When Google Buzz launched a few months ago, Google did not immediately follow up with a Tweetmeme-style Buzz share button. So developers created workaround code and plugins to create a Google Buzz button and share counter. The first of these appeared on the social media blog Mashable. The share counter on these buttons was inaccurate, because it counted the amount of clicks on a shared item via the Bit.ly API rather than how many times the page had been Buzzed, or shared.

Google has finally released an official Google Buzz share button, which displays a counter of how many times a page has been shared on Buzz. Here’s how to install it.

1. Navigate to the Google Buzz API site

There are two different buttons you can install on your website:

• Post to Buzz – this is the Google Buzz button, which helps people post your content on Google Buzz. The button can display a counter for how many times your content has been shared.
• Follow on Buzz – this is a button that encourages your site visitors to follow you on Google Buzz. This button allows people to follow you without leaving your website.

2. Select “Post to Buzz”

This is the button you want on each post on your site to encourage visitors to share your content.

3. Customize your Post to Buzz button

There are several customizations you can make, particularly to the style of the button (with or without counter, counter on the top or side, etc.). You can also select an image to post within each Buzz. If you do not have an image on your homepage that you would want to use, you could upload one to your FTP and choose that image to share.

4. Install the code on your website

Copy and paste the code in the text field and paste it wherever you want it to appear on your website or blog.

5. Install a Wordpress plugin that uses the official Google Buzz API

If you have a Wordpress blog and aren’t sure where to paste the Buzz code in the single.php page, you can install a plugin that will place the button for you. The WP-Google-buzz plugin is the best option. Not only can you customize where the button appears (on the right or left of your blog post), but you have several button styles to choose from to match the theme of your blog.

Related Posts:

How to Add Google Buzz To Your Wordpress Blog
How to Add Official Twitter Button to Your Site or Blog
How to Add the Facebook Like Button to Your Blog

There are literally hundreds of URL Shorteners to choose from. TinyURL was the first URL shortener to gain popularity, and because of Twitter, demand for URL shorteners has grown exponentially. There’s bit.ly, snipurl.com, owl.ly, cli.gs, su.pr, is.gd, badurl.com, tr.im, short.to, 6url.com, just.as, tiny.cc, kl.am, adjix.com, notlong.com, xr.com, and that’s just to name a few.

Who has time to sort through all of these links? Stating the obvious, these sites all pretty much do the same thing: shorten links. But there are some features that make bit.ly a step above the rest (and if you want to follow along, I suggest registering for a bit.ly account first):

1. Track Clicks

Being able to track all clicks makes us analytics dorks very happy. Let’s use one of my blog posts as an example: Free Twitter Badges for Your Website or Blog, for which I’ve created the bit.ly http://bit.ly/freebadges.

After creating a bit.ly, you access the click stats through your bit.ly history and click “Info+”. You can also access the stats by entering your bit.ly followed by a plus sign (http://bit.ly/freebadges+) as the URL. This comes in handy because after using your account for a while, it will be harder to find the link you’re searching for in your bit.ly history. So I like to keep track of my important bit.ly’s in an excel spreadsheet (yes, we’ve already established that I’m a dork).

The large number represents how many clicks were generated from your account. As you can see, 15 clicks were generated from my account. 136 clicks were generated in total, so 121 clicks were generated from other people going to bit.ly and shortening my blog’s URL themselves.

2. Customize your bit.ly’s

When you shorten a link on any link shortening site, it generates a link with random characters. When I initially shortened my Free Twitter Badges link with bit.ly, it gave me the link http://bit.ly/8CKeP. Unless you’re a pretty strange person, 8CKeP probably doesn’t mean anything to you. So I want my bit.ly to read http://bit.ly/freebadges. Simply enter your desired bit.ly URL, such as “freebadges” into the “Custom Name” field on the right:

And viola, my link is now http://bit.ly/freebadges. Try to keep your links as short as possible for sites like Twitter.

3. See tweets in real-time

Bit.ly lets you see people’s tweets that contain your bit.ly’s. This allows for conversation monitoring about the content you’re pushing into the Twittersphere.

I’m pretty excited that people think my holiday-themed Twitter backgrounds are “super cute.”

4. See your personal click stats

The Bit.ly click summary feature lets you see how people are interacting with bit.ly’s you’ve created for the past hour, seven days, or 30 days.

You can also see referrer details (most people click my bit.ly’s through Email, IM, and AIR Apps such as Tweetdeck, followed by Twitter, then Facebook), and location details.

