You can check out this TechCrunch article which gives several methods for embedding links. If you decide to use Blackbird Pie, be sure not to use the https version of your tweet links. Also, you must click on the time link below the Tweet which says something like “about 1hr ago” and copy and paste that link into the Blackbird tool to get an embedded tweet like the one on this post.

Other Twitter Stuff

You do know that many of the search engines are using Twitter results for part of their real time search results right? Well tweets do often show up in the SERPs.

Something that makes me go hmm

As you may or may not know,  as part of the Baldydog.com company, we not only do SEO, but I as the Social Media Director, do manage several other blogs.

In addition to all the blogs, as part of the Baldydog network, we have multiple sites to include directories such as Pixelheadonline, Online Legal Directory, Home Improvement Directory, and of course Alltravelsites.com to name just a few. If you want a complete list of our directories, leave a comment, and I will send you an email with the complete list of our directories.

Anyway, while reviewing and publishing travel site submissions on the travel directory, as part of the submission process, I usually send out several tweets about the newly added travel resource. I usually say something like the tweet below.

I also send out a tweet with the individual page for the listing and may include a direct link to the url of the listing if it is a short url.

Link Building Tip

What I have noticed is that links that I tweet, such as individual listing pages, will then be cached in Google. If I don’t Tweet them, they won’t get cached, and as you know, an un-cached page is as good as invisible to Google because it doesn’t know about the web page.
Does this mean you should go and send thousands of spam links to Twitter so they get cached?  I wouldn’t recommend it. I think it is ok occasionally. What I try to do when I do these types of “resource addition” tweets, is to sandwich them between tweets that seek to share, communicate, rt, or be genuinely helpful.

Even these types of tweets, I feel are helpful and not spammy, as I am only tweeting about travel related resources, and most of the 2000+ followers have some sort of travel interest.

So How Can You Use Twitter for Link Buiding

Twitter links as you know are nofollow type links, so they really don’t count for much Google Juice, but they do serve to notify the search engines of your resource, which may otherwise have been uncached.

If you do link building as we do, when you get accepted into a directory, send out a Tweet for the actual listing page of your resource or the category page that your listing appears if it is not too heavily populated with other similar resources.

Try to get as many cached links pointing to your site as possible. Cached with PR is better, but cached at the very least.

So have you noticed similar results using Twitter, or do you think I am erroneous?

**note – to get the box around my tweets, I put the tweets into a table. <table border=”2″><tr><td>Tweet code</table></tr></td>

***For more info on Link Building check out On-Page Optimization Training.

Orlando, Florida – 19 November 2009 – Orlando Residents Ben Reed and Brian Sommer have been selected as finalists by The Tourism Authority of Thailand in their social media competition: Ultimate Thailand Explorers. Beginning December 10^th, Reed and Sommer will embark on a 6-Day assignment to Pattaya, Thailand where the couple will use social media websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to promote the Country of Thailand as a vacation destination.   To be selected as finalists, Reed and Sommer underwent a grueling vetting process including submitting a 1-minute YouTube video explaining why they want to go to Thailand and how they would promote their chosen destination. Selected as 1 of 25 teams from over 200 applicants from dozens of countries, the pair next had to solicit the most votes from Internet users from around the world.   On achieving this milestone Reed said, “We are thankful to the hundreds of fans and followers that voted for us each day.” He continued by adding, “we started with a blank website and in just a few short weeks, grew a twitter following that reached out to tens of thousands of individuals and built an integrated Facebook campaign asking people to vote for us.” Both Reed and Sommer are connected on traditional social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but have also established a presence on Flickr, WAYN and have reached our to prominent travel bloggers too.

