A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization is a must-have book for authors and artists who want to use the Web to promote their work. Author Deltina Hay has put together an outstanding, well-organized book with chapters dedicated to mapping out strategies, creating key words or tags, starting blogs, building social media newsrooms, and much more. Hay emphasizes the need for proper preparation of the content you put out on the Web. She discusses the importance of knowing the interests of your audience when creating your blog entries. As writers and artists, we are finding ourselves more and more dependent on the Internet as we go about marketing and promoting our work. We bookmark new sites, then we forget where we have that mark. We join groups and create blogs but find it all overwhelming. That's where this survival guide comes in. It guides you in organizing all that muddle of internet sites and social networking locations. In addition to the excellent information written and arranged in this book, there is a Resource CD attached in the back. A section at the end of each chapter lists the "fillable forms" from that chapter available on the Resource CD. Sections in the appendix tell about installing WordPress, creating a RSS feed, and building a widget. The last appendix section even tells about the newer 2.7 version of WordPress that came out as Hay was writing her book. Everything on the Web is changing so quickly, it's essential for artists and authors to do everything they can to keep up. Hay's book is a critical tool that will aid creative people on their internet journey. Mary Montague Sikes, Author Secrets by the Sea, Hearts Across Forever, Eagle Rising, Hotels to Remember

With the development of the constantly evolving Internet and its new technologies, more individuals and businesses are realizing that success on the Internet requires maximizing their presences in the Social Web. Here Hay (graduate education in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology; principal owner, Dalton Publishing, and Social Media Power; founder, PlumbSocial.com; regular contributor to many journals and online news sites), an author, programmer, publisher, social media consultant, Web 2.0 developer, and dynamic presenter, provides an outstanding guide to social media and Web 2.0 optimization. Writing for authors, business owners, entrepreneurs, public relations specialists, marketing professionals, publishers, students, and others, she shows readers how to apply and integrate social media tools not limited to blogs, RSS feeds, content management systems, podcasts, videocasts, webcasts, social networks, microblogs, social bookmarks, crowd-sourcing technologies, media communities, widgets, badges, and social media newsrooms. By means of various chapters that are filled with numerous real-world examples and step-by-step screenshots, the author covers the aforementioned nuts-and-bolts technologies of the new, open-source Internet, but she also goes well beyond the basics. Setting forth proven strategies and tactics, future technologies, measurement tools, and more, Hay provides more in depth guidance from a business perspective. While her book can be read from cover-to-cover, it also can be consulted on an as-needed, chapter-by-chapter basis. It includes many useful, value-added features such as detailed appendices and a companion CD with bibliographies, directories, forms, links to other resources, and worksheets. Easy-to-read, but not a beginner's guide, this expertly-presented, comprehensive, extensive publication will best serve readers who have some background knowledge of the social web and its tools. A significant, worthwhile resource, it belongs in many large public library collections. Highly recommended.

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web I wanted to read this book because I am a social media dummy. Really! I was never interested in Facebook or MySpace. Although I was signed up for Twitter, before I sat down with this book I had no idea why. (If I don't care what I am doing right now, why would anyone else?) As I started reading the Survival Guide to Social Media, I grabbed a notebook and started taking notes. Yes, it is that interesting and informative. The author helped me plan how the social media can be beneficial to me and then walked me through every step with photographs and written explanations. I'm just a simple blogger, but there is also information for more extensive use of the social media avenue for professionals. The book has information on blogs (detailed WordPress information), a variety of established social media sites, video and podcasting, custom widgets, news releases, and an interesting look into the future of social media. Even the accompanying CD is impressively detailed with forms, charts, and additional resources. I also have to say I was very impressed with the permissions that had to be acquired for the screen shots and graphics used in the book. That could not have been an easy task. A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization is written textbook style - only better -because it never gets boring!!! On my own I have found many tools and figured out how to use many of them, but this book introduced me to many new sites and experiences that I would have not even thought of trying. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the internet.

If you're trying to understand the difference between a widget and an RSS, or a blog and a micro blog, or any other terminology, this is the one book you need to read. It covers all aspects of social media with step-by-step, easy-to-understand instructions. Each chapter is a stand-alone, so you can read what you want in any order. This breaks down the seemingly complex into digestible bites of information. You'll be speaking "Web language" like a techie.

I loved it. What a book. These days there are many books on the market that address the basics or the theory regarding online marketiing and the Social Web. At this point I have trouble giving them super high review ratings because they don't bring much new to the table. One such book I recently reviewed was e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online. As a result of my less than glowing review (even though I gave it 4 stars) I got hit with 5 neggies. Anyway, the instant book does not go too heavy on the basics or theory. It is a practical book for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to be lead by the hand on how set up their online presence using social media and Web 2.0 tools. It is well organized and well written and includes an introduction, 15 chapters, and 4 appendices as follows: 0. Introduction 1. Creating your social media strategy 2. Preparation 3. RSS feeds & blogs 4. Building a Wordpress powered Web site 5. Podcasting, vidcasting, & Webcasting 6. Social networking & micro-blogging 7. Social bookmarking & crowd-sourcing 8. Media communities 9. Widgets & badges 10. Social media newsrooms 11. More social tools 12. Pulling it all together 13. Looking to the future 14. Measuring your success 15. Conclusion A. Installing Wordpress B. Creating your own RSS feed C. Building your own widget D. Wordpress 2.7 Clearly the author is partial to Wordpress-dot-com. But there's nothing wrong with that. Wordpress offers great tools and it is a very nice service provider. Chapter 4 talks about Wordpress. Appendix A describes the process for setting up Wordpress. And Appendix D is kind of a supplemental blurb to Appendix A. I found the Introduction to be great. Chapter 1 on strategy was great, and chapters 12 through 15 were wonderful, too. Chapters 2-11 did a good job of providing tools and tactics to be used in building your online presence. Building a meaningful and productive online presence is all about (1) interactivity, (2) sharing, & (3) collaboration. This book will tell you what you need to know to get involved online, build your presence, and interact, share and collaborate. 5 stars!