Whenever you are marketing, your first impression may be made through your social media networks or with your website. So just like being dressed in a suit is much more impressive than being in tattered clothes, having a great web design is better than having something that looks like it was designed when websites were first born. And if you are not looking to build a blog using platforms such as WordPress, or you do not want to use website templates, what do you to develop your website content?

Shareware, freeware, open source software, proprietary programs. There are literally hundreds of thousands of computer programs in existence today. Web development professionals have their favorites which they download and place in their toolboxes. Even if you’re not a working pro, web development software downloads are probably a part of your life to some extent.

Some of the more popular titles are listed and discussed below. Just because you’re satisfied with the tools you currently use doesn’t mean there isn’t something better out there for you. Check out the list to determine if you might find a program that will do a task better, faster or have more Swiss Army functions that could help you reduce the number of tools cluttering your box.

7 Web Development Software Applications and Tools

• FrontPage 2003 – One of the earliest WYSIWYG web development programs, this software download is now used mostly by amateurs who are hoping to quickly, easily and without code knowledge, develop web pages and entire web sites.
• XAMPP – For slightly advanced web developers, XAMPP allows you to set up all the web server software needed on your local computer. Now you don’t even need an active Internet connection to code and develop web sites.
• WebLog Expert Lite – The longer you develop web based applications and sites, the more your clients will want to know their success (or failure). This download provides useful graphical renditions of the data collected by your web server’s logs.
• PHP Designer 2007 – Though a few years old, this program is still quite popular with developers wishing to improve analyzing, editing, publishing, and debugging processes coded into their applications.
• AdSense Earnings Tool – If you have webpages receiving appreciable amounts of visitor traffic you probably are attempting to monetize them with Google’s AdSense program. This tool will help you gain more control and understanding over your campaigns.
• WebLog DB – Power developers are constantly looking to refine their web applications. This program provides easy log data insertion into databases for advanced statistical analysis.
• WebShot – Designers and GUI developers often need to grab screen shots of the web pages they are working on. WebShot is a newer program that seems to be quite popular based upon how much it’s being download.

While the above are only 7 programs out of hundreds of thousands, the real take away is there are always new and improved versions of the tools you currently use in your web development. If you’re not constantly evaluating and downloading new applications, you might be missing out on time savings, bandwidth reductions, and other methods to improve your work process and end product.

Your Web Development Toolbox

With hundreds of thousands of software titles, and many programs performing similar functions, which web development software do you download and use most?

This is a guest post by Vern Marker, a freelance writer and web designer who tends to download program after program for various needs.

Efectively integrating Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other Social Media advertising campaigns is an ideal method for increasing your inbound marketing traffic.

Before you spend a dime, learn how to  make the most of your ad spend from leading marketers, advertising agents and brands that specialize in Social Media.

The money you could waste on trial and error will cost you far more than attending one of these premiere Social Media Advertising events in London or Miami.

Get answers and tips on best practices and how-to information on the best location-based networks, mobile networks, Social Gaming,

These are the ultimate events for anyone interested in Social Media Marketing.

“Together, earned and paid media are far more effective when the programs are humanized. The difference between social network advertising and marketing and traditional online campaigns are the ecosystems where engagement is fostered” – Brian Solis

See the latest Social Media advertising tools and services in the Exhibition Area and experience the fully interactive presentations, panel discussions, Q&A sessions and case studies.

Refreshments, lunch (optional) and a handbook are included in the ticket price. At the end of the day, network over drinks – the relationships created can speed you to your goals.

Combine effective advertising with Social Media engagement at the UK London event sponsored by Synthesio Web Monitoring and Viadeo Network Development Solutions. Search Twitter to find out who else may be attending using Hashtag #SMMUK10.

• Blog Advertising and Sponsored Posts
• How to Run Effective Social Media Ad Campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more
• Using Apps for Advertising
• Effective B2B adverting on LinkedIn and other Businesss Networks
• Best Pratice Examples and Case Studies

Program Highlights

• Viral Ad Campaigns: Social Gaming, Videos, Mobile
• Facebook: How to Optimize and Manage Facebook Advertising Campaigns
• Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
• Social Targeting through Social Media Data Mining and Analysis

Some Early Bird Tickets are still available
Save 10% on any ticket to the London Event by using this link
Or type in discount code iem18 manually

Find out how to better engage customers via promoted content in Social Media at this Miami Social Media Advertising event. Experts will share their insights on creating effective campaigns using new services and tools. Sponsored by Leading Email Marketing Solution provider Constant Contact.

