However, in order to understand how to communicate effectively, it’s important to understand just what communication is. At its most basic definition, communication is the exchange of thoughts and ideas through speech, writing, symbolic signs and or other mediums in an effort to come to a mutual understanding. While this basic definition might be easy to understand, it’s a common occurrence that communication does not happen as smoothly as it might.

Communication occurs via several methods. Verbal communication in the form of speech may be the most prominent method of communication; however, it is not the only method and is not always the best method. Written communication is also used and, with the advent of computers, may be relied upon more frequently now that many people are using websites and e-mail in their every day lives. Sign language is an example of communicating which uses language but is neither verbal nor written.

Other methods of communication, which rely less on language, can include body language, tone of voice, eye contact and touching. These methods of communicating often take a back seat to verbal and written communication and the effect may be more subtle than spoken words. Nevertheless, unspoken and sometimes unconscious cues also relay information to other parties and can have an effect on the overall message.

It’s common for communication to happen over several mediums. For example, a presentation uses verbal speech, images and written language as forms of relaying a message to an audience. It may even be difficult to communicate by only using one format. If a speaker addresses an audience, she may focus on her speech abilities but the audience will also glean information from her posture and tone of voice during her speech. While we may not be as alert to these sorts of cues, making an effort to recognize these cues and correct any negative impact they may have is imperative. No one wants to send the message that she is not interested in the product she is trying to sell or that the product is inferior compared to competitors’ products. In a way we can develop more productive nonverbal media can help us to communicate better with everyone around us.

We must communicate with countless people, numerous times on a daily basis. From our personal to professional lives, there are thoughts and ideas we strive to present accurately and clearly so that our loved ones and coworkers can better understand us and so that we can attain a common goal. Understanding what communication is enables us to do so more efficiently and accomplish more. In a constantly evolving, technological business world, communicating effectively can mean the difference between a successful company and one that never sees the light of day.

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But the question still remains-how does social media affect SEO, and futhermore, which tactics are best for SEO? This past summer, Search Mojo ran a test to find out exactly which tactics might improve rankings.

Methodology: While it is difficult to create a purely scientific study involving social media and SEO (there are too many varying factors that we cannot control, such as algorithm changes), we did attempt to make our study as scientific as possible. We created two identical websites about a topic, but one applied SEO best practices such as high keyword density in content and building inbound links and the other site ONLY used social media tactics. The goal was to measure how social media tactics stack up to traditional SEO tactics when optimizing a website.
Findings

While we found that social media tactics can be helpful to SEO, certain tactics were certainly more helpful than others. Here’s a synopsis of our findings.

Social networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and others proved ineffective for SEO, primarily because the links in many of the social networks are marked “nofollow.” While social networks may be a great way to get the word out about your website to others, social networks did not impact search engine rankings.

Blog comments mostly proved ineffective for SEO for the same reason as social networks too many blog owners seem to mark comments as “nofollow.” Also, it appears that blog comments that are “dofollow” may have less impact than links from blogs contained within the blog post content itself.

Links from Blog Post Content
Links contained within blog post content tended to have a greater degree of importance than those contained within the comments section of a post. We consider links from blog post content semi-effective.

Why semi-effective? While the links contained within blog posts themselves had some value over the links contained within the comments section, we did not that links in blog posts had greater value than generic links built in directories or other locations. In other words, a link on a directory versus a link in a blog post with the same PageRank seems to yield just as an effective SEO result. When concentrating efforts on link building for SEO, getting a link in a blog post may drive more traffic, but it will take much longer to build enough quantity of blog post links than to build links in directories and the like.

In our estimation, links from blog posts should be a goal more for the PR function in a company than the SEO team for this reason.

Links from Squidoo and HubPages:Overall, we found that links from a Squidoo Lens or HubPage drove traffic, but we found that they were ineffective for purely SEO purposes. The main problem when creating a Squidoo Lens or HubPage for link purposes is that these newly created pages and their associated links can only be found once the search engine bots can find them. And since Squidoo and HubPages do not have links to each page per se (unless you are a very popular page), then you also have to go through the effort of building at least one link pointing in to your Lens or HubPage so the bots can find it!

Creating Your Own Blog:Blogs provide a constant flow of new content on a website, increasing a site’s opportunities for viral linking. We found that having a blog on your domain is highly effective for SEO purposes and also can drive more traffic overall to your website. Blog posts can also be repurposed as other digital assets, such as articles for online article marketing another highly effective SEO tactic.

So should you spend time participating in social media tactics? Social media still has its place in your overall marketing program. HOWEVER, we cannot prove that the benefits to purely search rankings outweigh the investment in social media (in manhours, cost, etc.).

If SEO is your goal, many social media tactics will not be helpful. But because most companies are performing SEO with the end goal of driving more website traffic, social media tactics can achieve the same result through different means.

We know that search marketing often provides high conversion and ROI, but how effective is social media? The case for conversion and ROI for social media remains to be seen and the debates on it rage on.

Janet Driscoll Miller is the CEO and Lead Search Strategist of Search Mojo a full service search engine marketing firm. Her company offers both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services and Pay Per Click (PPC) Management services to help clients improve search engine rankings.

