Facebook Launches Graph Search to Rival Google

There was whispers recently that Facebook had some big news to share and now we know what it is…Graph Search which CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced last week.
Very soon Facebook users are going to be able to search with in a garden wall for things their friends like, places they have been as well as pictures they have posted.
What is a graph search and how does it work?

"The search bar is going to start by retuning the top search suggestions. This is going to include: people, pages, apps, places, groups and other suggested searches. Facebook users are going to be able to search for things like restaurants that are near them, hotels they would like to visit or photos that have been posted by friends or pages that they have liked. It will even allow users to search for what games their friends like to play.
There are a lot of things you need to consider when you are setting up your Facebook for successful search results. Likes on Facebook are actually going to be one of the most important components of this graph search. The more times something is liked, the larger group of individuals it is going to connect with. Make sure you fill out your profile, group and/or business page completely. It is also important that you make sure you only use real information. If there is something you DON’T want to reveal, it is better to leave area blank than to make up information. You should also avoid trying to create your own sub-categories or adding your own information. While it is only natural to want to embellish what you have to write, it is only going to hurt the search engine results.
What are the implications for SEO and online marketing?
Quite significant according to Marketing Pilgrim:
In the worlds of SEO and internet marketing, Graph Search will change the game entirely. Your fans are more important than ever. With Graph Search, people who like your Facebook Page and share your content will automatically become unofficial word-of-mouth brand advocates on your behalf. Facebook’s new pillar is further affirmation for a trend that we’ve been seeing for quite a bit of time – simply put, people prefer to turn to their friends for advice.
With the prospect that Facebook’s Graph Search could eventually become a fairly effective local search and recommendation engine, SEOs need to pay more attention to like signals, review signals and check-ins. Think about it, users will be typing in “pizzerias that my friends like” (meaning having a page that people “like” is a signal) or “pizzerias that my friends have been to” (meaning Facebook check-ins are a signal). The same goes for our clients – It’ll be our job to train our clients to focus on attracting the right fans to your page and giving your fans a reason to interact with your content on an ongoing basis. This includes providing incentives for checking-in upon arrival and engaging your audience with worthwhile content. This puts a whole new spin on the significance of developing a content strategy for Facebook – your business page just gained a whole new level of importance."

Currently, Facebook Graph Search is only available in beta, but make sure you sign-up to the wait list so you’re one of the first to get access when it is officially launched.
recourse: http://blog.ineedhits.com/search-news/facebook-launches-graph-search-to-rival-google-211512285.html

Website Marketing: Practical Layout Tips

In the creative realm, visual ideas and good design matter most. This goes hand in hand with website design as well, only this time, you're coupling those concepts with concrete information in the effort to boost sales, promote your product and your brand, and in general, make your website work for you. Here are some ways to make life easier for the reader to take in your message, whether it be on a magazine ad, an ad on your website, or your website as a whole.

Use easy to read typefaces. Most newspapers are set in serif type. Serifs the little feet that are found at the bottom of letters that line up to keep the eye moving horizontally along the line, rather than straying below to the next line. A study has also found that using sans-serif type on a regular space reduced comprehension from 67 to 12 percent! The eye also recognizes shapes more than letters and a word in all capitals has less shape than the word in caps and lower case. The eye also finds it tiring to read reversed out type in any great volume. 'Reversed out' refers to the setting of the text in a light color, and then putting it against a dark or high contrasting background. Reversing out has been known to halve response. So, learn to use sans-serif, capitals and reversing out in moderation.

Just as reversed out type is difficult to read, type set over tints or textures or colors is even more difficult to read, because it does not stand out that clearly. Equally, very small type is not a good idea. Lots of people can't read it very easily. This goes for being consistent with the typeface you use throughout, and don't change typefaces unnecessarily. Constant changes in typeface are ugly and imply an immaturity in the design process. Our eyes don't like constantly having to readjust.

