Social media is hot and its here to stay! One of the biggest trends in web design right now is adding icons or buttons for all the various social media sites you use to your web site to make it one step easier for friends, customers and potential customers to connect with YOU. So where do the designers find all these cool icons? They are all over the web and many are free, but you have to go looking for them.

Fellow designer Randa Clay and I got tired of looking high and low for the best social media icons and decided to create a single hub where you can find the best, free social media icons, buttons and graphics to use at your site. We would like to introduce you to our new website, mysocialbuttons.com, a one-stop resource for all the coolest social networking buttons you can use to let the world know where and how to connect with you or your company online.

All of the buttons on the site at the moment are free. Yep, free. You can help yourself. We just ask that you save the buttons you want to your computer first before you add them to your site or your clients’ sites.

And, if you really want to show of your social prowess, check out some of the t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and other goodies we have created to go with the social movement. They make great gifts, awesome conference schwag, and they are perfect for use as doorprizes or ice breakers at corporate training sessions.

Anyhow, the site is still in beta, but we just can’t keep it to ourselves any longer! Please check it out, let us know what you think, bookmark it, share a link with your friends on Facebook, give it a Tweet, or love it anyway you see fit!!

What monetization methods do you use? Take this quick poll and let me know.

[polldaddy poll="1138037"]

Now for the fun part. What monetization methods are working BEST for you? Leave a comment letting us know what type of site you have and what monetization methods are making the most for you. I will be including some of the reponses and the results of the poll in an upcoming post.

The difference between Mixx and other social news/bookmarking sites is how users form communities based on topics and create a more personalized experience. The Washington Post recently featured a really nice article on Mixx and its founder, Chris McGill, who took the time to explain the differences between Mixx and its social rivals.

When you visit today’s CNN article on Web use at work and how it can be a good thing, you are presented with multiple opportunities to get social with the article. They have long had the email a friend and print options on their article pages, but now check out the upper right hand corner of a CNN page:

Mixx gets top billing! You can also submit the article to a variety of social bookmarking sites using the Share button, but it is Mixx that stands out from the crowd.

As you read further down the page, you are presented with the social options again:

I also think it is interesting that at this point in the article, the page looks an awful lot like any successful blog page! Notice the tags, the ads by google, the Most Popular tabbed navigation box, and of course the options to get social. Makes you wonder – did blog design emulate the news media or have the news media taken on the best features from the blogosphere? I’m sure it is a bit of both – and I’m sure that the traditional media outlets are consulting with some of the most successful bloggers for input.

So, if Mixx has CNN’s attention, which other social news and social bookmarking sites are worth investing time in? CNN seems to think these are and in this order:

• Mixx
• Digg
• Facebook
• Del.icio.us
• Reddit
• Stumble Upon
• My Space

Yahoo Buzz is getting quite a bit of attention lately and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the mix soon. Netscape’s Propeller is also hanging in there, but it hasn’t made too many waves as of late.

What are your favorite social news and bookmarking sites? Which ones do you think are here to stay and which ones will get drown out with all the other noise? I’d love to know what you think! And while you are at it, add this to the Mixx!

Once you understand what RSS is, you need to find your favorite aggregator. Personally, I prefer Google Reader, but I know many who swear by Netvibes, Pageflakes and Bloglines. (Here is a full list of feed aggregators). This allows you to stay up to date on your favorite sites from one convenient site.

More fun RSS tools:

• A huge compilation of free RSS icons of all shapes and sizes for you to use on your site
• Feedburner – the ultimate tool for managing, publishing and monetizing your feed.
• Mashable has the ultimate list of 120 RSS Tools with everything from readers, plugins, hacks, and such to help you get the most of your feed.

Happy RSS Day! Don’t forget to hug your chicklet today!

