Using Instagram for Business

It seems like the world of social media has been awash with buzz over its latest darling – Instagram. The trendy photo editing and sharing site has taken hold of the 18 – 24 crowd, and it currently boasts more than 80 million users. That’s precisely the reason Facebook acquired the social network so greedily a few months back. Keeping their enemies closer, you know?

What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO

Google, the internet giant based in California, has had a strangle hold on much of the online market for the past decade. Most would struggle to find a single person in the Western World who is not yet familiar with the Google Search Engine. In fact the search engine is so popular that the phrase 'Google it' has been adopted by many Gen-Yers.

In addition to their massive presence in the search marketplace, Google also commands a large percentage of the online advertising industry, generating revenues in the region of US$35 billion per annum.

Converting Your Website Visitors One Small Step at a Time

The ultimate goal of most websites is to collect leads and/or make sales. Which makes them important conversion points to measure with your web analytics program.

Leads and sales are also the reason why I'm a huge proponent of optimizing services and products pages. If a Google searcher lands directly on a page that is selling what they want, there's a strong likelihood that this will convert into a lead or a sale.

Leads and sales often come with a high price tag and are what I call "large conversions." Any conversion that potentially costs money is going to be harder to get than one that is free.

10 Biggest Social Media Myths Exposed

Merriam-Webster defines a myth as "a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon."

It's been said all myths are based in fact. Whether or not that's true is debatable. What isn't debatable, however, is like society, Social media also has its myths. This article exposes what I consider to be the 10 biggest Social media myths.

Local Search Marketing with Google Places

If you want better search engine results (and more clicks, and more business), and you haven't paid attention to "Google Places," you need to do so right away.

Why You Need to Claim Your Spot on Google Places

* Google has stated that one out of five searches on Google is related to location. That translates to 2.6 billion "local" searches a month, and that number is increasing 50% per year. (Yes, that's "Billion"-with a "B.")

* If you're a family law or divorce attorney in Irvine, CA for example, you want to show up when someone does a Google search for "divorce attorney orange county," or some variant of that - which happened over 56,000 times last month. Maybe your niche or location can't boast that kind of volume, but when you get your Places page set up and positioned correctly, it can still have a dramatic effect.

How to Handle Social Media Trolls

One of the unfortunate side effects of social networking is dealing with Internet trolls. These anonymous consumers seem to exist just to spite you. They love stirring up trouble, attacking your brand and lambasting your company on every forum, blog and social network they can find. Maybe they are a former customer with an axe to grind. Maybe they're just looking to pick a fight. Whatever the reason, almost every company is going to have to handle a troll at some point.

Here are 5 ways to help you better manage the social networking trolls:

1. Establish Ground Rules

You want to make sure that the troll doesn't make your company end up looking like the bad guy. Before trolls become an issue, establish a set of ground rules for commenting on your social profiles. Let you audience know what kind of behavior will and will not be allowed. If a troll posts something offensive or abusive on your Facebook wall and you decide to delete it, let your network know that it's because you won't tolerate that kind of belligerent attitude, not because they don't like your company. Just make sure you play by your ówn rules!

2. Don't Try to "Disappear" Them

If someone leaves a comment on your Facebook wall that you don't like, you have the ability as the page owner to delete that comment. Seems like the best way of dealing with a troll, right? Not necessarily. Trying to just "delete" your trolls and their comments might come across like you have something to hide or are trying to drown our dissenting opinions. It may cause your real social network to question your integrity. If things get really heated, find a way to take the conversation off of your social profile without just deleting it entirely.

3. Kill Them With Kindness

It almost néver pays to get into a spitting match with a social troll. They don't have anything to risk by getting involved in an online feud; you do. Your brand and online reputation are up for grabs when you start fighting with a troll on a social networking site. You may not like what they have to say, but don't get angry and use social media to vent. The person who is handling your social media marketing cannot afford to take it personally! The troll isn't attacking one particular employee; they are going after your brand. As long as you stay polite and courteous, your company will come out on top.

