The popularity of the new .CO domains is increasing steadily, as more well-known web sites like Twitter and Overstock are purchasing their own .CO domains. For those of you that are not yet familiar with .CO domains, they were the country code domains for Columbia, however recently they have been offered on a global level and are now utilized as international domains. In fact, Google is even changing the way it indexes these sites, allowing the owner to target their intended country, thus giving .com’s a run for their money with regards to indexing and placement.

Anyone in the internet industry knows that there is a good chance that .CO domains could be the future of the internet and the new .com. Right now, one to four letter .Co domains are selling for a lot of money, so there is definitely a sense of scarcity and a an impending online market change. Most experienced webmasters are getting in on the trend now by purchasing domain names that may prove to be profitable in the future, when .Co domains are dominating in the search results.

Twitter’s New .CO Domain

Twitter recently acquired the domain name T.CO, which will be used as Twitter’s own proprietary link service. The site is to be used as an internal application that interacts with information posted on twitter, rather than a site that provides activities for its visitors. With the new T.CO domain twitter is changing the way they index links, and is becoming more conscious of the amount of links that are posted on Twitter each day. T.CO is also being used as Twitter’s own private link shortener, which can be used by Twitter users to shorten links automatically. T.CO is primarily being used by Twitter to prevent malicious activity, monitor the nature of links posted on Twitter, and provide a development system for developers that want to create applications for Twitter.

Overstock’s New .CO Domain

Overstock.com is also getting in on the .CO domain craze, as they recently acquired O.CO, which is simply a shortcut to the Overstock web page. In fact, Overtstock saw this domain name as being so  important that they actually spent $350,000 on it! According to Overstock, the acquisition of this new domain will greatly improve the company’s branding over the next decade, and it will make it easier to access Overstock’s web site. Overtsock understands the importance of capitalizing on new trends, especially ones that could affect the future of their business and the perception of their customers. O.CO is perhaps one of the most memorable domain names ever created, which makes it the perfect branding decision for any company.

How Much Do .CO Domains Cost?

Based on the above information you may feel as if you cannot afford a .CO domain. However, a regular .CO domain only costs about $25 to $30. However, any domain name with less than three letters is sure to be an extremely valuable domain. If you want to  capitalize on the new .CO domains without spending a lot of money then you will need to consider longer domain names that are an exact match for popular keywords.

Social bookmarking has become one of the best ways for website owners to draw attention to their site exponentially. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of social bookmarking; think Digg or Twitter. Any social site that users can place a link to a certain page on is considered a social bookmarking site. People use these sites to share information or media that they find to be useful or entertaining with their friends and family. These sites make browsing the web a fun and exciting experience because people can find out what is new and interesting without trying to find it themselves. By placing your site on a social bookmarking site, you’ll not only receive direct attention to your site immediately, but you’ll also receive search engine optimization benefits as well.

The Connection Between SEO and Social Bookmarking

Proper search engine optimization requires the use of many methods combined in a collective effort to bring as much traffic to the site as possible. The more traffic your site gets, the more popular it appears to be form the perspective of a search engine. Therefore website popularity is almost like a snowball effect, as the popularity builds the page rank rises and it becomes a progressive traffic generating cycle. Social bookmarking lets you expose your site to a wide group of people, many of which run their own blogs, which are indexed in the search engines just as regular websites are. If someone links to your site on their blog, they are creating what is called a backlink for your site. The more live backlinks your site has on the internet, the more popular it appears to be, and the more favoritism it will receive from the search engines. Perhaps the most important connection between search engine optimization and social bookmarking is that your site can receive popularity before it is ever indexed in the search engines, which ironically is an excellent way to get your site indexed!