• I have been doing some work in the SEO/SEM realm for a client lately. Search Engine Journal’s 32 Important Search Marketing Acronyms has come in handy more than once.
• Samuel at Wake Up Later has put together one of the best lists for freelancers that I have read in a long time! It is 10 Absolute “Nos” for Freelancers – how many of these mistakes have you made at least once in your freelance career? I know I have made some of them.
• Robyn Tippins at Practical Blogging is having a contest – she wants to know what you do to make your area of the world a better place to be and the prize is a three year subscription to Search Marketing Standard and there is also a special deal that will benefit you and a very important charity. I’ll be entering later this week.
• Another gem from Search Engine Journal is Linkbait 101: How to Create Linkable Content and Get Others to Link to It.
• Wendy at eMoms at Home shares a great list of 27 Website Promotion Sources That Have Nothing to do with Google or SEO.
• Looking for some new blogs to read? Phil Gerbyshak has shared a list of more than 125 of his personal favorites - you know if he recommends them they are great!!

Thanks to all the web professionals who continue to share their knowledge, tips and insight so that we can all benefit!!

One of the things I have struggled with throughout my entire career, whether working for myself or someone else, is whether I should focus on the things that make “bringing home the bacon” exceptionally easy, or those that I legitimately enjoy. I have always done web design, but don’t consider myself particularly gifted when it comes to the actual creation process, and more importantly, I don’t really enjoy it. What I love, however, is the internet marketing field as a whole.

I love writing and turning the basic text people throw on their websites into optimized, sales-driven page copy. Yes, it’s geeky, but besides my daughter, I literally live for making websites successful. I do not, however, live for making websites. There is something magical about turning a side project into a self-sufficient driving force for a client’s business. While the actual design process is obviously an essential factor in terms of success, it just isn’t where I shine. When success is quantitative, you can quickly and easily measure whether or not you are doing your job, which, for me anyway, is extremely important.

There are literally thousands of web designers out there who consider themselves SEO specialists – I was one of them, only the opposite. I have become an internet marketing specialist that is also a designer. If we could all face the facts about what we are and are not, we’d all have businesses that produce higher quality products, and as a result, are much more profitable. It took years, but I have come to the realization that I am not a web designer. I have an eye for good design, but I lack the interest, workflow, and at times, the ability to take on large-scale design projects. Sure, I’ve completed dozens of websites, and have overwhelmingly happy clients. I just don’t love it.

So, to all you designers out there who pretend to be marketing people, and marketing people who pretend to be designers, why not focus on what gets you hot? If it’s design, focus on design! If it’s marketing, focus on marketing! If it’s both, more power to you! For those of you that realize that you really enjoy or excel at one aspect of the internet “game”, I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to collaborate on projects to make sure everything is completed quickly, properly, and passionately. I can even think of one guy that would love to work something out with a designer who is tired of doing the marketing on client projects!

Char speaking now! I agree with Mike. There are so many aspects to working in Web design and it is difficult to be good at it all, especially if you are interested in taking on larger projects. One of the biggest benefits to blogging and social media is the ability to connect with others in your field who have complimentary skill sets to your own.

Here are a few more of my favorite posts on finding your passion and putting it into play in your business:

• Finding your passion amid the hate – one of many great posts from Tony at Success from the Nest
• How business strategy can be about love – part of a back and forth series between Dawud and Liz
• What’s my passion? by Phil Gerbyshak the Make it Great Guy

If you take a look at your site statistics, the visitors to your site come from three basic categories:

• Bookmarks/Direct (type address into the URL box)
• Search Engines (keyword and key phrase searches)
• Referrals (links from other sites)

My guess is, depending on what the goals of your site are, the optimal ratios would be different.

Business site – the goal of your company web site or blog is to build a trust and relationship between yourself and a potential (or return) client. The product or service you provide is targeted at a specific audience and while, search engine traffic is is good for brand awareness and just finding you, it will rarely seal the deal.

1. Referrals – 60%
2. Bookmarks/Direct – 30%
3. Search Engine – 10%

Monetized resource/consumer product site – Whether your site is monetized through direct advertising, affiliate links, Adsense, or you are trying to sell a consumer product, search engine traffic becomes much more important.

1. Search Engine – 50%
2. Referrals – 30%
3. Bookmarks/Direct – 20%

If you have a good idea as to what your end goal for your web site is, it does make it easier to allocate your time and resources into going after the type of traffic you wish to attract.

My question to you – am I just stating the obvious or do you think there is a formula for success? Or am I grasping at straws? I would love to get your insight, opinions, and if anyone can find links to other discussions on this topic, please share!