4. Reach Out for Support

If you've taken the time to do your social media marketing right, you've probably built up a strong and solid network of brand loyalists. If one troll seems intent on picking a fight, have your social network come to your defense. Ask your Friends, Fans and Followers to post/Tweet/blog or share their opinions of your company. Chances are your social network is more than willing to police itself. Users are smart, and they can tell when someone is trying to cause trouble for no reason. Having that much support shows the trolls that they are facing a much bigger fight then they thought.

5. Actually Listen

This might sound a little crazy, but you do have to pay attention to what the trolls are saying. They might not be the only ones who feel so negatively about your brand, even if they are taking it to an extreme level. Let's say you have 1,000 Facebook fans, but only 200 have commented on your Facebook page. Those 200 comments may or may not represent majority opinion. Sure, you have to take the comments of a social troll with a grain of salt, but that doesn't mean you can't learn something about your audience at large if you dig deeper. Sometimes a troll is nothing more than a very upset customer. You want to make sure there aren't other customers this upset with your brand. Once you understand the problem, you can address and fix it.

Sooner or later, just about every company will have to deal with a social troll. It isn't worth the risk of damage to your brand to get involved in a public fight with one of them. Remember to take the high road and your online reputation won't suffer because of it.

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About The Author

Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing a full-service SEO and social media marketing company. With over 12 years of experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog, the Search Engine Optimization Journal and by publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter. Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 or nick@brickmarketing.com

Sources; SiteProNews, Fri 8/26/2011

Rankings Dropped? 9 Possible Reasons and 9 Ways Out

Sometimes SEOs and site owners encounter the problem of their sites suddenly going down in the search engine results pages for no particular reason, it seems. When this happens, it is often hard to figure out why your rankings nosedived.

So, let's consider possible reasons for and solutions to the problem. I arranged them by relevance, starting with the most common ones.

1. Your Site Got Penalized for Using Black-Hat SEO Techniques

Google has Webmaster Guidelines by which all SEOs and webmasters must abide. If Google finds out (or your site gets reported) that you are not playing by the rules, your rankings may drop substantially, or your site may get removed from Google's index altogether.

As stated in Google Webmaster Guidelines, one must not "participate in link schemes" (buying/selling links is basically meant here), create "doorway pages", or use "hidden text" on a site. These are considered illegitimate (Black-Hat) SEO practices and may incur Google's wrath.

The Way Out

Well, if your site does get penalized, find out what might have caused this. Re-read Google's Webmaster Guidelines and remóve whatever is in violation from your site - then file a reconsideration request.

2. The Search Engine Algorithm Has Changed

On the one hand, search engines are trying to keep their search results as relevant and SPAM-free as possible. On the other hand, there are people who are trying to game the system or just take advantage of the existing loopholes. And, with the ever increasing number of websites on the Internet today, search engines are forced to tweak their search algos every once in a while to keep spammers at bay.

For example, Google's latest big algorithm update known as Panda (or Farmer) was intended to do away with sites that provide poor-quality content and, as a result, provide poor user experience. However, it also affected groups of sites that have significant duplicate content by nature, such as e-commerce sites, online directories, etc.

The Way Out

First of all, if you are doing SEO and you really mean it, you should be informed about what's new in the Search Engine Land at all times. The online resources to keep an eye on are Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land [http://searchengineland.com/] (yes, I did it on purpose :) ) , the official Google Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/), and the inside-Google Matt Cutts' blog (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/).

If the rules change, and there is no way you can continue using the same SEO techniques you've been using before the algorithm update - you have to change your ways then. However, if you think your site was not supposed to get affected by the algo change but it did - you can write about it on Google Webmaster Forum - that often solves the problem.

3. Your Website's Content Got "Scraped"

If your rankings suddenly deteriorate, that could be because someone has stolen (or "scraped") the content from your site and posted it somewhere else on the Web. In this case, search engines sometimes lower both sites' rankings - then look deeper into the matter. Eventually, they are likely to start ranking your site as high as they used to before the incident, once they realize who copied whose content. However, this may take some time.

The Way Out

Dealing with content thieves normally involves locating the site that posted your content, contacting their webmaster, emailing their host, filing a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) request or taking the matter to court - whatever helps. It's recommended to start with contacting the scrapers. If this does not help - take the other measures mentioned here.

