3 Ways Ecommerce Websites Can Grow or Maintain Organic Search Traffic

Given the measurement, SERP, and PLA challenges, what can an e-commerce site do to maintain or even grow their organic search traffic? Three things:

1. Adjust for Tracking Issues

To quote Tony Stark, "It’s an imperfect world, but it’s the only one we’ve got." In this imperfect world of attribution, it’s important to recognize that:

• You can’t rely purely on your analytics system;
• You must adjust your organic search reporting to estimate "no query" and "mobile" traffic properly for more accurate numbers; and
• All attribution models have inherent biases, so interpretation and intuition are critical - don’t just rely on last click. Ask questions about your assumptions and the implications of each attribution model you use. Last click is a poor representation of the value of organic search given that consumers may begin their journey on organic search, but end it via an affiliate program or a branded paid search ad. Plus, with more consumers beginning their purchasing process on smartphones, connect the dots between a first click on mobile and a purchase in-store or elsewhere online.

2. Measure and Mitigate Cannibalization

Rankings alone won’t cut it if the starting line for organic results is further down the page. So, periodically test a sample of queries (ideally from the head, torso and long-tail) to see how the SERPs evolve over time.

Looking for relationships – correlation and causation – between the locations on the SERP, organic ranking for that query, conversions and revenue can be quite revealing. As many have noted, ranking first in both the organic and paid results for any given query solidifies the brand’s reputation with the customer and increases conversions. Also, as you’re thinking about organic, work with agencies and solution providers that have technology and expertise across both organic and paid search.

3. Get Strategic

Continuing the status quo without any creativity and optimization will yield diminishing returns and/or increasing costs-per-acquisition. If the head and torso clicks are drying up, look to the long-tail to make up ground.

In the long-tail, there is less competition (both for organic and paid, which means there’s often less downward pressure on the organic-listing location on the SERPs) and stronger signals of customer intent. Strategically targeting the long-tail in a scalable way can pay dividends.

If faced with less organic traffic, make sure those clicks you do get turn into customers. Work with the rest of your e-commerce team to make it effortless for those prospects to find what they are looking for, whether on the desktop or mobile device.

When you measure and optimize, net-new customers will still come walking through your virtual door. Plus, in an age when Amazon reigns over many categories, acquiring, converting and cultivating net-new customers is the key to unlocking more revenue potential.

Know more in detail about 3 Ways Ecommerce Websites

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Designers Spring Into Action to Fix Apple Earbud Flaw

Apple’s industrial design team seems nearly infallible, and its few false starts—such as the hockeypuck mouse, G4 Cube, and Apple Hi-Fi—all stand out like dings on an otherwise flawless glass and aluminum surface. Their stock headphones don’t fall into the flop category, but even after being redesigned for a better fit, the rechristened EarPods can still slip out with a small jolt or jostle.

A simple accessory called the Sprng, created by Ohm Industrial Design, could mean musical salvation for millions of Apple fans. The Sprng is a rigid plastic clip that attaches to the EarPod stem and an overmolded rubber spring that hooks under the concha of the ear, creating an extra point of contact and a more secure fit. The $10 add-on can be adjusted by changing its position on the EarPod, making it useful for high-performance athletes or kids who just want to watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba on a long car ride.

A multibillion-dollar industry has been built creating stylish covers for Apple devices and dongles to expand their functionality, but very few gadgets are expressly designed to fix product flaws. “It feels a bit sacrilegious,” says Kirk Mosna, a cofounder of Ohm Industrial Design. “We’ve been using Apple products since the early ’80s — my son is a certified Apple fanboy — so it feels a bit awkward creating a fix for one of their products.” He notes that the Apple designers, though deified by fans and the press, are in fact human and the staggering variety of the human ear is too great for any standardized design to satisfy—necessitating a solution like the Sprng.

The Sprng was a self-directed product developed in between design assignments, and the team was so passionate about the idea that they decided to take a huge financial risk and fund the product’s manufacturing without a partner. Then disaster struck.

“We had a concept for this product designed, tooled up, with pre-production parts that were being reviewed for Apple’s original earbud, when Apple announced the new version,” says Mosna. “We had to scrap the tool and make adjustments to the design to deal with all of the new constraints.”

Fortunately, the product made it to market, but it remains to be seen whether the setback was bad timing or divine retribution for design hubris.

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How do artists get paid from iTunes?

With iTunes, Apple implemented its own revenue-sharing model: Apple would get 30 percent upfront, which is actually a smaller cut than the 42 percent that went to retail stores and distributors under the compact disc model. Meanwhile, the songwriter gets $0.09 per song, while the payment to the performing artist is negotiated between the label and artist (15-to-20 percent is still an industry standard).

How come label execs hate iTunes so much?

Because after iTunes, no one would pay $17 for an album ever again. Not only that, the emphasis on singles over albums hurt record labels’ bottom line. While the impact of Napster on CD sales was negligible, each year since iTunes premiered the industry has been stuck in a freefall, with sales revenue from albums and singles, both digital and non-digital, dropping from $11.2 billion in 2003 to $5.4 billion in 2012.

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Ubuntu Edge: Crowdfunding a Super-Smartphone

Alexey Miller, the chief executive officer of Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom, seemed to be having a megalomaniacal moment when he took over the company's website on July 16 and demanded a tablet computer that could mimic all of the functions of a PC. While Tweeps were quick to rib Miller when he said he would pay $3.7 million for the device, that's nothing compared with Mark Shuttleworth's offer.

