With this current project I was basically being paid to find the “it” platform and make it happen.  I started off with Ning but I couldn’t rely on them since they recently switched to only paid subscription.  I didn’t mind paying monthly for it but they were talking about features that I wanted that just weren’t possible.  I wasn’t going to suffer through promises for a couple of years like I have been while waiting for WordPress 3 to come out.

So I finally found another platform that I thought would work and we quickly tested it out.  Needless to say we built the site in just a couple of weeks and have memberships rolling in. Let me tell you what all we are doing.

We have a paid membership system setup.  The only thing required was either a PayPal business account or Authorize.net.  We currently have 2 different levels of members but we can have up to three.  It also integrates promo codes and trial periods.

It also has an integrated referral program and include an integrated affiliate system.  We’re not using it but it is there and I believe it has a two tier system as well.

You can upload and integrate media into its integrate blog system with podcasting, forum system, and private messaging system. It also has web chat, live video conferencing, telephone conferencing.  If you can think of a way to communicate it has it.

I love the Frequently Asked Questions module. I will notice that I start getting the same questions from people so I just post it there and they are ready to go.

If you want to sell something, it has an integrated shopping cart.  All you have to do is plug in your payment variables from Authorize.net and it takes care of the rest including providing downloads for virtual products.

There are a large number of applications that we haven’t even started using yet such as audio video postcard system where you can send audio and video postcards to each other, you can also upload presentations for people to view.  There is a file sharing module, a document creator module, member webpages, photo galleries, reviews system, and even task managers.  It’s amazing how much is included in this program and you wouldn’t believe that you get it all for only $99 a month.

With this system we were able to build the new site in just two weeks and have over 200 members in less than a month.  The members are blown away by the content we have provided so far and we haven’t even scratched the surface of it’s capabilities.

Now I will admit that the system is a little bit quirky.  It doesn’t always work the way I think it should.  But if you are looking for an affordable fast way to create your own social networking site, then you need to check out iGroops.

Our plan is to start building our own platform where it works exactly how we want it to but in the meantime this system provides us with the blueprint that we need to get started today.  After years of trying to hack BuddyPress, and Jomsocial, as well as try out many other social networking platforms, you won’t find anything as extensive as what we have found with iGroops.  I’m happy to say I have found a platform that I can recommend to my clients looking for a system like this.

It’s a little bit funny when servers go down.  Web services go down.  Web sites go down.  Email goes down.  Everything related to our clients online business which we had created was lost.  I quickly came to learn something though.  Clients don’t mind as much when the site goes down or if a service goes down, but when their only connection to their clients goes down, then I have a problem.  For weeks during recovery, the major complaint of all of our clients was that we had to do something to get email back online.

It doesn’t take a hacker or an outage to bring your online business to its knees.  Sometimes it could be not paying your bill.  This morning I received a call from a client with a complaint that their websites were showing up with the words “Account Suspended” at the top.  I’m assuming this is a billing issue and I can’t control it because I didn’t handle their hosting. But once again, they are left without any communication through their websites because their email was through their hosting service.

So, what’s my point? After recovering from the last server issues at the firm, we had somehow come to realize that we could set up Google Apps for our domain name and run all of our email in the cloud.  From that point forward I have always run my email through Google Apps, because no matter what happens to my site or server, or whatever, my email is sitting securely on Google’s servers.  I will have communication with my clients in the event of an emergency.

When I set up new clients I try to explain to them that I will be setting up their email through Gmail and they get confused.  They don’t realize that you can set up your domain through Google apps.  You not only get Gmail with Google apps, but you also get Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites and you are using all of these Google services in the name of your domain name.  Its easy to set up and its free for the basic service if you have less than 50 users.

Now, it can be difficult to make this switch if you are already established on a hosting server, but if you just starting out or are making changes to your policy, I highly recommend that you move your email to Google Apps.

I don’t consider myself an SEO expert (or guru), but I do sell specialized my SEO knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong, Title Tags are a vital part of any website, but declaring the extent of your SEO skills to be the inclusion of Meta tags is weak.  Personally, I include the keywords into my posts and pages.  I even include automatically generated tags.  But I don’t go around stating that I am a Search Engine Optimizer because I know how to use Meta Tags.  Honestly, they shouldn’t be teaching Meta Tags in curriculum these days at all.

Just give me your money

If your Internet consultant wants to submit your site to search engines – Fire them!  Why would anyone want to charge you for something that takes 5 seconds and does absolutely nothing.  When a site is built correctly, search engines will be attracted to it.

Pfft… I scoff at you

If your Internet consultant guarantees you results – they better offer a double your money back guarantee or you should steer clear.  Any Internet marketer who claims they can guarantee you instant results that last forever are out of their mind.  I have been able to get within the top ten results of Google within 4 minutes of starting a campaign but without running consistent campaigns that content will disappear over time.

Keyword Stuffing = Google Sandbox

If your Internet Consultant thinks that adding a ton of “keywords” at the bottom of your website is Search Engine Optimization, please slap them upside the head for me.  I would hate to be blind using a screen reader and trying to figure out why there are a million towns listed on the bottom of your website.  Search Engines utilize the same logic and get confused too.

There are more debates over what can be considered correct and what can be considered wrong, but it all boils down to a few simple steps:

1. Build your site correctly from the beginning
2. make sure its comfortable for a human to use it
3. Develop it so it’s easy for a search engine to read it
4. Create good content that reads well
5. Keep adding fresh content to your site weekly

Act as if Google doesn’t exist, get the word out the old fashioned way using the Internet as your wire and your site as your home and you can go a long way.

Can you identify other ways that people misuse the term SEO in their skill set? Please tell me I’m not the only one annoyed by “SEO Gurus”.