How to Write SEO Page Titles (and Why They're Important)

In the same way a well-written book title or article title draws readers in, page titles sum up the content of a web page. Different from books or articles, however, the page title's first job is to communicate with search engine spiders to determine the web page's relevancy in search results - or, in other words, what terms the page will rank for. That's not to say that page titles should ONLY be written for search engines; site users also use these titles to determine whether or not the content of the web page is worth reading.

So what exactly is the page title? It's the text snippet nestled between the <> and < /title > tags just below the header. Try right clicking on any page (or command clicking, for us Mac users) to view source on any web page, then use CTRL+F (or command + F) to find "<>".

An easier way to view the page title is to look at the top of your web page browser.

The title is the link which is displayed in search engine results, above the site description. This is the first thing search engine users see when deciding whether or not to visit your site. Bottom line: page titles NEED to be relevant, for both search engines and search engine users.

Writing search engine optimized page titles.

Page title length: 69 characters. The reason for this character limit is simple. Search engines can only fit 69 characters of page title into search results pages, meaning anything beyond 69 characters won't be shown in search results. Page titles which are too long end up getting cut off in search engine results, looking both awkward and unprofessional. More importantly, excess characters in page titles dilute the density of keywords contained in the title.

While this length may seem restrictive, it forces SEO writers to focus only on the web page's most critical keywords, improving the title's impact in search engine results. Like a haiku, a page title's rigid structure facilitates elegant simplicity, and this simplicity is appreciated by both users and search engines.

Page title structure. Every SEO writer has a slightly different approach when it comes to structuring page titles. This is my approach, and it's worked well for my clients.

Home page titles:

Business Name | Location | Main Keyword | Secondary Keyword

Home pages are unique, and my formula for home page titles is different than it is for page titles of subpages. Business name prominence is key on home pages, and should always be listed first. You want your business website to be first in search results when users search for your brand. Likewise, locally-based businesses need to include location keywords to differentiate themselves from national or international service providers or ecommerce vendors.

Product or service category pages would look a little different:

Product/Service Category Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Location (if relevant)

Notice the use of pipes ( | ) rather than commas or other punctuation. Pipes are the cleanest way to separate information for search engines, and they give pages a clean aesthetic for users as well.

Keyword usage in page titles. If you're optimizing a website, you should have a list of keywords on hand for each web page in the site, especially for the home page and service or product category pages. While some overlap is inevitable, each home, service and/or product page on a site needs to have a unique (and small) set of keywords. Writing page titles offers the first opportunity to use these keywords.

Like humans, search engines read from top to bottom and left to right, meaning your most important keywords need to come as early in the page title as possible.

For example, if I were optimizing a website which offers local driver education services, my homepage keyword list might look something like this:

business name

driver education

driving school

drivers ed

location/service area terms

"Driver education" has the highest keyword volume, but remember that we want to give the business name highest priority. This is how I would write the page title:

Driving School XYZ | Smalltown, USA | Driver Education

Since "driving school" is included in the business name, I don't need to repeat this keyword.

Let's take a look at optimized page titles in action.

Take a look at the #1 result (yes, this is a website I optimized. This is the part of the post where I get to brag).

This site ranks in the top 3 results for virtually any combination of the terms "driving school", "driver education", "west michigan" and the six cities it serves. While writing keyword-rich content and doing some minimal link building were also important elements of optimizing this site, the site's keyword-rich page titles "pull it all together".

As with every other type of SEO copywriting, writing page titles requires walking a fine line between giving keywords prominence and maintaining user readability. Keywords are useless if the page title is nonsensical and nondescriptive; likewise, beautifully written titles are worthless if they fail to rank highly in search results.

Why You Shouldn't Outsource SEO Copywriting to India

As a disclaimer, I'd like to point out that I recognize that as an SEO copywriter myself, I'm naturally biased against internationally outsourced content writing. Yes, of course copywriters in India and the Philippines have a tendency to "steal" business away from professionals like myself. Yes, Indian and Filipino writers are able to charge 1/10th of what I charge due to the differences in our respective countries' currency values.