Personally, I’ll take a link on a prominent blogger’s site any day! Why? Because quality always wins out over quantity in my book. Over the past few weeks I have been paying very close attention to where my traffic is coming from and the resulting effect it has had on my site.

During the week of my blogging birthday bash, my wonderful gift from Dawud of 164 Essential Tools for Online Success post was Stumbled, Dugg, and linked to from others. The Stumble was mistimed and never really got any major momentum so the resulting traffic came in the form of a few small spikes, but those small spikes are still lingering. The post did get a fair amount of Digg attention – 83 at last count – and did briefly hit the front page, but the resulting traffic was nothing to write home about and many of the Digg comments were snippy, at best. However, the number of blogs that linked to the post and endorsed it with nice comments, created the largest benefit – from traffic and inbound links.

Later in the week I did a post on the reality of Web site monetization and Problogger (thanks Darren) linked to it. Not only was the traffic increase equal to a Digg, many of those who found the post by way of Problogger took a moment to comment and let me know how they found it or they mentioned it in a post at their own site. This kind of interaction is just so much more important to me. I also noticed a nice jump in RSS subscribers during that time, too.

Of course, my experience is just that, my experience and my opinion. I’d love to know what your experience has been with Digg versus other traffic generating sources. 

Before I entered the world of blogging, none of the websites I designed for clients or myself had been monetized in any way (and none of them were blogs). I was aware of direct advertising as a means of getting a return on your investment, but I really hadn’t clued in to much else. One of my clients had started including affiliate links in her web updates and then she wanted some Adsense blocks added. I had never done any of this before so I had her tell me what she knew and I set about doing my own research to get more information.

The big names in the internet marketing world lead you to believe that all you have to do to start making money from your web site is to slap a few Adsense ads up there, buy their book or e-book, sign up for their affiliate program and “poof” – you will be an Internet Marketing Millionaire overnight. Guess what? That’s not quite how it works.

In my experience, monetizing your web site takes:

• Research
• Trial and error
• Traffic
• and Patience

Every web site is different and there are many different ways you can monetize a site. Certain methods work better than others based on your content, your audience, your traffic level, and your end goals.

Adsense and other contextual ad programs

Where it works: Niche sites tailored to a specific audience. Health, celebrity, consumer product, and extremely specialized niches work best. The less “tech-savvy” the audience, the better the click through rate is going to be (in my experience). Also, the higher your traffic rate, obviously the better you are going to do.

How to maximize your earnings: Use a mix of link ad and ad blocks and blend them into your design as much as possible. Try out a variety of placements using channels. If using on a general topic blog, place on single pages only for more relevant ads.

Affiliate Programs

Where it works: There are affiliate programs for just about everything from specific products to e-courses and absolutely everything in between. Affiliate links work best when presented as recommendations or reviews. Landing pages or pre-sale techniques really help. Affiliate links, if done right, work well even with a the traditional non-clicking audience.

How to maximize your earnings: Do your research. Find affiliate programs for products your audience already uses or would use – especially with a good recommendation from you. Use a pre-sale technique such as a well written landing page for better conversion rates.

Direct Ad Sales

Where it works: Selling text link ads or banner ads have the highest pay potential once your site gets fairly mature and starts getting consistent traffic flows. Having a defined niche/audience helps dramatically. Also, strong content and good SEO techniques make your site more attractive to potential advertisers.

How to maximize your earnings: Have a page about advertising on your site, or at a minimum, have solid statistics on your traffic, click through rates, and your demographics on hand. Be willing to share this information with potential advertisers. You can use brokerage services as well, but keep in mind that they will take a cut of your earnings. However, this may be the easiest way to break into the direct ad arena.

Paid Blogging

Where it works: You can do paid posting through a brokerage service or you can get paid to write regularly for a network. Most of the time the brokerages that offer pay per post (or review) opportunities require your site meet some basic requirements, but beyond that, you can choose which paid opportunities you wish to write on. Writing for a network requires application for the position, but can be a great way to earn money from blogging – especially when you consider what your current blog makes.