5. The bit.ly sidebar

The Bit.ly Sidebar slides out to shorten your long link, then shows Traffic, Conversations, and History. You can also share your bit.ly link on Twitter, Gmail, Email, and Facebook. Add a link to your Favorites bar to quickly activate the bit.ly sidebar on any webpage you visit.

6. Makes sure your content is optimized for search

Your bit.ly’s info page will let you know how the search engines see your page, so you can double check that your post is SEO compliant in terms of your metadata, including keywords and description.

7. Other dorky cool stuff

Numbers 1 and 2 on this list are the main reasons why bit.ly is so awesome, but here’s a quick list of other notable features:

• Convert bit.ly’s you created when signed out to your account’s bit.ly history
• Bit.ly browser extentions (Firefox and Chrome) let you preview any bit.ly before you click
• The mobile bit.ly site is m.bit.ly, for easy URL shortening on your phone
• The bit.ly Gmail gadget lets you create bit.ly’s while writing email
• Amazon Affiliates bookmarklet lets you easily create bit.ly’s with your own affiliate link

With all these cool features, it doesn’t make sense to use any URL shortener besides Bit.ly.

Which URL shortener do you use most regularly? Or prove me wrong; do you think any other shortener has superior features?Related Posts:

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Disqus V3 Live: Upgrades for Publishers, Profiles for Commenters
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Disqus is a commenting system and moderation tool for your site or blog. It’s pretty amazing; I use it here at U Stand Out. It’s super easy to use and is packed with neat features including social network integration, powerful moderation/spam filter tools, and connection to an entire discussion community. Disqus V3 is being launched today, and now offers a management system for the commenters themselves.

Disqus already had advantages to both commenters and publishers, but especially publishers. With features like integrated Facebook Connect and the ability to sign in with other social networking accounts, including Twitter, publishers don’t have to worry about configuring comment registration themselves. In case you haven’t tried it, installing Facebook Connect yourself and actually getting it to work can be a major headache.

So what’s so cool about V3?

Disqus Profile

Not to worry; the Disqus Profile is not another profile you have to manage (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc ^infinity). It’s a management tool for commenters to control all their comments, subscriptions, and profiles, all in one place.

You can browse your comment history, and view, edit, or delete comments without having the visit the specific site or blog. You can also add your various social profiles (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to your Disqus profile and syndicate your comments through Disqus to all or some of those networks.

The advantage of catering to users in addition to publishers isn’t only that it makes the system more efficient (which is definitely true), but that it will encourage users to be more active commenters. This is good news for bloggers out there who have Disqus installed, and is also a good reason to use Disqus on your own blog if you’re not already.

Disqus Comments

Disqus Comments was amazing even before V3. In case you have not used Disqus before, here are some of my favorite features to begin with:

• Comment format: threaded comments and replies
• SEO Friendly: comments indexable by search engines (which as an SEO nerd makes me very happy)
• Social Login Capabilities: allows users to sign in with other social network logins (Facebook Connect, sign in with Twitter, Open ID, etc)
• Moderation: powerful moderation and spam filtering tools
• Auto-sync: easy to import existing comments and backup comments
• Subscription: easy-to-use subscription and RSS options help you keep your readership numbers
• Discussion community: Connection with a large discussion community, which leads to increased exposure and readership. I get lots of traffic through Disqus

Here are some new features V3 has to offer:

• Moderation interface: has been redesigned to an inbox-style that makes moderation super easy
• Filtering options: You can now filter by comment, thread, or search term
• Word filter: enter words that will trigger moderation if mentioned in comments
• Whitelist or blacklist: ban or always allow email addresses or usernames to comment
• Customization: includes nicer styling options for your comments section

The one problem I have with Disqus is the inability to change your username. Now that V3 allows you to have your own Disqus vanity URL (mine is http://disqus/dianaf86), I care more about changing my screen name created last year to my more universal dianafreedman screen name. Upon asking the people at Disqus if I could switch (I already made sure to snatch up dianafreedman), they informed me it wasn’t possible. Hmph.

What do you think of the latest version of Disqus? How do you manage comments on your site? Do you think you’ll use Disqus to manage your own comments?Related Posts:

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Want to easily track what people are saying about you, your company, a product, or any topic across the web’s social media sphere in real-time? Now it’s possible, and there are several tools out there that make it much more interesting than a basic Google search.

