It will be interesting to see how Buzz takes on the other social networking sites. It appears to be blending Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare into one formidable challenger, but is it likely to be that “killer” of any or all of these? Ummm… doubtful. I think it offers a different way of sharing media but it’s unlikely to lure over Facebook or Twitter users. It’s likely to be attractive to a small percent of existing Gmail users who are not already using one of the other social media sites.

The biggest issue I predict with Buzz is that it’s not a stand-alone application. Meaning someone who’s never heard of Buzz will only be aware of it if they have and use Gmail and are connected to someone else who also has and uses a Gmail account. It’s kind of like an invitation to a party that you already have to be attending in the first place. Google could have made Buzz accounts accessible with existing Gmail accounts (and provided the Gmail integration), but it should have made Buzz its own site with allowances for other non-Gmail accounts to participate. Perhaps that’s phase two though, after testing it on a smaller scale. We’ll wait and see if it’s really a buzz or just a buzzard.

Well, if this is a problem of yours, then your life is about to get a little easier! I recommend HootSuite for those managing multiple twitter accounts. It’s what I, personally, use now for managing my own personal Twitter account as well as all of our Mannix Marketing Twitter accounts for Saratoga, Lake George, Albany, the Adirondacks, etc. (I switched from Tweetlater after just one day of using Hootsuite!)

HootSuite has been more than a timesaver; it has been a lifesaver for me! It’s a fun, cute design, and it makes things incredibly easy….

- Hootsuite Screenshot -

The above is called your 'Hootsuite Dashboard'

Simply set yourself up with one username in Hootsuite, and you can add in all your Twitter profiles, and then update them all right from one place – without having to sign in and out, etc. You simply click on the profile icon (upper right) that you want to update, and then type your status in the box at the top. It is SO easy!

You can even schedule tweets in advance. You just click Send Later instead of Send Now and then choose the exact date and time you would like to send.

Hootsuite also lets you shrink links down into a special format, which allows for link tracking (as well as more room in your tweet). It will keep track of how many people clicked on that link so you can test the effectiveness of different messages. It will also tell you where those clicks are coming from. So, for example, if you have your twitter feed feeding into your Facebook page, you can easily tell if you generated more clicks from your Tweet or your Facebook post. It’s really helpful.

What I really love is that it lets you pull in your friends feed for all the people you follow. This is what makes Hootsuite unlike many other platforms where you are just a one-sided broadcast for yourself and not connected to the rest of the Twitterverse. With Hootsuite, you stay connected!

You can even customize your columns to show exactly what you would like, where you would like it. So if you don’t care about having your pending messages there, but maybe you would rather have a private messages column, you can do that. Or if you would like to have your Sent Tweets column first and your Home Feed second, you can do that too. It’s completely customizable.

Best of all, Hootsuite is free to use! You can do all this and not pay a dime. It’s really great, and I recommend you give it a try!

Find more information about Social Media Do’s and Don’ts…

Not sure how to get started on Twitter? Give us a call! We’d be happy to help you out! Mannix Marketing 518-743-9424

But my challenge to you this year is to not only make resolutions for yourself, but make them for your business. After all, our business is our livelihood. We need to make sure that it is just as “healthy” and “happy” as it can be.

So, here are some ideas to start 2010 with gusto!

A. Get that website redesign that you’ve been thinking about! It’s time and it really does make a difference.

B. Try Social Media Marketing. That’s right … Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr. It cannot be denied that Social Media is a powerful tool in marketing your brand. Start slowly by creating one account. Get used to how it works and how you can use it for marketing purposes. Put it on your daily schedule for updating and work on building your fan base and followers. Once you are comfortable with the one account, you are ready to add another.

Make sure that you are maximizing your opportunities with social marketing. The conversation starts online, but the conversion happens in the real world.

C. Embrace one new “function” on your website. Try adding something new and creative to your website. After all, your website is your vehicle to promote your business. Explore videos. Add a Newsletter Sign up and try Email Marketing. Try blogging. Add related articles or expand your content by adding a new section altogether. Keep your website moving forward!