Use narrow measure. You will notice that on newspapers and magazines that the words are set in narrow columns. That is because the eye likes to travel down the center of a column rather than having to go back and forth along one large column all the time. Similarly, long, unbroken blocks of text are hard to read. Simply put, big blocks of type are daunting. For this reason, you should break up your copy with lots of crossheads, sub headers, or images. These make your content more approachable and interesting to look at. It also enables the reader to learn the essence of your message from the subsidiary headings, which boosts their comprehension and encourage them to read further.

Justify your columns. Comprehension goes down if the edges of columns are ragged, that is to say, unjustified. Once again, this is simply because the eye has to work harder. Also, minimize your use of large headings. Art directors love them, but people do not generally read your website from across the room. Large headings are oftentimes, a waste of space, and more importantly, a waste of time.

Remember that first impressions last, and this is also very true for websites. Your layout and your choice of typeface contribute heavily to your website's impression on your visitors, so consider them very, very well.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7108276

What Is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing goes by so many names... custom publishing, custom media, branded media, branded content, attraction marketing. Content marketing can take various forms. It could be a video, an article, or a blog post. Whatever your choice of name for this type of marketing, boils down to one major point. If you're not content marketing, you're not marketing.

The definition from CMI (content marketing institute):

"It is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action". It's the procedure in which your target audience locates a piece of your content on the internet and responds to a call to action which guides them to your capture page where they can become a lead. In plain English: this is when someone finds your content online and decides to learn more about you and what you have to offer them. If you have something to offer them they can become a customer or business partner.

This type of Marketing has been around for a long time. It simply works.

Pros and cons of Content Marketing.

Pros:

1. Inexpensive form of marketing.

2. Leads coming to you. You are being the hunted instead of the hunter.

3. Content is interesting, informative and adds value. Your potential customers will get to know you and the added value you bring. Focuses on earning, not buying a persons attention.

4. Free Traffic from the search engines. Pre sells your leads on you. Brand marketing.

Cons:

1. Learning curve

2. Takes time.

3. You need to generate a lot of content to be found and create daily leads for your business.

It is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. Another read can be found on mashable - The New Inbound Marketing vs. The Old Outbound Marketing.

Education is critical to your success when creating content online. You must learn basic skills of keyword research, search engine optimization both on page and off page SEO, the word or phrase you want to rank for, building back links and more. If you liked this post and want more information on content information connect with me. For now, get familiar with the terms of content marketing and what is content marketing. Google has a great tool that is free and will guide you in your keyword research: Google Keyword Tool.

I highly recommend you grab your piece of real estate online with establishing your own blog and create content that will generate traffic and sales for your business. Education is critical to your success when creating content online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7055290

Digital Marketing Trends 2012

Recently, the Australian Marketing Institute Breakfast meeting held a meeting with a theme "Where to Next?" Three of the best digital marketing trends in Australia were presented and the insights were given emphasis.

One of the presenters was Steve Sammartino, a planning and integration directory from Grey. He discussed how the integration of technology changes the way people normally do their business. He supported his idea by presenting some of the insights from the Eye on Australia 2012 research.

The examples given by Steve are similar to what the author of UnMarketing, Scott Stratten. Having an Australian perspective that have a research results to back up the claims makes the topic more interesting.

Fragmentation on Media
Time will come that it is advertisers will have a difficulty and would spend more money just to reach specific audiences. This is due to the more and more people have the luxury to subscribe on the channels they like online. While it is true that there will still be people that are going to print ads and television, it is also true that building a channel for your brand will become popular soon.

It is a wise decision to start building a brand channel that people can interact with.

Shifting from Interruption Marketing to Permission Marketing
Spamming social networks with the business you are promoting is not helpful at all. How you talk in the social communities should also be similar to how you talk personally.

The internet is now becoming a medium where people can interact without seeing each other personally. It is an interesting way to still communicate and facilitate conversation virtually.

The trend today is for businesses to think out of the box and engage in a conversation rather than merely blabbing about their product.