But that's not why I believe outsourcing SEO copywriting overseas is a very, very bad idea.

For example.

A prospective sent me a sample of SEO articles he'd purchased (and regretted) from an SEO company as part of a package deal. The content was sold to him as "high quality SEO content", and he THOUGHT he was getting a bargain.

The articles were very similar to other "high quality SEO" articles another client of mine had purchased (and, again, regretted) from India for $5 per 500 word article. I've seen plenty of this kind of outsourced SEO content - never in search engine results, mind you - and it never fails to irritate me.

Still, I can understand why SEO companies and businesses think outsourcing their SEO copywriting in this way is a good idea. At $5 per 500 word article with guaranteed quality writing and optimized linkbacks, how could it go wrong?

Just like this:

"Considering how the global economy is faring these days, saving as much money as possible is not just an option. If before, a one-dollar difference does not warrant a second glance, now, even the amount of half a dollar is valued. This is why, more often than not, most people opt to do things their own rather than hiring a professional. Granted that the task may require most of their time during weekends, if it will be cheaper, then it is fine."

I'm not making this up.

Silly phrasing and substanceless subject matter aside, there are far more sinister flaws in this so-called "SEO content". Not only do these articles often fail to meet basic SEO criteria for keyword density, but they also use strategies which, if executed in bulk, could actually cause the website to be penalized in search engine results.

Keyword density. Can you tell what this particular article's main keywords are from the above paragraph? No, you can't, because there aren't any. That's right, an entire 80 word paragraph and not a single keyword.

Keyword density for main keywords inconsistent, at best. In the above mentioned article, density for the main keyword is below 1%. To make a solid impact (without getting too spammy), SEO articles need to target a keyword density between 2.5%-6%. Density aside, the keywords in these articles are often too general or improperly formatted (e.g. using "checks" rather than "ink for printing checks" and "MICRtoner" instead of "MICR toner").

No longtail keywords. Notably, the article focuses on only root keyword phrases without incorporating any longtail variations. Embedding main keywords into longtail variations is a tactic I've found to be effective for drawing traffic for the often-ignored lontail search query when drawing traffic for smaller, more competitive terms would be impossible. Thanks to low keyword density, lack of longtail keywords and lack of content value, these articles will likely never see the light of search engine results pages.

Too many links. Links are too numerous and the anchor text used is unvaried. Articles used for link building purposes should use between 2-6 links; more will put the article at risk of being flagged as spam - because it IS spam. It looks like the SEO copywriter hyperlinked every keyword in the article, bringing the average number of links to 10-20 per article.

Unvaried anchor text. The lack of variation in these links is cause for major concern. As SEO guru Tim Grice points out, Google is now giving more weight to "natural" links with varied anchor text. Websites with 100s or 1,000s of incoming links all using the exact same anchor text phrasing appear highly automated to Google. Consequently, these sites have been getting pushed farther down in the search engine results pages in favor of sites with a wider variety of deep and varied anchor text links. In short: fewer links can be better, if those links appear more natural. There's nothing natural about the links in these outsourced articles.

The Moral of the Story

Internationally outsourced SEO copywriting may be a lot cheaper, but the quality is simply not there. From a content standpoint, these articles are full of nicely phrased, disorganized fluff which provides no true value to the readers. From an SEO standpoint, these articles contain a critical lack of genuine SEO savvy which could end up wasting your money at best and hurting your website's rankings at worst.

Stuffing keywords into an article about nothing is not SEO copywriting. A true professional SEO copywriter has invested significant time into understanding the finer nuances of SEO and how successful SEO copy works; he or she takes the time to perform keyword research, outline a content strategy and leverage longtail keywords and varied anchor text. And yes, professional SEO copywriters like to be compensated for their work.