Shuttleworth, a South African software billionaire looking to break into the mobile operating system market, is pursuing a $32 million effort to develop a smartphone that can replace a desktop computer. Unlike Miller, he's not paying for the project himself; instead, he's asking other people to contribute on crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Shuttleworth says he wants to push developers to test the limits of processing power, storage and screen technology. "It's sort of like a concept car," he says. "But instead of waiting three years to see if something like it gets built, we're going to try and build it now."

The phone's specs call for the fastest processor on the market, as much memory as a laptop (at least four gigabytes), and 128 GB of storage, twice that of a current high-end iPhone or Android smartphone. Also on Shuttleworth's wish list: a super-vivid 4.5-inch screen made of sapphire crystal, which only a diamond can scratch, and a battery based on high-capacity silicon anode technology. "The only place we couldn't find anything really futuristic and classy was with sound," he says.

Shuttleworth got rich during the dot-com boom by selling a security software company called Thawte to network infrastructure giant VeriSign for about $600 million. He used part of that money to finance a 10-day trip to the International Space Station and, in 2004, to launch a company called Canonical. Few people outside of geekdom recognize the name, but Canonical makes a version of the Linux operating system called Ubuntu that's used by millions of software developers and data center servers. Canonical has been in talks with smartphone makers to release other phones running Ubuntu next year that can connect to a keyboard and screen to simulate a home or office computer. Shuttleworth's project would cut out the hardware companies.

Only donors willing to contribute at least $725 to the Indiegogo campaign will get an Ubuntu Edge, Shuttleworth's phone, from the first batch of 40,000. The project has already set a handful of crowdfunding speed records and stands as the largest such campaign to date. Still, it's only raised $7 million of the $32 million goal. (Canonical lowered the going rate for the phone to $725 from the original asking price, $830, after the initial surge of backers slowed.) "It's like a marathon where there are people in tutus and dressed as bears at the start," says Shuttleworth. "That's the fun part, but it gets tougher as you go."

The superphone may also have a tough time appealing to a broader audience. Longtime industry analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies points out that $725 can buy both a pretty good phone and a pretty good laptop. "They still haven't sold me on why it's better to have both things on the one device when there are cheap, kick-ass alternatives," he says. The Ubuntu operating system also limits the device's appeal, he says: "Most people aren't Linux jockeys."

Shuttleworth argues that the Ubuntu Edge is aimed at early adopters who want a cutting-edge level of technology in which most smartphone can't justify investing. (Most developers spend about $50 million to produce a new device.) "If you pick an exciting component, and it causes you to have problems in the production line, then you're out of a job," he says of the hardware makers. If the campaign falls short of its goal, Shuttleworth says he won't use his own funds to make up the difference. "The people either want this or they don't," he says. "Let's find out."
Image: Ubuntu, Indiegogo

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Backlinks and reconsideration requests

When talking to site owners on Google Webmaster Forums we come across questions on reconsideration requests and how to handle backlink-related issues. Here are some common questions, along with our recommendations.

When should I file a reconsideration request?

If your site violates our Google Quality Guidelines or did in the past, a manual spam action may be applied to your site to prevent spam in our search results. You may learn about this violation from a notification in Google Webmaster Tools, or perhaps from someone else such as a previous owner or SEO of the site. To get this manual action revoked, first make sure that your site no longer violates the quality guidelines. After you've done that, it's time to file a reconsideration request.

Should I file a reconsideration request if I think my site is affected by an algorithmic change?

Reconsideration requests are intended for sites with manual spam actions. If your site’s visibility has been solely affected by an algorithmic change, there's no manual action to be revoked, and therefore no need to file a reconsideration request. If you're unsure if it's an algorithmic change or a manual action, and have found issues that you have resolved, then submitting a reconsideration request is fine.

How can I assess the quality of a site’s backlinks?

The links to your site section of Google Webmaster Tools is a great starting point for an investigation as it shows a significant amount of your site’s inbound links. If you know that you ran an SEO campaign during a particular period of time, downloading the latest links can come handy in slicing links created at that time. Using the links found in Google Webmaster Tools, we recommend looking for patterns that point to general issues that are worth resolving. For example, spammy blog comments, auto generated forum posts or text advertisements with links that pass PageRank are likely to be seen as unnatural links and would violate Google’s quality guidelines. For individual examples and hands-on advice we recommend getting help of peers and expert webmasters on the Google Webmaster Forum.

How do I clean a bad backlink profile?

Make sure to identify poor links first, then make a strong effort to get them either removed or nofollowed. Then use the Disavow Links Tool to deal with remaining unnatural backlinks. We recommend using domain-wide operator for sites with a complicated URL structure, very obvious spam sites, such as gibberish content sites or low quality sites with content that shows no editorial value. See our video on common mistakes when using the disavow tool for more information.

How much information do I need to provide?

Detailed documentation submitted along with a reconsideration request can contribute to its success, as it demonstrates the efforts made by the webmaster and helps Googlers with their investigation. If you are including a link to a shared document, make sure that it’s accessible to anyone with the link.

How long does it take to process reconsideration requests?

Reconsideration requests for sites affected by a manual spam action are investigated by a Googler. We strive to respond in a timely manner, normally within just a few days. However, the volume of incoming reconsideration requests can vary considerably, hence we don't provide a guaranteed turnaround time.

What are the possible outcomes of a reconsideration request?

Upon submitting a reconsideration request, you will first receive an automated confirmation in Google Webmaster Tools. After your request is processed, we'll send you another message to let you know the outcome of the request. In most cases, this message will either inform you that the manual action has been revoked or that your site still violates our quality guidelines.