Topics we will cover during the day include:

• Tools and Trends to Watch in 2010
• B2B & B2C Social Media Advertising
• Connect with C-level Execs using B2B Social Media
• How to Create Highly Effective Ad Campaigns
• Measuring effectiveness and ROI
• Expert Advice on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn Ad Campaigns
• Viral High Profile Marketing Campaigns through Video and Mobile Efforts
• Blog Outreach, Advertising and Sponsored Posts
• The Psychology of Persuasion; Next Generation Marketing
• Innovations in Location-Based Marketing (Foursquare & beyond)
• The Science of Social Media Advertising
• Case Studies and Best Practises

Monitor Event Buzz by searching Twitter using Hashtag #SMMiami

Some Early Bird Tickets are still available

Type in discount code iem18 manually or use the links below:

SAVE 10% on any ticket to the Miami event by using this link

Save 10% on any ticket to the London Event by using this link

Is your Inbound Marketing really connecting? In this video, Brian Solis points out what may not yet be obvious to many who are still “excited about the number of followers” they have on Twitter instead of “actually connecting to people uniquely”.

“We’re not connected as much by relationships as we think; we’re connected by ideas. We’re connected by the things we’re passionate about.”

Do you still think Social Media is about Technology rather than Sociology? Watch this video and you may change your mind:

After watching that video you’ll know why he is such a popular speaker. Here are some other excellent videos featuring Brian:

• Brian Solis Word of Mouth Tips Video from a Gas Pedal Word of Mouth Event
• Brian Solis Social Media Video – Social Media Primer from a Honda Motor Corp. and SoCal Action Sports Network Keynote Speech

Brian is a popular speaker at Social Media and Word of Mouth Marketing Events including Influence People’s upcoming Email Social Media Marketing Event September 17, 2010 in San Francisco.

There may still be Early Bird Tickets available to hear what innovative methods Brian and many other leading marketing experts, email companies and brands recommend to maximize your Social Media results.  Use that link or enter discount code iem18 to save an additional 10% off your ticket.

Influence People Ltd anouce a UK Social Media Advertising Conference

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING
ADS, APPS & INCENTIVES

The Bees Awards for busy bees working hard in social media, do you have what it takes to win an award?

The Bees Awards San Francisco are the first international social media award competition for communications and marketing professionals.

The Deadline for Entry Submissions is October 1st, 2010. Nominees will be announced October 21st, 2010 at 7pm PST on the Bees Awards website at http://www.beesawards.com

Categories will include:

• Best 140 Characters (SMS, Tweet)
• Best Use of a Micro-Blogging Platform 
• Best Use of a Social Media Platform 
• Best Use of mobile
• Best Relationship With Bloggers
• Best Conversation with Customers
• Best Use of Alternative Tool(s)
• Best Use of Media Press Room
• Best Writing
• Best Art Direction
• Best Social CRM
• Best Student Work
• Best Innovation
• Best Campaign
• Agency of the Year
• Client of the Year 

If you have a great social media inbound marketing campaign then enter now at http://www.beesawards.com

Social Media Marketing 2010 San Francisco Conference July 8th

Social Media Marketing 2010 San Francisco will bring together leading brands and marketing experts to explore the viral power of social networks.

During this one-day event, a team of renowned marketing experts will provide guidance on how to effectively engage with customers via social media, give tips on how to maximize the impact of your campaigns and offer insights into new services to try and trends to watch out for. This is the ultimate event for anyone involved in social media or digital marketing.

Opening by Murray Newlands
Morning Keynote
Viral Social Media Campaigns: What Works
The Press Talks: How to get Digital PR for your Company
Insider Look: How Tech Writers Cover Social Media
A/B Testing for Social Media
How to Build Communities for Brands
Social Media Marketing Metrics
Social Media Marketing Metrics
Monetizing Social Media
Afternoon Keynote

Speakers include Chris Heuer, Ben Parr, David Gelles, Joe Vazquez, Tom Foremski, Kym McNicholas, Jon Swartz , Dan Martell, Jennifer Neeley Lindsay, Hiten Shah, Vinnie Lauria, Murray Newlands (that is me) and Marissa Louie.

Media partners include Mashable, Adrants, State of Search and SeededBuzz.

To find out more and book your ticket see http://socialmediamarketing.co.uk/sanfrancisco/

Social Media Marketing 2010 will bring together leading brands and marketing experts to explore the viral power of social networks.

• Insights into the Latest High Profile Viral Marketing Campaigns
• The Psychology of Persuasion: Next Generation Marketing
• How to use Social Networking Theory to Tune your Campaigns
• Innovations in Location-Based Marketing (Foursquare & beyond)
• Tweets that Travel: The Essential Skill of Viral Writing
• Using B2B Social Media to Connect with C-level Execs
• Creating a Bespoke Community vs Starting a Group

Inbound marketing is a powerful force for promoting your business, no matter what industry you’re part of. But it can also be a strong complementary force to outbound and guerrilla promotions for your next event. Hubspot published a great step by step guide to help anyone use inbound marketing to help promote and publicize their event.

I’m calling this post “How to Promote an Event With Inbound Marketing… Even More!” because I want to take their 7 Steps and give some ideas about how to build off of those essential steps. So thank you, HubSpot for putting down the inbound marketing strategy for your event in such an easy-to-understand format! And to those of you reading, I hope my ideas help you build out your inbound marketing strategy even further.

How to Promote an Event With Inbound Marketing… Even More!

1. Set up your event website.

They recommend setting up your website early and making sure it has a link to it so that it gets indexed- Do it.