As with any other business investment, you get what you pay for. If you pay $5 for an SEO article, that's exactly what you're going to get.

Unfortunately for my prospective client, he paid far more than $5 per article once his SEO firm was finished marking them up. This brings us to the issue of purchasing re-marketed SEO content from SEO companies.

SEO companies are in the business to make money, and professional US-based SEO copywriters like me can be expensive. What better way to cut costs than to hire international ESL copywriters for $5 per page?

To be fair, not all SEO companies remarket this kind of crap to their clients - but there are plenty out there that do. If you're purchasing content from an SEO company, be sure to ask exactly where and whom that content is coming from. Investigate to see what the company's "high quality SEO articles" really are. SEO copywriting guru @HeatherLloyd has some great tips for determining whether or not your SEO firm is qualified to provide you with SEO content.

SEO 103: Link Building Terminology & Basic Concepts

So you've done keyword research for your business's website. You've written (or have hired a copywriter like me to create) quality, keyword-rich content with proper header tags, bolding and formatting. That programming firm in India has finally gotten around to updating your website with new content, and it looks beautiful. Only one thing is missing: traffic!

Link building is one of the three most important aspects of search engine optimization, the other two of which we've already covered. When you're going through the first phase of website optimization, link building is the "capstone" that pulls it all together.

First, let's review the first three steps of SEO for small business websites.

Search Engine Optimization:

1) Perform thorough keyword research.

2) Write quality, well-optimized content.

3) Gather inbound links from authoritative sites.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of link building, let's define a few key terms.

Outbound Link - A hyperlink which directs from your website to another website. This shameless SEO copywriting link, for example, is an outbound link which directs from this page to my main business site.

Inbound Link - A hyperlink which directs to your website from another website. For example, I got an inbound link as part of my new Local First membership.

Anchor Text - The text that is used to hyperlink to another web page. Sometimes anchor text is the same as the website URL, e.g. www.creativewebbusiness.com, but ideally it's composed of actual words, e.g. Creative Web Business. More on that in a sec.

Link Building - The SEO practice of gathering more inbound links to your website in order to help boost your website's rankings in search engines. Good link building also boosts referrals from other sites and, ideally, helps to build brand awareness in relevant industry circles.

What does link building do, and why is it important for SEO?

I could ramble on about the complexity of Google's constantly changing algorithms and Page Rank, but why bother when Matt Cutts is still prowling the interweb?

This is what it boils down to: inbound links let search engines, like Google and Bing, know that your website is worth being included in search results. The more inbound links your website has, the more authority it has in Google's eyes and, consequently, the higher your website will rank in relevant search results.

You can think of it as networking, but for your website. A successful business person is constantly expanding his or her network; likewise, a well-ranking website is constantly gathering new inbound links from quality websites.

Key Elements of Link Building

Ok, that was the easy part. Link building isn't as simple as paying for a bunch of crappy directory listings. There are a few important details which are necessary to make link building a successful part of a larger SEO strategy.

Over the years, SEO spammers have found a way to wiggle around Google's rules of etiquette, and, consequently, Google's rules have gotten a lot more strict. An important part of link building is avoiding practices which will get you banned from Google's search results.

Never pay for inbound links. Paid links are strictly forbidden by Google, and Yahoo and Bing don't take too kindly to them either. There are ways to wiggle around this rule, but it must be done carefully. Some directory sites require you to pay a small fee for inclusion in the directory, not for the link itself - an important distinction. These directories usually offer very low quality links, however, and are usually not worth the money. Speaking of which...

Links from quality, authoritative sites carry more weight. Search engine optimization specialists used to rely on "Page Rank" to determine how much a website is "worth". Page Rank is quickly becoming outdated, but it's still a useful guide to determining which sites to target for link building. In general, links from websites and/or pages with higher Page Rank will give you more "link juice" than those with low Page Rank. For example, a link from LocalFirst.com, which has a PR of 5, will send more link love than a link from MichiganLookup.com, which only has a PR of 3.

