fold and within the text.

Google is constantly evolving, but the fundamentals of SEO will always remain the same. High-quality content that people want to share will always do well in the eyes of Google. Search Engine Land has put together a free guide that will help you gain traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing.

"Search Engine Land has created a Periodic Table of 'SEO Ranking Factors.' Notice the importance placed on content.

What do you think? What other ideas or suggestions do you have? Leave your comments in the box below.

Keep reading to discover how.

Should Your Site Be Social-Enabled?

There’s no doubt that social media is a powerful marketing and communication tool for businesses and non-profits that have embraced it.

Yet, for most of us, our websites are still where the rubber meets the road. It’s where you turn visitors into leads and prospects into customers. It’s where you build your lists and sell your goods.

Can you inject some of the “humanness” of social media into your website without compromising its ability to sell? Can you use social media to drive traffic to your website for conversion without alienating your community?

More and more businesses are showing us that this is an achievable and worthwhile goal; that the two together can foster improved communication, build brand loyalty and create a better, more responsive, more profitable company.

Here are nine examples of how you can integrate your social media activity into your website for maximum results.

#1: Add social media buttons to your home page

A few years ago, the idea of sending people to another site from your home page after you had worked so hard to get them there in the first place seemed boneheaded. However, many companies now see the long-term benefits of gaining a follower, fan or subscriber on a social media platform, even weighed against the short-term risk of sending them away from the website.

Businesses commonly link to their social media profiles, even from their home pages.

By getting someone to follow you on Twitter, become LinkedIn with you or subscribe to your YouTube channel, you have the opportunity to keep the lines of communication open long after they’ve left your website.

Unsolicited Advice: If you’re concerned about losing that prospect, consider having the site open in a new tab or window, keeping your own website available for later viewing.

Also, make sure you have a social media profile that will engage your audience. You can borrow ideas from these 10 top Facebook pages, read up on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and put into practice Darren Rowse’s tips for improving your Twitter profile.

#2: Connect your blog with your website

The line between blog and website has never been blurrier, with many businesses choosing to build their entire site on platforms that were traditionally meant for blogging, such as WordPress.

Whether your blog shares a domain with your website or not, you can improve the interactivity of your website by teasing your blog posts from your home page.

For example, Harold Night, an improv show out of Boston, uses the Posterous platform to blog, and has successfully integrated the blog into their website, both in the navigation and by pulling the recent posts as links onto their home page.

Harold Night connects its Posterous blog with its website.

Unsolicited Advice: Although services like Posterous and Tumblr are great and their prices can’t be beat, I prefer to have my blog under a domain I control. That way you can move from one platform to another without hurting your search engine visibility, and you’re more insulated against a third-party blogging platform going out of business.

#3: Embed videos on your website

There are few things as engaging as a well put-together video. Imagine adding a how-to or explanatory video to your product or services pages… How much more compelling would they be? How much could you increase your conversion rates by showing examples of other customers finding success by using your products?

Embed a video on your website to bring your offerings to life.

#4: Make your website shareable

Retweet buttons and Facebook Like buttons aren’t just for blogs. You can add them to any page of your website to get visitors to share the content more easily with their networks.

#5: Add your presentations to your website

If you market your business through public speaking, you can maximize your results by putting your presentations on your site.

The best way to do this is to set up a free account at SlideShare (think YouTube for PowerPoint). Once you’ve uploaded your slides, SlideShare will allow you to embed that presentation back into your website or blog. This creates an interactive experience for visitors who can now click through your slides.

Maximize the reach of your presentations by embedding SlideShare into your site.

#6: Socially bookmark new content

As you add new articles or archive your email newsletters to your site, make sure that you add them to appropriate social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit and Delicious. These popular sites can drive huge amounts of traffic to your website in a short period of time.

Unsolicited Advice: It’s always best when someone else bookmarks your content, so it might make sense to have a small “bookmarking club” with friends where you promote each other’s work. This “seeding” will often encourage others to bookmark your content.

#7: Add a Facebook Like box to your website

It's easy to like I Love to Gossip with a Like box on their page.

We’re all influenced by other people, a concept often referred to as “social proof.” When we see our friends or people we respect liking, supporting or promoting something, we’re more open to liking it ourselves.

Adding a Facebook Like box to your site adds accelerant to the idea of social proof. Visitors can quickly see how many people have liked your business on Facebook, get a sense of your level of commitment to social media (by the posts you’ve added to your wall), and may even spy some of their friends and connections through the Like box.

