Can You Afford Alternative Energy

The idea of not having to have an electric bill every month is intriguing to many. The price of building a solar electricity system is lower but the energy output is increasing. A person can now generate all of the power that they need from a source in their house without having to rely on the power company and fossil fuels. Some people can go about building a solar panel by following some solar power guides teaching you ways to build a home made solar electricity system for less than $200 and they will learn the entire process from making the solar cells to installing the solar power system only to find after some days, that they will then be going off-grid and reduce your electrical bill

The idea of using a renewable source of energy in their home is something that can be very appealing. More folks are beginning to realize this every day and that is why so many folks are choosing to install residential solar power systems and turning their home into a greendiyenergy.because knowing the benefits to using solar energy will help you learn why you really need to start using this system for your own electricity needs.

The first thing that someone who is using this type of power is that they won’t be paying the power company as much money if they every month. It is possible to cut your electric bill to as much as 75 percent less than without it. One way to generate income from solar power is to sell any extra electricity that you get to the power company every month. The electrical company has to, by law, buy an extra energy that you produce.

The internet is full of places that have a greendiyenergy review where they read that a major benefit to having a solar power for homes is that you'll be helping your planet and with everyone going green today, you will be doing what you can to help save the planet from further eradication. By employing solar power, you will not be causing air pollution any more. Instead you will be employing a natural resource to get the electricity you want.

With the energy resources we use these days disappearing, many of us have noticed that solar electricity is the way of the future. The price of fossil fuels has been rising which has caused us to seek alternatives to using this as our main source of energy. This is one of the best ways to conserve the resources we have.

One other advantage of using other ways to generate your electricity is the tax incentives that are offered. Congress has passed a legislation that gives tax breaks to anyone that is using solar power for homes. The money can be put into the homeowner’s pocket. We know that the sun is sticking around for awhile and will provide a person with electricity for years to come. When you use solar energy, you can find that you do not have to replace anything for plenty of years. You will also find that there is very small upkeep concerned in maintaining it.

The idea of generating electricity for yourself is great as has been shown. A person needs to do their homework to learn what they should do in their home. Even simple steps can help future generations. They deserve the best that we can give them.

Solar Panels For Homes: Basic Information

Sometimes people believe that solar units are expensive, complex and are too large to fit on their houses. However solar panels for homes are easier to fit then one may think, and they save you a huge amount of money over time. Despite the fact that they used to be quite expensive they are now much more affordable and you will see them installed on many buildings in your community.

You should be able to install your solar panels for home by yourself if you have some basic construction knowledge, although if you are at all concerned then getting the professionals to do it is advised. Many buildings presently have them installed, and they are a superb way to enjoy using nature's natural resources whilst saving money. Our sun generates more energy in one minute than anyone could use in several years, so why not use that resource. Solar energy units help the environment, they reduce people’s dependence of oil, and they also cause less pollution and less global warming. It is understood that more houses need to have them installed, but it is a matter of individual preferences.

Despite the fact that the initial outlay for the solar energy units can be quite high, with time you will get your money back in the savings you are making. Deciding on which home solar energy units to choose from should be based on the square area of your roof and your budget. They also need periodic maintenance, and replacing them can be very costly so you will need to keep this in mind when purchasing them. By installing solar panels on your home, you are saving money which is never bad with the ever growing electricity bills. Like everything the more solar units that are bought will mean that the price of them comes down. And maybe once they become cheaper to buy more people will look at this option of powering their homes.

Panel size is one of the most important considerations; the bigger the panel the more sun you will attract. The more sun you can attract will mean you can squeeze more energy out of your solar panels, giving you the means to power more things in your home. Solar units come in many different sizes and you do not want to buy a solar panel that is too big; depending on your requirements you can power a great deal with small home solar panels. If you just want to save a little money each month then purchasing a small solar panel will work just fine. If you desire to eliminate your energy bills altogether you will need a larger solar unit for your home. Remember that solar units can be bought in small pieces and used together. This makes it more manageable and less expensive for you.

Not everyone can afford solar panels for homes; it varies on where you live in the world. Certain weather conditions impact the efficiency of the panels; rain, snow and other types of precipitation will mean your units will not function to their specifications. Some people don't particularly like the look of them on their home. So, solar panels for homes are not for everyone and this is only your choice.