Where can I get more guidance?

For more information on reconsideration requests, please visit our Help Center. And as always, the Google Webmaster Forum is a great place for further discussions as well as seeking more advice from experienced webmasters and Google guides.

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Google's Matt Cutts On Using ccTLDs

Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, in another video answer, responds to the question about using ccTLDs (country code top level domain names). The question was "Should I use ccTLDs for sites not targeted to those countries?"

 The answer is pretty straight forward. If it is part of the list of generic ccTLDs that Google has specifically said there is enough use to warrant them to be generic, then go ahead and use them. If they are not on that list, then be warned, the site on that ccTLD may be localized to the country of the ccTLD.

In the Google+ post, one person brings up the domain youtu.be, which I used above to link to the video. In that case, it would be a ccTLD that is NOT generic, according to Google's own list. But since it redirects (well, a 302 redirect), it doesn't matter much. But if the main site was youtu.be and not youtube.com that would be an issue.

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Why do reconsideration requests fail?

Here are the most common reasons for a site to fail a reconsideration request:

• Not properly identifying which links need to be removed.  It is really hard to identify what is a natural link and what is not.  Remove too many links and you’ll harm your site’s rankings even more.  But if you don’t address enough of your links then Google will not reconsider your site.
• Not making a big enough effort to get links removed. It is not enough to just disavow your bad links.  Google wants to see that you have gone to great efforts to get links involved.  This means contacting webmasters via available email addresses, whois addresses and contact forms, documenting those attempts at contact and then communicating this to Google.
• Improper use of the disavow tool. Once you’ve gotten all the bad links that you can removed, then it is very helpful to use the disavow tool to ask Google to disavow the rest of the bad links.  If you don’t format your disavow.txt file correctly then it won’t work. Google doesn’t tell you whether or not your file is correctly formatted. They simply ignore it if it is not created properly.

No automated tools are used in the process of deciding whether links should be removed. Each domain is visited and each link is manually evaluated. This is the best way to ensure that all of your GOOD links are kept which gives you the best chance at regaining rankings once the penalty is removed.

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Google AdSense: Responsive Design for Ad Units

Everyone is asking? What took so long?! Google has finally announced a beta of a new ad unit designed for responsive designed web pages.

In the past, Google said you can modify your ad code to make it work for responsive design web pages, but now, you have the option of using a native AdSense ad unit specifically for responsive design web pages.

To access this, go to your AdSense console, login and create a new ad unit. Then from the drop down of ad sizes, select "Responsive ad unit (BETA)." Yes, Google warns this is a beta.

Google AdSense Responsive Design Ad Units

For most serious publishers, they have already come up with a hacked solution to make their AdSense ad units work on responsive designed web sites or avoided it. But now, many will begin exploring this new beta option.

Google does warn:

Be sure to specify fixed pixel values when setting the width and height of the ad to be served.
Make sure that the specified width and height match one of our supported ad sizes. Please note that link unit sizes aren’t supported at the moment.
The new ad code is responsive on initial page load only. Subsequent changes to the ad size, such as a screen orientation change, will not cause a new ad to be displayed. We know that this is an important feature for many of you and we’re currently working to address this.
Always set a default ad size in case some media queries aren’t supported.

Forum discussion at Google+ & WebmasterWorld.

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Access Your Gmail: More Easy Conversation & Massages with Tabs in Gmail A/C

Wow Great I was surfing online my Gmail Account few days ago. And I found there a new updates in my Gmail account. When I was checking my colleagues email. He had sent me an email for my information. Actually he uses the Microsoft Outlook for the email communication. 

 

Google has updated his Gmail account option. Where we can manage our emails easily and can categories by label.

Yes when I logged in my Gmail Account to access my emails. I was socked with happiness & joy. Because, I have seen my email that has been set by labels like all social networks emails and notification are in the Social Tab, Primary Tab and Promotion Tab.

Although It is all updated by Google. I got already set it in my Gmail account. And we can add more tabs according to our needs. Now I manage and categories my all massages in the Tab label.

Bellow I am giving the snapshot of updated Tabs.

Really it will save the time that we can utilize in other work production. Just only login to email account and get all massages automatically categories in the Tabs.

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Ignore That Last Google Webmaster Tools Notification: Googlebot CAN Access Your Site

In the past twenty-four hours, it seems as if Google sent out a message to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of site owners, that there is a problem with their site.

Typically, you never ever want to ignore a webmaster tools notification but in this case, the messages were sent in error.

Google told these webmasters that "Googlebot can't access your site", that the site had connection failures and Google was unable to access your site.

Here is a sample message one of my clients received (although I received several):





Google's Matt Cutts wrote in the thread that this seems like an error on Google's side. He said:

Hey everyone, please don't worry about this message at this point. Enough people are getting this message that I suspect it's an issue on our end.

I've got an email out to our webmaster tools team, and we'll figure out what's going on. Thanks.

John Mueller of Google is asking webmasters to post example URLs so they can fix the issue.

The thing is, I checked this morning and webmaster tool's console does not show the error on these sites still, so maybe it was a Google error.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

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Google is celebrating the first Indian passenger Train Journey

Google is on Tuesday celebrating the 160th anniversary of the first passenger train journey in India with a doodle on its homepage.

Do you know: When our first Indian Passenger Train Ran?

On April 16, 1853, the first commercial passenger train chugged out of Bori Bunder, in Bombay to Thane, covering a distance of 34 kilometres. The train was hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan.

The search engine giant takes its visitors on a short journey into the history of Indian Railways, with a train pulled by a steam engine along the palm-lined railway track. The first 'O' of Google depicts the front part of the steam engine of the passenger train.

