How do you get more clients? I went freelance just about a year ago )for the second time in my career(, and though it's been sometimes more exciting than I'd like, it's been a great ride and pretty successful. I'm celebrating a year of independence today on Independence Day! So I thought I'd share with you what's worked to get me clients and a few other aspects of the journey. I hope you find it beneficial to your search consulting business.

I was surprised to see an SEO expert recently post one about how Facebook's lack of search intent )a la Google keywords( is why it isn't profitable. I wouldn't be surprised about this if it were 2009 or 2010. But now that businesses have made profits with Facebook , a comment like that means that the SEO guy is either uninformed, or so vested in Google remaining the King Kong of Internet Marketing )too late, it's already been dethroned ( that he is immune to the truth.

Likeonomics )n.(: The study of how affinities and passions affect the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The Keyword Made The Web What it Is You might not realize it, but the way Google works has shaped the web for the last 10 years. Think about it for a second' How many new websites were created because of popular keywords? Search demand drove new businesses. How many landing pages were created for AdWords keywords and ads?

The following conversation is happening in at least 25 offices right now: Executive: "We need more fans and followers!" Social Media Person: "Ok, let's run a contest." Executive: "What should we give away?" Social Media Person: "How about an iPad?" Executive: "Awesome! Let's do it!" Please stop. Why iPads Are a Bad Giveaway Item The only good thing about them is everybody wants one for free. The bad thing about them is everybody wants one.

This is by definition a controversial post and a bit of a rant. So I want to be clear what I'm saying, and who towards - and who I'm not talking about. I'm not saying all PR people are destroying Social Media. I consider a number of Social Media experts with PR backgrounds to be friends of mine, and I converse with them regularly. But there is a type of PR person in Social Media that I'll call the Ignorant Opportunist ,

If you've been in Social Media for the last three to four years, you're well acquainted with the controversy and skepticism surrounding Social Media ROI: lots of debate about what it is, does it exist, etc. Skeptical business owners say things like, "It's fine for Dell or Ford to make money from Social Media, but what about my small or medium sized business? Who has succeeded besides Fortune 1000 companies?" And though we've seen Twitter ROI case studies,

Facebook launched their newer version of Facebook Groups back in October 2010. But it wasn't until the last couple months of being personally involved in some very active and engaging Groups allowed me to see their business potential. If you have a Facebook Page for your business, non-profit, or hobby,

Have you ever found an easy and superior way to do something, then watched in bafflement as people insist on doing it the hard way? You will never make money on Facebook if you have the wrong fans. And the best way to get the right Facebook fans for your business is with Facebook ads.

Although text message marketing isn't my specialty, I've been hearing some impressive results. I had an opportunity to interview with Justin Rockwell of OIR Interactive and Text-Board.com, so I thought I'd get the low down on what kind of results you can get, how to get those results, and how you can combine social media distribution with text messaging as a conversion point.

Do You Really Have To Build A Fan Base? Not sure about building a fan base on Facebook? Facebook advertising straight to your website is not necessarily wrong. Maybe you aren't prepared to invest thousands of dollars to build a fan base, or the audience-building step won't help your business. To be sure, Fan Pages are one of Facebooks most unique and powerful opportunities, and it's important to be open to the benefits of owning your audience.

I had an interesting discussion with Jeremy Koch of Pertnear )the guy responsible for 88,000 fans, in 4 weeks, at half price ( to try to answer some questions a lot of businesses have right now about social media marketing: How do we monetize Twitter and Facebook? Should we wait to build audience on those platforms until we've figured that out? How do monetize the audience once we have it? Brian: I've heard some discussion that Social Media is just a bubble'.

Facebook Ads, I Think I Love You My major focus the last three months has been Facebook advertising. I've been trying to figure out how to get awesome results with Facebook ads. It's been a personal challenge, because I have more or less mastered Google AdWords and SEO, so I thought: I should be able to figure this out! It's been very challenging. Facebook ads are significantly different from AdWords. It's not just search keywords vs. interests.

These are the only five ways to get Facebook fans. If you have another way, it's wrong. Just kidding. These 5 fan-getting techniques are part of what I call my Complete Facebook Marketing System )yet another audacious title that will turn some commenters into haters(. The system is a two stage process for getting fans, then getting revenue. I'll tell you below where to find more info about that if you're interested. Here's what the system looks like: Yeah,

Although it may sound weird or repulsive to some purists, brands have been buying fans on a cost per fan basis for months )some for many moons(. Cost Per Fan Is No Big Surprise When you step back, it makes sense: Many companies operate on a cost per action basis to get emails' fan bases are the social media analogue of email lists. Companies have been acquiring emails, downloads, real estate leads and more via pay per click and SEO for years.

Why aren't more companies leveraging the power of social networking? Here are the obstacles: They don't understand the benefits They are afraid to empower employees who don't normally network or market or represent the company There's no nationally recognized solution for training Fortune 1000 companies how to do this So let's go through these point by point.

When I drive, I get to thinking. And then I usually record what I'm thinking  in a way other people can benefit from. So I created a video for you- I'll talk about it in a minute. I was driving a few weeks ago, thinking about How many people have approached me about offering search engine optimization and pay per click for local businesses at about $500 per month' )four( How one of those big direct marketing dudes )like Frank Kern,