Further, you make it easy for your site visitors to like your business without having to leave your site.

For more on Facebook and social proof, be sure to check out Are You Using Social Media as Social Proof?

#8: Feed your website

Websites tend not to get updated as often as they should be… something that has probably been exacerbated by the rise of blogging and social media.

If the framework of your website is fairly static, you can still keep it fresh by adding feeds from your blog, Facebook, Twitter and just about every social media platform that generates an RSS feed.

Unsolicited Advice: Not all of your feeds may be website-appropriate. Your tweets about American Idol, your love of bacon or thoughts on Sarah Palin may not be appropriate for first-time visitors to your website who are just looking for a reliable plumber or a trustworthy veterinarian (or whatever you may happen to be).

#9: Use QR codes to drive traffic

QR codes like this one can drive traffic to your website.

QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones with cameras. Once scanned, they can redirect people to a website (among other tricks). Check out QR Code Marketing for Small Business and How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business.

Whether you post QR codes on one of your social media profiles or in the real world (i.e., direct mail, a business card or poster) you can use them to drive people to your website.

Unsolicited Advice: To maximize the impact of a QR code, consider sending people to a special landing page or a mobile version of your site, rather than just the home page. This will improve your conversion rates and help build your lists.

Now let’s hear about your ideas. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Let us know how you’ve integrated your social media activity into your website. Feel free to include links so we can see how you’ve done it. Leave your comments and suggestions in the box below.

Whether you use social media to market your business, increase sales, promote your blog, or raise awareness for a non-profit organization, here are six reasons social media might not be working for you—along with ways to overcome these problems.

Mistake #1: You Have the Wrong Connections

Imagine that you are asked to do a seminar about the future of Microsoft Office (with the opportunity to sell some Microsoft training courses).  You’re provided two options. You can have a large auditorium full of over 10,000 people or a smaller one with only about 500 people. Assuming you have no fear of public speaking, you probably want the large auditorium because it would hold a huge amount of sales opportunities, right?

But what if you learned that the large auditorium is full of users who are mostly students and artists, and the smaller one is full of business owners who depend on Microsoft Office. Now where do you see the greatest amount of sales opportunities?

This happens a lot in social media. We connect with tons of people on particular networks, get super-excited when we get a huge number of friends and followers, send out an announcement, and wonder why there is very little response. It’s not the number of people you are connected to that makes the difference, but the number of people interested in your niche that you are connected to.

Whenever you are seeking new connections on social networking sites, make sure to look for relevant connections in your niche or industry. There are many ways to find people who will be interested in what you have to say, including:

• Use Twitter directories, such as Twellow, that search for members based on their profile description so you can boost your Twitter following with targeted followers.
• Look at followers of another person in your industry to find some who would also be interested in you.
• Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.  Then participate and connect with other members.
• Find blogs on related topics. (Bloggers usually share their social profile links in their sidebar, header, footer, or about/contact pages.)
• Join forums on related topics—look for threads that allow members to share their social networking profiles with the rest of the forum. While participating, also look for members’ social links in their forum signatures.

There are also some don’t-miss guides here on Social Media Examiner, including how to increase your Facebook fan base.

Mistake #2: You Hide Your Social Media Presence

OK, so you might not think you’re hiding your social media presence, but you may be inadvertently doing so by not publicizing it. Simple ways to promote your social networking profiles include:

Social Links on Your Website

The first and most important place you should have your social media links displayed is on your website. Everyone who is active on social media, from corporations to freelancers to bloggers, should make it easy for visitors to their website to connect with them on their top social networking profiles.

American Express website header including Twitter and Facebook icons.

Toyota Sienna website header including Facebook and YouTube icons.

DawgHouse Design Studio footer including Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social icons.

Social Links in Your Emails

Chances are, you already have lots of people you email on a regular basis, either directly or through mailing lists. Why not add your social profile links to these emails and let recipients know where they can find you online? This can be done with simple text links below your signature, or with plugins such as WiseStamp, which will allow you to design a beautiful signature with social media icons, links, and even a link to your latest blog post powered by RSS.

Email signature created with WiseStamp.

Social Links on Your Business Cards

On your business card, you include (or at least you should include) your website address, email, and phone number as ways for your contacts to connect with you. Why not also add your LinkedIn, Twitter, or other professional profiles as well?

Creative integration of Twitter and Facebook profile links on a business card. Image by Ajda Gregorčič.

