1. ENLARGE
YOUR
DIGITAL
FOOTPRINT
!

2. f eldmancreat ive.com
http://feldmancreative.com/2013/05/enlarge-your-digital-footprint-for-more-effective-online-marketing/
Enlarge Your Digital Footprint for More Effective Online
Marketing
May
Your digital f ootprint is huge. Okay, well, truthf ully, I don’t know what size it is. But here’s what I do know: your
digital footprint has a huge effect on your online marketing.
When it comes to f actors you can control to improve your website traf f ic, it’s Mr. Big. You do want to improve
your website traf f ic, correct? Let’s have a look at how it’s done.
Take charge, woman. Get large, man.
Why do I f eel like I’m hawking Viagra?
But seriously ladies and gentlemen, we have one humdinger of a topic, which in my biased opinion, has yet to
inspire a truly helpf ul online article. So, here and now, I set out to of f er you the ultimate list of easy and
ef f ective ways to enlarge your digital f ootprint, increase your f indability f actor (otherwise known as search
results), and drive traf f ic to your website.
We begin with the easy ones.

3. The f ollowing f our ideas—and the ideas within the ideas—are absolute musts.
1. Comment on relevant blogs—It doesn’t get any easier. You’re reading them, right? Now write something. In
the process, you’ll be asked to input your URL. Repeat af ter me now: world’s easiest backlink. Make a habit out
of this practice. And, of course, of f er a usef ul idea or web page. Can you say “double backlink?”
2. Get an about.me account—At about.me, you’ll f ind the world’s easiest web page generator. And with a
large collection of graphically pleasing templates, they’ve made it so the page you produce has to be elegant.
It’s a f ill-in-the blank exercise. You create a pile of links that point to your site, blog and social networks. If you
don’t have an about.me account by this time tomorrow, you’ll have a hard time convincing me you sincerely want
to grow your digital f ootprint. Here’s my about.me page.
3. Microblog like a maniac—There are probably 1,000 and 1 reasons to be active on social media, but even if
deep down inside you’re anti-social, get your hands on additional social media accounts and your f ootprint
grows. No social media list can be all-inclusive, but you most def initely need the f ab f our:
Twitter—No brainer. It’s as now as now gets.
LinkedIn—The world’s greatest business center. (Have you and I connected on LinkedIn?)
Google+—The online space f or everything.
Facebook—I predict this thing catches on.
4. Be a picture publisher—You have a smartphone and you use it to take pictures. Now publish them. Of
course, you’ll want to use discretion. Only the photos you shoot that are relevant to your business or personal
brand are the ones you’ll use as f ootprint f odder. Consider any or all of the below:
Pinterest—A true game changer. You’ll f ind some usef ul stuf f at my Pinterest page.
Instagram—Soon to outrank television.
Google+/ Picassa—The authority f or authority.
Tumblr—Any dummy can produce a smart site here.
Flickr—Where Yahoo! Still matters.
Intermediate domain(s).
These strategies assume you’re a content marketer, or soon will be, and are meant to point out places where
your content can reside to help expand your digital f ootprint.
5. Make video—Don’t like having your mug online? Get over it. Don’t f eel comf ortable competing with the
world’s best documentary makers or TV producers? Get over it. Get some video together and get it on:
YouTube—The #3 website in the world. Here’s Feldman Creative TV, a work in progress.
Vimeo—Another powerhouse. (“Absence of Light,” a short f ilm I wrote and acted in.)
Social media sites that host video—Which is pretty much all of them now.
6. Do picture shows—It’s stunning how many people I talk to that aren’t using SlideShare (or have never heard
of it). It’s the quiet giant of content marketing generating 60-million visits per month. With an immense digital
library (over 100 million f iles), sharing f eatures, lead capture options f or prof essional use, and serious search
prowess, SlideShare should be home to your slide decks, inf ographics, videos, and documents. Take it
seriously and you’ll see some serious growth in exposure and inbound traf f ic.