Anyone can make anything
Nowadays, people are not interest on what company makes what. They are more interested in how certain brands can enhance the quality of life. Thinking how we can improve people's lifestyle is the key.

Smart Phones
The invention of smart phones has an impact on the people's lifestyle. This is because smart phones allow us to be connected with one another 24/7. It makes our lives easier by allowing us to talk, to instruct our phones, to search for the things we need or the places we want to go. It is safe to say that smart phones have become a necessity not just a luxury.

The massive use of smart phone is a proof that we are undergoing through a revolution. With this, it is not easier to have a voice and be heard.

Reinventing Ideas
There are a lot of ways on how we can integrate and make use of technology in our businesses. The key is to generate ideas and mash them up.

What is true today may not be necessarily true tomorrow. At some point, the Yellow pages was the popular "go to" item people who need something, now its Google.

Before, people would go to music stores and buy CDs. Now, nearly all music can be downloaded on iTunes and payments can be made online.

Constantly reinvent your business to be able to cope with the new technological trend. This way, we can be sure that we are securing our business with the number of customers rather than the infrastructure.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7063475

How To Earn Money In Online Marketing

Learning how to earn money in online marketing is an ongoing process. It's exciting and inspires hope because inside each one of us is the belief and understanding that "in this day and age, it is very possible for anyone to learn how to earn money from the comfort of home". You probably even know someone who makes their living online. There is a lot of money to be made online, and if you believe the hype, it looks really easy. The bad news is, it's not easy. At least not until you've learned a few things...

RULE #1: You Must Get The Proper Training on How to Make Money in Internet Marketing

This sounds like a pretty obvious statement, but there are millions of websites promising to teach you how to get rich online, and it's extremely tempting to reach for your wallet every time. Don't do that! I have on several occasions and learned the hard way! It doesn't matter how good the product or program is, if you don't understand how to earn money in online marketing, and you won't make a dime. And 99% of these products don't teach you anything!

For instance, let me ask you some questions:

• If you sign up to promote a widget that you think everyone will want, how will you tell people about it?
• Do you understand marketing techniques such as: article marketing, PPC, content blogging, seo, email marketing, list building, or social media marketing?
• Do you know how to build a website or how to drive traffic to your affiliate link? You can't spam people and you can't just broadcast it constantly to your friends on Facebook (most would ignore it anyway). Free online classifieds don't work because they're swamped with spam. So how would you promote it?

There are many very effective online marketing strategies, but the #1 thing you must do is learn these strategies.

RULE #2: Only Promote Products You Are Interested In Yourself.

You'll make money in Internet marketing by promoting things you know well. And if you don't know about it, make sure you are interested in it enough that you will enjoy spending several hours thoroughly researching the topic.

When you begin learning how to earn money in online marketing, you must first learn how to find a product that you want to promote. There are millions to choose from, but you want to pick something in which there is high demand but not too much competition. Then you must know WHO to market your product to- it's called "finding your niche".

What to Avoid

There are a couple of things that you definitely want to avoid when you are looking for ways to make make money in internet fun...

1. Paid Survey sites or any other offer that promises overnight riches. Think about it! If it was that easy to make hundreds of dollars per day, wouldn't everyone be doing it? Are there ways to make money in Internet surveys? Yes you can make a few bucks, but not much. Some surveys will pay you a couple of bucks, but usually you simply get your name entered into a draw. And they clutter your inbox. Don't every pay! If you have to pay, it's a scam. Just Google it, and you'll find plenty of legitimate survey sites.
2. Programs that promise to train you how to promote their product or service. They may offer some training but it would just be some generic basic advice, and possibly some banners. This industry has a huge learning curve and you will need learn a lot, and have access to ongoing support and training from professional internet marketers. You may find the best product in the world to promote, but if you don't fully understand how to do effective internet Marketing, you won't be able to sell anything.