4. Your Site Got Penalized for Copyright Infringement

For various reasons, this may happen as well. It can be that your in-house SEO or a third-party firm you hired to promote your site used somebody else's content to boost your site's rankings in which case the owner of the content may have filed a DMCA request (the request is normally filed in written form) or reported your site to Google for copyright infringement.

The Way Out

Remóve the duplicate content, hire a new SEO or an SEO services provider and submit your site for re-inclusion (just follow the same procedure that's described in way out 1 of this post) (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35843)

5. Competitors Beat You in the SERPs

Sometimes your rankings may go down just because a competing site (or sites) manages to boost their rankings to a substantial degree.

The Way Out

If this is the case, analyze competitors' sites and see in what way they are better than yours. Pay attention to their backlinks, keyword density, social media popularity and act accordingly, depending on what your site is missing.

6. Your Site's Structure Got Crippled

Spotless site architecture is crucial to high rankings. If there are broken links, HTML code errors or other structural discrepancies on your site, search engine bots might not be able to crawl it within a reasonable span of time, and thus, your site's rankings may deteriorate.

The Way Out

Run an audit and fix all the flaws that may hold back your site's rankings. Sometimes a site may not be visible in search results for the simple reason that the host is down and the server is not responding. A thorough site audit will show that.

7. Important Backlinks Got Removed from Your Site

Sometimes it's due to "juicy" backlinks with top Google positions pointing to your site being removed, resulting in a rankings drop for your site.

The Way Out

Check the backlinks pointing to your site. Experienced SEOs run such checkups from time to time to see whether any of the links got assigned the "nofollow" attribute, were hidden from search engines because of the robot txt file or were simply removed. If this happens, you should get these links back or get similar backlinks from other websites.

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About The Author

Alesya is a blogger and a marketing manager at Link-Assistant.Com, a Europe-based SEO software provider and the maker of the celebrated SEO PowerSuite toolset. Link-Assistant.Com's SEO tools have set industry's benchmark for automated link building and Web promotíon. 

Sources: SiteProNews, Fri 9/2/2011

Google+ Reviewed

Social networking has grown steadily in scope and importance over the last decade, and over the past few years, Facebook's position as the top dog of social networking services has been solid and unquestioned. Enter Google+. Google's attempts to step into the realm of social networking have been plentiful and almost undeniable failures, but Google+ is undoubtedly their strongest showing yet, and has the best chance of success. It is growing steadily in popularity, but how well does it work and what sets it apart from its competitors? Read on.

Social Networking, Google Style

Google has a long, tumultuous, and mostly unknown and ignored history with social networking. The following is a rundown of their previous attempts.

Orkut: As far as I am aware, this is Google's earliest and (until now) most successful attempt at a social networking platform. It didn't ever gained much popularity in the United States, but it is huge in Brazil to this day, and it also has a following in India and other various countries.

10 Tips to Starting a Business Property

Most young people who had worked to put the excess funds are still confused. One of the coveted young people to invest is a property.

Well, usually young people will be confused with many questions, such as where the exact location, properties such as what the prospects are good, to which one is most profitable.

How to tips on choosing an investment in the property sector? Here are some tips that quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday (23/11/2011).

The Best Source for Website Income: Google Adsense !

Website requires a lot of money for maintenance. Therefore, the main aim of webmaster is handsome income with your website.

Now many websites in the world offers opportunities to make money online. Google AdSense is one of the best sources of revenue from the site.

AdSense is the name the name of the system created by Google for ads on Google sites not Adward sites. Adward are the source of their income from AdSense. Adward text ads are purchased only by people who want to advertise on the web sites of Google.

Google AdSense allows you to earn revenue from advertising on every page of your website. Add a Google search box to your site and make money. Some Google ads to pay a dollar per click.

If your site contains everything related to the investigation of the chicken Google displays ads that are relevant to research on this site. Google will send you a check for an amount that you earn more than $ 100 a month. If you do not move to earn $ 100 a month, your balance and add to the benefits of next month and so on until the balance exceeds $ 100.

People that higher income people get traffic to your AdSense site. Attract more traffic to your site increasing your Adsense income.