Magnetism – Some Remarkable Stories And Factual Information On The Phenomenon

Magnetism comprises one of the initial natural forces that humans ever found, however, it was only recently that the complete usage of magnetism has been realized and practiced upon. Many devise and technologies have magnetism working behind them, so much so that our univetse seems to be incomplete without them. For {instance|example], if you go for an ipod repair or an iphone repair then most certainly it is electromagnetism that powers these gadgets. Have a look at some of the interesting facts and stories on magnetism that have been collected through ancient times.

You may be thinking how magnets were actually found. Myth has it that a shepherd named Magnes who used to live some 4,000 years before got his shoes attached to a rock that comprised of nails that got attracted to a rock named magnetite. Without much knowledge of the phenomenon at that time, it was believed that the rock had supernatural powers.

Archimedes, a scientist of ancient Greece, is believed to have pulled the nails out of rivals ships by a magnet which resulted in the drowning of all the foes ships. It was Archimedes who realized the significance of magnetism. Moreover, magnets have been used throughout ancient times for navigation reasons by sailors. They found that a piece of magnet balanced by a thread will always align in the North-South direction. This is what led to the invention of compasses. This is why magnetite was called the leading stone because it helped in direction.

Frequently, you will see that magnets are made of steel or iron. Whereas, powerful magnets can be manufactured by alloys of metals such as iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, etc. In older times, hammering and heating a piece of steel or iron in the north-south direction was used as a way to magnetize them. With this technique, the molecules have assembled themselves in the north-south direction. Magnets are not only stones found on our earth, but all of earth itself behaves as a magnet. Earth is a magnet that even comprises of the North and South Pole. When you keep a non-magnetic material in a North to South direction, it results in magnetizing it. This happens due to the presence of a magnetic field around the earth and the molecules get enough time to get assembled in the North-South direction.

The question is; what causes the earth to turn into a magnet? It is believed that this magnetic power of the earth comes from a fluid in the center of the earth that makes the earth to turn in to a gigantic electromagnet. It’s basically the flow of liquid metal that produces electrical current, and a magnetic field is created as a result of this current. Yet, the puzzling part is elaborating the source of the magnetic field that initiated it all in the first place. There is a theory that the strong magnetic field from the sun was the cause to initiate the procedure when earth was formed. But, we can’t say this for certain. Whatever means it began, it is truly a wonder of nature.

5 Good Ways to Improve Your Digital Photography Skills

It's a fact that digital photography is here to stay, it's just about how it's probably going to be done from this point on. Camera makers are going to keep on improving their talents and squeeze more juice into the electronic cameras. If you want to enhance your photography talents so you continue to take the very finest pictures possible, these are some tips that should help.

1- Choose the best camera for your requirements. With the right technology backing you up, you are more likely to be in a position to take nice photos. Hence what you want to do now is to choose the right camera. Always look at what you want. If you have questions selecting the right camera, get the shops or professionals to help you. They're usually knowledgeable enough to fit the best camera to your requirements.

2- Shoot plenty of photos. Then you want to keep on shooting photos as often as possible. Be certain to keep your camera close to you. You never can tell when the best subject will comes out. When you're taking your pictures, remember to take several pictures and use different angles as well. With digital photography, all of your pictures will be recorded to a memory card and you don't need to to fret about spending all that money on rolls of film like no so long ago.

3- Learn by making mistakes. After that you will need to compare the photographs you have taken. This is the trial - error stage where you find out the simplest way to snap your subject. Which of them looks better? Ask yourself why you this picture is better than the other? Think about what will happen when you change the white balance to photograph the same subject. Infrequently, challenging yourself is how you enhance your digital photography talents.

4- Don't forget the good stuff. In the comparison of your photos, you also have to remember what you did to the photos. This is because when you start getting better at taking pictures, you are meant to solidly pump out great pictures. You are meant to understand how to position yourself to take great photos of your subject. You are supposed to understand how to use your flash under different circumstances rather than randomly testing with your pictures.

5- Enhance your abilities. The last tip to taking great footage is you need to constantly update yourself. Go online, read mags and visit exhibitions to find out how other photographers are taking their photos. It is even better you can speak to several other people and have them critique your work.

We hope these pointers will help you take better pictures in the future. If you find that your camera is damaged and you want to find yourself some good digital camera repair service, then look no further than Google to align you in the correct direction. Keep in mind a specialty digital camera repair online shop will probably be far cheaper than going through the camera maker directly. One last tip, if you have a Canon SD790 IS camera, you will soon be looking for Canon Powershot SD790 screws if you haven't done so already!