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Visit Your Blogger and Make Your Blogging Experience Better with Edit HTML Page

Today early morning I was in so happy mood. I don't know why? May be there was some special in my mind. After completing my routine work I visited my blogger account and stared the blogging like same days.

Do you know what I did observe there in my Blogspot.com (Blogger). I saw there some amazing updates by Google. Yes that was HTML Editor Page of the blogger.

You can watch is happening also.

Go to your blogger profile. And do some test regarding checking the updates. When your blogger login has been completed and return back to your blog profile. So click on the Template option and go to edit html. What is showing there?

There is nice HTML Editor Page that will fill you smarty and best blogger fillings like Notepad++ Editors, Dreamweaver Editors. You can find your coding easily by filtering the coding line.

Yes the latest blogger updates is for enhance the blogger users experience. You can easily jump to the Widget pages.  

I hope all blogger will test this experience and will share it in your groups.

Happy blogging. Google +

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Export Up TO 5000 Rows in Google Analytics Dashboard

I’m not sure when this happened – but today at least now you can export up to 5000 rows in Google Analytics dashboard.

This is a welcome change, though there have been other ways of doing this in the past (I’ve included this below)

How To display and export more than 5000 rows in Google Analytics and to CSV – Up To 50,000 Rows

When you select 5000 rows you will have a URL like this

https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?hl=en-GB&pli=1#report/trafficsources-organic/a12346448w43910105p43958149/%3F_u.date00%3D20110101%26_u.date01%3D20130410%26explorer-table.plotKeys%3D%5B%5D%26explorer-table.rowStart%3D0%26explorer-table.rowCount%3D5000/

just change that last number from 5000 at the end of that url to 50000 (add an extra zero) and hey presto – you see much more in the dashboard, too.

The MAXIMUM amount of rows you can see in the Dashboard is 20000 rows whichever number you specify at the end of that url.

I’m not sure why Google just doesn’t give you the option to view 20,000 rows – perhaps it’s more resource intensive to let everyone be doing it.
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Top Blog Directories To Submit Your Blog

Gaining exposure for your blog is critical to building a following and revenue. After creating compelling copy, titles, descriptions and link strategies, it’s time to list your blog in one or more directories.

There are many paths to building links, such as link baiting or blogroll-link swapping, but few are as easy to implement and cost effective as submitting to blog directories. And good link juice makes for a growing blog.

Here are 24 directories you need to know about:

1. Best of the Web Blog Search remains a powerful tool for sharing your blog, especially since this director’s very selective, listing only mature and valuable blogs. A link from here is majestic.
2. Bloggeries is one of the most respected blog directories. The layout is clear and concise, and readers are able to find what they are looking for in a snap.
3. EatonWeb Blog Directory is a powerful list. The fee, currently $34.99, pays for a review of your blog.
4. OnToplist.com is a free, manually-edited directory that reads the RSS feed of your blog. You can also use the site’s social features, article directory, and other great tools to build your blog.
5. Blogged.com is an interesting mix of a directory and a Google News type site that is fed by the blogs listed with Blogged. And it’s free to list your blog.
6. While the design and infrastructure have changed somewhat over the years, Blog Search Engine remains one of the most selective blog directories on the web. Membership has its privileges.
7. Blog Catalog features a vast number of categories, from “academic” to “writing”, while offering the ability to search by country, language or user. It has a no-frills design, but offers convenient access through a simple blog registration.
8. Globe of Blogs has too many features to list. Only non-commercial blogs are accepted. The site may be busy, but I like being able to narrow my search by title, author or subject.
9. The ultimate directory of British blogs isn’t focused on location, but on the culture. It is asked that bloggers be genuinely “Britished.”
10. Blog Universe has a layout that’s easy to navigate and, although the content is limited, it’s an all-around good directory worthy of submission.
11. Bigger Blogs is intertwined with a business directory and an article directory, giving you access to several powerful tools in one location.
12. Bloggernity is a crisp, clean and easily navigated site. It’s low ad-to-content ratio has helped solidify its reputation as a quality directory.
13. Bloggapedia has an interesting and eye-catching homepage. Readers are easily connected to top blogs and new posts. Innovative categories, a colorful design and its blogger tool kit make this directory a hit.
14. Spillbean is a well-designed directory with categories such as “health,” “society,” “Internet,” and “personal.”
15. Blogging Fusion boasts over 60 categories, including family-focused blogs. Blogging Fusion has an good number of listings, and it also has visitor stats.
16. Blogflux is organized and clear with a strong social element.
17. The blogs at the top of Bloglisting are fun, colorful and catch the attention of the reader. Bloglisting displays the page-ranking blogs, which is a helpful tool when determining with whom you want to exchange links.
18. Blogio stores plenty of quality blogs, and it sports solid on-site search.
19. Blog Digger is a strong search tool, especially for local blog listings.
20. Blog Pulse features a powerful community element, on-site analytics, and a clean design. The “submit” page is a bit tricky to find, so here’s the quick link.
21. Technorati’s blog directory is well-respected and spans more than 30 categories.
22. Blogarama has a strong base of blogs and a solid text-ad system for its front page.
23. Blog Hints features over 100 categories. The site is very picky about which blogs are included, and those that are listed are presented via a visual interface that shows the site’s design and page rank. This makes Blog Hints the perfect site for finding link-swapping partners.
The above listings are a glimpse inside the large and vast world of blog directories and the valuable inbound links that your can build for your blog and your business.
There are countless more directories at your disposal. Which do you like? Leave a comment.
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SEO : Search Engine Optimization from 2012-2013: 7 Key Factors That Will Take The Lead

This time of year is suitable for retrospection. We’re able to take a good look at how things played out in 2012, and get an idea of the trends and patterns that are most likely to dominate the coming year.

