Top Lawyer Coach, LLC

5 Ways to Forge Your Own Tagging Style on the Web

Navigate through almost any social networking site, like Twitter, and you'll find keywords or phrases next to posts and updates.

These terms are called tags, and they are often preceded with a # sign.

Web tag users have embraced tagging as a way to classify content, making it easy for others to find and share that content on the Internet. People use tags to catalog blog posts, articles, and bookmark Websites.

How does tagging work?

As opposed to being forced to  choose from a predefined list of vocabulary terms, people choose the terms that make the most logical sense to them based on the topics they are writing about, their use of language, or how they want to assemble collections of comments that accumulate around a particular post.

On Twitter, you'll find what's called collective web tagging - or INDEXING - where concepts and important keywords begin to merge together. Simply search for a keyword tag, such as "#marketing", and you'll find every tweet imaginable that includes that topic and tag.

It's that simple!

But since tagging is a personal classification system, naturally you'll need your only tagging style. Here are five tagging tips to help make your style more user-friendly.

1. Be consistent.

Be as consistent as possible when applying tag terms. Decide whether you'll use singular or plural  words, nouns and/or verbs.

Find a preferred style and stick to it!

2. Don't repeat terms.

Tagging is designed to fill gaps where traditional categories leave off.  So, for example, try to use terms or phrases that are relevant to your content but not mentioned in the body.

Avoid repeating the same terms, or applying different stems (e.g., "-ed" or "-ing") to the same word.

3. Use multiple tags at a time.

As many as 10 tags may be appropriate to convey both the content and the concepts in your content. But remember, you don't want to replicate terms that are already embedded within the content.

4. Limit abbreviations.

Make sure abbreviations or acronyms are recognizable.  For example, the tag "ALA" is an acronym for the the American Library Association and the Association of Legal Administrators.

5. Consider the search engines.

Any time tags are applied to a public Web collection, term aggregation pages will show up in the search results and become new entry points into the collection.  Select tags based on your audience's familiarity with the terms. Obscure tags will get little or no attention.

Tagging is a user-driven and unique approach to classifying information.

It's new and far different from anything we've ever seen before. But, like most Web 2.0 tools and technology, tagging should be embraced and used -often.

Think of tagging as another tool to get yourself seen on the Internet.

And, it's free!