Bell was educated at Edinburgh University, then on to study in London. Finally he received his Ph.D at Wurtzburg, Germany. In 1870 his health began to fail, so he and his father, an elocution teacher, moved to Canada. Two years later, while maintaining a second home in Canada, Bell moved to Boston. Here he and his father set up a speech therapy school, and business thrived. Bell fell in love with a deaf girl and Martha Hubbard became his wife, influencing the course of his work and his life.

Bell felt deep love for his deaf wife and this had him working for years to create a hearing machine for deaf people. In fact, Bell worked very hard on any machine or means to improve a deaf persons hearing. He never really did achieve that, but for the great majority who can hear, the telephone has been one of the great boons of the past century. That was in June 1875, but he only filed at the United States Patent office February 15, 1876. In fact one other genteman arrived within an hour to patent a device for a talking machine.

Bell was perhaps belated in securing his invention, but did win and is the father of modern communications. His claim to fame and fortune were assured. Only now do we talk of wireless; we know that is quite new; however up to now and since 1876 we were and are linked through wires and our telephones, and now all the other devices, computers and modems and television all run at different frequencies through the wires that Bell invented, failure by failure, in his small studio.

It seems that Bell had many more failures until the accidental finding the correct wireing. After so many failures lesser men would have felt they were wastingtheir time and it was hopeless.It was for Bell to fail his way to success. Not Alexander Graham Bell. By his nature he could only but press on again and again. The breaking of a string gave him the cue to how the wires would work. On February 3, 1876 Bell received his parent from the United States patent office, a Elisha Gray of Chicago.

There were a handful more: A.E. Dolbear, Daniel Drawbridge, as well as Gray and Bell had all been working on a talking machine. However the telephone, as it came to be known, was slow in receiving customers. Bell formed a partnership with Watson and Bells father in law, Gardner Hubbard. It was agreed that Bell was the inventor of the telephone, and gradually commerciall businesses were wiring up this time saving new device.

How much the telephone is a necessary part of life is obvious. What a fortune for us that a man such as Alexander Graham Bell walks the stage of life every now and then.

Derek Dashwood finds history fascinating and how enemies at one time are friends another time
American Antiques

On the other hand, it is possible for you to influence anyone with whom you come in contact. The more influencing skill you have, the more chance there is that you will be able to achieve your goals and objectives by aligning yourself with others. Anyone can be influential. And anyone can be influenced!

Are you one of the many people who feel disempowered and frustrated at work? Do you find yourself saying things like: I cannot do anything about that. It is not my job! Do you hear yourself talking about how They do not communicate properly, or that you are waiting for Them to make a decision?

When you know how to influence and manage upwards, you can empower yourself and start to feel quite differently about your working life.

Managing upwards requires many of the same skills that one needs to manage downwards, although there is usually a higher level of risk involved. Because of that, you need to plan your strategy and your conversations more carefully.

Establish your position.

Managing upwards is easier when you have a good relationship with your manager based on your performance and the support, respect and assistance you give to him or her. Build your reputation by meeting standards and deadlines, and by fulfilling promises and expectations. Any conversation has a better chance of success when it starts from a point of mutual respect.

Plan every conversation on a win win basis.

Look at the situation from the perspective of your boss, to find the win win that works for both of you. For example, you may want a pay increase. Your boss, on the other hand, needs to reward everyone fairly. If you want a win win conversation, you will need to adjust your own win to take into account the need for fair remuneration. If all you really want is an increase, then you are going in on a win lose basis and so you may as well bully and threaten!

Make the conversation safe.

When someone feels unsafe in a conversation they tend to react by shutting down or by becoming defensive. Remember that your boss can also feel unsafe! If he or she senses that you are being critical, blaming, accusing, sarcastic or disrespectful, they will start to feel unsafe.

These attitudes start in your head and are then conveyed in your gestures, tone of voice and general body language. You may be unaware of the impact you are creating. When you start by focusing on a win win outcome for the conversation, your head is in a good space and your behaviours will reflect the same.

Start with the facts.

Do your homework. Be sure you have all the facts at your finger tips before you open a conversation with your boss. However, allow for your boss having facts to which you do not have access. Open the conversation with the facts you have, then pause and check that you are correct.

Explain your position.

When you have confirmed your facts you can express how you see or feel about the situation. Choose your words carefully. Be tentative. Watch for reaction. Remember that a very little critical feedback goes a long way! Your intention is to get into conversation around the issue, not to win an argument. Maintaining the safety of the conversation for both of you is critical.

Come to agreement.

When you get into dialogue around an issue and the conversation remains safe, moving to consideration of alternative actions or solutions is a natural progression. There is one condition however. You must not try to push your boss into doing things your way! You may influence, but you cannot coerce or instruct.

One outcome of a conversation with your boss may be to plant some ideas to which you will return later. Patience can be a virtue!

Managing upwards requires the same skills you need when you exert influence over anyone with whom you are in contact. The stakes are usually higher in a conversation with your boss so conversations need to be planned with more than usual care.

Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. Go to http://www.straight-talk.co.za for free downloads and Straight Talk Tips.