2012 was rough for SEO experts due to radical changes in Google’s algorithms, including many updates to Panda, as well as the the introduction of Penguin. While content quality and inbound links continue to play major roles in organic rankings, let’s take a look at the other factors that will govern SEO in 2013.

2013: The 7 Key Factors That Will Determine Your Survival in SEO

If it were up to me, I’d simply focus on creating value for the reader — because ultimately, that should be the goal of any website. However, increasing competition may require you to employ strategic practices in a pragmatic approach to assist your rise to the top of the SERPs. Here are the tactics and strategies that will dominate the SEO landscape in 2013.

1. Quality of Content

Ultimately, it all comes down to the quality and value of the content on your website. Google has been very explicit this year about good-quality content, and we expect this trend to carry over into next year in full force. By content quality, the metrics are:

1.     uniqueness of the content/topic
2.     resourcefulness and information richness (i.e., no thin content)

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is being touted as the next big thing. Experts have called it the new SEO. To an extent, this is true. As a general rule, content marketing attracts backlinks, and adds value for the user/reader. It is more challenging, because you have to generate more content of high quality, circulate it, and make sure your content gets published widely with ample social signals to generate substantial SEO value.

Since Google takes valuable content seriously, a solid content marketing strategy will be the key to climbing to the next level in SEO.

3. Author Rank and Profile

Author Rank has emerged as a vital metric in deciding SERPs, although studies about its value are still ongoing. One thing that we can be sure of in 2013 is that AuthorRank will add credibility and value to your website, and it will be vitally important for every webmaster.

4. Social Signals and Social Networking

After much debate and discussion, social signals have largely been accepted as valid ranking factors. In the next year (and probably in the years to follow), social signals will play a growing role. Shares, retweets, mentions, and perhaps most importantly, +1s are trophies every webmaster should be amassing.

5. Mobile/Responsive Design

Although this does not directly influence the ranking of a page, it will play a role in your fortunes. Google was one of the first companies to become aware of this trend in web browsing due to the growing presence of tablets and smartphones. Responsive design may not be an explicit SEO factor, but in terms of usability, it is likely to be a highly influential element to consider in 2013.

6. Localization / Info-graphics

Google’s growing preference for local websites and information has become evident in many searches. It’s safe to assume 2013 we’ll witness an increase in this preference. Websites that apply local SEO will enjoy higher rankings and visibility. This includes map data, listings, citations, and reviews on local information sites.

7. Social Media Marketing

Images and videos have become staples on the Internet. We’ve consistently seen that relevant results that include videos get ranked higher than text-only content. The further emergence of media content is an important development you can expect next year. It’s becoming essential to add relevant non-textual media to text content, because this adds value and makes the content more resourceful.
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Facebook Redesigns Continue With Timeline: Community Managers Be Ready

Yesterday Facebook posted another major announcement to its blog.  The long tested redesign of Timeline is beginning to roll out.  The new look of Timeline will give users a place for all the things they care about.

As you can see, the Facebook clean-up continues.  The rich media look that they recently featured in the preview of the News Feed redesign carries over into the cleaner two column look of Timeline.  The about and interests of users will be far more prominently featured to the left of the Timeline posts.  This area of the Timeline will offer users a great deal of flexibility to show off the things they care about the most.  Be ready to see bibliophiles showing off the books they’ve read while film buffs feature the movies they’ve watched and look forward to seeing.

The impact that this change has for Facebook marketers is 3-fold.

• Graph Search will have greater depth and breadth of information to display.
• Advertising will benefit from more complete user identities.
• Community Managers will find more information about the people they connect with.

First of all, as the changes finally start rolling out, there will be the usual outcry from the average users about how much they dislike the fact that Facebook is changing AGAIN.  It always happens.  But, the vitriol always causes a portion of their friends to take the time to log into the full desktop version to see what all of the fuss is about.  That is where the next batch of data collection will begin.  As soon as a user lands on their redesigned space they will be prompted to update and customize.  BINGO!  Fresh info.

Immediately, Graph Search benefits from all of the fresh updates.  Search will be better able to tell users where their friends have been, what they like, and other stuff that could lead them to your marketing presence in Facebook.  Make certain that your business is ready to be optimized and searchable.

The influx of fresh user data will give savvy advertisers even better targeting buckets to mine for optimum ROI.  Just think how much better your geographic targeting will be when massive numbers of Facebook users update their current locations.

Finally, for those really super smart community managers, this will be a boon to better understanding the people they interact with on behalf of a brand.  Although you can count on many users to take the time to play with new features, few will delve deep into their privacy settings.  Most of the information that will come out of the redesign will continue to be publicly visible to any other Facebook user logged into the network, including page administrators.  It won’t be difficult at all to click the link to your most active community members and find out more about the music, locations, and activities that they enjoy the most, and then use that information to improve your page content and engagement.

What are your thoughts and concerns about all of the changes coming to Facebook this year?