D. Set marketing goals. With all these new marketing strategies, make sure you track your efforts. You’ll easily be able to see the difference your new strategies are making by analyzing your statistics. Continue doing whichever avenues have made a positive impact.

E. Get involved. Read related blogs and leave comments. Become fans of Facebook pages. Send Direct Messages on Twitter. In a word … participate. Your effort will be rewarded.

F. Cross your t’s and dot your i’s. Make sure your online profiles are fully complete. If you can add 10 pictures, add 10 pictures. Fill out all descriptions and added info sections. Don’t forget about the reviews! Make sure you have enough reviews by soliciting happy clients for them. It’s a good idea to go and check all accounts. You may have thought you would go back to finish one or more of them but forgot about it.

G. Manage your reputation. With the introduction to real time search, it is more important than ever to be aware of what is being said. Use Twitter Search to track any mention of your name, your keywords, your location and your competitors’ name. Use Google Alerts to have an email update sent directly to your inbox. Based on your choice of query or topic, Google will send an email of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.). This is very handy indeed.

Above all, have a happy and healthy New Year!

Those corporate site bigwigs were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of dollar signs added up in their heads.
But MaAndPa.com worried, that when Caffeine soon unwrapped,
They’d be in for something colder than a long winter’s nap.

When away from the PC, the screen did refresh,
Pa sprang from the couch to see what was left.
A look to the screen and nothing new yet,
Time to open more tabs and surf on the net.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of midday to objects below.
When, what to pa’s wondering eyes should appear,
But a post from Matt Cutts, Oh dear, Oh dear.

With a little hesitation he decided to click play,
The moment had arrived to hear what he had to say.
Without hesitation, he got to the point,
Without further delay it was time to anoint.

“Now faster! Now better! More user friendly for all!
On my PC! On your Mac! They’ll be no slow crawl!
To the top of the rankings go the relevant and fast!
Now search away! Search away! Nonsense is a thing of the past!”

As fast as pa could he got ma from her tea,
They’re going together to face off with Caffeine.
So over to the PC they once again went,
With knots in their stomach, and most of their energy spent.

And then, without warning, IE just shut down,
They looked at each other and said not a sound.
Double click on the Mozilla icon, it had to be done,
For them to see tonight if they’re still #1.

It went to their home page, their business of course,
Of which they were the only labor force.
They got here quickly, as many others before,
But with Caffeine now live, would it ever happen any more?

Google.com went into the address bar,
As they made one final wish on a bright, twinkling star.
Into the search box was typed their major keyword,
Wishing that good things was what they were headed towards.

Pa clicked on ‘Search’ as he had done many times in the past,
They hoped that their site, would be looked on as one of the fast
What will happen right now, we’re not quite sure,
But come back in a few months and we’ll know a lot more.

These results will be displayed similar to how “News” has been populating into the search results. The difference is that it looks to be longer and with scrolling capability for more current results. There’s also an added function for drilling down into the data by time or date range. Real-time results do not appear to be taking the spots of natural listings in the Top 10… if anything, the results are pushed a little bit further down on the page.

“Google isn’t the first to initiate real-time search, but it is likely to make it mainstream.”

The implications of this new addition are a little too early to see clearly, but I think it will eventually change how we use search and therefore how we strategize for SEO. Google isn’t the first to initiate real-time search, but it is likely to make it mainstream. People are going to be taking crash courses and learning very quickly just how important the “now” information can be. Likewise, businesses are going to quickly see that having “active” social media profiles are not just good ideas… but necessary components of their search strategy. Businesses will also become mindful of the language used and will need to include search phrases (as it pertains) within their social profiles. I’m sure there will be some gaming attempts of the real-time results, but Google’s pretty quick at catching on - they’ll likely start to blacklist profiles from inclusion… so be careful not to overdo it and be mindful of your audience – they’re not dumb.