It’s undoubtedly valuable to immerse yourself in the chatter. Not only can you see what people are saying about you, your company, or your blog, but also you can see what topics are hot in people’s minds all over the world. This can clue you in on what to be aware of, and even what to write your own articles about.

Here are my top four picks for stand out keyword trackers:

1. Social Mention

Social Mention is like a Twitter search for the entire social space. Search for any keyword or phrase on the homepage, and in seconds it aggregates results from sites like Twitter, FriendFeed, Delicious, YouTube, BlogCatalog, and thousands of blogs. And the data is fresh since it tracks conversions in real time. The homepage displays what keywords are the hottest, and being written about more often than usual.

The search results make it clear where the mention was (Wordpress, Yahoo news, etc.). It also displays the rate of mention (for example, the iPhone is mentioned once every 9 minutes). You can sort by blogs, microblogs, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos, or all at once. My favorite feature on Social Mention is the keyword subscriber; you can also subscribe to a keyword’s RSS feed, so you can keep up on the very latest on your topic within the social sphere.

2. WhosTalkin

WhosTalkin’ is a new social media search tool similar to Social Mention that helps users track what topics are hot on the web. It’s extremely useful for bloggers who want to keep up with the latest on their niches, or anything else, all across the social space.

Simply search for a keyword or phrase, and within seconds you’ll get results from tons of social media sites including blogs, news sites, social networks, and forums. My favorite feature here is the accordion navigation, where users can drill down to specific sites within each category; for example, you can see who’s talking about your keyword of Technorati, or Twitter, or FriendFeed, or all blogs in general.

WhosTalkin is still in beta, so more features are sure to come soon. This is definitely a tool to keep your eye on.

3. Twitter Search

Twitter Search is specific to Twitter (obviously), but the Twittersphere is exploding like crazy. People are addicted to posting their every little move or thought on Twitter, and it can be just as addicting to watch what people are talking about.

The main Twitter Search page shows what keywords topics are hot right now, and are updated frequently. Search for any topic you want, and results come back in less than one second. You can filter results by language, and even translate other languages to English. Then you can retwit the results, or set up an RSS feed for your search query. The functionality of Twitter Search is amazing, and would be #1 if it covered more than just Twitter.

What’s great about Twitter Search as that you can connect with the individuals who have tweeted on your topic easily, which is useful for bloggers when they want to promote their content. Twitter Search is also a great way to find individuals who have something in common with you, so you can follow them in the hopes that they’ll follow  you back, and then click on your links when they’re interested.

LinkedIn has caught onto the value of Twitter Search. One of their applications, Company Buzz, delivers the latest Twitter chatter about your company right to your profile, so you and your friends can see what people are saying in real time.

4. Google Trends

Google Trends displays a list of the hottest 100 keywords that appear in relation to all the other keywords out there (oh, Google and their algorithms), updated every few minutes. This information is fascinating, but not necessarily useful. There were only a couple things I would ever find relevant enough to write about in my blog, but if you’re creative you can work these keywords into your post: “Blogger Bob Jones has just about as much credibility as the Church of Scientology.”

Click on any of these hot topics, and you’ll get the latest news articles, blog posts, and web results. You can also see the hotness scale of the keyword, related searches, and when the search term peaked. Turns out Church of Scientology was so high in the rankings because of the recent tragedy with scientologist John Travolta’s son Jett.

Comparison searching is the goldmine here. When starting this blog, I was torn between “internet marketing” and “social media” as my main focus. Although I write about both, I do focus more on social media. When I search to compare the two, I get this as a result:

This says a lot. Even though the term internet marketing has been search for much more, you can see the direction it’s heading… looks like the two lines will criss-cross soon, making social media the more popular topic, as long as social media’s upward trend remains consistent. Looks like this might even happen in 2009, which is perfect timing for me and my little blog here.

What tracking tools do you recommend? Do you think these tools are useful? How have you used keyword tracking in the past?Related Posts:

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Snip URL is an online tool you can use to make those ridiculously long URLs shorter. So instead of a long URL, intimidating URL, you get this:

http://snipurl.com/beedlebard

Cool, right? I used Tiny URL for a couple of years, especially when sending emails. And if you’re on Twitter, you probably know that Twitter automatically makes your long URLs short using Tiny URL. But Snip URL offers some awesome features that leaves Tiny URL in the dust:

Keep your snips organized

Keeps track of each snip you create in reverse-chronological order, and allows you to modify them later.

