WebRev Blog

A post on Mashable this week has revived the #lazyweb hashtag on Twitter.  While it is true that you can find just about anything on Google these days, it is also true that in many cases you need to know what you're looking for.  If you know absolutely nothing about the topic or industry you need to research, you might not even know what search terms to use or which sources are credible.

That's where the idea of "crowdsourcing" your search can come in handy - and save time.  In the style of the original "Ask Jeeves," (now Ask.com) and "Computer" on the Star Ship Enterprise, you simply type in the question that is on your mind, and (hopefully) people who actually have interest and knowledge on your topic will be able to point you in the right direction, and give helpful information, resources, and links.

While this can be a "lazy" way to do research, it can also be a very smart way to do research when handled properly - i.e. for information that you CANNOT easily find on Google using the very same question you just typed into Twitter.  To try the #lazyweb, simply sign into Twitter, type your question followed by #lazyweb (your entire question including the hashtag will need to be 140 characters or less).  Then wait to see if you receive any replies.  Replies will begin with @YourUsername, and hopefully contain links or ideas for further research. 

For more on #hashtags, see the WebRev #hashtag archive and for more info about online research in general, see our online research archive.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

Before reading this post, you may not have ever thought you would need to use a #hashtag.  Probably by now you've seen them all over the web.  I have one friend on Facebook who uses them as the punchline to jokes: 

 

An epic blizzard with a foot of snow and temps below zero and ... wait for it ... the power's out at my wife's photo studio. #frozenpipes -Joe Kelly

The #hashtag, however, is actually a type of feed on Twitter.com.  Yesterday, we talked about how the Twitter #hashtag is one quick way to attract readers to a blog post.  One of the more popular ones right now is #Egypt, because Egyptian protesters are using sites like Twitter to get new out about the protests going on there. Google is even getting in on the action, helping those who have had their internet access cut off by the government there by letting them phone in their tweets using the hashtag.

You can also view the trending topics list at search.twitter.com or in the sidebar of your Twitter account when you're signed in to see what tags and search terms are currently popular. 

For your business or project, however, you don't need to choose a #hashtag that is getting 500 tweets per minute.  In fact, you probably don't want that, especially if you're targeting a local market.  You really just need to use the tags or search terms that are getting a few tweets per hour.

Think about what the people who are looking for the information you are providing will be searching for on Twitter.  They may or may not be actually using the #hashtag format, so try your search both ways (with and without the # sign in front of your search).  For example, if I'm wanting to target Twitter users in the Tulsa area, I can search #Tulsa and Tulsa, and find that the search term without the # sign gets more hits.

Beyond that, just play around with different search terms to find out which ones ultimately get the most retweets, and/or drive traffic to your blog or web page.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

Building a loyal repeat readership takes, time, energy, and patience.  In most cases, you'll spend a lot of time social networking in the beginning of your blogging venture, and more on search engine optimization thereafter.

But what if you have a time-sensitive post that's really good?  Perhaps you've written something that has to do with current events or to do with a sale you're having this coming weekend, and you don't have several months to build web traffic.  What you need is for a bunch of people to see your post TODAY.   So, how do you do that?  Here are some ideas.

Include a poll with your post. 

 

People love, love, LOVE to give their opinions.  So include a poll with your post, and then link to your post from social networks like Twitter and your Facebook profile.

 

Include original photos or artwork, and label them correctly.

 

A lot of people search images.google.com for images for their own blog posts, so if you have photos or artwork (cartoons, etc.), that pertain to something that is going on in your area or in national news, be sure to include them with your post.  Remember, the search engines can not yet SEE the photos, and evaluate them based on content, so you'll need to give your photos a title that includes the search terms people will use to search for your photo.  Forget about copyright.  If you're lucky, other bloggers MIGHT link back to you and give you credit for the photo, but in most cases they're going to use and abuse it. Remember, your goal on this particular project is to attract readers, not sell your photo.

 

Use Twitter #hashtags and key search terms.

 

Twitter has become one of the first places people will go to get news about events that are evolving (e.g. #egypt).  You're only going to have their attention for a few seconds, so make your Twitter post concise and poignant.  If you need ideas for what #hashtags or keywords to use, you can play around with search.twitter.com, to see what search terms are getting a lot of "retweets" and hits - at least one per minute is a very active feed. 

 

Note:  You can combine the use of Twitter search idea above with either of the other two ideas - images or polls - and double the effect of your effort.  Have fun and good luck!

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking.