I found the following article on Mashable today which outlines some of LinkedIn’s new focus on “more social”.

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“Over the next few weeks, LinkedIn will be rolling out a complete overhaul to its Groups feature to make creating and following conversations easier and more engaging.

When you visit a revamped LinkedIn Group, you will immediately notice that strong emphasis has been placed on starting conversations. In the past, you’d have to click either “Start a Discussion” or “Submit News” to add a conversation to a group. Now both of those functions have been combined via a publisher box that is prominently displayed at the top of the page.

LinkedIn’s follow system has also been expanded. You may not know this, but the business social network actually gives you the option to “follow” individuals if you want to see what they’re saying in different groups, but aren’t his or her connection. That feature is now prominent, not only for people but for conversations as well. If you stumble across a great debate in a group and want to keep tabs on it, all you have to do is click “follow discussion” and it’ll appear in your news feed and in your inbox.

There is also a new focus on surfacing quality conversations from influencers. A new feature allows you to scan different conversations and “Like,” “Pass” or “Comment” on a discussion within a group. This information then brings the best conversations to the top of the group. There is also now a “Top Influencers” feature, which highlights quality contributors based on how well they stimulate conversations from other members.

LinkedIn told me that they are trying to make the conversations you have on LinkedIn “a bit closer to the face-to-face interaction” you find at conferences or in-person meetings. To do that, they’ve focused their energy on not only increasing engagement (which should keep people coming back to LinkedIn), but on increasing quality engagement.

While groups have long been part of LinkedIn’s core structure, we’re willing to bet most users almost never post news or conversations in them — they’d rather place their thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, where they will get more engagement. We’re looking forward to seeing if this redesign changes things. Check out the video below that explains the new features, and let us know what you think of Groups 2.0 in the comments.”

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On-Page (Keyword-Specific) Ranking Factors

(Information about these factors:  The following ranking factors were rated by our panel (SEOMoz.org ) of 72 SEO experts. Their feedback is aggregated and averaged into the percentage scores below. For each, we’ve calculated the degree to which the experts felt this factor was important for achieving high rankings as well as the degree of variance in opinion, estimated using the standard deviation of the contributors’ answers. Thus, factors that are high in importance and low in contention are those where experts agree the most that the factor is critical to rankings.)

Building a community of listeners is a very valuable tool.  You gain streamlined access to people who consider you an authority on your subject and “trust” your recommendations.  This opens up a level of “influence” which you can wield in many different directions.

While your ROI on building a strong community might not be as transparent as a quick profit sale, it has the potential for strong on-going financial benefits. 

Kind of see my point but you want more?  I’m personally recommending a fantastic book from a true Guru in the field:   Tribes, by Seth Godin. 

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Ok, so you’ve painstakingly crafted the ultimate press release for your website.  Now what?  have you considered Search Engine Optimization for your snazzy press release?  Chances are, SEO was left off your list but don’t fear… there’s help to be had in this arena.

Check out the video below on a handy Press Release SEO Grader.

SEO Link Building 101- SEOBOOK video on building quality backlinks -

This brief video give a really good overview on link building and ways that linking can increase your potential for better placement in search engines and brand credibility. Very often, not enough thought goes into a website owner’s linking strategy. This is unfortunate. A good back linking strategy for your website can make a world of difference!

Google Local Business Center is the talk of the town lately, so how do you add your website? Well, it just so happens I’ve added a quick and dirty Youtube.com video which breaks it down for you step by step (provided by smbwebguru)

Google also offers its own video located on the Local Business Center website, if you prefer to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

I’ll add, unlike BING’s current local Business Directory process, Google’s version allows for instant phone verification of your listing. Very nice.

I recently read an article from SEOMoz on the new deal between Yahoo and Microsoft’s BING. In the very near future there will be, in essence, a merger of search technologies between the two major search engines. While Google Search still holds fast in the dominance of search on the internet, these two combined forces are sure to add some interesting changes in the Search Engine Optimization landscape. Those of you out there who have held off on putting much effort into learning how BING ranks, now is the time to play catch-up!

Article from SEOMoz: Top 10 Things the Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal Changes for SEO – July 29, 2009

~ How much website traffic do you feel you need to meet your goals?

~ How many conversions will you need to meet these monthly goals?

…Better yet, what are your goals?

Many people think they need millions of visitors to achieve their company or website’s goals. Not true.

If your monthly analytics continues to grow and your actual conversion rate keeps you in the “green”, you very well may not need those millions of visitors. *smirk*

Over the past month or so there has been a good amount of buzz on one of Twitter’s new features, Twitter Lists.  Amy Porterfield breaks the system down for you in the video shown below…

Now that you know… who’ll be on your next Twitter List?

@swytch