Reed and Sommer may be followed today on twitter at www.twitter.com/benandbrianthai as well as on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ultimate-Thailand-Explorers-Ben-Brian/128431649795. “Managing our social media sites is a full-time job,” Reed said. Their official blog address is www.ultimatethailandexplorers.com/blog/pattaya.   The couple will compete against four additional teams in the Cities of: Bangkok, Phuket, Chang Mai and Koh Samui for the Grand Prize of $10,000 and the title of Ultimate Thailand Explorer. Prizes are also awarded to individuals who participate in voting in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition. Voting will take place from 1 December 2009 – 8 January 2010 at the official competition site, www.ultimatethailandexplorers.com.   “Neither of us have been to Thailand before, so we are looking forward to learning about the culture, sampling the local cuisine and of course discovering the many attractions and beaches that Pattaya has”, said Sommer. “We are excited to share our adventures with our followers and fans and have plans to encourage them to connect with us while we are in the city”, he concluded.   The Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition follows similar efforts by tourism bureaus from around the globe. Locally in Orlando, the Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureaus selected 1 couple to capture their experiences at Orlando’s world-renowned attractions. And in Australia, Tourism Queensland selected 1 individual for the “Best Job in the World”.   Inspired by family vacations as a child, Ben is a travel blogger at adventureswithben.com. Through engaging, humorous and candid experiences from his travels to Africa, Europe, South America, North America and Asia, Reed shares his passion for travel. His full-time job is with a training and development organization in Orlando.   A physical therapist in Kissimmee, Brian is an avid traveler. His most memorable experiences include shark cage diving with Great White Sharks in Cape Town, South Africa and backpacking through Europe. Together they share a home in Orlando.

The Great Chicago Bean

We are actually taking Grandmom, our 14 yr old daughter and our Taco Bell dog,  Sugar as well. We will be leaving around 6am Monday, and stopping in at Marblehead Ohio for an over night at the Marblehead Surf Motel. Come Tuesday morning, unless we are in love with Marblehead, we will be heading out to our friends place in Chicago.

We will be doing some work however to include a possible BNI networking meeting, SEO training for a contractor, and I imagine more than a bit of travel blogging on the All-Travel-Site.com blog.

Future Posts

I know I have been rather limited on my blogging here on Phead…sorry, SEO client work comes first.  Some future posts if I get the time might include:

• Posts on Bing and others Search Engines..(you do know Yahoo and Bing are merging right)
• Posts on real world networking..I joined the networking group BNI, and would like to do some posts about it. Got any networking groups that you belong.
• More than a few twitter update posts.
• Reviews of some new Social media tools and sites.

These are just a few ideas that I have brewing around in my head. If  you would like to be a guest blogger, these are some types of blog post that I would be looking for..not limited to, but would seriously apprecitate.

Mid week Lizzie and I took a trip to Bar Harbor, and sadly did not have Internet access. The LedgeLawn Inn, is a huge old mansion that reminds me of The Shining. It is a great place to visit if you want to get away, but Internet seems to b a luxury that needs to be upgraded too. As we were driving up the coast, we did see other places that had WiFi, but ours did not. Well it did give us plenty of time for checking out the town and Arcadia National Park. I did take lots of pics, and took some notes in an actual tablet, which will eventually make it into several posts on the Lizzie’s Travel Blog, so if you get a chance and want to get some info on Bar Harbor, check out the travel blog.

Our Maine Vacation Links:1. Maine Vacation pics on Flickr.

2. Maine Vacation posts on The Travels of Lizzie Bean.

Upcoming posts here and elsewhere will include:

Mid-month Top commentators post.

An SEO suggestion post for Paula, Queen of the Surf Pirates.

Entry to the 7Ps of Meme which I was tagged for by Sarah over at BlueJar.com

Two Guest blogging posts, one for Pureblogging.com and one for Freelancefolder.com.

I am sure there are a few others that I am forgetting, to mention, but they will occur. But now, I need to do some client work, because I need to pay the bills. ttyl.

A question for other bloggers:

Oh I would like to add a little question to this Maine Vacation post, and ask my fellow bloggers about protocol when going on vacation. Do you write a post before vacation or do like me and write it after the fact?

Our Salvo Realtor, upgraded us from our original place when there was a scheduling snafu. At first we were a little disappointed, but after seeing the original and this one we are ever so glad the snafu occurred.Today, I get an email update from an OBX Real Estate blog from Ronnie Roach were I find out tropical storm Barry is on the way and will hit Sunday. No wonder the waver report on Paula the Queen of Surf Pirates site said the waves would be so huge on Sunday. Tried to talk Lizzie into staying over the weekend, but the kids do need to get back to school.

Visit my OBX picture set to see all of our OBX Salvo pictures.