Forum Signatures

Do you actively participate in a forum for your area of expertise? As mentioned earlier, why not include your main social networking profile links along with your website in your forum signature? This way, if someone reads your response to a particular thread and finds it informative, they may connect with you on social media to learn more from you.

Mistake #3: You Send the Wrong Message

Let’s say I’ve just found your portfolio online while searching for a web designer, and I want to hop over to your Twitter profile to learn a bit more about you. So I visit your Twitter profile to follow you, and out of your latest 20 updates, I see the following:

• 5 updates from Foursquare that you are at Starbucks, work, McDonald’s, the courthouse, and L.A. Fitness.
• 7 replies to other Twitter members, obviously in the middle of a random conversation.
• 2 updates with some form of crude, foul language.
• 3 Twitpics of the last dessert you had, the weather outside, and a funny sign on a street corner.

Now if this was someone’s personal Twitter profile set up to connect with friends and family, these kinds of updates would be perfectly acceptable. But if you’re linking your Twitter profile with your business or blog on a specific subject, then your updates should stick to the same topic lines of your website, as people who are going from one to the other will likely be doing so to learn more about you in relation to the theme of those sites.

So taking the above example again, this freelancer could go with:

• 5 updates from FourSquare relating to a purchase for their work; for instance, you are at Best Buy buying a drawing tablet to use for a Photoshop design layout.
• 7 replies to other Twitter members answering questions about web design or giving helpful tips.
• 2 updates that relate to the industry in a humorous light, like a link to an Oatmeal comic on How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell.
• 3 Twitpics of your workstation, your library collection of web design books, and your newest business card.

How do you find people to reply to about your industry?

HootSuite allows you to set up multiple columns for keyword searches and Twitter lists so you can always see what is being talked about and be able to give a timely reply.

Also, think of the search engine optimization value that can be gained from having keywords in your updates on your social media profiles. Having updates with web design–related keywords certainly won’t hurt your profile, especially now that social search is becoming more prevalent in Google search results.

Google search results for web design include social circle connections on Twitter.

Mistake #4: You use Social Media Profiles for Link-building

It’s one thing to create social media profiles on sites that are relevant to your industry and that you want to use. But it’s a whole other thing to create them just to get a backlink to your website with no intention of going any further. There are better and more effective methods of link-building and other strategies to increase your Google ranking.

Some services out there will reserve your name on social media sites, which can be good for branding and reputation management. You certainly don’t want someone to sign up pretending to be you on a network. But you can’t assume that once you have over 100 social media accounts, they will automatically start benefiting you. You have to go out and use them by getting social before you see any results from social media.

Mistake #5: You Only Do Things that Can be Measured for Return on Investment

Ah, the elusive ROI. Some say it is a myth. Some say social media marketing can be measured, some say that it shouldn’t be measured, and some say it cannot be measured.

No matter where you sit on the fence of ROI, one thing you have to remember is that the best things you can do for your business on social media will not necessarily create a measurable impact on your bottom line.

Sure, you can spend all day on your social media profiles and only send out coupons with specific tracking codes or leading to landing pages that will tell you which profile is bringing you the most conversions. But then you will miss out on valuable ways of communicating with your fans, such as providing good customer service, managing crises, and otherwise engaging with them to create more loyalty to your brand.

Mistake #6: You Follow Too Many “Rules” of Social Media

There are many experts who suggest that you follow specific guidelines in how you use social media. While there are some things that should not be done (such as running a constant stream of advertising), there are some social media rules that may not apply to followers in your niche or industry.

The best way to see what works is to follow those who are successful utilizing social media specializing in the same subject area as you and analyze what they do. Do they reply to their followers/fans often? Do they share blog posts? Do they share industry news? How do they personalize their profiles, backgrounds, etc.?

How do you know if someone is successful in social media? It’s not the number of followers they have, but the amount of interactivity they have with them. If you do a Twitter search for @theirusername and see lots of conversation directed at them or retweets of their updates, then that’s a sign they are successfully influencing their followers. If on Facebook you see that their wall posts get a lot of comments, that is another sign of their success in engaging with their followers.

Is Social Media Working for You?

Do you believe social media is working for you? What do you think can help improve the success rate of individuals or businesses using social media in terms of creating a better overall social media presence?  Please share your thoughts in the comment box below…

This represents a big opportunity for your business.

A Little Context

In the early days of the Internet, websites were static creatures. Once a site was published, that’s pretty much how it stayed. Websites were built by programmers and even minor changes required contacting the designer or a specialized web manager.

Then came the blog.