Image Credit: Facebook

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Big, Beautiful Photos Of The New Samsung Galaxy S4

No, that isn’t the Galaxy S3 you’re looking at. That is Samsung’s upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S4, pictured in the wild and detailed for all to see. As revealed in the pictures from the Chinese site that managed to secure the device, the phone will include a few new TouchWiz features we hadn’t heard about (like S Pen-free preview functions), as well as confirming many of the hardware specs:

Samsung Galaxy S4

• 7.7mm thick
• 138g
• 4.99-inch 1080p display
• 13MP camera
• 1.8GHz Exynos 5410 Octa core CPU with 533Mhz PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU
• 2GB of RAM
• 16GB of storage and expandable micro SD card slot

Now unless Samsung pulls a fast one, this is exactly what you can expect to see at tomorrow’s unveiling in New York. What do you guys think? Real? Fake? Disappointed? HTC One killer?

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Everything You Need To Know About The Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung is going to announce its next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, next week. This is a really big moment for Samsung. It has successfully transitioned from being some boring phone maker to one of the premier brands in the world.

 

The S IV could be its peak, or it could be the next step on the path to world domination. It all depends on how good the phone is. Since you're probably curious about what Samsung has in store, we've summed up just about everything you need to know about the phone in this post. Click here to learn everything about the Samsung Galaxy S IV →

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Google Glass Will Be Able To ID Someone In A Crowd, Based Only On That Person's Clothes

A new technology designed specifically for Google Glass could identify you solely based on your fashion sense. InSight, which is partly funded by Google, recently unveiled an app for analyzing the clothes and accessories people wear to later identify them, Paul Marks of New Scientist reports. Sure, there's already facial recognition, but clothing recognition can help you identify someone even if they have their back to you. The app creates a "fashion fingerprint" of what a person is wearing by taking photos of people as they use their smartphone. It then creates a file called a "spatiogram" to document colors, patterns, and other design elements from a person's outfit. Used in conjunction with Glass, you would easily be able to locate friends in crowded area, like at a music festival, for example. But once someone changes their clothes, Insight can no longer identify that person. That means the fingerprint is only good for a day or so, but at least it protects a person's long-term privacy. The system works 93% time, based on some early test results. InSight was developed by Srihari Nelakuditi at the University of South Carolina, along with fellow professors from Duke University.

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These Computer-Generated Women Look Real

RoartyOver at 3D graphics blog CGTrader, they've rounded up an eclectic collection of computer-generated images of women for International Women's Day.
 
Some are humorous and cartoony, but some are borderline photorealistic.
We've gathered some of the most impressive displays 3D graphics for you here.

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Google Maps Might Be Banned In Germany Over A Patent Dispute

The German courts are on the point of banning Google Maps over a patent dispute with Microsoft.

A judge in Munich has told Google and its subsidiary Motorola Mobility that he is inclined to hold them responsible for infringing a key mapping patent, it has been reported.

The patent refers to “a computer system for identifying local resources”, according to patent expert Florian Mueller.

Google has been unable to convince the court that the patent does not apply to the technology used in its mapping services.

Microsoft is seeking - and very likely to obtain, according to Mr Mueller – an injunction against the Google Maps service.

In order to comply with the likely injunction, Google would have to disable Google Maps from all computers using a German IP address.

It would also have to stop shipping the Google Maps Android app and only distribute web browsers in Germany only if they used internet filters to block access to Google Maps.

Microsoft originally only sued Motorola Mobility and its German subsidiary over the distribution of the Android app. It only engaged Google as a defendant after Motorola executives denied knowledge of how Google Map servers operated.

In order to maintain the service, Google would have to pay royalties to Microsoft for the Microsoft intellectual property that it uses for its maps. Samsung, HTC, LG and other makers of Android devices have already recognised the patent applying to the Microsoft technology and taken out licensing agreement.

The report comes as Google is accused of “arrogance” in the UK after it apparently ignored requests for privacy and published photographs of their homes from its Street View service. 

 

 More than half a dozen homeowners in Surrey asked the web giant not to post images of their properties online after it introduced Street View to Britain in 2009 over fears they could be used by burglars. Google duly blurred the pictures, only to republish fresh, unblurred ones later.

In separate news, it has emerged in a company email that Motorola Mobility is to cut more than 10 per cent of its workforce as Google moves to streamline its mobile phone business.

Google bought the loss-making Motorola for $12.5bn last year, its largest ever acquisition.

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Social Media is an Important Part of Your Marketing Mix, but Not the Only One.

Social media marketing is not a replacement for other marketing tactics and we highly recommend that you continue to do what has worked for you in the past.

Traditional marketing activities that still work for you, like advertising in a newspaper, sending direct mail and attending networking events, are still essential.

However, for most, social media marketing is now a critical component of an effective marketing strategy.
In fact, social media marketing works best when combined with other marketing activities, especially email marketing.

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Traditional vs. Social Media Marketing

Traditional Marketing 101

Most everyone thinks of marketing as the business of promoting and selling products or services.

Marketers commonly refer to a “funnel” to describe the way they attract new prospects and convert them into customers.
What Do We Mean By Funnel?

Traditionally, we've prioritized our limited resources and time on trying to find and convert new prospects (the top of the funnel).

Keeping those hard-earned customers (the bottom of the funnel) has often been an afterthought.

That’s because, until recently, there was little we could do to keep existing customers that was drastically different from the tactics used to attract new ones.

Historically, the best you could do after turning a prospect into a customer was to provide a great customer experience and just hope they come back to buy more—and bring their friends with them.

But technology, namely social media and email, has changed the game.

There’s little doubt that technology has changed our lives, the way we are influenced and how we influence others. But for marketing, it’s more than just doing the same old thing using new tools. Social media marketing isn't your grandmother's marketing—it's different from what most of us have traditionally learned about marketing.


Social Media Marketing — Flip that Funnel
Social Media Marketing is about recognizing that your existing customers are your best assets.