When looking at social media, the conversion rates thus far have been pretty miniscule (and over-hyped) when compared against traditional search conversions, but I think these conversions will change too, and should shoot way up with the new integration.

“…Real-Time Search will… [lead to] …an increase in bookmarking and back linking…”

Kind of a random thought, but I think one of the side effects of this new Real-Time Search will be an increase in bookmarking and back linking to the included sites and pages. With a traditional search, you could generally find the same page again simply by replicating the search (the Lazyman’s bookmark). With real-time resources… that information could be long buried. Searchers will be more likely to record these important time/date sensitive information somewhere… So another important feature that’s now even more necessary – having bookmarking scripts included on all of your web pages.

It’s pretty exciting stuff happening, and I think SEO as a whole be very busy in 2010!

At the time, I remember wondering (worrying) what chaos this would bring to the SEO world if that personalization were at everyone’s fingertips… if any given search phrase resulted in a slightly different position based on individuals’ search history.  I pictured clients calling me up complaining that they did a search at home and were #2 and now that they’re at work they’ve suddenly dropped to #8… Oh, and by the way, they called to verify with a buddy and he couldn’t find them at all. Well, Google was pretty serious about these personalized results. I didn’t realize how serious until they extended Personalized Search to everyone!

“Previously, we only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser. It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a ‘View customizations’ link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.”

The idea behind this change is to better the search results for the user, regardless of how it complicates the life of an SEO. I wonder if it will be well received or not. Actually, I wonder if it will even be noticed. It’s one of those silent types… like carbon monoxide. The typical searcher is NOT going to know enough (or care enough) to disable this type of recorded query from a discrete link in the upper right hand corner of their screen. They’ll leave it to the default setting and go about searching as they’ve always done. Nothing will change in how people go about searching, most of us will be oblivious that Google is slowly reshaping our results. However, those who aren’t oblivious, will likely be those who are calling their SEO consultants to “voice concern”.

So how does this change our SEO strategy? I think more than at any other time, “Content is King” now reigns supreme. The users will be that last layer of the Google algorithm and that means the quality of the content has got to be at the top of its game, surpassing the competition. Titles and description tags will need to be even more thought out to capture the clicks… Remember, a deep search of you on one day might return your site to Page 1 on a repeat query if you can engage your searcher with a 1-1 match of their intentions. Look to your website stats and traffic to guide your strategies. Also, I think brand building (on some level) will be even more crucial to this type of personalized search over time. If you think about what type of content will get pushed up first – it will likely be those recognizable brands and sites that are getting more clicks and working their way up in our results. Does this mean SEO is obsolete? Absolutely not! If anything, now more than ever you need to have a good SEO company (or in-house consultant) to help you make your next moves.

Is Bruce Clay an Internet Oracle? He spoke of big changes coming in search earlier this year. Perhaps he sums it up best…

“Ranking is dead,” says Bruce, recalling his words from his presentation. Going forward, he says you’re going to have to look at analytics, measure traffic, bounce rates, action, etc. SEOs will have to ask themselves questions like: – Did I get the conversion I was after? – Did I really deliver on the promise of SEO? Bruce thinks that in the first six months of 2009, we’re going to see a lot more implementation of behavior and intent-based search leading to a mindset of ranking is dead, and traffic is all that matters. 

Dear Verizon Online Customer,

Verizon Online will soon be making changes to our network to further strengthen the security of our customers’ email messages and our network and to help prevent spam.

We have blocked incoming email from Port 25, which is the default port used by email programs to connect to email servers and to send email, for some time now.  We are now taking the additional step of blocking outgoing e-mail messages from Port 25 to help ensure that our network is not used by spammers.  Depending on whether you use a web-based email service or an email program such as Microsoft Outlook®, you may need to make changes to your computer settings to ensure that your ability to send email is not interrupted.

If you use a web-based Email service (either Verizon.net or a third party email service, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.):

• If you use a web-based email service to send your email, you do not need to do anything as our implementation of Port 25 blocking for outgoing email messages will not affect your ability to send or receive web-based email.