How to maximize your earnings: Look for pay per post opportunities that you enjoy, offer some value to your readers, and ones that pay fairly well. When getting paid to blog for a network (or similar), look for a network with a solid reputation, fair pay and bonus opportunities for increasing site traffic.

The Final Word

There are plenty of people making a really good living using a combination of web monetization methods, however I doubt any of them got there overnight and without making plenty of mistakes along the way. And for the record, I didn’t make very much money my first month of monetizing my sites – or my second – or my third. Around the 4th month, things started picking up. After a year of monetizing my sites, I have gotten to the point where I can consider MYSELF as a client – allowing me to stop doing some of the client work I no longer enjoy. I know there is still ALOT more I have to learn about making money on the Internet, but we’ll revisit my progress in another 6 months.

I would LOVE to get your insights on web site monetization. What has worked for you? Am I painting a realistic or accurate picture or have I had a totally different experience than yours?

Here are seven common mistakes businesses make when starting an e-newsletter:

1. Failure to get permission. I am really hoping that this one should go without saying these days, but you cannot add people to your mailing list without getting their permission first. Building a list may be a challenge at first, but using ethical methods will always produce better results. You can add people who you have established as contacts (via some previous communication) as long as you provide them with a clear means to opt-out of future mailings.

2. Using your regular email client. Raise your hand if you have ever sent or received an email where a large number of recipient email addresses were in the To or CC fields? I see a lot of hands!! Apart from the fact that it is bad manners to broadcast your contact list to the world, you have absolutely no reliable way of tracking your newsletter campaign’s effectiveness if you send it out via Outlook.

Email marketing services such as Constant Contact, 1ShoppingCart and Aweber, give you tools to track your campaign’s effectiveness. You can see how many people received it, opened it, when and what they clicked on, and you have the ability to manage opt-in, opt-out, and bounces. One client we converted to Constant Contact (from Outlook broadcast) in August of last year is still singing its praises four campaigns later. (Shoestring Smarts has a good article on the major email marketing service providers)

3. Lack of focus. Before you send out your first e-newsletter, you need to have a plan. What is the primary purpose behind the e-newsletter? Are you aiming to inform, sell, drive traffic to your site, or a combination of the three? Set up a rough editorial calendar so that each issue has a primary message and each article or excerpt works to reinforce your focus and/or brand.

4. Lengthy copy. With a printed newsletter it is much easier to define copy length – columns, text boxes, and pages help draw the boundaries for us, but electronic media boundaries are not as defined. A web page could keep going as long as we can keep scrolling.

• Craft your headlines carefully and break your copy up into quick reading blocks.
• Include just the “teaser” paragraph in the e-newsletter – bring the reader back to your web site for the complete article. (Bonus – you get more information about what your readers are interested in using this method)
• Use subheads and bullets to increase readability
• Don’t forget to add an image or two

5. Image blunders. When you send out an e-newsletter, the images need to reside somewhere on the web in order for your readers to actually be able to see them. E-newsletter newbies often make the mistake of linking to images off their desktops or copying and pasting them into the body of the newsletter. You must either load the images onto your web server or if you use an email marketing service you can upload the images to that server. The URL of the image must be the full URL, not just the image name.

Another common image blunder is using image files that are too large. An image on the web looks no better at 300 dpi than it does at 72 dpi. The only difference is in the file size. Optimize your images for size and your readers will thank you.

One more tip – be sure you give your readers a link to view the newsletter on the web or better yet, a text only version which can be helpful for those getting their email on a mobile device.

6. One hit wonders. In addition to having a focus, you need to have an idea as to how often you will be sending your e-newsletter out. You need to allow sufficient time between issues for you to gather/write quality information, but you need to be sure you don’t wait so long between issues that your readers forget about you. Don’t forget to let your readers know how often they should expect to hear from you.

7. No call to action. This has got to be the absolute, number one pitfall I have seen businesses stumble on. Don’t just leave your readers with a pretty email message – offer a coupon, deal or other compelling reason to visit your website, purchase your product, hire your company, or simply pick up the phone.

By avoiding these pitfalls, an e-newsletter can become an ideal customer relations and sales tool.

I’d love to get your feedback on this topic! What makes or breaks an e-newsletter in your opinion?