Industry Updates |

Archive for the ‘Industry Updates’ Category

The Google Promote Button Or Social Media Optimization

Posted by Mosaic On January - 15 - 2009

Jan

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Is this the end of SEO as we know it?

Well, no, but I think things may have just gotten a whole lot tougher!

Google has released this new Promote and Remove feature to its Search Engine Results Page (SERP) which allows you (the searcher) to rank the relevancy of their results.

Welcome social media to Google!

And I totally understand it, too. Google wants to provide its users with the best result possible. By asking you to rank their results, the Google Promote feature does just that!

But how far does this go? Do your rankings affect the way others see their own results?

Right now, I don’t think so. These results are personalized to you…sort of.

One test I did perform was Promoting my own site on one computer and then seeing where it appears in the SERPs on another computer. Sure enough, my OTHER computer showed the promoted ranking (and it was highlighted to show me that it was, in fact, manually promoted).

Of course, I immediately called my dad (who lives about 10 minutes away) to do the same search, but my site was NOT promoted there.

What does this mean?

Well, I am assuming that Google is tracking these rank promotions on THEIR side through your IP address. (i.e., no cookies) But these Promoted rankings do not extend beyond your own IP address.

Still, this also means that Google is gathering data. It is tracking these results. (And I strongly doubt that they are doing it for fun, either). My guess is that they will start to record and correlate this data with their own search results.

Does this mean a whole new Google Algorithm for the future? Maybe.

Does this mean that we will now have to receive votes for top placement in Google? Maybe.

Does this open huge doors for black hat tactics and manipulation of rankings. Of course.

And that is probably what will ultimately prevent a full voting based search engine results system. I don’t have any clue where this is all going to go (if anywhere), but I do know two things:

SEO will STILL have to exist to some degree - Google will still need some type of algorithm to determine who serves to be voted on.
Social Marketing and Media are growing FAST! We thrive on democracy in this world and it was only a matter of time for the internet to really catch up.

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

New Features For Your Local Business Ads

Posted by Mosaic On January - 14 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Since 2006, AdWords local business ads have been connecting your business with local customers. Today, Google Adwords team is excited to announce some new features for local business ads, making it faster and easier for potential customers to find your business.

Before the details, please note that while local business ads can appear in several countries and on a number of web properties, the changes described here will only affect local business ads that appear on Google Maps.

Info Window Features

Beginning today, your ad’s information window in Google Maps will feature new interactive links that are designed to connect users to your business quickly. The info window is the window that opens when a user clicks on an organic search listing or a sponsored result on Google Maps.

Previously, a click on your ad’s info window could only take the user to your website. Now, users will be able to interact with the info window to get the information they’re looking for about your business, right away. The new links include “Get Directions,” “Street View” (where available), and “Save to My Maps.” Shortly after these links will be implemented, it will also have a “Send” link, allowing the user to send your business info to their phone or email. Users will still be able to click through to your site if they wish — the info window simply offers additional free functionality.

Reporting Capabilities

Google says that they also heard the requests for a local business ad report so, starting in a few weeks, a new interaction report for local business ads will be available through your account’s Report Center. The report will help you accurately assess your return on investment with local business ads by detailing how many users opened your info window and clicked on each of the new interactive links.

Often, Maps users are looking for different information than Search users. The new interactive links and the interaction reports should not only help customers connect with you faster but should also help you understand how to better target Maps users versus Search users.

With these changes, Google says they are excited about providing users with more information about your business and providing you, their advertisers, with more features for your ads. If you’re not already advertising with local business ads, this might be a good time to experiment. If you’re interested in learning more about this format, check out the AdWords Help Center’s section on local business ads.

Source URL : http://adwords.blogspot.com/

Comment : As always, Google has provide this feature which will really help not only the advertiser, but the user searching for their offerings. Moreover, getting Local Business Ads Reports will reflect your return on the local business ad spend.

Industry Updates, PPC Posts

How To Start With Stumble Upon !!

Posted by Mosaic On January - 12 - 2009

Jan

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

This step-by-step detailed instructions covers some of the basics of Stumbleupon:
>> Stumbling on sites and pages

>> Rating the sites and pages that you Stumble!