If you use a third party Email service such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL and an Email program such as Microsoft Outlook:

• If you use an email service other than Verizon.net (such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) to send email through a program like Microsoft Outlook, you will need to make the following modification to your computer settings so that your ability to send email will not be affected:

• Change the port number in the “Advanced” section of your email program from Port 25 to Port 587.  Detailed instructions on how to change the port settings on your computer can be found at www.verizon.net/port25.

• If you’re using an email provider other than Verizon.net (such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) to send email through your email program and you are unable to send email after making the change to Port 587, please contact your email provider for additional information on their recommended port settings.

The above changes are necessary in order to allow you to continue to send email through your email program after November 3, 2009.

Thank you for being a valued Verizon customer.

Sincerely,

Verizon Online

But the fact that thousands of sites can be linked to by the same main URL domain can lead to a trust issue. How do you know if the link will lead to a safe site that really matches the copy that surrounds it? Is it possible that the link is a spam link, and the enticing copy surrounding it is only there to trick you into clicking on it? Does the fact that you don’t know make you more or less likely to click on it?

Even though the majority of Short URLs you come across will indeed be safe and link to a good page, the truth is that it is tough to be 100% sure that what you are clicking on is safe, and will lead directly to where you want to go. And we all know that one bad click can sometimes ruin a good day. So, what are some tips to keep in mind when you come across Short URLs:

• If you trust the sender or poster (like someone you follow on Twitter), you should be okay. But be wary, as some accounts can get hacked and those hackers may spam people associated with those accounts.
• If you think the link may be spam, don’t click on it. If the marketing message entices you, you can probably find out what is being referenced by searching that website.
• Preview the linked page if possible (TinyURL offers this option – http://tinyurl.com/preview.php).

I believe that the need for a service like Short URLs will always be there, but the exact form the future versions of this service will take is yet to be determined. Do you have ideas of what it will look like? Do you have alternatives to Short URLs? Have you run into any huge problems? Let us know.

And maybe you have put off signing up for an account, or building a fan base, because you were ‘waiting to see what happens.’ Well, it just happened.

Both Google and Microsoft have recently come to agreements with Twitter, while Microsoft has signed a deal with Facebook as well (you know Google can’t be too far behind there). These agreements will allow the search engines to integrate updates on the social media sites right onto the SERPs.

You can read more about these deals here.

So what does this mean for you? If you have been at the forefront of social media, and have accounts on Twitter and Facebook with lots of fans and followers, then you are in a good position to gain more exposure (and hopefully traffic) from these deals.

If you have accounts but have not kept them up to date, or if you don’t have any accounts at all, there’s still time but you have some work ahead of you. These deals are about real-time search, so it’s not necessarily what you have done in the past that will count (although having more fans and followers will probably be a plus, so you’ll want to increase those numbers). You can position yourself for real-time search by:

• Opening or updating your account
• Building up more fans or followers
• Starting conversations on current topics
• Respond to comments and other posts on topics you are an expert in

So what type of situation are you in? Are you ready to take advantage of real-time search?

Yahoo submitted this official statement on the subject:

We are committing our resources and efforts to our core areas of focus, including improving the search experience and relevancy of our ads to increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers, and as a result, have decided to exit Search Submit. We have stepped up innovation in Search Marketing, recently rolling out search retargeting, Rich Ads in Search and improved matching technology, and in Consumer Search, with enhancements like the new search results page. These enhancements deliver value, control, innovation and relevance to our advertisers, leading to increased ROI.

Yahoo! will exit Search Submit at the end of 2009. Yahoo! is providing those advertisers affected by the decision a sufficient lead time to assist in the transition. In addition, Yahoo! has recently announced a series of important enhancements to its Search advertising business and will work closely with many Search Submit advertisers to provide them with search solutions that will benefit their businesses.

What does this discontinuation mean for your internet marketing campaign? Without this marketing tool, it means that on site SEO is more important than ever. Without the luxury of paying for inclusion, companies must make sure that their optimization plan is aggressive and effective.