Archive for July, 2009

There are many ways to follow a web site. The easiest is to regularly come and visit and, of course, you know RSS threads. But we can use Twitter too: a message per post update on the site.

That is the way I started using Twitter for my own YLovePhoto.com web site (for the English version as well as the French one). It’s simple: Any time an article is published on the site, it sends a message/twitt to http://www.twitter.com/ylovephoto_en (for the English version) in order to immediately inform the followers. This is quite the same as an RSS thread, but ultra-quick.

The principle is simple, but the implementation could have been a bit more complicated if I did not stumble upon an easy solution under the guise of a WordPress plug-in: TweetMe. It does the job neatly. You only have to install it, give it the coordinates (name and password) of the Twitter where to publish the updates and it generates a message containing the post title and a short link to jump straight to it.

Easy!

It’s not a matter of copying from them, but you don’t want to miss a new trend and be left behind. It is necessary to know what’s going on in your field and you cannot afford not knowing what your visitors read when they go to your competiors. I the industry it’s called “Strategic foresight“.

And you may even find reasons to link to them or to extend one of their posts with your own rant.

The Internet is based on cooperation and reciprocity. When you link to another web site, be as nice as possible:

• Mention the web site name if possible – no typos please
• Include a link not only an URL
• Keep the link in a readable position (in the post body, in normal text size)

In short: “Link as you would like to be linked.”

Technorati has quickly become the reference in blog tracking. Technorati users are exposed to blogs that have been claimed bytheir owner. Open an account on Technorati, go to the blogs tab and start the claim process. It may be as easy as getting the code, creating a claim post, informing Technorati, then removing the claim post. Mere seconds.

You may want to monopolize your visitors’ attention. But the fact is that they are also living out of your web site. One of the best way to stay in touch is to identify where they go. And be there. You’re supposed to share a lot with them, so it shouldn’t be a burden.

In my case, for YLovePhoto.com, I am spending pleasant time and energy in RedBubble and Flickr which are obvious hubs of Internet quality-oriented photographers.