Blogging turned the once-boring website into an ever-changing, dynamic creature. With the advent of the blog came blogging software and the ability to quickly publish content.

With more than 9.5 million downloads of its latest version (as of this writing), WordPress on a self-hosted server is one of the most popular blogging platforms available. But WordPress is no longer just for blogging.

Ease of use combined with open-source development has turned WordPress into a powerful tool for building full-service websites. At this point it’s safe to say that WordPress is changing the way we use the web.  In fact, Social Media Examiner is driven by WordPress.

Here are six ways WordPress is changing the web:

#1: The Power of Publishing for Anyone

When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440 he forever changed the way we communicate. What took days or even weeks to produce could now be quickly mass-produced at a fraction of the cost.

And while history has yet to determine the impact of blogging platforms such as WordPress, there’s no question they’ve changed the way we publish information. It’s now possible for anyone to quickly reach a global audience for only pennies.

With a blog, anyone can publish information, voice an opinion and potentially reach a global audience.

Now, armed with little more than a cell phone, a high-school journalist can attend the same function as a Washington Post reporter, publish her version of the event and if she can attract the audience, compete on the same playing field as the Washington Post.

This puts the average citizen in a very powerful position. Along with the ability to quickly reach a global audience, incorrect information or an angry consumer can quickly do damage to large corporations.

#2: Anyone Can Build and Manage a Website—Today

WordPress is democratizing the web. Thanks to its ease of use and low cost (free), almost anyone can launch a website. Although hiring a designer has its advantages, it’s possible for an individual with little programming knowledge to launch a very nice-looking site for the cost of a hosting package.

Most web hosts offer programs such as Simple Scripts or Fantastico, which will install WordPress with the click of a button. WordPress’s “Famous Five-Minute Install” is now about a five-second install. Even better, it doesn’t require FTP uploads or messing about in the server database.

Once installed, WordPress plugins, themes and upgrades can all be installed from within the WordPress control panel with the click of a button.

Some themes come with extra widget options allowing for advanced design with minimal programming.

Publishing and changing content is just as easy. If you can manage a word processor, you can publish content in WordPress.

WordPress content management system makes it easy to edit and publish content.

#3: Blogs Can Power Entire Websites

In the old days, a blog was a place where somebody wrote about his cat. Not anymore. Businesses are finding that blogging software makes it easy to quickly change and publish web content. While many businesses are working to incorporate blogs into their websites, many more are using WordPress to build their entire website.

And it’s not just small businesses using WordPress to build their sites. Companies like UPS and The Wall Street Journal Magazine are building high trafficked, advanced websites using WordPress. Take a stroll around the WordPress Showcase and tell me if you can see the difference between a website and a blog.

UPS Racing is a WordPress site.

#4: Sharing and Commenting Aren’t Just Encouraged, They’re Expected

Blogs by their very nature are designed to be shared and comments are encouraged. As the separation between websites and blogs blurs, so has the way businesses are expected to communicate with their customers. It is no longer safe to hide behind the corporate walls. The discussion will go on with or without input from the company. Dynamic websites give businesses the ability to influence where their customers go for information, manage the discussion and quickly respond when the need arises.

#5: Professional Websites Without a Web Designer

Thanks to the fact that WordPress is an open-source program, there are thousands of plugins (modifications) and themes (templates) available that can make WordPress do almost anything you need it to do. Photo sliders, contact forms, podcasts and more can all be added using plugins.

Premium themes such as StudioPress allow users to install professional-looking websites with minimal or no programming knowledge. The Headway theme even uses a visual editor that allows users to drag and drop content and design pages without the need for CSS or PHP programming.

While professional design has its advantages, for small businesses or the budget-conscious, it’s possible to build very powerful websites at a very low cost.

#6: Websites Can Now Do More

As it gets easier and less expensive to create websites, they are expected to do more. Internet users expect a certain level of professionalism and often pass judgment based on a quick read of a company website. Sites that are not up to par reflect on the company as a whole.

However, this does create an opportunity for small businesses. As costs come down and ease of creating professional-looking websites increases, small businesses can create websites that compete with much larger corporations.

What do you think?

Are blogging platforms such as WordPress changing the way we use the web? Have you used blogging software to build your website? In today’s world of the Internet, is there a clear separation between “blogs” and “websites”?  Let us know your thoughts and ideas below.

Posterous is known as the most “social” networking place of social media. It’s also the ideal solution for sharing content that’s too long for a tweet and too short for a blog post.

There are many different reasons and motivations to create a free Posterous account. Let’s have a look at the 7 most common reasons for businesses to use Posterous.