>> Reviewing your Stumbles

>> Finding and Adding Friends

>> Where to find more Help

Stumble!

Click the Stumble! icon on your toolbar. Stumble upon will send you sites and pages based on the Topics that you choose. Stumble! as much as you want. Stumbleupon has millions of sites in its databases, all submitted and recommended by other Stumblers. There is a drop-down menu (beside the icon) that allows you to Stumble! in many different ways

Exercise your thumbs!

As you Stumble! you, click the thumbs to tell the system what you like (or dislike). = I like this! (send me more like this, please!) = I don’t like this! (don’t send me any more pages like this, thank you!) Made a mistake? No problem! Simply click the same thumb again to un-thumb the page, or click the opposite thumb to change your rating.

Have your say!

When you Stumble! a page or site, first thumb it, then click on to see reviews & comments made by other Stumblers, and to add one of your own. On the Reviews page, click on: Add your own review and tag the page for future reference . Type your comment into the Review box, then press: Try it! (You will learn how to delete comments in the next step).

You have mail!

Chances are that you have already discovered the mail icon: It changes to alert you when you have a personal message (PM) from another Stumbler: You have to Stumble! a bit, choose a nickname and be displaying a photo (or avatar) before you can message other stumblers. There are ways to block messages from Stumblers, if you choose not to be contacted.

Look at Your Pages

Click the icon to see Your Pages - this is where your comments and reviews are displayed for you, and for other stumblers to read. From these pages, you can edit (or delete) your reviews, and Add Comments. When you have more than 10 reviews the oldest is moved off the front page - but you can still use the PREV and NEXT buttons to see ALL of your reviews! There’s another drop-down menu here: Stumble! a bit and get some reviews & comments on your pages before exploring this facility (or see how it works when you visit other Stumblers’ pages).

Choose some Friends! On Stumbleupon, the term Friends means something very specific: Friends are other stumblers that you select because you like their pages. The system uses your choice of Friends to help select the sites and pages that you see when you Stumble! Click the icon on the toolbar: You won’t have any friends when you first start Stumbling, but the system will suggest some for you. This list will change as you Stumble!, rate sites, change your topics, and so on. Visit some of these suggested friends, look at their reviews and comments and then, if you like their sites, click this button (you’ll find it at the top of their pages):

Explore your Network

Another good way of finding Friends is to look regularly at your Network page. Initially, you will just see a view of Stumblers that have recently visited your pages, but as you Stumble! and add friends, you will see more information here.

Get to know the Toolbar

This guide has shown you the key functions of the toolbar, but there is more to discover. Lots more! Part of the fun of SU is in finding out some of the secrets for yourself, or to meet your fellow Stumblers and ask them How do you do that?! Take a look, too, at this icon on the toolbar: It reveals a drop-down menu that contains all sorts of useful stuff, including Toolbar Options which will let you customize your toolbar. You can update your topics here, change your password, and lots more.

Getting Help!

On Your Pages, there are links to Help and Prefs - (you will find these links on other pages as you explore). The Help resources are constantly being improved upon, with many of the contributions coming from other Stumblers. There are FAQ’s, You ask questions of other Stumblers in the Help Forum. (You have to join forums in order to be able to post, and some restrictions apply). Take some time to explore Prefs - here you will discover options to provide more information about yourself and your interests. You can also add (or change) your photo or avatar here. Note that you have to press Save Changes to make any changes permanent!

Now, Go Stumble! And have fun!

Source URL :http://www.stumbleupon.com/guide/

Comment: This posting will definately help those who are new in the domain of social networking.Today people know only the name of Stumble Upon but how it works,what is its purpose is not so well known.So this was my effort to let you know how to begin with Stumble upon.

More updates soon !!

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

New Keyword Research Tool

Posted by Mosaic On January - 12 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Here is an update on New Keywords tool by Google :

Google has launched a new keyword research tool intented for Adwords research, to find more PPC keywords, BUT, this tool can be used to find relevant and longtail keywords for any website pages or blogs and blog post titles.

This keyword research tool is different BECAUSE it is based on YOUR SITE, not just on general words.