Even More: Set the website up with socialized sharing in mind. Make sure that the website, the pages and the taxonomy are SEO friendly, and include buttons for sharing as part of the structure of the website, not something you add in later.

2. Leverage your network.

They recommend using the people you know to get the word out- Do it.

Even More: Whether you have an event planned right now or not, start sharing links and information about the events that other people in your network are having. That way, 6 months from now when you need to start asking people to tweet, post or write about your event, you can say “…like I did for yours last year” instead of “I promise I’ll help you out next time.”

3. Get great people involved and leverage their networks.

They recommend leveraging the networks of your speakers- Do it.

Even More: Create content that highlights those speakers, not just your event. Imagine how happy a speaker will be to ask their network to promote their speaking engagement (that is your event) rather than Your Event (that they are one part of).

4. Reach out to relevant communities.

They recommend finding your audience and speaking to them there- Do it.

Even More: Find those audiences now and be a contributor to the community. In the same way that helping others in your network will make it easier to ask for help when you need it, announcing your event to a community you actively take part in will be better-received than showing up just to talk about what YOU’RE up to.

5. Create a community around your event.

They recommend Facebook, Twitter and blog posts- Do it.

Even More: Don’t just use the same content for all three- take the time to understand what works for each one and make sure that the content you create around your event for that community suits that particular media.

6. Publish lots of content and encourage others to create content.

They recommend creating a lot of content- Do it.

Even More: Make sure that you don’t just start creating content without an overall strategy. Realize that the kind of content you should be creating two months before your event is different than what you create and put out there a week before-hand. Plan that out a few months in advance so that you have a roadmap and don’t have to take the time to come up with strategic thinking in the midst of that crazed last month leading up to your event.

7. Use an event tag for all media published on the web for your event.

They recommend creating an event-specific tag that you use across medias- Do it.

Even More: Make that tag something that makes sense. If you use something like IMC10, it will make sense to only the people who know what your event is already. Yes, you need to think about length for Twitter, but should Twitter determine the tag you use in the other 10 media outlets? I would say no. InboundMktgConf2010 would be better.

Do you have further recommendations about what we can do that is “Even More” for an inbound marketing event strategy? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

– Scott James

Facebook Page Inbound Marketing Strategy

Facebook Pages are an important strategic way to create and nurture a presence for your brand or company online- but how does a Facebook Page fit with your overall inbound marketing strategy? I would say if you have a company that exists online, your Facebook page is one of the more critical aspects of your business, not something that’s nice to have. So the first thing you need to do is create a Facebook page for your business. Here is a great guide from Hubspot about how to do just that:

Once you have your page, it’s time to get the word out. If you have a business, you already have customers. Let them know that you have a Facebook page, and make sure something is HAPPENING on the page when they get there. I recommend a few simple actions that don’t take a lot of time, but keep you engaged and show off that engagement.

1. Send out a Weekly Note. It is similar to the way a newsletter works- it can be personal or business -focused, but either way it gives you a forum for weekly communication. On a page I maintain for a staffing company, I mail out weekly quotes from staff who are enjoying their time in the field. In the note I thank everyone for their work that week and feature 2 different staff quotes- it usually gets a few Likes and some feedback on the Wall, but mostly I like it because it’s weekly activity focused on the Fans.

2. Hold a contest. Especially when you are building Fan numbers on your page, it’s good to have something going on. A simple contest is great- ask people their favorite thing about your company or product and randomly choose one commenter each Friday to get a free sample or t-shirt. People love to get free things and they are vocal about it. And it’s another weekly activity for your Page.

3. Respond to any comments. It’s critical to let people know that you are on and monitoring the page itself. At least every 48 hours, preferably once/ day, go on to your page and respond to every comment, even if it’s just a “Thanks!” You want to acknowledge any engagement on your page.

Over time, a Facebook page can be a great way for your current customers and fans to recommend your company to their friends- and because the numbers on Facebook are now over 400 million people, you have to be there to be where your customers are.

So you want to see what’s new in inbound marketing SXSW is your best bet if you are spending some time in the U.S right now. Austin, Texas has the best thing going this weekend for inbound marketing SXSW.  It’s the Interactive weekend and a few key players will be there:

Hubspot will be live and in charge as usual in inbound marketing SXSW. Hubspot you know, and the fact that they are at SXSW means that it is important. The new innovations in Interactive media will change and shift the inbound marketing world and Hubspot will know because they are there.

A newer player to the game is CJ is headed there as well, and if you are there it’s worth heading there to see them and see what they are up to.

Then of course there’s b-side marketing genius who wrote about inbound marketing about how to get found at SXSW itself- it worked in at least one instance (this one) but will you find him?

In the end, Inbound Marketing will have a strong presence at SXSW this week, and if you are there and an inbound marketing professional, I’d love to hear what you are learning and what you have to share with our community here.

Inbound marketing and social media are so blended that SXSW Interactive week are sure to birth many incredible ideas- what do you think the new inbound marketing ideas will be that come out of Foursquare? Gowalla? Any other location-based technologies? What about their partnerships?

Scott James