Get Top Positions in Yahoo With These SEO Tools

SEO tends to be a mystical expression which very few folks grasp yet is remarkably simple to perform. SEO businesses depend on this deficiency of understanding concerning search engine optimisation to demand skyhigh prices (I have seen several businesses demand $500 or higher for some keyword and competition evaluation that will take three to four hours).

I'm about to let the cat out of the bag here and supply you with the major secret to Search engine optimization. Essentially search engine optimisation is all about doing the right keyword research, getting more inbound links than your competition and regularly acquiring those inbound links. Sure, usually there are some different aspects involved, yet stick to those two pieces of assistance and you'll be # 1 everytime! To guide you on your search engine optimisation mission I've listed probably the most valuable tools an search engine optimisation expert should have in their arsenal.

If you're looking to create income online then you'll want to grasp search engine optimisation. Check out my top online business blog for more articles about starting a best home business ideas.

* SEO Quake - Free

This no cost software can be saved as a Firefox add-on and gives you all of the important info about a website whenever you visit it or do a Google search. The info is highly relevant because it informs you how many inbound links the website and web page has, how many web pages are listed in various search engines, what the Alexa and Compete ranks are as well as the Page rank. This data can give you a quick overview on how much authority the website could have, obviously if it's got a lot of backlinks then it would be hard to outrank, and if it has a large amount of web pages listed in Bing then the web site could have a good authority in their eyes. You should use SEO quake if you want to start a successful best home based business.

* SEO Elite - $167

While SEO Quake provides an approximate and prepared examination of rival sites, SEO Elite can dive in to all the info and give you some highly relevant info. My personal preferred attribute is being able to check the backlinks of a rival and not simply learn how many they have got but additionally what key phrases they are applying in the anchor text and whether the website link is a dofollow or nofollow. SEO Elite boasts a number of other amazing attributes for doing advanced evaluation and it is an SEO tool really worth buying.

* Niche Finder

This is an search engine optimisation tool via Jonathan Leger who has developed a number of highly valuable search engine optimisation programs in the past. As I said before, keyword investigation is crucial to search engine optimisation and this software lets you sift through hundreds of niches to obtain the ones with the lowest rivalry and ones that you could dominate. It utilizes the variety of search amounts and competition volumes to recognize the markets and keywords where you'll have a possibility of being ranked in the top ten.

Tips for Creating Unique Content That Doesn’t Suck

As bloggers, we’ve all struggled with the following question at one point or another:

“What can I write about now?”

Sometimes it feels like all the great ideas and unique topics have all been taken, written about and used up.  While admittedly an absurd thought, it’s one that pops in my head more often that I’d like to admit.  Nevertheless, coming up with new ideas and creating unique content that is compelling, valuable and useful for our readership can be difficult, even for the best of us, at times.

If you’ve struggled to come up with new ideas in the past, the following tips can help you stir your “creativity well” for unique content.  One of the most universally accepted principles for blogging success is creating useful and compelling content for your readers.  Creating content (that doesn’t suck) should be a high priority if you’re truly committed to your audience, and subsequently, to your success.

Here are just a few suggestions to help you generate fresh ideas and create compelling content on a regular basis:

1. Take A Stand

    Mine your favorite blogs for ideas and topics of interest that you’re passionate about.  Some of these topics might be controversial or provocative.  Take a stand on an issue that you feel passionate about and build an article or video around that topic.   Opposing conventional viewpoints or questioning the status quo on an issue can provide a gold mine for debate and conversation.  You should be prepared to defend yourself and your stance on the issue though no matter what your position might be.  Nothing sparks creativity and good ideas more than a good healthy debate.

2. Share A Personal Experience

   More than anything, sharing a personal experience about the topic at hand can really galvanize your readership’s commitment to the content itself.  Sharing your own experience about the topic at hand can be meaningful and extremely useful to your readership, as inconsequential as it might seem to you personally.  Nothing has more of an impact on readers than relating their own personal experience to your own.

3. Inject Your Personality

     Injecting your personality into the conversation is important as well, in my opinion.  Obviously, the subject matter will largely dictate how much personality you can inject, but don’t be afraid to share your personality with your audience.  Believe it or not, your audience wants that.  I want that in the content that I consume – content that’s useful with some personality and character.  Your audience will appreciate it more than you think.  Giving some spice and personal “flavor” is a great way to differentiate yourself from the rest of your field.

