Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 65

Twitter Is NOT About What a Celebrity Ate for Breakfast

Once again I was asked wasn't Twitter just about what celebrities ate and what they're doing?

And once again I replied that this may be how celebrities participate on Twitter. But this is not what people tweet about who want to engage about their areas of expertise.

The question I often ask myself is:



If only I had a magic wand that I ...

Facebook Has Impacted the Look and Purpose of Your Website

The era of Facebook and other social media sites has tremendously impacted the expectations many visitors to your website now have even if you are not personally on these sites.



Visitors who participate on social media sites or comment on blogs expect to be able to interact with any new website they visit. These visitors are not just looking for information; they are also looking for engagement. And they want the purpose of your website to provide...

Free LA Social Media Seminar on August 25th

Asking Yourself What Your Brand Is

Yael and I were asked to speak five to 10 minutes on social media at a networking breakfast. With such a short amount of time to give the huge subject of social media, we decided to go back to the source.

Effective social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn requires an effective website. And an effective website requires a clear brand to make you and your business stand out.

When we talked of brand, we meant what's called your Unique Selling Proposition — your USP. It's what ...

Not All New Twitter Features Are Created Equal

Twitter is my favorite social media platform, and it just got better with the addition of four new features although not all of these new features are created equal:

More info in email notifications of new followers – 5 stars:



The emails announcing new followers now have a great deal more information than before. Besides a more pleasing design layout, you can learn a lot about your new follower without even clicking through to the follower's bio.

Definitely a 5-star feature for...

Avoiding the Black Hole of Social Media

People frequently tell me that they are afraid to start using social media to promote their business because they might get sucked into the black hole of spending too much time on social media.

For example, someone said to me: "I know I should be using social media to connect with people for my business. But I hear horror stories of people getting sucked into spending three to four hours a day on this — and I don't have that time available!"

YOU HEARD IT HERE: Social media is not a black...

Website Microcopy Tune-Up After User Experience Question

I've written before about the importance of very small copy — called microcopy — to ensure that visitors to any page on your website or shopping cart clearly know what to do.

Yet sometimes what seems so obvious that it doesn't need microcopy may indeed need it.

Speaking to someone on the phone, I mentioned my puzzlement that no one attending the presentation Yael and I had given for a specific group had taken advantage of downloading the free social media tips booklet.

The person replied that h...

Facebook Bits and Pieces: Boxes Disappearing and Other Facebook Conumdrums

Welcome to the wonderful world of Facebook, where from day to day you can have no idea whether "you're on foot or on horseback."

First, let me share with you an idea I got from Robert Grant while watching one of his Crowd Conversion Facebook videos. At one point he broke down the main "functions" this way: personal profile, Facebook group and Facebook page. (Other times he used Facebook business page the way I sometimes do.)

Now, this is somewhat clear as long as everyone remembers that a...

Corbett Barr at Think Traffic Blog Writes About the All-Important USP

I've just read Corbett Barr's post on "The Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition" (link at end of this post) and he's written a persuasive piece on why it's so important to have a USP.

Those of you who have followed our blog posts here and our guest posts at other sites know that Yael and I believe that figuring out your distinguishing benefit – your USP – for your potential market is very important.

When Yael and I recently made a presentation at a networking meeting, the ...

Why Do You Need an Effective Website?

In my opinion the purpose of an effective website is to convey the information of interest to a specific target market in such a way that the information is easy to read and easy to find on the site.

Thus I was surprised when a cousin of mine, building a website for an upcoming family reunion, emailed me: "I'm building content for it but I want someone to really jazz it up."

I replied: "Websites should NOT be jazzy — they should be easy to read. NO reverse type except in headlines. And they ...