Prominent links outweigh buried links. How deep within a site a link is placed is yet another factor to consider when determining the value of a link. In other words, a link placed on the home page of a website is going to be far more powerful than a link placed on a sub-sub-subpage or a buried "Links" page. Remember what I just said about LocalFirst.com's PR? Well, when you drill down to the actual page my website link is listed on, the PR of that subpage is only 3. Most listing pages on MichiganLookup.com haven't even attained PR, so the LocalFirst.com listing is still more valuable.

Anchor text counts! If I could only give you one piece of advice for link building, it would be to pay attention to anchor text. Whenever possible, use the same keywords for which you want your website to rank for in inbound link anchor text. In other words, if you're targeting the term "Grand Rapids transmission repair", you'll want to gather inbound links which contain those keywords in their anchor text.

Using anchor text properly can be tricky, however. You do NOT want all your website's inbound links to have the same anchor text, since Google tends to see this as spam and may lower your website's rankings. The solution? Change things up. Changing anchor text as much as a word or two can keep your website on Google's good side.

Of course, there are many finer nuances of link building not discussed here, and I didn't touch on how to go about obtaining these links. Those topics will have to wait for another post.

Confused yet? Comment and drop me a question.

Small Business Success with SEO: Achieving Google's Page One in a Month!

As I mentioned last week, I've been working on my first marketing video, which is in the form of a case study. Thanks to my iMac's build-in camera, microphone and video editing software, iMovie, doing the actual editing, voice over and timing portions of this video weren't too difficult. The hardest part was recording the video portion without looking and sounding like an awkward robot. There goes my future acting career.

The graphic slides were created in Keynote, then exported as images so they could be imported to iMovie. Pretty slick, if you ask me.

The video is a case study outlining the basic search engine optimization strategies I used to boost a small local driving school to the top of Google's first page. The SEO campaign I ran for this small business was relatively simple, but what made it worthy of having a case study video made of it were the phenomenal results we saw.

Using:

- keyword research

- quality, optimized content & meta data &

- basic link building,

WCMDE.com saw the following results in less than a month:

- page one rankings for 95% of the business' key service & location terms in Google, Bing & Yahoo

- 2 known sales conversions directly resulting from the campaign

- a complete return on investment

Hopefully, this video conveys how simple and cost-effective SEO can be for small and local businesses. Far too often, the costs associated with SEO and internet advertising are inflated and unnecessary, and one of my main goals as a web marketer is to make make internet marketing affordable for the businesses that struggle the most: small businesses.

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and criticisms (yes, I want to hear your criticisms!). Comment and tell me what you thought about the video or the case study.

Thanks!

The Marketing Copywriting Golden Rule: K.I.S.S.

Over the last two weeks, I've been developing a web marketing video based on a campaign I recently did for a Michigan driving school (Forgive the shameless link building. What's a marketing blog for, if not to give yourself and your client links?). In concept, the video seemed like it would be very simple to put together; it would be just a basic case study with screen shots, text and voiceover. In execution, however, it proved to be MUCH more difficult than I anticipated.

As a writer I've always been overly verbose, and my creative writing background doesn't help to stem that tendency (see?). My professors taught me to edit and be critical of my work, and it's no coincidence that my most successful poems and creative pieces were always the shortest and most tightly edited. When developing copy for marketing materials, however, there's even less room for excess words. Being verbose with marketing content - whether it's video, ad copy, white paper, whatever - is the best way to kill your message and bore your customer base.

This is the lesson I learned the hard way over the past few weeks. My first video script was three pages long and took 10 minutes to read. That was after 3 rounds of slicing and dicing up the copy. 10 minutes! Without interesting visuals, nonetheless! Who would watch such a boring monster?

Luckily, a friend of mine (who just happens to also be my cousin-in-law) owns Creo Productions, the sweetest video production studio in town. Last week I asked him if he had any tips on writing scripts for video. He and his business partner always prefer to write video scripts themselves, and they've gotten pretty darn good at it (visit their blog for proof). Without blinking, he shrugged and responded, "just keep 'em short."