4. I’d like to think my SlideShare efforts will help you understand the power of the medium (almost 200K views to
date).
7. Squidoo—Master marketer Seth Godin created a place in cyberspace where your content takes a website-
like f orm in what Squidoo dubs a lens. They are easy to create, look great, and serve you well. I created a lens
with my f ree ebook, “21 Pointers to Sharpen Your Website.” Looks sharp.
8. List.ly—As the name suggests, List.ly is a home f or lists, a wild card in nearly every content marketer’s
deck. Your List.ly posts are interactive, optimized, and easy to embed wherever you choose. Here’s a perf ectly
good example.
9. Curate like a real publisher—You are a real publisher now. It’s time to toss other experts works into the
mix. Try these f un and powerf ul publishing tools:
RebelMouse—This newcomer will blow your mind with its social/sharing approach to curation and give
you tools to take your publication where you please. My website f eatures a RebelMouse page.
Scoop.It—Magazine making made easy.
Twylah—As the name suggests, Twylah is a Twitter tool, a twitty damn good one.
Paper.li—Niche publishing, content marketing and web monitoring collides in a platf orm purpose built to
make your online marketing easy.
10. Get graphic—You might hire a pro to put your content in the raging hot inf ographic f ormat, but you might
opt f or the DIY approach. Try these:
Piktochart—I experimented with several inf ographics generators and f avor this one. (I Pikto’d f or
Valentine’s Day.)
Easel.ly.
Infogra.m
Visual.ly
11. Do eNews—For years, email marketing (managed prof essionally) has been the best way to build a
community and your business. It’s permission-based. Interested prospects are telling you, “Yes, send me your
stuf f .” Do it. Here’s an archive of my eNewsletters, “Get Magnetic.”

5. Get Magnetic—Feldman Creative’s very
popular eNewsletter
For high achievers.
In this second-to-last section I’ll cover some strategies expert online marketers use to expand their digital
f ootprint in a big way. Don’t dismiss these tactics simply because your time or skills are limited. Consider hiring
a pro (me) to help propel you to higher heights.
These techniques call f or having some talent on your team. So they are not f ree. However, they are immensely
meaningf ul.
12. Guest blog—Like baseball, in the guest blog prof ession, you have major and minor leagues and levels
within. It’s unrealistic to think you can’t publish a thing or two online and then get published by the New York
Times.
However, if you’re paying close attention to your industry (please tell me you are) and know which publishers
have the most powerf ul voices, you should think big. I recommend you think of the path to the top as a ladder
and climb it like so:
Blog brilliantly—First rung: your blog. Establish super high standards and meet them. Publish a minimum
of 10 articles bef ore you begin submitting work to high traf f ic sites.
Go where there are no gates—Today, every smart website host recognizes the need to publish
regularly, so many accept contributions f rom outsiders with no or low standards. Of course, you
shouldn’t have no or low standards, but you should take advantage of the opportunity to publish your
pieces at ungated blogs/online magazines. (Scribd.com is always happy to have you.)
Apply yourself—The next rung on your ascent will be to apply to the sites you really want to be on.
Of ten, an application system is in place f or you to submit samples of your work and answer basic
questions about your qualif ications. Pursue these opportunities and you’ll surprise yourself .
Beat down doors—This step’s not as violent as it may sound, but you may need to prepare yourself
f or the rejection writers learn to live with. ID sites at the top of the ladder, send email or tweets to the
curators/editors/owners and of f er them your best, original work, which of course must be perf ectly
aligned with their editorial charter. If you’re ready f or the gig, you’ll get it. I can’t say I’m batting 1.000, but

6. this strategy has served me well. I contribute regularly to several of the best publishers in online
marketing. You’ll f ind a list in the sidebar on my home page.
Publish and pray—Really now, divine intervention is not an online marketing strategy. However, setting
yourself up f or success is. I wouldn’t include this rung if I hadn’t climbed it. So, I’ll share this f rom
personal experience. If you create great content and manage to get it published on classy Triple-A
websites, major leaguers will f ind it, read it, and give you the call when a spot opens up.
13. Webcast—I’m using the word as a verb and I’m telling you to get into the inf otainment business. You need
not be Oprah. But you need to use the Internet as your platf orm f or:
Webinars—Any size business can do this and there are all kinds of tools to get it done. Decide you’re
going to teach a valuable lesson, line up the talent and assets you’ll need, and do it. Here’s one of my
webinars: “Magnetic Content—Transf orm Your Website Into a Customer Attraction Force Field.”
Podcasts—Welcome to radio, online radio. It’s easy. The demand is enormous. Try creating an interview
show or giving audio-based lessons. There are a ton of tools f or producing podcasts and publishing
them too. I use Spreaker. And of course, in addition to making my website a broadcast channel, I use
iTunes, as should you. (My podcast program: Content Marketing Minds.)
Video programs—We hit on YouTube and Vimeo earlier. There’s no reason to not charge f orth with
video and there’s no realistic barrier. Roll ‘em.
14. Get interviewed—Has this lesson got increasingly scary? You’re good? Cool. I get interviewed f airly of ten
now and obviously this helps shine the spotlight on my website, my services and myself . But I want you to
know this… Sometimes requests f or interviews just happen, but sometimes I make them happen.
You’re an expert in your f ield. People will want to hear what you have to say. So, get interviewed.
Speak—Call yourself a speaker and publish inf ormation about subjects you speak on.
Ask—Seek out opportunities to speak and tell website owners why their audience will benef it f rom an
interview f eaturing you.
Promote—Tell everybody via every media outlet you have access to you’ve been interviewed. Good
things happen. Trust me. Digital channels multiply. You get on coveted lists. People start believing you
know your stuf f .
Example of a podcast interview f rom our f riends at Social Media Explorer: “Is Content Truly King?”
Example of video interview f rom our f riends at Vertical Measures: “How to Get Started with Content Marketing.”
15. Make books—Your prospects love books. Make them, give them away, and/or sell them.
Free eBooks—These are easy to make and you can pretty much create your own def inition of what an
eBook actually is. Create a serious collection of helpf ul inf ormation and package it as PDF. Of f er it as
f ree download and you’re bound to see it shared all over the place.
Purchasable eBooks—The next step is stepping up

