Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Modern businesses get it done in the cloud on the go, are you?
OOTD – It’s A Family Affair
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JCulture/~3/BLT1_V-CXqM/ootd-its-a-family-affair.html
How Did You Choose Your Primary Search Engine?
When you search, how did you pick your primary search engine?
Most people use the search engine which they believe has the best relevancy, whatever their computer came with, or what a friend recommended.
| Vote | All (1190) |
|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 30.4% (+3.0 / -2.9) |
| the computer had a default selected | 26.8% (+2.9 / -2.7) |
| a friend told me about it | 23.1% (+2.9 / -2.7) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 10.3% (+2.3 / -1.9) |
| it came bundled with software | 9.5% (+2.3 / -1.9) |
Men are more inclined to believe in superior relevancy, whereas women are more likely to use the default or what a friend recommends
| Vote | Men (621) | Women (569) |
|---|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 35.4% (+4.2 / -3.9) | 25.5% (+4.4 / -4.0) |
| the computer had a default selected | 21.8% (+3.7 / -3.3) | 31.5% (+4.6 / -4.3) |
| a friend told me about it | 21.3% (+3.7 / -3.3) | 24.8% (+4.5 / -4.0) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 11.9% (+3.1 / -2.5) | 8.8% (+3.5 / -2.6) |
| it came bundled with software | 9.7% (+2.9 / -2.3) | 9.3% (+3.8 / -2.8) |
The youngest age group is easiest to influence with advertising or buying the default placement. 25 to 34 is more concerned about relevancy & older people are more likely to have it bundled with software than younger people are.
| Vote | 18-24 year-olds (289) | 25-34 year-olds (309) | 35-44 year-olds (151) | 45-54 year-olds (186) | 55-64 year-olds (167) | 65+ year-olds (88) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 30.1% (+5.5 / -5.0) | 36.9% (+5.9 / -5.5) | 32.4% (+7.8 / -6.9) | 28.2% (+7.0 / -6.1) | 27.6% (+7.7 / -6.6) | 28.0% (+10.8 / -8.7) |
| the computer had a default selected | 29.0% (+5.5 / -4.9) | 23.8% (+5.4 / -4.7) | 27.6% (+7.6 / -6.5) | 24.2% (+6.8 / -5.7) | 26.0% (+7.6 / -6.4) | 26.1% (+11.3 / -8.8) |
| a friend told me about it | 20.7% (+5.0 / -4.3) | 21.1% (+5.5 / -4.6) | 23.8% (+7.7 / -6.3) | 24.8% (+7.0 / -5.9) | 25.0% (+7.4 / -6.2) | 24.6% (+11.4 / -8.7) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 14.2% (+4.5 / -3.6) | 10.8% (+4.2 / -3.1) | 10.5% (+6.0 / -4.0) | 12.8% (+5.7 / -4.1) | 8.3% (+5.5 / -3.4) | 3.1% (+10.7 / -2.5) |
| it came bundled with software | 6.0% (+3.4 / -2.2) | 7.5% (+3.9 / -2.6) | 5.8% (+5.4 / -2.9) | 10.0% (+5.3 / -3.6) | 13.1% (+5.8 / -4.2) | 18.2% (+10.6 / -7.3) |
People out west tend to be more concerned with / driven by perceived relevancy. People in the midwest rely more on word of mouth. People in the south and north east are more likely to use the default.
| Vote | The US Midwest (236) | The US Northeast (317) | The US South (369) | The US West (268) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 24.4% (+6.8 / -5.7) | 29.8% (+5.9 / -5.3) | 29.6% (+5.3 / -4.8) | 37.2% (+6.6 / -6.2) |
| the computer had a default selected | 27.3% (+6.7 / -5.8) | 29.3% (+6.0 / -5.3) | 29.8% (+5.5 / -5.0) | 19.8% (+5.6 / -4.7) |
| a friend told me about it | 25.6% (+6.9 / -5.9) | 18.4% (+5.4 / -4.4) | 22.6% (+5.3 / -4.5) | 25.0% (+6.1 / -5.3) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 11.5% (+5.8 / -4.0) | 12.6% (+4.6 / -3.5) | 9.8% (+4.4 / -3.1) | 8.2% (+4.6 / -3.0) |
| it came bundled with software | 11.2% (+6.1 / -4.1) | 9.9% (+4.5 / -3.2) | 8.1% (+4.3 / -2.9) | 9.7% (+5.1 / -3.5) |
Here is data by population density.
| Vote | Urban areas (612) | Rural areas (107) | Suburban areas (445) |
|---|---|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 29.9% (+4.2 / -3.9) | 27.8% (+9.9 / -8.1) | 30.4% (+5.3 / -4.8) |
| the computer had a default selected | 27.2% (+4.4 / -4.0) | 27.7% (+9.5 / -7.9) | 26.5% (+5.1 / -4.5) |
| a friend told me about it | 23.1% (+4.3 / -3.8) | 25.1% (+9.6 / -7.6) | 23.2% (+4.8 / -4.2) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 10.4% (+3.8 / -2.9) | 8.7% (+8.6 / -4.5) | 10.5% (+4.6 / -3.3) |
| it came bundled with software | 9.4% (+4.0 / -2.9) | 10.6% (+8.8 / -5.1) | 9.3% (+4.5 / -3.1) |
There doesn't appear to be any obvious correlations with age.
| Vote | People earning $0-24K (133) | People earning $25-49K (658) | People earning $50-74K (315) | People earning $75-99K (68) | People earning $100-149K (18) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| it has superior relevancy | 32.8% (+9.1 / -7.9) | 29.8% (+4.2 / -3.9) | 30.9% (+6.5 / -5.8) | 27.7% (+11.9 / -9.4) | 32.6% (+21.2 / -15.9) |
| the computer had a default selected | 21.7% (+8.6 / -6.7) | 29.0% (+4.3 / -4.0) | 22.1% (+6.0 / -5.0) | 30.7% (+12.4 / -10.1) | 20.9% (+22.5 / -12.6) |
| a friend told me about it | 23.5% (+9.0 / -7.1) | 24.5% (+4.1 / -3.7) | 20.1% (+6.0 / -4.9) | 17.2% (+12.0 / -7.7) | 13.9% (+23.4 / -9.7) |
| I saw it on a TV ad | 11.8% (+7.3 / -4.7) | 8.4% (+3.5 / -2.5) | 15.6% (+6.0 / -4.5) | 4.2% (+13.7 / -3.3) | 25.6% (+22.1 / -14.1) |
| it came bundled with software | 10.2% (+7.7 / -4.6) | 8.3% (+3.3 / -2.4) | 11.4% (+5.5 / -3.9) | 20.2% (+12.2 / -8.4) | 7.0% (+27.3 / -5.9) |
Source: http://www.seobook.com/how-did-you-choose-your-primary-search-engine
Patience is a Virtue
Sorry I haven't blogged as much lately, but one of our employees recently had a child and Google sending out so many warning messages in webmaster central has created a ton of demand for independent SEO advice. Our growth in demand last month was higher than any month outside of the time a few years ago when we announced we would be raising prices and got so many new subscribers that I had to close down the ability to sign up for about 3 or 4 months because there were so many new customers.
Google has been firing on all cylinders this year. They did have a few snafus in the press, but those didn't have any noticeable impact on user perception or behavior & Google recently rolled out yet another billion Dollar business in their consumer surveys.
Google is doing an excellent job of adding friction to SEO & managing its perception to make it appear less stable, less trustworthy and to discourage investment in SEO. They send out warnings for unnatural links, warnings for traffic drops, and even warnings for traffic increases.
Webmaster Tools is a bit of a strange bird...
- Any SEO consultant who has client sites tied into Webmaster Tools makes it easy to connect them together (making any black swan editorial decisions far riskier).
- Any SEO company which has clients sign up for their own Webmaster Tools account now has to deal with explaining why things change, when many of the changes that happen are more driven by algorthmic shifts (adding local results to the SERPs or taking them away, other forms of localization, changing of ad placement on the SERP, etc.) than by the work of the SEO. This in turn adds costs to managing SEO projects while also making them seem less stable (even outside of those who were use paid link networks). Think through the sequence...
- Google first sends a warning for traffic going up, and the SEO tells the client that this is because they did such a great job with SEO.
- Then Google sends a warning for traffic dropping & the client worries that something is wrong.
- The net impact on actual traffic or conversions could be a 0, but the warnings amplify the perception of changes.
- Any SEO who doesn't use Webmaster Tools loses search referral data. It first started with logged in Google users, but apparently it is also headed to Firefox. Who's to say Google Chrome & Safari won't follow Firefox at some point?
Google has changed & obfuscated so many things that it is very hard to isolate cause and effect. They have made changes to how much data you get, changes to their analytics interface & how they report unique visitors, changes to how tightly they filter certain link behaviors, they have rolled in frequent Panda updates, and they have nailed a number of the paid link networks.
BuildMyRank shut down after leaving a self-destructive footprint that made it easy for Google to nuke their network, and some of the remaining paid link networks are getting nailed. Some of their customers are at this point driven primarily by fear, counting down their remaining days as the sky is falling. Fear is an important emotion designed to protect us, but when it is a primary driver we risk self-destruction.
The big winners in these moves by Google are:
- Google, since they grant themselves more editorial leeway. If everyone is a scofflaw then they can hit just about anyone they want. And the organic search results are going to be far easier to police if many market participants are held back by a fear tax.
- Larger businesses which are harder to justify hitting & which can buy out smaller businesses at lower multiples based on the perception of fear.
- Sites which were outranked by people using the obvious paid links, which now rank a bit better after some of those paid link buyers were removed from the search results.
- SEOs who out others & market themselves by using polarizing commentary (at least in the short run, whereas in the long run that may backfire).
- Those engaging in negative SEO, which sell services to smoke competitors.
The big losers from these Google moves are:
- some of the paid link networks & those who used them for years
- under-priced SEO service providers who were only able to make the model work by scaling up on risk
- smaller businesses who are not particularly spammy, but are so paralyzed by fear that they won't put in enough effort & investment to compete in the marketplace
One of the reasons I haven't advocated using the paid link networks is I was afraid of putting the associated keywords into a hopper of automated competition that I would then have to compete against year after year. Even if you usually win, over the course of years you can still lose a lot of money by promoting the creation of disposable, automated & scalable competing sites. If you don't mind projects getting hit & starting over the ROI on such efforts might work out, but after so many years in the industry the idea of starting over again and again as sites get hit is less appealing.
It is not just that the links are not trusted, but now they stand a far greater chance of causing penalties:
Dear site owner or webmaster of ….
We’ve detected that some of your site’s pages may be using techniques that are outside Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass PageRank or participating in link schemes.
We encourage you to make changes to your site so that it meets our quality guidelines. Once you’ve made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google’s search results.
If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request.
If you have any questions about how to resolve this issue, please see our Webmaster Help Forum for support.
Sincerely,
Google Search Quality Team
If that doesn't change then negative SEO will become a bigger issue than paid links ever were.
What is hard about Google penalizing websites for such links is that it is cheap & easy for someone else to set you up. Shortly after Dan Thies mentioned that it was "about time" to Matt Cutts on Twitter someone started throwing some of the splog links at his site. It is safe to say that Dan didn't build those links, but there are many people who will be in the same situation as Dan who did nothing wrong but had a competitor set them up.
And there is no easy way to disconnect your site from those types of links.
If you go back a few years, it was quite easy to win at SEO by doing it in a "paint by number" fashion. One rarely got hit unless they were exceptionally excessive and stuck out like a sore thumb.
But after all of Google's recent moves, a few missed steps in a drunken stupor can have the same result.
Now more than ever, patience is a virtue!
Source: http://www.seobook.com/patience
Online Debates vs Business Participation in Social Media
There are certain words and phrases that bring out the fighting instinct in people. As we read social media postings, we are bound to come across statements that rub us the wrong way.
If you have any sincere beliefs at all, it's only natural to be displeased, even upset, when someone makes fun of it, or vigorously states an opposing view.
What kinds of remarks get your blood boiling?
Praise for a politician you despise? Ridicule of your religious beliefs? Mockery of your secular philosophy? Non-factual claims? Common misunderstandings?
News about yet another waste of tax payer money? Talk of cutting social programs while increasing funds for war or corporate subsidies?
Repetition of political cliches and party lines, verbatim, like a parrot or robot?
Reports on yet another horrible crime against women, children, animals, or the environment? Rants against a celebrity or rock band you like?
Everyone has an anger trigger, an insult threshold, an emotional switch that can make black smoke pour out their ears and lightning shoot from their eyes.
But lots of people hate conflict. Or they don't enjoy arguing. Or they're too educated to believe that debates can change anyone's opinion.
Then there are people who love to argue and like to instigate controversy with inflammatory remarks.
Some people identify so deeply with a person or idea, they consider any criticism of that person or thing to be a personal attack against themselves. Others feel obligated to defend a belief and will jump on every opportunity to do so.