Lots of Research Options:

1. You can just enter your URL

2. Enter you URL and enter specific keywords to research

3. Set up additional filters, like monthly searches, competition amounts, like low and high and more.

The results are:

Based on actual Google search queries
Matched to specific pages of your website

Just log in with your Google info, enter your information and get:

1. Set of keywords related to the pages of your sites/blogs

2. Actual number of monthly searches

3. Competition

4. Cost of PPC bidding for each keyword, this can tell you how valuable that keyword phrase is.

How to Use This Information:

This tool is not meant for researching new site keywords but the best way to use this tool is to get good keywords and long tail keywords when writing blog posts and adding additional pages to any websites using keywords that people are searching for.

URL: http://getinternetmarketingstrategies.com/2008/11/new-google-keywords-tool/

Industry Updates, SEO Posts

Social Network Traffic Analysis - Trends

Posted by Mosaic On January - 10 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Social Network traffic has seen some interesting trends as of late. There is no doubt that social networks are here to stay, and will only continue to become more mainstream. However, not all sites are seeing booming traffic, in fact some seem to be dieing.

Below you will find 37 sites, compared, with their traffic estimates over the last 12 months via Google Trends for Websites.

Google is by no means completely accurate, but like most tools that estimate traffic you need to look at trends and not exact figures.

3 Interesting Social Network Traffic Analysis Takeaways:

There seems to be a decline in social traffic for a multitude of sites since September
Twitter and Plurk are seeing explosive increases while Pownce and Identi.ca are falling.
Facebook, Flickr, Hi5, Linkedin, Mixx and Yelp to name a few are all seeing large surges of increased traffic over the last year.

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

Use Social Media To Market Your Business

Posted by Mosaic On January - 10 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

Those who ignore the efficacy of social media usually fall into three categories; the ones who don’t know much or anything about social media, the ones who are interested but don’t know how to use it and those who don’t believe in the value that a social media strategy can bring to any site or business.

Followings are the few important tips you can build a brand and use social media to market your business:

1. Create an identity, a brand for yourself on a social media site. Social Media marketing unlike other forms of marketing is a slow process. The key to SM marketing is being recognized first which certainly takes time. Your brand and your identity within that particular community define who you are and how effective you can be in marketing, both for your clients or yourself.

2. Watch what you do because everybody else does. Watch your manners! Being behind a computer certainly gives an added bonus of doing whatever and saying whatever you want. But if you are looking to grow within a network and become a part of it, this is something you certainly want to keep in mind. Politeness and good manners, they don’t go wrong anywhere and the same is true when it comes to Social Media.

3. Be active. If you want to network and get in on a powerful network of people on a social media site, the key is to be consistent. Do not use a site or its services half heartedly. Put in time and effort consistently and the results will be more than you expect.

4. Your profile is your brief bio. Most social media users tend to ignore their profile. This is a wrong step towards networking. Add links to your sites, blogs and other social media site where you are active. Give other users a chance to connect with you on a personal basis through IM and such.

5. Be careful in what you choose. Make sure to choose a site that fits with your personality or will help you network with like minded people. Study SM sites before you decide to jump in on one and work hard to earn, well, nothing. Do your due study before hand so you can network with the right people.

6. It’s a slow process. Networking and marketing through Social Media is a slow process. If you don’t have the patience to wait for something good to come along, SM won’t do much good. It’s all about building a brand, getting to know others and building yourself as one of the powerful force that drives the community within. There is no immediate gain but the long term return is much more than initial gain.

7. Be a host, welcome others. Most users tend to ignore new users as they are pre-occupied by trying to impress the power users. This is a wrong approach. New users can be as effective in near future as the current power users simply because they might rise to that status as well. Again, it takes time but be welcoming. Be seen as someone who is influential, who is willing to help, who is willing to give without asking. Build yourself as the guardian and you will get your dues back.

8. It’s all about them. We all want things in return and the same is true for your contact too. One of the reasons most people fail in social media scene is because they fail to give. Before you ask, try giving. Ask your contacts and network what you can do for them and do your best to fulfill their needs. Next it will be your turn and when you give without asking you get without asking for it as well. It’s a win win situation.

9. Become an early adopter. Not asking you to be a guinea pig, but one of the sure fire ways to become known and establish yourself as someone influential is to get in early. Take for example; if you are early at an event and get a chance to invite everybody in through the door, you are most likely to be known by all. Be an early adopter and invite the new one’s in. Welcome them and show them around.

