Pushing Content to Social Media Outlets with HootSuite.com

Sure Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare have made our tech-driven lives more enjoyable, but with each new social outlet comes another app to download, more login credentials or one more site to save to your favorites.  Then along comes HootSuite.com, a tool to push one message to all of your social media channels with the click of a button. 

HootSuite.com allows you to tie in Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, WordPress, PingFM and MySpace - if any one's still using it.  Additionally you can add duplicate account types (for instance your Twitter account linked to your business), which makes managing multiple accounts a breeze.  Just make sure not to post a picture to your Facebook page of you catching a foul ball at the College World Series after calling in sick.

Linger no longer, go to HootSuite.com and create an account, and get back to what you used to do before social media, or on second thought maybe not.

Advertising on Bing through Microsoft Advertising adCenter

While Google Adwords remains the leader in PPC (pay-per-click) advertising Microsoft is edging in on the giant.  The Microsoft Advertising adCenter (a bit redundant) functions much like the Adwords interface, but looks much like Microsoft. 

Currently Google sees about 60 percent of search engine traffic, leaving the remaining 40 percent to Yahoo!, Bing, Ask.com and the likes.  So why waste your time with Microsoft and Bing when Google sees more than double the amount of traffic?  Simple, cost.  In order to place on the top of Google's sponsored list you will inevitably end up spending anywhere from 50 cents to $6.00 per click, with most keywords hovering around $1 to $3, while Bing's cost is about half that.  Additionally, the competition is much smaller.  Nearly everyone knows about Google Adwords, and while not everyone uses it in the way they should, you still suffer, and are forced to bid against them.

Microsoft's Advertisting adCenter is also a great platform to get your feet wet with PPC advertising.  Rather than spending extra money on Google Adwords figuring out what did and didn't work spend less with Microsoft and Bing, and then jump into Adwords.  I'm not suggesting to disregard Adwords altogether, I'm suggesting to spread your PPC love across the web.  Sure Microsoft is evil, but chances are you're reading this on a Windows based machine. 

Click here to visit the Mircosoft Advertising ad Center.  Initially, you will be asked to create a campaign, but don't worry the standard account registration will come later.  While you are required to enter a form of payment, Microsoft doesn't begin charging until people begin clicking on your ads.  Microsoft's keyword tool act similarly to Google's, but it does have a feature that Google lacks, a keyword search tool within your site or a competitors.  Even though other sites offer this service, it's handy and best of all free.  I'll be posting back on what success and/or failures I've had with my Microsoft Bing campaign's as time goes by, in the meantime, good luck!

A Quick Introduction

Welcome to Catalyst Designs, a small web-development company located in Omaha, Nebraska ran by Andrew Kerr.  Catalyst Designs was founded in 2006, and has helped over 30 different organizations, companies and individuals put a stamp on the web.  Along with web-development Catalyst Designs offers social media, copy, and graphic solutions to meet your needs.

I always enjoy a new challenge, so click here to contact me to see how I can help.  Along with giving me a ring or dropping me an email I will be contributing to the site via blog posts discussing new developments in the web and social media landscape.