Andy's sage advice gave me the boost I needed to take a hatchet to the script once more until it was pared down to a manageable 5:15. Hopefully, after one more round of editing, I'll be able to get it down to 4:30.

The whole experience reminded me how important it is to "keep it simple, stupid", or "KISS". No matter what kind of content I'm writing, I have to remind myself of two important things:

- What is the message I'm trying to convey?

- What is the simplest, clearest way to communicate that message?

If there are words or phrases floating around that aren't absolutely essential to the message I'm trying to communicate, more likely than not they need to be cut.

Marketers have egos - often larger than normal folks - and it can be particularly difficult for us to take a hatchet to our creations. But when it comes to content, simplicity always wins. Whether you're a copywriter, video producer, blogger, social media guru or graphic designer, it pays to remember that less is more.

Stay tuned next week when I (fingers crossed) will publish my first video here. You can be the judge and tell me whether I "KISS'ed" or not.

How Not to be Heard: 5 Marketing Lessons from Hiring a New Programmer

One of my clients recently tasked me with hiring a new programmer for his company. This was my first time being in the shoes of the hire-er; up until now, I've always been the one job hunting, laboring over cover letter wording and concocting elaborately short follow up emails. Suffice to say, being on the potential employer's side of the table for the first time was quite an adventure, and I learned a lot.

The part of this process that shocked me the most was the huge number of applications I received that completely missed their mark. Some applications semi-failed, and only a tiny handful of applications succeeded in holding my interest and landing an interview.

As I think about the successes and failures of the applications I waded through, it occurs to me that there are some important marketing messages to be gleaned. Five messages, to be exact.

1) Pay attention to what the customer is asking for.

Applications that addressed each item in the want ad instantly rose to the top. Sure, it was convenient to have resume, portfolio and experience all at the tips of my fingers rather than having to call or email to get them, but the main reason why these applications impressed me is that I felt that the applicants had been attentive to my requests. In other words, they listened.

Customers aren't going to be as explicit about what they want from a product or service provider as an employer posting a want ad, but the concept of listening applies to both. Truly, genuinely listening to your customer base is the first step towards effective marketing, and tuning in is getting easier. Use Google Alerts, have Twitfeeds dedicated to your industry's most relevant hashtags, run customer surveys and ask your customers for exit interviews. It's amazing to me how often businesses ignore feedback they receive directly from customers. Knowing what customers want and expect from you isn't that hard, if you make listening a priority.

2) Present your message meticulously.

Applications with misspellings, sentence fragments and just plain awkward wording immediately got stuffed to the bottom of the pile. Sure, I'm not hiring a programmer for his or her writing skills, but if you aren't detail-oriented enough to proofread your cover letter, you're probably not the hire I'm looking for.

Every print ad, banner ad, landing page and social network profile is a resume for your business. If you haven't taken the time to make your message clear and engaging, why should your customers listen to what you have to say? You would think that marketers and businesses would make it a priority to make these messages pristine and user-friendly, but it's often not the case. The internet is littered with shoddy landing pages, websites lacking clear calls to action and just plain obnoxious Facebook updates. Take an honest look at your website from a customer's point of view. Is it appealing? More importantly, is it clear, concise and easy to navigate? Does it have all the information it needs to have to get leads to convert? Does it have an appealing call to action? Think about it from an employer's point of view. If this ad were a resume, would you get hired?

3) Clean up your online image.

My most...shall we say interesting applicant was one that showed real promise; the cover letter language was a little rough, but it was engaging and the applicant's portfolio looked great. Then an interesting thing happened. As we corresponded through email, Gmail automatically added the applicant to my Gchat and Google Buzz. The applicant had placed a link in the status update which showed in Gchat, so I clicked on it and was directed to a social networking page dedicated to the growing and selling of illegal botanicals. Marijuana prohibition debate aside, this isn't exactly the kind of image you want to portray to a potential employer. No thank you.