10. Become a community builder. One thing that will help you tremendously in networking and becoming influential is if you become an active participant in building the community. Be the voice; let others know how things can change for better and what needs to be done. Be the leader. Remember, people like to follow. Establish yourself as a community builder, a leader within that community. As time passes by you will have enough to reap for all your hard work.

There are hundred more ways you can build a brand and use it to market your business. Social Media marketing unlike other forms of marketing is a slow process. The key to SM marketing is being recognized first which certainly takes time. Your brand and your identity within that particular community define who you are and how effective you can be in marketing, both for your clients or yourself.

Source: http://marketinghackz.com/10-simple-tips-to-get-started-with-social-media-marketing/

Takeaways:

SMO is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites.
Social Media marketing unlike other forms of marketing is a slow process.
Anyone who wishes to be successful in social networking should make it a point to go through the profiles of other people in detail.
It might be a good idea to leave comments on the blog of other members with a back-link (if allowed) to our site. This would help to increase traffic and visibility of our website.

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

Here Are Few Sites To Help You Bury Negative Posts About Your Client’s websites!!

Posted by Mosaic On January - 9 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

The Problem….

Have you ever had a client come to you in a state of desperation, asking for help to remove a blog post that ranks for their business name, and portrays them in less than a positive light?

The reality of the matter is that without legal injunctions and the like, the piece (negative post) cannot be removed from the search results entirely. In many cases, legal tactics often have the exact opposite effect to that intended, and bring even more attention to the issue.

The Possible Solution…

Here’s a relatively simple solution that will work a large percentage of the time … We need to bump the negative listing down in the search results to progressively lower positions, reducing the likelihood that it will ever be found. Keep in mind; most people never go beyond the 1st page of search results.

This can often be done by building a profile on various sites. The profile name should be the exact term/phrase that the negative piece is ranking for. Here’s a list of 50+ such sites you can use:

1. Digg

2. LinkedIn

3. Twitter

4. Stumbleupon

5. Facebook

6. Propeller

7. Magnolia

8. Jaiku

9. Simpy

10. Technorati

11. coRank

12. YouTube

13. BlogCatalog

14. Zimbio

15. HubPages

16. Reddit

17. UPCHUCKr

18. BlogMad

19. Curbly

20. Flickr

21. PublicBlend

22. Bumpzee

23. Pownce

24. ViewZoo

25. PeekYou

26. Hugg.com

27. Connotea

28. BlinkList

29. BlogFlux

30. Netvous.com

31. Plime

32. MyBlogLog

33. Giggg.com

34. DotNetKicks

35. Diigo

36. CoComment

37. LiveJournal

38. Faves

39. Indianpad

40. Blogmarks.net

41. MySpace

42. Mixx

43. ZiiTrend

44. FriendFeed

45. MetaCafe

46. Last.fm

47. ZippyVideos

48. Quizilla.com

49. Kirtsy

50. Photobucket

51. Deals

52. Agentb

53. BlogSpot

54. HuffingtonPost

Try it out with a few, and see how long before your profile appears in the search results for the profile name selected. These sites can help protect the reputation from unreasonable ex-partners and others who wish to cause you harm online.

(Source: http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/4-alternative-uses-of-social-media.html)

Takeaways:

Select the strongest 3-5 of those 50+ sites (mentioned above); where strong is a subjective assessment based on many factors. My personal assessment would be:

1. Digg

2. Twitter

3. Stumbleupon

4. MyBlogLog

5. HubPages

Establish a profile on each, where the profile name is the term/phrase the negative piece ranks for.
Get lots of friends on each of those sites. The more the better. It works best if we take an active role and participate. Each friend will result in an internal link back to our profile on that site, making it stronger.
Join groups where possible too … often these will pass link power to your profile as well.
Possibly we can also create a social profiles menu on our site(s), and link to each of these profiles.
Please note … these tactics are by no means comprehensive or advanced. They’re just a relatively quick and efficient means for burying negative online mentions.

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

How To Get Started With Stumbleupon?