4. Keep an Idea Journal

     Ideas for content will come when you’re least expecting them, but many a good idea is lost because of poor recording keeping.  Make sure that you keep track of all those ideas, good and bad, regardless of whether or not you actually decide to write about them.  Tracking your ideas with a journal is a great way to germinate even more ideas.  Countless new ideas and spins on old ideas come from my idea journal, especially after it’s been sitting on the shelf for awhile.  An idea journal is a spectacular way to percolate brand new idea topics.

5. Expand on an Old Article or Post

     Revisiting an old article or blog post that you previously wrote and then updating it with new information or new perspective is another great way to generate new content.  Believe it or not, people sometimes change their minds about an issue.  Your perspective can change, technology can change or new information can come to light on a specific topic or issue that can justify modifying or updating the content from an old article.  Don’t be afraid to update your old content to accurately reflect a change in your perspective or a change in the story or the facts that you previously addressed.

6. Drill Down

     Whenever you commit to a topic, be prepared to drill down deeply into the subject matter to more specific areas of the topic.  Going deeper into the rabbit hole on a topic provides far more opportunities for interesting and useful discussion than generalized “talking points.”  There’s nothing more useless than over-generalized articles with the same talking points that cover the same issues that have been covered a hundred times by a hundred different people.  Yuck.  Drilling deeper into a topic of interest can help you avoid rehashing an old topic or an old idea.

7. Solve a Problem

     Absolutely one of the most compelling ways to generate useful content is to help your readers solve a problem.  Brainstorming for challenges and problems that you’ve experienced yourself and then sharing the solutions to those problems is undoubtedly one of the most useful and pragmatic approaches that you can take with your readership.

SEO Shopping Cart Tips for Expiring Products

What do you do with those expiring product pages on your site?  Do you archive them or simply delete them from your shopping cart?  There are valuable SEO implications not always considered by site owners for those expiring product pages.  Even with a short shelf life, these are pages that can pick up valuable inbound links in a short amount of time which simply can’t be tossed aside.  Expiring products or promotional pages can be handled in a way that’s most beneficial to users while also maximizing the SEO benefit by re-purposing any link juice that might still exist for these “dead” pages.

Here are a few different scenarios to consider and some valuable SEO shopping cart tips for those expiring products:

Promotion or Product Temporarily Goes Out-of-Stock

If a promotion or product goes out of stock temporarily and you fully expect to restock or rerun the promotion, you’ll want to leave the page active on the site.  You will, however, need to indicate that the product is, in fact, temporarily out of stock or the promotion has temporarily ended, while leaving the page active. Do not de-activate or pull the page off the site when the promotion or product goes out temporarily only to re-activate the page when the product is re-stocked.From an SEO perspective, that’s bad.

Promotion or Product Permanently Goes Out-of-Stock

If the product goes out of stock or the promotion ends forever, you have 2 options to choose from.  You can either leave the product page up with an “out of stock” or “end of promotion” notice on the page, or you can redirect (301) the old page back to another existing page.  Either:

1. An equivalent or exchangeable product page
2. A primary category, topic or department page (1 level up from product page)
3. Or, back to your home page

Promotion or Product is Updated or Permanently Replaced

If a promotion or a product is updated or permanently replaced, handle the page in similar fashion to a promotion or a product that goes out of stock permanently. 301 redirect it back to an equivalent product page, back to the primary category or department page, or back to the home page.

Whatever you decide to do with those expiring product pages, don’t just delete them from your shopping cart.  The best option under any of these scenarios is to redirect to an equivalent product page for that old item. The second best option would be to redirect that product page back to the primary category, topic or department page. The last option to use, of course, if the first 2 are not possible (for whatever reason) would be to simply redirect back to the home page.

Payvment Providing E-Commerce Storefronts on Facebook

Facebook is simply impossible to ignore these days. The social media giant is growing exponentially and looks to be winning the battle for the title of “King of Social Networking”. But while Facebook has ingrained itself deeply into the public’s hearts, it has struggled somewhat to convince businesses that it can be legitimately monetized.

Good for Fans, Not for Business?

Facebook fans can while away their entire day on the site if they wish – and many do. When not in front of their home computer, or sneaking a quick look at work when the boss isn’t watching, many users possess Facebook apps on their mobile phones and have access to the site all day long. Why is it then that Facebook has gone all out to keep their “friends” happy yet it has not attracted businesses, both large and small, to use the platform more broadly in their marketing mix?