Businesses that don't google themselves frequently or make any effort to clean up after negative reviews open themselves up to a similar situation. Has your business gotten bad press in the past? Hide that dirty laundry by replacing bad press with good press. Do a charity and syndicate an online press release about it. Make your business available in vertical directories, then ask customers to post reviews. If negative feedback is posted in a public arena, go there and respond directly, doing your best to make amends. Demonstrating that you're listening and that you care, even if you're responding to a bad review, is great for your business' image.

Being careful how you and/or your employees connect their business identities with their personal identities online is becoming another big factor in business identity. If this is a concern, have a meeting discussing Facebook privacy settings, personal Twitter policies and what content is appropriate to post on business networks like LinkedIn.

If you need help creating content or managing your online identity, keep in mind I offer social media consulting and creative copywriting services.

4) Be clear about what you have to offer.

I loved getting cover letters or email responses which specifically mentioned what the applicant was NOT capable of. Rather than having to cajole this information out of the applicant or waste time pursuing an unqualified candidate, these rare applicants were upfront about what they could and couldn't do for my client and me. Honesty is important in an employee or contractor, and even if the applicant's skill set wasn't a good match for this project, their application will be kept in mind for future opportunities.

While I don't think very many retailers or service providers intentionally mislead their customer base, many have a tendency to be unclear about exactly what it is they can do for the customer. Highlighting only the positives of a product without mentioning any of its limitations can irritate customers and cause them to put your business on their "never purchase from" list. If I download a piece of software that turns out to be Mac incompatible but wasn't labeled as such, I'm probably going to shun this company in the future for wasting my time and hard drive space. Be clear about what you can and can't do for your customers. They'll thank you for it.

5) Stand out from the crowd.

My two favorite applicants were both very different; one was extremely brief and the other quite long and detailed, but both of them were unique. The short application read like a checklist of everything I'd asked for in the ad, and it was concluded by tasty phrasing like "if my skills look like a good match for your needs, I'd love to talk more with you...". We all love to have our needs considered!

The longer application took longer to check off my list of requirements, but it was full of genuine exuberance. It oozed energy, confidence and interest in new work.

I think marketers and business owners can learn a lot from both of these very different models. A message that's extremely short but to the point can be refreshing for customers who are used to being bombarded with irrelevant information, and it's a message that stands out above the long-winded masses. On the other hand, using a genuine tone and expressing excitement about a product, service or your customers can be a great way to engage customers emotionally. The common element in both types of messages is being genuine.

Should You be Using Twitter for Business?

It's a common question and one of the most hotly debated topics between marketers and business owners today. Should we be using Twitter? What's the concrete ROI of being on Twitter? Aren't all social networks just a giant waste of time?

This video, produced by Earnest Agency, highlights some of the reasons why social media involvement is so important for businesses. Although this video focuses on business to business (B2B) marketing, the message applies to both B2B and B2C industries.

It's understandable that many business owners and CEOs view Twitter primarily as a time-waster. After all, it IS time-consuming, and the results of being active on Twitter are difficult to measure. Worst of all, it's fun.

Many social media evangelists make it seem like being active on every social network the web has to offer is crucial to any business' success - regardless of the business' industry and target demographics. In my opinion, Twitter is NOT the right tool for every business, just as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Digg and Flickr don't fit the needs of every business' marketing goals. It's better to think of these as tools in a marketer's toolbox. Why would you pull out a chainsaw, hammer and nailgun when all you really need is a chisel?

Here comes the big HOWEVER. As countless businesses across B2B and B2C industries have demonstrated, Twitter can be more effective in a wider range of applications than many business owners realize. Dismissing social media involvement without researching how competitors and businesses in similar industries are using it could mean losing out on business and market share. Again, I'm not saying Twitter is the right tool for every business, I'm simply saying that it's an option worth exploring.