So if you get anything from this article, I hope it is an understanding of how important it is to get the proper training on how to make money in online marketing. It is the first thing you must do. Join an Internet marketing community that will teach you and support you properly. You will want to have experts on hand to help you when you need it otherwise you'll get discouraged when you get stuck (and you will get stuck). The #1 reason people fail to earn money in online marketing is they don't get the right training and support.

Do this and you'll soon be an expert in the best techniques of how to earn money in online marketing. Go learn and live the dream!

Karri Hull is a Work at Home Mom who loves to blog and help others make money online. Karri is an active member of the Internet Marketing University called Wealthy Affiliate University and implores you nou not to money ebooks, seminars, videos and other training tools that are usually outdated and simply designed to sell you something else, usually leaving you more confused than when you began. "Wealthy Affiliate University" is the most complete and powerful training platform on Internet, and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to create a steady FLOOD of leads, sales and cheques when you plug into the right system.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7060748

Set up goals in Analytics to track conversions & ROI

Hi there,

You’re already using your Analytics reports to see valuable data about your website traffic and advertising effectiveness. The next step is to set up goals to track “conversions” -- a word we use to describe each time a visitor does something specific on your site (makes a purchase, fills in a form, spends a certain amount of time browsing, reaches a certain number of pages, etc.). Tracking goals shows you how effective your site design and ad campaigns have been, and helps you make smart decisions about how to make them even better. We've also shared some useful resources to help you learn more about Google Analytics and keep up to date with the latest news.

Create goals in Google Analytics and track ROI

What goals should I track?

That depends on what type of business you’re running and what kind of objectives you have for your website. Here are some examples:

Business	Goal
online clothing store	completed purchase
entertainment listings site	newsletter sign up
news and weather site	time spent on site or pages viewed per visit

Creating Analytics goals

Once you've decided what conversions you want to track on your website, you can easily set up goals in Google Analytics:

1. Log into your Google Analytics account
2. Select 'edit' next to the profile where you'd like to set up a goal.
3. Under the 'Goals' section, select 'Add Goal.'
4. Choose a name for your goal and select 'On,' so Analytics will begin tracking this action on your site.
5. Choose your goal type (destination URL, time on site or pages per visit) and enter the goal details.
6. You can select a goal value to indicate how much a goal is worth. Have an e-commerce site? Analytics can track values straight from your shopping cart.
7. If you’ve set up a 'Destination URL' goal, you can also define its funnel: a funnel will show you up to 10 steps that lead to a goal and help you identify where in the path visitors drop out of completing your goal.

Goal reports

Once you’ve set up a goal (or goals), you can track your results by choosing ‘View Reports’ in your Analytics account, then 'Goals' from the report menu on the upper left of the screen. Your reports will detail your completed conversions (broken down by day or hour), conversion rate, and the completed goals’ value to your business.

Check out this short YouTube video to learn more about setting up goals in Google Analytics.

read more : http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81977

Backlink Building Service: How to Increase Page Rank Quickly?

Search engines use a variety of methods to determine which web pages are displayed first in search results. Many bloggers and webmasters focus on increasing Google page rank. Improving your page rank isn't something you can do in a day. This process requires a lot of work. Most SEO experts believe that Google page rank depends on the number of backlinks pointing to your website.

Here are a few tips on how to increase page rank and achieve a top position in search results:

Start by checking if your website has been indexed by Google. Download the Google Toolbar or use a free page rank checker to find out what your current page rank is. Submit your site to search engine directories to get quality inbound links and have your pages indexed faster.

Get incoming links from high quality websites in your niche. The best way to improve your rank is to obtain backlinks to your website from highly authoritative sites. The more links you have pointing to your site from relevant sources, the better your page rank gets. When you receive a request for a link, check out that website before linking back.

Make sure you have enough of the right keywords on your pages. It is recommended to add your best keywords in the first paragraphs of every web page so that search engine spiders can't miss it. Try to stick to one keyword per page. Monitor the progress of your keywords and key phrases. Ask some else to read your posts and tell you what they think your key phrase should be. Don't repeat the same keywords over and over again. Use Google Toolbar to check your keyword density.