Track your links

You can see how many people have clicked on your Snip. This feature tracks clicks and unique clicks. Once you copy and paste a snip into Twitter, it won’t be replaced with a Tiny URL, so now you can track how many people click on your Twitter links.

Hey look! Four people have already clicked my Amazon Affiliate link for the new Harry Potter book, and I just created that Snip for this example about three minutes ago! There’s an interesting strategy for you creative online money-makers out there. ☺

Social bookmark your snips

Add your snip to social bookmarking sites quickly and easily. It’s a great way to see your clicks increase more quickly!

Access it from your toolbar

You can add Snip URL to your toolbar, so you don’t have to manually go to the website every time you want to create a snip.

Browse other people’s snips

Snip URL is like its own social bookmarking site; you can browse other users’ snips and see what’s interesting by how many times each snip has been viewed

RSS your snips

You can set up RSS feeds of your latest snips. This can be useful as a sidebar widget on your blog or website.

There are also some more advanced ways you can use Snip URL, like setting up API keys, and multi-snip (snip many URLs at once). But really, who doesn’t love tracking their traffic? If you’re not a fan of track-clicking features in stats programs like Google Analytics, Snip URL is the way to go.

You can read more about Snip URL here: Tiny URL or Snip URL – How Do You Track Your Online Marketing?

So start snipping away, and please let me know how you like it.Related Posts:

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Social Marker looks like an awesome tool at first. It’s a website which makes the process of social bookmarking faster. Instead of having to visit each individual bookmarking site, you can scroll though 47 different submission pages within one iframe. Social Marker claims that this process will make search engines notice you a lot more since so many websites would be pointing to your website.

There’s also plenty of software out there to automate social bookmarking; all you have to do is enter the URL you’d like to bookmark. What a time-saver, right? Wrong. While sites like Social Marker are useful in theory, this is also known as spamming. But this isn’t just an ethical issue.

Search engines penalize spammers

Google, Yahoo, and other search engines use algorithms that recognize systematic spammers, including those who spam the social bookmarking sites. When you use a common tool like social marker, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time trying to promote your blog because the search engines will not rank you well when they recognize your spamming patterns. This obviously can have a negative effect on your website, and it could be permanent.

Social bookmarking sites ban spammers

Sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Delicious will ban your account, and even your IP address if they recognize that you are spamming their site for self-promotion. Participating in stumble/digg exchanges will also put your account at risk. According to StumbleUpon’s terms of service: “The practice of sending PM’s encouraging or inviting other stumblers to rate/review sites in exchange for reciprocal reviews/ratings, monetary, or any other form of reward is strictly forbidden.”

And not only can your account be banned for participating in exchange ratings, but your website can be permanently banned from being rated or reviewed. This isn’t worth the risk. Social bookmarking, when used properly, is such a valuable tool for getting valuable traffic to your site.

Don’t submit only your own content

You can still utilize social bookmarking sites to get meaningful traffic to your site without exploiting the system. Submit articles from blogs similar to yours, and write meaningful reviews that include your signature (name and URL). When the blog owners sees your review, they may go to your website and return the favor. The review you’ll receive in return will be much more valuable than if you’d participated in a stumble-exchange review: “Great!”

Being an active user of these social bookmarking sites doesn’t have to be time consuming. Most of their homepages include recently popular pages. So check out a few, and rate the ones that you found interesting. This way, if you have written an article you’re really proud of and want to get into the system, you can bookmark your own content once in a rare while without looking like a spammer.

Make it easy for visitors to bookmark your blog

Encourage your visitors to bookmark your site and articles by providing links to quickly stumble or digg your site. You can see my bookmark-icon links at the bottom of each post. Wordpress and Typepad have widgets you can install that automatically add these links to each one of your articles. Add To Any is also a great widget that you can add to any site, and it’s really easy to configure and install. Don’t overwhelm your users with links to share your URL all over the place, but make the links easily visible on the page.

There are so many articles out there promoting sites like Social Marker, claiming that it can save bloggers so much time when marketing their blog. So if you still think that Social Marker is a valuable resource and want to use it, use it sparingly and only for your best posts. But decide first whether you think it’s worth the risk, because once your website is banned, it will be too late to change your mind. Also, decide if you really need to be submitting your content to 47 different sites. You’re probably better off  becoming an active user a few sites, constantly using them to submit interesting articles on the web, occasionally including your own.

So what do you think? Do you use social bookmarking tools like Social Marker? Do you think automating the process and self-promotion should be treated so harshly? Related Posts:

How To Create Content Worthy of Social Media Marketing
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