Let's explore how businesses in a range of B2B and B2C industries are currently leveraging Twitter - to some pretty phenomenal results.

Business to consumer (B2C) businesses using Twitter successfully:

@jetblue (aka Jet Blue Airlines)

Jet Blue Airlines has taken its industry's reputation for shoddy customer service as an opportunity to stand out above the crowd. @jetblue tweets real-time customer service updates and responses with a dedication that shames the rest of the airline industry. A glance at @jetblue's Twitter page, at any given time, will yield information about luggage checking, flight availability, destinations and even the availability of certain produce at given destinations. By leveraging Twiter this way, Jet Blue manages to provide high quality, real-time customer service, promote its services and boost its PR through ceiling in a single swipe.

@homedepot (AKA Home Depot Corporate)

Following a similar model to @jetblue's Twitter strategy, @homedepot's Twitter page is full of responses to customer questions, problems and even compliments. An entire team is dedicated to responding to customer inquiries sent to @homedepot, and from the looks of it, they're doing an excellent job. Home Depot has created a series of short, helpful DIY fix-it videos which it uses to populate its Twitterfeed when it's not responding to customer inquiries, a great applicaiton of "pull" marketing.

@gap (The Gap)

Sure, Gap uses its Twitterfeed to push new product and sale information to customers, but @gap also successfully leverages Twitter to engage in fashion and clothing communities. @gap keeps careful tabs on who is talking about Gap products where and talks right back, spreading the discussion further with frequent shoutouts to active Twitter-ers.

@fivesparrows (Five Sparrows Marketing)

While there's nothing particularly noteworthy about @fivesparrows' Twitter strategy (they essentially use it to share information), they mentioned an interesting case study when I heard them speak recently. One of their clients was a chain of gas stations, all located close to freeway entrances. Rather than funneling out specials on slurpies and hot dogs, they used their Twitterfeed to ping customers on changes in gas prices. Truckers traveling through were able to save hundreds of dollars each week by checking the company's Twitterfeed.

Business to business (B2B) companies successfully leveraging Twitter:

@steelcase (Steelcase)

This office furniture manufacturer averages 4-10 tweets per day without ever slipping into shout-about-our-products-with-a-megaphone mode. The majority of @steelcase's tweets are genuine conversation between customers, colleagues and design professionals, and a small percentage are @steelcase slyly plugging its products by sharing conversations other people are having about them. @steelcase slips in occasional customer service when necessary, as well.

There are plenty of individual B2B professionals who leverage their personal Twitter accounts to expand their network and create "buzz" around their own name, a form of personal branding. @b2btw and @mvolpe are both individual marketing professionals who have gained respect and notoriety in their respective B2B communities by sharing honest, interesting perspectives on industry issues. @b2btw's dry commentary on marketing fails and events serve to engage the B2B marketing community while re-affirming @b2btw's own expertise.

@MIWomensForum is the Twitter arm of a website of the same name. Solely operated by publisher Joni Hubred-Golden, @MIWomensForum acts as a hub for all business-related women's issues in Michigan and has become a powerful authority on information, connections and events. The true bottom line, however, is that @MIWomensForum makes advertising space on www.michiganwomensforum.com far more valuable than it would be otherwise.

So how do you determine whether or not Twitter is the right marketing strategy for your business? It might help to consider the following:

- Is your customer base on Twitter? Do the research. Some businesses may find that not enough of their customers use Twitter to justify establishing a campaign. Others might find a thriving community of untapped potential customers.

- What kind of value would real-time updates provide to your customers? Be creative; research competitors and consult with your creative staff.

- What goals could Twitter enable you to accomplish? Brainstorm a list of your business' biggest obstacles, then explore ways Twitter could help address them.

There are plenty of resources available around the interweb to help you figure out the ins and outs of using Twitter for business. If you'd like help mapping out a successful strategy for your business, I'd be happy to sit down with you for a free consultation.