And technology now enables us to influence consumer behavior both before and after the sale.

With low-cost and easy-to-use tools like social media and email, you no longer have to hope that customers come back and bring their friends with them.

Now you can reach out to your existing customers to remind them to come back, and make word-of-mouth as easy as clicking the share, like, or tweet buttons.

Bottom line: successful businesses understand that marketing does not end with the sale, but rather it begins after the first sale (the bottom of the traditional sales funnel).

Joseph Jaffe, one of our favorite authors, calls this "Flipping the Funnel." (We just call it smart.)

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Social Media & Email Marketing Go Great Together

A report from Monetate, an e-commerce software firm, has found that email marketing is still driving more overall sales than social media efforts.

But there’s no need to start grappling your forehead and deleting Facebook Pages left and right. It’s important to keep in mind that all of these channels work together, not against each other.

Social media sites, in general, are a far more casual environment that can help build brand awareness, provide bite-size bits of industry information, and create communities among your customers.

That said, email has the advantage of directly reaching a single person. Not only that, you can use analytics to see what that person clicks and opens, which are statistics you can use to segment your list and direct different customers to personalized destinations.

So, if you're asking yourself the question, Don't be late contact us.

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Google Once Again Claims 67% Search Market Share

It’s hardly headline news that Google is by far the most popular search engine for users in the U.S. and most of the world. But what is headline worthy: for two of the past three months, Google has owned 67 percent of the U.S. search market.

Google hit the unprecedented search market share of 67 percent for the first time in November 2012, then dipped slightly to 66.7 percent in December, only to rebound to 67 percent in January, comScore reported.
In January 2012, Google’s search market share was still the far and away leader in the U.S., at 65.6 percent.
As we reported earlier this month, Google is the most popular search engine globally. That same report also revealed that Yandex had passed Bing to become the fourth most used search engine, behind Baidu and Yahoo, respectively.

Despite a renewed push with TV commercials promoting the Bing It On challenge, it seems U.S. users aren’t being convinced to break the Google habit. But it’s not all bad news for Google’s closest U.S. rival.
Bing reached a new milestone as well – 16.5 percent (up from 16.3 percent in December). In January 2012, Bing's U.S. search market share stood at 15.2 percent.

Microsoft’s search engine is still miles behind Google, even when you add in Yahoo’s Bing-powered search market share. Search results powered by Google totaled 69.3 percent in January, up from 69.1 percent in December, while Bing-powered searches held steady from December at 25.6 percent.

As for Yahoo, CEO Marissa Mayer has made no secret that she’s not happy with the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, which has seen Yahoo and Bing basically swapping search market share over the past two years, rather than eat into Google’s gigantic lead. Holding to form, Bing went up, and Yahoo went down in January.
Yahoo’s search market share dropped from 12.2 percent in December to 12.1 percent in January. Yahoo’s search market share stood at 14.1 percent in January 2012. Yahoo has lost search market share 13 out of the last 16 months and has been dropping year-over-year dating back to January 2007, when Yahoo was at 28.1 percent.

Ask’s search market share dropped to 2.8 percent in January, down from 3 percent in December. AOL also declined – from 1.8 percent in December to 1.7 percent in January.

The number of core searches jumped to 17.6 billion in January, an increase of 11 percent compared to December. Google sites led the way with 13.1 billion searches (up 11 percent) followed by Microsoft sites with 3.2 billion searches (up 12 percent), Yahoo sites with 2.3 billion (up 9 percent), Ask Network with 536 million, and AOL with 331 million (up 7 percent).

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A Hallway Page: What Roll Participate in SEO

A Hallway Page is used to index to a group of pages that you would like the search engine spiders to find. Once a search engine spider indexes the hallway page, it should also follow all the links on that hallway page and in turn index those pages as well. Might be it's like site-map page

When this hallway page is submitted to a search engine, the search engine's spider travels down the page and branches off to these links indexing those pages you really want indexed.


Generally Hallway Page can be defined as a website that comprises of all the links to all those enhanced webpages which you have distinctly enhanced for several google separately. Hallway Page can also be called as index webpages indexing the bunch of webpages especially meant to be spotted out by the robots.

Benefits of Hallway Page, It's work really well in enhancing your online look for motor pagerank because at times google give better ranks to those webpages which have already gotten better score by the online look for motor spiders.

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Microsoft's new apps add search tools to Excel, Word

Microsoft last week announced the availability of five new Bing apps for its Office 2013 and Office 365 products. The apps' January 31 arrival came on the heels of the refreshed Office products themselves, which were released on January 29 as both traditional standalone purchases and a subscription-based service.


It remains to be seen how customers will take to the new model, in which users pay perpetual fees in exchange for enhanced cloud functionality, greater license flexibility and access to the latest releases. Any apprehensions about subscription costs, though, won't carry over to the new Bing products, as Microsoft has offered them for free. The apps are intended to inject search functionality into Word and Excel document-creating. They join similar Bing tools already available for Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox.

Bing Maps for Office allows Excel users to plot location data onto live, interactive Bing maps. It includes data visualization options, such as translating various column values into different-sized shapes on the map. Users can use either a mouse or touch-based gestures to manipulate the map's view, which can be pinched in to the street level or zoomed out to a bird's eye perspective. 


Bing Finance for Office is a beta product that allows users to create finance portfolio tables in Excel. Stock symbols can be input and fields can be customized to display a wide range of content, including live price updates.
Bing News Search for Office lets users search for news and videos from within Word documents. Results can be inserted into the document with a single click and favorite searches can be saved for later use. 