Utilizing the Full Power of Social Bookmarking

Since there are so many social bookmarking sites online, it would be foolish to target only one of them. However submitting your link to each one manually can be a time intensive process. Fortunately there are ways to accomplish this without wasting time completing repetitive menial tasks. You have two options; you can outsource the work to another person, or you can use an application that will complete the task for you with very minimal input. The first option is almost self-explanatory – simply hire a freelancer, tell him to sign up to as many social bookmarking sites as you’d like, and then tell them to make a post about your site. You can also pay many freelancers a few pennies each to visit your site and vote it up using the social bookmarking buttons on your site. The second option is a bit more tricky but costs less and is equally effective if done correctly. Simply find an application, or have one made that will complete the aforementioned task automatically. You can find out about applications like these at online forums or by doing a simple web search.

Final Thoughts

While social bookmarking sites are a great way to market your site, they are also inundated with other marketers and spammers, so it is important to remember that this is a numbers game. The more amount of work you put int, the more results you’ll see. The key to improving search engine optimization with social bookmarking is consistency.

When it comes to having a profitable business online, there are dozens of small and large items owners need to attend to when ensuring high visibility.  One extremely valuable asset to ensuring a popular business web site is the incorporation of social media tools.  Twitter, Facebook and even blogs have proven to be effective tools when keeping in contact with one’s customers and clients.

It is all well and fine to purchase a domain, rent some web space, create a web site and toss in some social media links.  The work actually begins when trying to keep in touch with customers and in tracking how effective different social media outlets are proving themselves to be.  As there is already enough work simply in keeping a business web site running properly, there is not enough time to go to every social media site to trend and conversation watch.  What is the solution?

The solution

uberVU aims to be the perfect solution for cross site and multiple social media tool tracking.  This web site tracks conversations as they occur across many different sites.  For example, a product announcement may be sent out via a business blog and, once read by an avid customer, its web link is sent out to Twitter.  Another Twitter user and happy customer may come across the sent tweet and post this out to his or her Facebook announcement area.  There is now one product announcement generated across three different social media types.

The beauty of uberVU is its simplicity and ease of use.  Signing up for uberVU is a quick and painless operation made even simpler by allowing new users to login using either a Twitter, Facebook or Google account.  Already time is saved within the sign up process with this web site.

How it works

Once signed up with uberVU, users can type in a URL or keyword(s) into a search bar and efficiently and quickly track exactly what they desire.  The site incorporates analytics to see which social media types are being used most often.  These analytics can be downloaded and used in presentations or PDF files (paid users only).  Each conversation that pertains to the URL or keyword can be followed through to each social media site.  Searches can be saved (1 for free users, more for paid users) for continuous monitoring purposes.  The time saved alone is worth the cost of a paid account.

The uberVU web site offers four types of accounts.  The free account allows for one saved search, does not allow for analytic information to be downloaded, and any reply from within uberVU to any part of the searched conversations will contain a URL link back to the uberVU web site.  The three paid accounts range from $19.99 to $149.99 a month and allow for larger numbers of saved searches, varying amounts of analytical data that can be downloaded, and each paid account is free of any URL links within replies.

Final Thoughts

Knowing how effective an online business is can be key to ensuring an increase in new customers and knowing that existing customers are satisfied.  Effectively using social media within a business web site and monitoring the outcome of these tools is a step in this direction.  Take uberVU for a test drive with a free account and see what this trend tracking web site can do for your online business.

You’ve found the perfect web hosting company.  Your web site has been created and is running beautifully.  SEO was a top priority so you’ve done everything you can to ensure your web site is one of the first ones discovered in an online search.  Now what can you do to bring in more visitors?  Believe it or not, social media can dramatically in this regard.

The announcers

Within the tangle that is social media, there are sites who’s sole purpose is to get information out there for all to see.  Sites such as Digg, Delicious, Google Reader and StumbleUpon are just a few of the information bookmarking sites available.  To incorporate a very simple “all in one” click-enabled button to web site visitors, you can use scripting available from AddThis.  This service supports over one hundred fifty services available on the internet and makes it easier for visitors to share what they find interesting on your site with others.  AddThis also allows you to enable tracking so you can analyze the performance of your sharing button.

