Pixel Position . Conversational SEO

Social Media helped Remarkablogger get new wheels! Yes! Remarkablogger paid it forward to those who contributed to his car accident fund. As I posted earlier this week about contributing and paying it forward, I learned about his totaling his car and need on Twitter, a microblogging platform in which people share with friends. It’s like a group chat with posts, called “tweets,” that are less than or equal to 140 characters. He tweeted from the hospital!

Many people donated to his car accident fund. Michael was able to put a down payment on a 1998 Saab today, 12.12.08. That’s 4 days after his accident in which he flipped over and walked away! The generosity of his online friends’ donations brought him to tears!

How was this possible? Social Media gave him wheels again!

Paying it Back – Free Blogging Webinar

Michael Martine held a free blogging webinar on Ustream as his way of “paying friends back” for paying it forward to help him in a crunch.

He announced he was going to offer the webinar as a “thank you” to those who donated. He also opened the session up to anyone who wanted to join on Ustream. Requesting money for a car may be an unusual request, especially in hard times when so many people are in need. Asking, in itself, is difficult and humbling for most of us. Michael combined his understanding of technology and Social Media to provide a value and give something in return for his donation request.

He explained:

I’m doing this because… well, because I didn’t die today. Like I said, I’m in a bind and need to raise fast cash. I want to offer you something of intense value in exchange for your donation, and I hope you think that’s fair.

A 3-hour Webinar on a Friday night?

Yes! 45-50 attendees spent our Friday night in his 3-hour webinar. Remarkablogger didn’t work off a clock or schedule or tight agenda. Instead, he walked through tips for blogging, using WordPress, SEO, keyword research, competitive research and best practices. Michael shared five steps for starting a new blog:

1. Write a lot of content in advance & figure out categories (based on target & keyword research).
2. Use pretty Permalinks.
3. Get a Feedburner account (HTML for email & RSS).
4. Use an XML Sitemap to get found by Google and other search engines.
5. Promote: Start driving traffic using Social Media, commenting on other blogs and promotions.

[Self-talk] Oh, if only I’d known the forumula for starting a new blog 3 years ago!

Michael is a trainer by trade and does a great job delivering instructional material. He has been developing a training product, SEO-Nomicon, which will walk you through the magic of blogging and SEO and, you guessed it, Social Media. SEO-Nomicon is coming soon. I’ll surely be sharing more about it when it’s launched.

Social Media’s Power to Change Lives

In Remarkablogger’s post Social Media has the Power to Change Lives, and I Should Know, he shared his thoughts about the power of Social Media.

This is a clear demonstration of the power of the social web, and how to live with it in your life: bring value to others and help others with no expectation of getting anything in return. I had no idea the response to my request would be this great. I only hoped I could get enough help to get through this. So far, I am, but it’s still very close.

The saying comes to mind…

Power to the people!

Social Media connects people. People connected to other people online is powerful, no doubt!

Has Social Media brought power to your life? If not, consider how you are using it. If you’re not, you’re missing out on a very powerful connection.