7. eBook: Here’s my latest—and hottest—one. 100% OFF if you
ACT NOW!
Purchasable eBooks—The next step is stepping up
and onto Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the gamut of
online eBook distributors. You have to play by the
seller’s rules, but it’s easier than you might expect.
You can experiment with prices, selling strategies and
outlets and in the end, you may achieve new levels of
authority and prestige, new markets and audiences,
and possibly, new revenue streams.
Advertising may pay too.
Ef f ective online advertisers are generally dialing down media spending, but they’re also strategically investing in
online media placements.
16. AdWords—Google’s AdWords program changed advertising f orever. As basic and unsexy as it may be, it’s
hard to deny it’s the most cost-ef f ective advertising media ever created.
Double your search success—Publish content and buy pay-per-click smartly and your company may
appear on a page one search result twice, side-by-side with a paid and organic listing. That’s a powerf ul
combo.
Drift into everywhere—PPC of f ers the option to present your ads beyond Google. Your ads can go
the many places their AdWords program is embedded, which can be an amazingly extensive networks of
sites where your prospects are.
Learn and improve—A seldom spoke of , but immensely large benef it of PPC advertising, is the deep
and rich insights you get f rom the reports you’re provided.
17. Retarget—I won’t pretend to be an expert here, but I will tell you this new thing called retargeting makes a
lot of sense. You visit a site, but don’t buy and then in your online travels, ads f rom the host of these sites
appear. Makes good sense.
And finally, you’ll get a little lucky.
You know how they say you make your own luck? You put yourself in a position to be lucky? This applies to
this lesson. If you’re actively creating content and experimenting with strategies, sometimes your digital
f ootprint just expands. Lucky you. I thought bef ore I signed of f of what has become the longest post I’ve ever
written (but hopef ully the most helpf ul), I’d scan my analytics to stumble upon some loose ends that help the
cause. I did. Here are three of them that were actually in my top 25 traf f ic generators:
18. Bookmark sites—Yup. I don’t know a lot about them or use them much, but they’re f ar f rom dead. So
StumbleUpon (which I do use), Reddit, Digg, Delicous and so f orth expand your digital presence too. I don’t
believe you have much control over how or when, but I suspect these are reciprocal communities, as are all
online communities, so put something into them and you’ll get something out of them.
19. Feeds—RSS f eeds represent this crazy corner of the web where geeks tune in and casual users tune out.
But still, you can help your cause with a little bit of understanding of f eeder tools that push your content to

8. readers that want it or sprinkle it automatically across social networks. I’ve signed on with f eedburner, dlvr.it
and networkedblogs and f ound that these mostly f ree services help f eed my content to hungry readers.
20. Groups—Where good old-f ashioned networking meets good new-f ashioned networking, your digital
f ootprint can actually expand. I’m tight with my time and don’t attend a ton of events, but I do attend some
conf erences and speak a bit. My involvement in the f ollowing ones generate traf f ic to my website.
MeetUps—My tennis and guitar MeetUps don’t help the cause, but my blogging and marketing MeetUps
do. Surely, you can benef it of f line and on f rom being involved.
SVForum—I’ve made f riends and landed business through my involvement in the Silicon Valley Forum
and its cousin, Marketing Camp, which I discovered in the f irst place via a social media-based f riendship. I
recommend you connect the old-f ashioned way, shake some hands, share some wisdom, and see how it
might af f ect your digital f ootprint.
Foreigners—Sorry. I’m no help here, but a site called “seojapan.com” brings a steady stream of traf f ic
to my site. Their site’s in Japanese and Google’s handy translation f eature didn’t help, so all I know is by
putting myself and my company out there with sensible strategies to enlarge my digital f ootprint, I’ve
become a more ef f ective online marketer.
You can too.
I’ve laid a lot on you. If you have questions, I intend to answer them. And, if you have additions you’d like to make
here, I definitely appreciate them.
Contact me — or sign up for a free WebVision consultation.
About the author
Barry owns and operates Feldman Creative, providing copywriting and content marketing
creation and consulting. Barry on Google+
Marketing communications pointers, Web-based marketing by Barry Feldman
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