It can take a lot of self-restraint to not react to a provocation that hits your emotional hot spot. Just seeing the smug statement, and a flurry of comments in support of it, can tempt you to rain on their parade and insert a contrary opinion or link.
If you're an online activist, you may feel it's your duty to engage in these blogocombat debates. You sharpen your ideological rhetoric and discussion skills by diving into controversial topic threads.
If you're representing a business, you will probably refrain from such activity. You focus on sharing your industry insights and tips that can help people solve problems related to your field.
By sticking to your expertise, and innocent jovial banter with social media friends, you avoid the risk of alienating potential customers and clients.
Source: http://pluperfecter.blogspot.com/2012/05/online-debates-vs-business.html
Ways to Master the Art of the blog post
It is a universal fact that good quality content is the basic prerequisite for a successful blog. However, not everyone is a born writer and possess the capability of writing great articles. In that case how can you drive high traffic to your blog? Here comes the ways [...]
Source: http://jaysonlinereviews.com/ways-master-art-blog-post/
Video Blog: Make Your Listings Stand Out From Your Competitors!
Unless you have managed to source a product that no other seller can get their hands on, you'll face competition when you sell your items on eBay or other marketplaces.
In this lesson, we reveal one simple trick that pushes your competitors aside and helps your items snap up your buyer's attention!
Check out the video below for the low-down.
Unleash Your True Selling Potential with Online Selling Tactics
Get today's video blog written transcript below:
"Hi guys,
I'm Alice, and I’m back with another selling tip to help you boost your online sales.
Now, today’s tip is one that I learned from (SaleHoo Community Manager), Marc Ransom and it’s a really great one to make your listings stand out from other seller's ones.
This tip is particularly useful if you are selling products on eBay or another marketplace and you are selling a generic product like a DVD, or CD where the images pretty much always look the same, or if you are drop shipping products and a lot of your competitors have the exact same product photos as you .
As you can see from the screenshot I have here (see video), when this happens, and everyone has the same photo, all the listings look exactly the same in search results, so buyers just click on the first one they see, or the one with the lowest price.
So how can you make your image stand out from others, without having to lower your price ?
Well as you can see in this next screenshot, all it takes is a little trick photo editing.
As you can see here, Marc’s listing, stands out from the others because it features his branding and a green tick which is a very encouraging symbol for buyers – green means go and a tick means yes, so it sends buyers all the right messages!
While most sellers have to pay for listing upgrades or Gallery Plus, which really eats into your margins, you can make these simple edits for nothing and still enjoy the benefits!
Best of all, you don’t need to be a PhotoShop expert to edit your photos. Here are some free software options that you can use to make small these small edits to your images and make them stand out:
Photo editing software
And for those of you who want something a little more advanced, Marc recommends Corel which is the software he used in the example I showed you with the tick and the text that he added. It’s not free, but you can get a free trial to test it out before you buy it. The full version is around US$449.
So check those software options out, I will put links below the video so you can take a look and try out this selling tactic.
If you want to learn more in-depth and proven selling strategies to help you boost your sales, check out my video training course Online Selling Tactics where I show you step, by step, how to implement proven and powerful selling strategies that boost your sales and help you build a strong, profitable business.
Thanks for watching and I will see you next time."
Source: http://www.salehoo.com/blog/stand-out-from-competitors
Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program – Use These Effective Tips To Achieve Good Results
A revolution has occurred in the marketing world after the introduction of affiliate marketing programs. By a pay per lead affiliate programs http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/affiliate/faqs.html, you get paid just by referring visitors to the merchants sites. The visitors don’t need to buy anything, but [...]
Source: http://jaysonlinereviews.com/pay-lead-affiliate-program-effective-tips-achieve-good-results/
Monday, May 28, 2012
Video Starting Points: Make and Share Your First Video
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Video Starting Points: Make and Share Your First Video
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/UzKAEu1DPLQ/
Chance to win e-BOOK SEO Guide for Beginners
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WebsudasaBlog/~3/DHpGHbgJTzk/
WWDC 2012: Next iOS is most likely to appear with these 5 features
iOS 6 - code named as Sundance - is most likely to be shown at Apple WWDC 2012 in California this June and is expected with these 5 features.
