SEO, SEM, RSS, oh my!

Newbies just like you flinch when they see these scary acronyms. Sure you can read about what they are on Wikipedia, but what can they do for your business?

Lucky for you, VQC just built a Squidoo page about online business basics. I explain all the buzzwords and how they make your business profitable online.

You’ll find a ton of info there already. And if you have any other questions or suggestions about techie stuff, just email me.

If you like our Squidoo lens, rate it well! I’ll return the favor if you have one.

* 999,996 more entries coming soon.

Last week Rohit Bhargava opened up a contest to bloggers to promote his book launch. Anyone who blogs (for their business or otherwise) was asked to submit a list of five questions about the book or personality online. Rohit would personally answer the questions and email the responses for publication.

It struck me as a great way to gain excitement for a book launch so I put in some questions about being an author in the internet age. Here are the responses:

My questions will focus on translating personality onto the internet, and also publishing your book:

* What have you found to be the most successful method of communicating your personality over the internet?

By far, the best method for me personally has been having a blog. It lets me share my ideas with other interested people, connect with marketers around the world that I would never have otherwise had the chance to do, and also have a platform for my personal brand online. A close second is having my social media bio page - which you can check out at www.aboutrohit.com.

* What’s one communication tool you had high hopes for but, after implementing it, were disappointed?

Interesting question. I’m not sure how I’d answer this, except to say that I join a lot of social networks and I am always interested in whether they become one that I use consistently or not. I would say sometimes my greatest disappointment is in not having the time to make the best use of a site that I have joined. I spend a lot of time on Facebook because there are people there. I feel like I could do a lot more with Squidoo, for example, but I just run out of time.

* How do you gauge “success” on your blog?

Success for me comes from several factors. One is conversation through comments or people emailing me to let me know they found some of my content useful. I love to see links coming to my blog from untrackable email related referrral URLs, because that means someone sent a link to one of my posts around by email. I also gauge success by getting follow up invitations to speaking events, invitations to review products and services or friend requests for social networks. In fact, I’d gauge this interview a success if I get a chance to tell people to connect to me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (my top three communities) and it actually works!

* How much did your personal brand and online following affect the decision by the publisher to endorse your book?

I take it you mean how was my personal brand affected by signing on with a publisher? I don’t think there has been that big of an impact yet, because the book is only coming out today. I expect I might get some benefit from this now that the book is out - or at least I hope I do.

* Based on your experiences publishing online material and your book, where do you see hardcopy print media heading?

I think there will still be a place for hardcopy print media for a very long time. There is still no experience that can quite compare to holding a book in your hands … especially your own!