#1: Can Replace Your Blog

When a regular blog is not for you, Posterous can give you similar advantages to a regular blog without the work of setting up a blog and maintaining it.  All you have to do is send in your content by email.  It’s that simple.  This is why Posterous is great for lifestreaming.

This can be a good starting point for businesses hesitating to create their own blog. Posterous can provide a place to learn more about social media and develop the right content strategies.

#2: Fills a Gap Between Blogging and Microblogging

Posterous is an easy way to publish more content to reach different audiences. Steve Rubel says, “I still see a big space in between blogs and Twitter that allows you to have a hub and spoke strategy and post in multiple formats.”

And as Ted Villa says, “Posterous is clean and nimble, simple to use and a great tool in any organization’s social media toolkit. It’s a great way to extend a client’s footprint online and increase links to their site as well as their social media sites.”

This can fill a gap in your presence on social media.

#3: Can Improve Your Visibility

Posterous can help you improve your visibility in search results in two ways.

First, you have more updates for search engines to find. If you like to share photos and videos online, Posterous makes it very easy to do this (see reason #7 below for more details). And with photo and video publishing made this easy, you end up sharing more content to increase your online search results.

Second, you can publish your Posterous content on your own website. Unlike other social media platforms, you can set up your Posterous account on your own URL.  This means you can set up your Posterous account on:

• Your own domain name separate from your company website
• Or even use a sub-domain of your current website or blog

This is something important to keep in mind as the social media landscape changes over time.

#4: Gives You Another Voice on Social Media

Many business professionals also use Posterous to post content that would be off topic on their main website or blog and engage with a different audience online.

Posterous provides an easy venue to share different “social” content. A separate platform makes it easy to create an additional point of connection with your audience, with a different style, to engage different mindsets.  As Debbie Weil says, “There are distinct differences in how you talk or write for the different platforms.  Simply put, you write in a different ‘voice’ and, generally, talk about different topics.”

This makes it easy to reach out to different audiences.

#5: Makes it Easy for Groups to Publish Content

Posterous allows you to set up group accounts too.  This means you can set up:

• Posterous pages for individual team members
• Collaborative Posterous pages for different company employees to post on the same page
• Collaborative Posterous pages to bring people outside your company to collaborate on one Posterous page

Here’s one example of how Posterous brings social networking to a higher level: ClickIdeas

#6: Helps You to Segment Content for Different Audiences

You can use your Posterous account to create different points of contact with your audience.  Pat Kitano says, “I originally intended this slideshow (How to create a blog without “writing” one) for local businesspeople who wanted a blog for marketing purposes, but didn’t have the inclination to start a blog due to writing and time commitments. After posting the slideshow, I received feedback that Posterous was a great method to create new ‘blogs’ on a variety of topics and interests that were parallel to the principal blog. One mentioned how fast Posterous blogs were indexed by Google.”

This makes it easy to test different market segments outside of your main blog or website.

#7: Is the Easiest Option to Share Photos

Posterous is simply the easiest social media platform to share photos and videos.  All you have to do is email your photo or video to Posterous and it does everything else. This means you can publish your favorite photos and videos from any location where you have access to your email, even from your mobile phone.

This is why many users choose to post all of their photos and videos to Posterous and set it up to feed their Facebook, Twitter and other social media profiles.

Bonus: Makes You Easy To Connect With

Sometimes a personal touch helps you to create a stronger connection with your audience on social media.  This is why some business professionals use Posterous as a place to provide a unique glimpse into their personal lives.

Jason Falls does a good job at providing both personal and business insights on his Posterous page: Falls, Off the Rocker. He links to these Posterous posts from his Twitter account and invites his Twitter followers to get to know him better.

A Step Toward Creating Social Connections

Creating a social presence and adapting to different social media platforms are not easy for many businesses.  Posterous provides a way for businesses to make a social connection between their own website and other social media platforms as they learn more about incorporating social media into their current marketing tactics.

Ready to Give Posterous a Try?  Here’s some good resources to check out:

• Read Mashable’s Posterous Guide.
• Have a look at Guy Kawasaki’s Twelve Tips and Tricks.
• And remember to subscribe to Social Media Examiner.  There’s more to come on Posterous and other social media platforms.

Now It’s Your Turn

• What are you interested in getting out of Posterous?
• Do you already have a Posterous page?
• How is Posterous helping your social media marketing?

Share the link to your Posterous page below and tell us what your experience has been so far in the Comments section below.