One problem in particular for businesses comes from Facebook’s inability to conduct transactions for e-commerce sites directly on the Facebook platform itself. While most companies are happy to utilize the site for driving traffic, attracting customers and building brand recognition – there has always been an inability to transact directly on the site.  Until now…

Introducing Payvment

Payvment is a storefront application that deals directly with the transaction problem by providing e-commerce storefronts on Facebook. Retailers can use the application to create a virtual shop and accept money from Facebook users via a PayPal account or from credit cards authorized via PayPal. This new application has brought the vital ingredient to Facebook that retailers have been waiting for – the ability to transact directly with users.

While there are other e-commerce apps available, Payvment is the only one that allows a Facebook user to buy from multiple retailers all in one shopping trip – and add all the items to one shopping cart – all without leaving Facebook.

The Payvment application interconnects retailers by creating a gateway to additional brand pages on each retailer’s page. This network system can encourage Facebook users to browse for additional items and provides free promotion for any retailer using the Payvment application.

Previously, if any business wanted to attract people to their page on Facebook, they needed to use clever promotional tactics or advertising. Payvment has introduced an ingenious system whereby retailers sign up to the application and agree to offer a “store” discount to anyone that signs up to become a fan of the retailer on Facebook.

What’s in It for the Retailer?

Why would a retailer willingly agree to offer a discount and reduce any potential profit margin?

The answer lies in one of the features of Facebook – namely, the notifications system. If a person agrees to become a fan of a retailer, a notification is then sent to all their friends informing them of this.

This notification system is free advertising and almost as good as a personal recommendation. Friends seeing this notification could be encouraged to check out the retailer’s page for themselves and would also be offered the same discount offer. If they then decide to join as a fan, their friends will receive a notification. This clever tactic of utilizing Facebook’s notification method is similar to viral advertising and could mean masses of new customers for retailers using the Payvment storefront app.

The Changing Face of Facebook

While always being dismissed as nothing more than a marketing tool, it appears that Facebook is now becoming a realistic platform for e-commerce. Businesses can now see demonstrable ROI with applications such as Payvment, allowing transactions to occur directly with users – without having to drag them away from the site itself.

The interconnected network format of Payvment is reminiscent of a large shopping mall complex, with the advantage that a customer only has to pay at one universal checkout. Even better, they will not have to call their friends to tell them what a great store they found, or what huge discount they were given – because the shopping mall will already have taken care of that.

Payvment’s application solves a key problem for e-commerce sites on Facebook but has added an equally valuable marketing and distribution component that leverages Facebook’s notification system, allowing businesses to extend their reach and capture more customers.  Payvment has turned the site into a far more viable option for e-commerce retailers.

About The Author: Roko Nastic is writer and editor at WebmasterFormat.com. He writes on various webmastering topics including web design, content management systems, internet marketing, blogging tips and similar.

Key Twitter Directories to Help Build Your Following

Automating Your Twitter Account The Right Way

Automation of your Twitter account is one of the most controversial subjects within the Twitter community.  It’s important to understand that any type of automation, whatever it might be, should be used solely for the purpose of improving the value that you add to the Twitter community by using it. Automation should be used sparingly and should be done in an intelligent, respectful and meaningful way.

Much of the Twitter automation that currently takes place is executed very poorly, resulting in nothing more than clutter and noise in the Twitterverse. Unfortunately, Twitter automation has also been heavily abused by spammers, worsening the effect even further. You want to keep as much of the clutter and noise out of the Twitterverse as humanly possible. Focusing on smart, intelligent automation is the only way to do that.

We will provide several tips on how to intelligently automate some of your tasks on Twitter. You should keep in mind, however, that automating some of these tasks will not replace the importance of your own regular and consistent human input. Automating your Twitter account by feeding it with other sources of content should only be used to augment your Twitter feed with additional sources of relevant content for your targeted audience and should not be used to replace your human input entirely.

You have to guard your credibility in Twitter very carefully so be very cautious and respectful about your use of any type of automation, with the thought of improving the value of your contribution on Twitter as the primary centerpiece for using it.

In our series of posts on the automation process, we will show you how to:

• Set Up Your Google Alerts
• Set Up Your Twitter Feeds
• How to Add Your Google Alerts to Your Feeds
• How to Automate Following and Unfollowing Behavior (Correctly)

Setting Up Google Alerts for Twitter Automation

The first place to start the Twitter automation process is by setting up several Google Alerts, which will monitor Google results (news, blogs, Web, video) in real-time for the latest updates on search queries (keywords) or topics of interest that are important to you or your business. For example, if your blog was focused on the keyword “making money online”, every time that search query appeared in Google results, you would be alerted to those updates. Seeding your Twitter account with these real-time updates of your important keywords can help your followers and keep your Twitter stream flowing with keyword rich content in your niche.