Read full article here > WWDC 2012: Next iOS is most likely to appear with these 5 features written by Tushar Tajane
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techzoom/kzCz/~3/mOezpg7RqNM/
How To Pick And Promote Hot Selling Quality Clickbank Products Tutorial
How To Pick And Promote Hot Selling Quality Clickbank Products That Will Make You Money?
Here is what I do step by step when I am looking for a great Clickbank course to buy, promote, and recommend to my blog readers and email subscribers.
Clickbank has thousands of products for you to promote online and earn a nice [...]
Source: http://jaysonlinereviews.com/pick-promote-hot-selling-quality-clickbank-products-tutorial/
Blocking Spammers and Moderating Trolls on YouTube
It's annoying how social media platforms make it difficult to block people. When you are being followed all over the internet by a spammer like LPBband, a boring generic techno group, it should be easy to block them from sending you messages and emails, and from posting comments on your pages.
Unfortunately, it's not always easy to figure out how to block someone. In fact, it is often a hidden option. In such cases, you need to Google it, for example: "Block YouTube user". Even then, the instructions are odd.
QUOTE
To block a user, navigate directly to their Channel page. On their Feed or Featured tab, you will see a section on the right hand panel of their page which states Created By: UserName. Next to their name is a drop-down arrow where you will see (Block User | Send Message). Click Block User.
END QUOTE
There is no way you'd know that the little down arrow next to Created By: UserName would be where the Block User tool would be found.
Block User should be a prominent button next to Subscribe To User or similar action.
This obnoxious LPBband is a pain in the butt.
On my Str8 Sounds page on ReverbNation, they kept adding themselves to my Fans list, then deleting themselves, than adding again, over and over, so they'd remain in the Recent Fans display, thus visible, rather than dropping into the All Fans link. (ReverbNation has recently changed their UI user interface, so Fans are configured into Top Fans and All Fans.)
LPBband kept manipulating my Recent Fans display, posting self-promotional comments, and sending me private messages to check out their latest song.
I finally got fed up with their tactics. I deleted them and blocked them from my ReverbNation page. But they keep showing up on my other social networks.
It's a shame that Blocking users is often hidden in a drop down menu that is rendered as a tiny arrow, and is not intuitively evident as the location of the block tool.
YouTube trolls typically are among the most immature and vile of all internet trolls. They tend to use F bombs, racist attacks, sexist slurs, and other junior high school mentality tactics.
For business and individual YouTube accounts, it's a good idea to configure your settings to Allow Comments with Approval Only.
That way, you can monitor all comments prior to them being visible to the public. If you feel a comment is trollish, abusive, irrelevant, or flat out insane, you can delete it and it will never have been seen to pollute your YouTube video.
But you must set this preference for each video you upload. For some mysterious reason, YouTube does not provide a setting to make this universal for all your videos.
To do this in the New YouTube User Interface:
Video Manager > Select a video > Edit > Advanced Settings > Allow Comments > Approved.
Source: http://pluperfecter.blogspot.com/2012/04/blocking-spammers-and-moderating-trolls.html
Free Beauty Inspired Social Media Icons for Beauty Blogs/Websites
If Matt Cutts Was Made of LEGO, What Would He Look Like?
Maybe something like this...
...or this...
A bunch more here, with cut & paste code near your favorites.
Source: http://www.seobook.com/lego-seo
Future of Engagement: What is Microsoft So.cl?
Source: http://www.netchunks.com/future-of-engagement-what-is-microsoft-so-cl/
You Want To Make Money Online But You Don’t Even Have An Email List WTH?
I apologize in advance for the strong headline to this blog post but it is very true! There is no magic formula for making extra money online just a little hard work, and a little persistence. As with anything the more [...]
Source: http://jaysonlinereviews.com/money-online-email-list-wtf/
Meeting The Needs Of Consumers With Mobile Ecommerce Solutions
Source: http://www.netchunks.com/meeting-the-needs-of-consumers-with-mobile-ecommerce-solutions/
Affiliate Marketing Training – How To Make My First Commission Check? Answer Too A Struggling Newbie
This is an email I received today from a struggling affiliate marketer who is just starting out. I realize a lot of beginners are suffering from information overload, and do not know how to get started as an affiliate marketer?
I know [...]
Source: http://jaysonlinereviews.com/affiliate-marketing-training-commission-check-answer-struggling-newbie/
Chance to win e-BOOK SEO Guide for Beginners
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WebsudasaBlog/~3/DHpGHbgJTzk/