If your site receives traffic from Google AdSense income is high so high. Some webmaster earns more than $ 1,000 per day. Site with low traffic earn less than $ 1 a day.

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Buy Blog Reviews: Maybe I am Just Unlucky

Once you stepped into the blogging world, you’ll see various benefits that goes along with it. In my case, my self expression gets a major boost. But more importantly, who wouldn’t want to earn additional income while you’re at the comfort of your own home. 

On my search for possible sites that can help me earn, I came across Buyblogreviews.com. It is an online advertising business that pays bloggers like us to write good reviews for advertisers seeking good promotion. Signing up is free. Its credibility has been tested by hundreds or even thousands of clients worldwide.

RamaBux, PTC Lokal yang Terbukti Membayar

Mungkin yang belum familiar dengan dunia cari uang di internet – lebih keren disebut bisnis online – tentu banyak yang kurang tahu apa sih PTC itu? Yup, PTC adalah kependekan dari Paid to Click, atau bahasa mudahnya: kita akan dibayar setelah meng-klik iklan atau link web yang ada. Tentu saja setelah kita mendaftar di situs PTC tersebut. Jadi, hanya dengan meng-klik saja, kita sudah dapat uang, baik berbentuk Dollar (untuk PTC asing) atau Rupiah (untuk PTC lokal). Biasanya, situs PTC semuanya gratis, saat kita mendaftar sebagai member.

Nah, dari ribuan (bahkan puluhan ribu?) PTC asing yang ada di dunia maya, tentu saja tidak semuanya mau membayar membernya. Banyak yang berbuat curang. Hanya mau mengambil data dan uang dari pemasang iklan maupun member – biasanya dari member premium – tanpa mau membayar member yang sudah bersusah payah melakukan klik iklan. Untuk pemula, harus lebih berhati-hati dan tidak termakan bujuk rayu iklan atau banner PTC mereka.

Pun demikian untuk PTC dalam negeri, yang berbahasa Indonesia dan membayar dengan Rupiah. Rata-rata tidak berumur panjang – hanya sekitar 2-3 tahun, kemudian tutup tanpa kejelasan – dengan meninggalkan membernya begitu saja. Tetapi tidak semuanya begitu, masih ada PTC lokal yang konsisten membayar dan memang serius mengelola bisnis PTC.

Salah satu PTC lokal yang terbukti membayar dan dikelola dengan baik adalah RamaBux. Meski masih ‘berumur’ satu tahun, RamaBux telah mampu menggaet member yang tidak sedikit, demikian juga dengan jumlah iklan harian yang bisa di klik member, tidak kurang dari 10 iklan PTC, dengan nilai per klik iklan (maksimal) sekitar Rp. 100,-

Uniknya, RamaBux tidak hanya menampilkan klik iklan (PTC) semata, tetapi juga baca iklan (Paid to Read / PTR), mendaftar di situs iklan (Paid to Subscribe / PTSu), promosi URL (Paid to Promotion / PTP) dan beberapa ‘mesin’ penghasil uang lainnya. Belum lagi kalau kita mengikuti program pilihan lainnya – seperti Referral dan Afiliasi – bisa dipastikan pundi-pundi rupiah akan bertambah terus setiap saat. RamaBux mensyaratkan payout (pembayaran member) dilakukan setiap minimal mendapatkan Rp. 20.000,- melalui transfer Bank BCA ataupun Mandiri.

Finally, rasanya RamaBux bisa menjadi pilihan untuk pemula yang baru terjun di dunia ‘cari uang’ di internet. Kalau sekedar untuk cari uang jajan beberapa ratus ribu per bulan, rasanya tidaklah sulit didapat di RamaBux. Kuncinya sederhana, rajin buka internet (tidak perlu berjam-jam tentunya), dan rutin menyebarkan (juga mengajak) teman yang lain – bisa lewat facebook, twitter, email, iklan mini gratisan, ataupun juga forum dan milist – untuk bergabung di RamaBux melalui link (referral) kita.

Tertarik? klik DISINI untuk mendaftar, atau klik RamaBux ini. Tunggu apa lagi?

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