The last of the five new offerings, Bing Image Search for Office allows users to launch a Web search from within Word by typing into a search box or by selecting text within the document. The app can also insert search returns into the document with a single click. 

According to Microsoft's most recent quarterly earnings, the company's Online Services Division, which is responsible for Bing, posted a mixed performance, increasing its revenue but remaining unprofitable overall. The new Bing apps won't change this picture on their own, but they offer synergies that could help Microsoft's search engine gain market share. Though some users have turned to alternatives such as GoogleDocs and OpenOffice, the Office suite is still among the business world's most ubiquitous and essential tools. If the new apps socialize users to rely on Bing, Microsoft could see incremental gains. According to the most recent numbers from data analytics firm comScore, Bing has achieved positive growth of late but remains a distant second to Google. 

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Twitter Search Lets You Once Again Find Old Tweets

In a post today, Twitter says that some older tweets are now going to be available. How far back? That’s not said; but, it seems like tweets that are particularly popular or notable will be available. From Twitter’s post:

As we roll this out over the coming days, the Tweets that you’ll see in search results represent a fairly small percentage of total Tweets ever sent. We look at a variety of types of engagement, like favorites, retweets and clicks, to determine which Tweets to show.

Have You Met Twitter’s Advanced Search?

I had more luck when I used Twitter’s advanced search feature. There, I was able to narrow my search to tweets made just by the @barackobama account for “four more years,” and that brought the famous tweet up:

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Seven Quick Tips For Using Social Media In Your Small Business

Today, I’m going to share real briefly with you the idea of giving you seven quick tips for using social media for your small business. As entrepreneurs, as solopreneurs, as home-based business professionals, as Internet marketers, whatever it is, social media is clearly here to stay. The reality is social media is being dominated by the large brands and by these enormous viral offers that are out there. What’s interesting is that we as small business owners can actually tap in to the enormous strength and stream of prospects on the web right alongside the big companies. It’s truly a way to be able to have a level playing field because social media opportunity is a very low point of entry to get in and market to. The key is knowing a few simple tricks and tips that will help you be able to compete.

Facebook & Twitter

Let’s talk about those right now, the seven quick tips for you using social media in your small business. I’m going talk first about Facebook and Twitter. You might think this is pretty obvious, Aaron. Here’s the reality, Facebook and Twitter are powerful mediums if you don’t make a simple mistake that many small businesses do. They try to be like the big guys. That doesn’t make sense because you do not have the brand, you do not have the recognition, nor the financial resources to compete. They can get away with just putting a logo that they worked for many years to brand. You can’t. It’s called Facebook not Logobook, so don’t go faceless. It’s important to make sure that people can connect you and your staff or your team. The other thing is that it’s about personal connection. People like the idea that with Facebook and Twitter they get to know who they’re doing business with. This gives us as small businesses an advantage to the big companies.

Candid Open Conversations

The other beautiful thing about social media is it opens up an opportunity for people to be able to have candid open conversations. Think about this for just a minute. If you have a retail store and a customer walks in do you say hello to them first or do you immediately bombard them with offers, sales pitches, throwing new products at them, a sales rack at them, of course not. My question is why do people find that in their mind that is a logical thing to do in online business? It doesn’t make any sense. You have to make sure that you are friendly and you have to invite people like you’re inviting them into your home and get to know them and let them get to know you before you ask them to business with you.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words. We’ve all heard this so many times, but people don’t include pictures in their social media. Look, if you have a cupcake business, show the pictures, don’t tell me what kind they are. If you have a business where you have lots of clients that you’ve helped or they’ve lost weight because of what you’ve done, show before and after pictures. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words and you need to do it. People are very visual these days, so it’s super important to do this.

You Are The Expert

You’re an expert. People need to see you as the expert. One thing that small business owners typically aren’t very good at is bragging, bragging about themselves, whether you’re a hair stylist, whether you’re a creative director, whether you’re a web developer, whether you’re a public speaker, you have to learn to brag about what you’re great at so people know what you’re the expert in. You have to let your potential clients and customers know what you’re great at. You can do this by offering them tips and tricks, hints. You can also comment on the industry that you’re in as a whole. You can offer a debate about people. Let me tell you something, when you offer debates it’s a fine line about forcing your particular opinion on people. Put your common sense cap on, go the common sense corner, and then just be logical.

YouTube

YouTube, another powerful tool. Once you started showcasing why your business is somebody that they want to work with; why your business is friendly; why they’re welcome and invited into your home, if you will; then you need to show them through YouTube the different ways that you can help them. It’s a great channel to help you begin to build more relationships with the people that you’re talking to.

Ask For Recommendations

Ask for recommendations from people. Listen, it’s important that you tell people, “Look, if you like my product or service refer it to a friend.” Ask them to give you testimonials, to talk about their personal experiences. Ask for it because this is just more social proof that will show that you are the expert.

Why Friends & Family Matter

I want to tell you why your friends and family actually really do matter. People don’t understand this. When your friends and family are on your social media platforms they have friends and those friends are your potential customers, and those friends’ friends are your potential customers. It’s important that no matter what you do you’re always professional. You operate in a professional manner. You become personable, and that you always remember the golden rule. Even if they don’t do business with you, you treat them with respect so that you can gain referrals. Your friends and family absolutely matter because they are an extension of you which gives you even a broader, bigger reach.

I hope that these seven quick tips for social media have helped you just to try to put things into perspective and give you a reminder. I appreciate you all. Remember, success is a choice.

To Your Success visit: News Source

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