The broadcasters

Another simple social media concept to consider is micro-blogging.  Sites such as Tumblr and FriendFeed work in this capacity.  Instead of writing out a brand new page or entire article with regard to topics or products found on your web site, you can post out small “snippets” with links pointing back to your site.  This is a great way to engage people in quick conversations about your content without having to host it on your web site itself.

The branders

Along the same concept of micro-blogging, sites such as Twitter and Identi.ca can also be beneficial to getting the word out about your web site content.  Some big-wigs in their own league use Twitter on a regular basis.  Comcast, Chevrolet, Southwest Airlines and Wachovia are just a few of these companies.  Some, such as Comcast, use Twitter as a support tool and have greatly improved the public relations of their business simply by offering this as another way to contact them directly.  Identi.ca is very similar in concept to Twitter with the exception that it was created to enable anyone to have their own micro-blog program within their web site.  It can also be configured to cross post to Twitter so, in essence, you can kill two birds with one stone by enabling it on your web site.  A word of caution, the installation and incorporation really requires quite a bit of web development knowledge and would be best left to those adept in this area.

The end result

Whichever style works best for you, your business and your web site, social media is definitely worth investigating.  Using one or all of the types within your web site or in your daily business dealings can help ensure you not only let the public know about your web site content but also enables potential visitors and customers to be able to contact you directly.  Nothing could say “hands on” any better.

It is a constant struggle trying to bring more customers to a web site.  Many of the options available to site owners that can effectively bring in more business are often things they have no control over (search engines, for instance).  One very effective and much more personalized way to help facilitate raising awareness of one’s business is by using social media.  With the large number and types of social media on the web, knowing which one will work the best for one’s business is the hardest part.

Forms and style of social media

There are quite a few forms of social media and within those forms there are several technologies involved.  Reviews and opinions, collaboration, communication and multimedia are some of the core styles of social media.  Communication is one of the more popular styles – blogs, micro-blogging, events, and social networking can be listed among this style type.  As the purpose is to “get the word out” about one’s business, the social media style type of choice is communication.

Micro-blogging and Twitter

Micro-blogging is the sending of short text updates, sometimes including a photo or short audio/video clip.  This is an extremely effective way to communicate to a large audience without losing their interest.  It can be used to disseminate news regarding a company, announce the company’s latest products, or even inform the general public of upcoming sales.  By far one of the most popular micro-blogging sites on the web is Twitter.

Signing up with Twitter is an extremely easy process.  The registration requires a full name (a company name would work as well here), a username (this should also reflect the company or business name), a password, and an email address.  Once these are entered, a new Twitter account is created on the fly.  After an account has been created, the next step is to use one of the available “widgets” that can be found at Twitter’s Goodies page.  There is a widget in place that can be used on a web site and the instructions are very easy to follow.

There are quite a few companies on the web that use Twitter and use it very well.  Comcast, Southwest Airlines, and H&R Block are just a few.  Checking out how these companies have used Twitter to inform and excite the public will enable one to figure out the best Twitter “strategy” for their own business.

Events and Eventful

If the business in question is more geared toward events, performers or avenues, a good choice for a social media outlet would be Eventful.  This service allows people and businesses to share information to the public in regards to upcoming events.  Private and public calendars can be created, events can be searched for and tracked and users can even declare which events they would most like to see in their area.

Much like Twitter, the sign up process for Eventful is simple and instantaneous.  Once the account is created, the user can choose from some popular events, favorite performers and event categories.  After all preferences have been filled out, the user is presented with their main screen.  It is here that a new event can be created.  While Eventful doesn’t present a widget that you can quickly use, they do offer a web services API.  An alternative to this is to simply place a link within the business website, pointing to the Eventful calendar created by the business.

Conclusion

There are dozens upon dozens of more social media applications available that could be used in conjunction with a business web site.  The best way to determine which will work the best for one’s own business is by figuring out exactly what information needs to be presented to the public and which social media venue will get that job done in the best manner.  Check out what other companies and businesses have done with social media and put your business on the social media track.