Posted by Mosaic On January - 7 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Stumble Upon is a social website which allows its users a new way to experience the Internet. Instead of searching for specific items on search engines like Google, Stumble Upon users only have to tag specific personal or professional interests and then ‘channel surf’ the web by simply clicking on a button on Stumble Upon tool bar.

Also, users can choose to tag the webpage they are on or give it a “thumbs up”or “thumbs down” to indicate if they want to see it again. Users can also use the Stumble Upon toolbar as a form of social bookmarking. By surfing the web and tagging or submitting specific websites, each user can keep track of which websites they like and share it with others.

Step 1: Signup for Stumbleupon

Join Stumbleupon and then download their free toolbar. Hit the “Stumble” button and you will be taking to a site in the network that matches one of your interests you selected when you signed up. If you get a site the “Thumbs Up,” it means you like their content and want to see more sites similar to this. If you give it the “Thumbs Down,” you don’t like the site and don’t want to see sites like this in the future.

The more you use the toolbar, the more accurate Stumbleupon will become in delivering the right types of sites to you.

If you find a page that hasn’t been submitted to the network yet, you’ll receive a popup box you can fill out to review it similar to the one below.

Write a short review, fill in up 5 tags (make them general such as business, marketing, etc.). Then submit the site.

Step 2: Use StumbleUpon Regularly

It’s time to start using the tools provided to you. Think community first instead of promotion. You can select the channel you want to stumble through including all, images, videos, popular websites, your friend’s picks, and news items.

Whenever you find great content on a site, submit it with the “Thumbs Up.” When you’re first starting out you may want to do a Stumble Surfing session where you spend an hour or two visiting sites and reviewing them. But you also want to get into the habit of submitting sites while you’re doing your normal work.

Step 3: Build Your Profile and Picture

Click on the “Tools” tab in your Stumbleupon toolbar and choose “Profile Preferences.” Here’s where you enter your personal information, your interests, and your public profile. Upload a small picture of your business brand logo.

You can modify your interests and your profile at any time on these pages. They are self-explanatory so I will not get into details about these pages.

Step 4: Build a Friend’s List

You want to build a list of friends who will enjoy the same content you enjoy…and who are likely to give thumbs up to the same types of pages as you.

To begin building your friend’s list, start stumbling a few websites in your favorite category. Then use the “Reviews of this Page” option in your Stumbleupon toolbar (it looks like a chat bubble) when you find a page you really like.

You will then see a list of all the people who liked that page you were looking at. You can then click on each of their images (notice which images you pay attention to for ideas when you add your own image). Take a look at their profile and the kinds of pages they’ve been recommending. If they match your interests, use the orange button to “Add a Friend.”

You can also click on “His Friends” or “Her Friends” right under their picture and profile to find more potential friends to contact.

Step 5: Write High Quality Content

Write a good step-by-step article on accomplishing a goal or create a list of items your visitors will want to keep and bookmark.

Step 6: Network with Other StumbleUpon Users

When you find an outstanding site or produce your best content, you can also use the “Send to” option built into the Stumbleupon toolbar to notify anyone on your friend’s list about the page. The goal here is to share content you know they will appreciate…and at the same time build a buzz around that specific page.

Step 7: Tells Others about Stumbleupon

If you have a blog, tell your blog readers about Stumbleupon. You can also use the “Connect with People” option at your Stumble home page to invite people you know to join Stumbleupon.

(Source: http://www.terrydean.org/stumbleupon-sends-massive-free-traffic/)

Takeaways:

The more active users who give you the thumbs up, the more traffic you’re generate.
Top performance will not be achieved by you doing the work. It will be achieved by others recommending your content. The traffic you receive partly depends on other users submitting and reviewing your website. I’ve noticed that when other users review or submit a specific post, it usually receives traffic immediately.
Provide your visitors with some high quality content they can recommend to others.
Whenever you see good content, give it a “Thumbs Up.”

Broad Tagging: try using tags that are more general and less specific

Increase the comments on your blog. A blog with a large community will encourage participation, which motivates a reader to return to your blog.

Industry Updates, SMO Posts

Largest Social Bookmarking Sites

Posted by Mosaic On January - 6 - 2009

Jan

Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Here are the 30 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast.

1 | digg.com

382,792,751 - Inbound Links | 22,578,945 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 10,300,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 124 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 8