1. To setup your Google Alerts, you’ll first need a Google account (preferably a Gmail account) to start.
2. If you don’t have a Gmail account, just go here to register (it’s free)
3. After signing up for your Gmail account, sign-in to Google Alerts here.
4. In the “Search terms” box enter the following – allintitle:your keywords here
   • The “allintitle” is called a search operator. Be sure to put a colon (:) between “allintitle” and your keyword.
   • By putting the “allintitle” search operator before your keyword in your Google Alerts, the feed will only update with web pages that have all of those keywords in the Title tag of each page.
   • Seeding your feeds with “allintitle” web pages is beneficial in several ways.
   • First, web pages with your keywords in the title will ensure relevancy for that keyword search. Plus, having your keyword in the title of a Web page ensures that your feeds will be optimized for web pages for your particular keyword flowing into your Twitter stream. Also, the title of the document is what will appear as the link in your Twitter feed, making it more compelling to your followers and more clickable relative to that specific keyword.
5. Next, choose the option “Comprehensive” from the “Type” pull down menu
6. From the “How Often” box, select “As It Happens”.
7. From the “Deliver to” option, select “Feed” from the pull down.
8. Click on the “Create Alert” button to complete.
9. From the “Manage Alerts” page, create the rest of your alerts starting back with Step number 4.
   • Keep in mind that you’ll have to keep an eye on the quality of these feed updates that are getting fed into your Twitter account from your Google keyword alert updates when you first build them.
   • Using the “allintitle” search operator that I suggested will ensure relevancy of your feed updates, but it won’t guarantee the quality of the feed updates, which is very important to maintain your credibility and keep your followers interested.
   • If necessary, experiment with variations of your keywords to improve the quality as well as the frequency of the feed updates that you’ll be receiving.
   • Above all, when using any type of feed for your Twitter account, you need to ensure that you’re feeding it with highly relevant content relative to your account at all times. If you’re being fed junk by your feeds, scrap them and start over by creating new ones with different keywords and combination’s of keywords.

Measuring Social Media Marketing ROI For Your Business

Companies around the world are just now tuning in to the power and benefits of social media as a marketing tool for their businesses.  Social media provides both business and consumers the ability to interact and actively participate in the “community of brands”.   Social media as a marketing channel provides customers the ability to participate in building or even breaking brands, while giving businesses valuable marketing intelligence on their products and services.   Social media sites give consumers the ability to to show other interested consumers how they are using a particular product and benefiting from it, creating powerful word of mouth viral marketing.   

Effective social media marketing provides a mechanism for companies to spread the word about their products and services quickly and creatively and empowers consumers to respond quickly about those products and services, creating one of the most revolutionary customer feedback loops for consumers and brands alike.

Forums, online communities, blogs, live casts, social bookmarking sites, user review sites, multimedia sharing, micro blogging, and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. With all the new technology out there, it is vital for businesses to track the ROI of all of their marketing activities, including their brand reputations’.  Companies are scrambling to ensure that their expenditures in social media can be justified as sound investments that will, in fact, add to the company’s bottom line in a definitive way.   While measuring the ROI of social media marketing is crucial, it has proven to be somewhat tricky as the total measured benefit of the channel goes far beyond the more traditional measurements of ROI in marketing and media.

As the medium has grown, tools to track its effectiveness for business have started to emerge.   Most companies are seeing beyond the “shiny new toy effect” of social media and are looking for ways to demonstrate to their shareholders that these activities are worthwhile, to manage their brand reputations and build market share worldwide.

Here is a  list of some of the applications that are available for businesses to measure and manage their social media activities and brand reputations online today:

• Collective Intellect – collects real time market information, providing insight into consumer opinions for marketing professionals.
• Buzz Logic – helps businesses see what social media sites are generating high interest or buzz, so it can advertise there.
• Buddy Media Platform – a simple way for both companies and advertising agencies to manage and track their social media efforts.
• Alterian Social Media – provides software for public relations and marketing companies to measure, track and monitor businesses rate of success in social media.
• Radian 6 – currently the market leader in social media monitoring, they offer a platform to “listen, measure, and engage with customers across the entire social web”.
• Brands Eye – online reputation monitoring tool.

Social media is here to stay.  It allows consumers to play an active role in the marketplace providing business targeted feedback for their products.  It is important for businesses to track this feedback to make sure it is meeting the needs of the customer.  As the demand for social media grows, business will need to find tools to help monitor them as they grow with this exciting new technology.