Join at least ten social media sites, even though you only use three or four of them regularly. Social media profiles provide "Do Follow" links, which helps increase your page rank. Check your website for coding errors and remember to use SEO techniques.

In addition to getting relevant backlinks and using the right keywords, it is important that you write original content in order to increase your rankings. Google acts harshly toward any form of plagiarism. Create unique articles to generate organic traffic and get quality links. Establishing your own voice is essential because you are giving people a reason to come back to your site. Remember that the needs of your readers are what SEO copywriting is all about.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7065745

Another step to reward high-quality sites

Google has said before that search engine optimization, or SEO, can be positive and constructive—and we're not the only ones. Effective search engine optimization can make a site more crawlable and make individual pages more accessible and easier to find. Search engine optimization includes things as simple as keyword research to ensure that the right words are on the page, not just industry jargon that normal people will never type.

“White hat” search engine optimizers often improve the usability of a site, help create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and search engines. Good search engine optimization can also mean good marketing: thinking about creative ways to make a site more compelling, which can help with search engines as well as social media. The net result of making a great site is often greater awareness of that site on the web, which can translate into more people linking to or visiting a site.

The opposite of “white hat” SEO is something called “black hat webspam” (we say “webspam” to distinguish it from email spam). In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked. We see all sorts of webspam techniques every day, from keyword stuffing to link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings.

The goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a great user experience and fulfill their information needs. We also want the “good guys” making great sites for users, not just algorithms, to see their effort rewarded. To that end we’ve launched Panda changes that successfully returned higher-quality sites in search results. And earlier this year we launched a page layout algorithm that reduces rankings for sites that don’t make much content available “above the fold.”

In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can't divulge specific signals because we don't want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.

Here’s an example of a webspam tactic like keyword stuffing taken from a site that will be affected by this change:

Of course, most sites affected by this change aren’t so blatant. Here’s an example of a site with unusual linking patterns that is also affected by this change. Notice that if you try to read the text aloud you’ll discover that the outgoing links are completely unrelated to the actual content, and in fact the page text has been “spun” beyond recognition:

Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings.

The change will go live for all languages at the same time. For context, the initial Panda change affected about 12% of queries to a significant degree; this algorithm affects about 3.1% of queries in English to a degree that a regular user might notice. The change affects roughly 3% of queries in languages such as German, Chinese, and Arabic, but the impact is higher in more heavily-spammed languages. For example, 5% of Polish queries change to a degree that a regular user might notice.

We want people doing white hat search engine optimization (or even no search engine optimization at all) to be free to focus on creating amazing, compelling web sites. As always, we’ll keep our ears open for feedback on ways to iterate and improve our ranking algorithms toward that goal.

see more : http://insidesearch.blogspot.in/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html

5 Top Natural Link Building Tips

Natural link building is an essential ingredient for search engine ranking success. Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines measure the quality and quantity of incoming links to your website pages as part of their ranking algorithm. They do this to help them understand how authoritative the content on your page is, and how well it ties together with associated external pages and websites.

Link building for search success requires a careful and deliberate approach. Hundreds or even thousands of one-way links bought from websites that have little relevant content on them will do you few favours in the long run. Worse still are link farms or pages just filled with clusters of links that have no relevance to what your site is about.

These are big no-nos!

Instead, the way to a search engine's heart is to foster a more holistic approach that adds value to your website and the site from where you're generating the link.

Here are 5 top link building tips for acquiring a steady flow of relevant and natural incoming links.

#1 - Publish great content: Strong content is absolutely essential. You need valuable and informative content at both ends of your link. So, the content that generates the link must be seen as being highly useful to the audience you want to reach. It also needs to provide the promise of more in-depth content at the other end of the link when they click on it.

In terms of getting that great content out there consider distributing your content as:

• a press release
• an article on article and content directories like ezine articles
• blog posts / guest blog posts
• forum posts on discussion platforms that accept articles
• information hub pages (think squidoo)
• social media content (tweets, Facebook updates etc.)

