New at LinkedIn: Subgroups

There are more than 300,000 groups on LinkedIn where professionals exchange news and information and collaborate with each other.

Recently, the ability to create subgroups was added to LinkedIn’s group functions. Subgroups allow group managers to create more focused areas than in the main group. Now groups can be broken down into more focused interest areas. Since targeted messages are always the most effective, this is an important tool for communicators.

By creating and inviting members into subgroups, managers can post messages and send emails to focused audiences.

LinkedIn offers these suggestions for getting subgroups rolling:

• Set the aims for the subgroup by posting a featured discussion in the subgroup
• Post a news article with a brief comment every day for the first month of the group
• Provide an ongoing focus for members’ attention by adding 10 RSS feeds related to the focus of the subgroup
• Drive attention to the subgroup through your comments in the main group and in other groups where you participate

Password Masking: A “Best Practice” to Stop

A new post by Jakob Nielsen notes that usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn’t even increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures.

It’s time to show most passwords in clear text as users type them. Providing feedback and visualizing the system’s status have always been among the most basic usability principles. Showing undifferentiated bullets while users enter complex codes definitely fails to comply.

Most websites mask passwords as a security measure. Of course, anyone watching you log in can simply look at the keyboard and note which keys are being pressed. So, the practice is a definite hindrance to usability and a questionable at best approach to security.

See the full post at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passwords.html

How to Get Visitors to Your Blog

I found terrific suggestions for brining traffic to blogs here: http://www.socialnetdaily.com/articles/10-top-traffic-tips-for-bloggers/

1. Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

2. Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you.

3. Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.

4. Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.

5. Use RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.

6. Submit Blog to Search Engines – doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn’t guarantee top ranking, though. You’ll have to do a little more work for that.

7. Joining Forums – as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums, work at home forums and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.

8. Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments.

9. SEO Marketing – whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche.

10. Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.