Publish content like this and you'll find that it'll get picked up by other people and re-published, generating you more links.

#2 - Build content around keywords: All content you write and publish should be built around 2 or 3 primary keywords. These are search terms your audience is likely to use to find your product or service.

The most important part of this process though is to run keyword search terms naturally within the flow of your content. Don't force keywords in where they don't make sense, and don't stuff keywords to a density greater than 3%!!

#3 - Use keyword-rich anchor text: In the external content you're publishing, create your link (anchor) on text that contains one or more of your primary keywords for the page that you are pointing the link to. For example, if your website page is about copywriting and the primary keyword on that page is 'content creation services', then your anchor text from your external content could be that keyword, which runs in a sentence that entices the reader to click on the link - i.e. "world-leading content creation services help get your business noticed."

#4 - Socialise!: Get the word out about you and your website! Contribute to discussions on every social media platform you register on that is specific to the theme of your website. Don't blatantly advertise, but instead set yourself up as a knowledge leader on that forum, helping people out, and laying down links to your site where appropriate. It takes time, but it's worth it.

#5 - Be Innovative: Videos, product reviews, image tags, question & answer sites, sponsorships, smartphone apps, recommendations - they all help to lay down links across the Web. Just be innovative and think smart!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7008193

Now google released an update to the new Google bar on Monday April 9, 2012

Now google released an update to the new Google bar on Monday April 9, 2012. Now we can login upto 10 multiple a/c's at the same time through the default id.

In February, Google released an update to the new Google bar to consumer users. Beginning on Monday April 9, 2012, the new Google bar will begin to roll out to all Google Apps users in two phases:

Phase 1 (Rollout begins April 9) - If you've enabled the Google+ service for your organization's Google Apps account, users will see the new Google bar only when they visit Google+ pages, such as their Google+ stream.

Phase 2 (Rollout begins April 16) - All users will see the new Google bar at the top of all of their Google services, such as Gmail and Google Calendar.

Please see the links below for more information.

Release track:
Rapid & Scheduled

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported

See more : http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.in/

3 Reasons Quality Content Is Crucial to Your Internet Marketing Plan

While much of the business world has adopted the internet as its primary marketing outlet as opposed to print pieces, the importance of quality content has remained the same. Quality content is crucial to your internet marketing plan for a few reasons.

1. Websites require content. While a flashy website with slideshows and moving icons is fun to look at, websites still need quality, written content to draw the readers in. Just as with print pieces, the content needs to educate and inform consumers. Then, it needs to persuade them to buy. Graphics and photos are nice, but usually they are not the reason consumers buy the product or service. Instead, it's the written content that drives the sale.


2. Article Marketing is all about content. In order to make the sale at all, traffic needs to be driven to your website. That's where article marketing comes in. Article marketing is a form of free advertising in which you write and post articles on article directories on the internet. As consumers search for topics related to your product or service, they are directed to these articles which, in turn, direct them to your business website. Article marketing offers a couple of benefits. First, it's relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising. There is usually little or not cost associated with posting to the directories. The cost to your business would primarily be in paying a professional writer to write the articles and post them for you. Secondly, the traffic these articles will direct to your website is targeted traffic. That is, these consumers were actively searching for information related to your product or website. They are much more likely to make a purchase from you.


3. Content dictates your search engine rankings. Graphics optimized for the search engines: Content should not just be written well. It should also be optimized for the search engines so your website gets a higher ranking. Optimizing content for the search engines requires some research and knowledge about how to find keywords and determine which keywords are being searched for and how to incorporate those into your article marketing plan and into your website content.

Quality content should be custom-written and researched to your business' specifications and needs. It should be well-written and free of grammatical, spelling and mechanical errors.

Given how important content is to your business' success, be sure to incorporate quality, custom-written content into every aspect of your marketing plan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6966608