Link building is an important way to raise the page rank of your website. Unfortunately, it is also a tricky process that can leave your website with a lower rank, rather than the higher rank you were going for. This happens when you choose the wrong type of link building and build devalued links instead of valued ones.

Types of Devalued Links

There are different types of links. There are great links from authority websites, links that can help your page rank as long as you don’t abuse them and links that will hurt your website. The last type is the type that we will look at here.

Link Exchanges or Farms

Link farms are websites that host hundreds or thousands of links simply for the sake of providing a link. They have no relevant or useful content and many times the sites they host are not even related in topic.

These sites are no longer useful for gaining page rank and can even hurt your site. They may also pose as link “directories,” so be careful when submitting your website to anything that already has many other links posted on it.

Your site can also be devalued by having many reciprocal links. These are when you agree to link to another site and they agree to link to you. A popular way for webmasters to get a lot of reciprocal links is the use of link exchanges. Search engines have caught on to this practice and now devalue many websites that engage in this type of activity.

Forum or Blog Spamming

You should sign your blog comments with your real name, instead of putting links in the author field. These types of links look like link spam to Google and other search engines and in response they will devalue your website.

Likewise, you should join forums in an effort to help others. It is okay to have your website address in the signature field, but don’t list your website address in every actual post. This will have the same effect as blog spamming.

While we’re at it, don’t promote your website in every comment or post. This is still a form of forum spamming, even if Google can’t “see” it. Readers will see right through you and you may miss a chance at some legitimate traffic.

The Best Links

The best types of links that your website can get are natural links from authority sites with a high page rank that have been around for several years. The best way to get these types of links is to provide useful information that others will naturally want to share.

If you can get a website like this to the first page of Google, you will begin receiving natural links. If you find that you aren’t getting natural links, you can also participate in guest posting on related websites that already have a decent page rank.

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In the world of search engine optimization, an organized optimizer rules. By constantly staying on top of your work and new innovations, you can pull together some great results. With the flexibility of the iPad 2, you have a great new tool to do so. The iPad’s unique design, and ability to connect through a 3G network, allows you to successfully perform SEO work on the go. Along with an amazing, user friendly design, the iPad also features a number of applications that are strictly for SEO. The iPad also is an affective way to cross check the effectiveness or your website to an enormously growing population of mobile users. Using the iPad on the go for SEO, is becoming more and more essential.

One of the most important parts of performing essential SEO tasks, is staying organized. With great organization comes even better communication. This can be between clients, co-workers, or potential customers. You must always stay connected with your contacts, to ensure quality customer service, and to stay ahead on your work. You can easily do this with the iPad 2, and its 3G capabilities. You can even use multiple accounts to organize personal, and business emails to be more efficient. This opens up your business capabilities in a number of different ways. First, you will never be playing catch up. Second you can be sure that you will never miss an opportunity. This is very important when you are in the SEO business.

While you may not have all the useful tools on your iPad that your computer may bring, there are many SEO applications that can help. One of the main problems with using in an iPad is the browser. Browsers are portrayed in a mobile version. This can be highly annoying, especially if you are using the SEO Quake bar frequently. One great way to combat this browser issue is to download the “Atomic Web” browser. This application is only $.99, and is worth every penny. This allows you to “trick” the website into thinking you are using a browser like Firefox, Opera, or Chrome. This can be a very useful tool when you are interacting with various web pages. Another great application for SEO on the iPad is “Website SEO Analyzer.” This app lets you do a number of things that eliminate the need for your SEO Quake bar. You can check page rank, alexa rank, and even Meta data. It will also let you see the page size and the page load time. All of these things are important when checking prospective candidates when you are performing link building services.

The most important part when using the iPad for SEO is cross browser detection. With more and more people using mobile devices, you want to make sure that your website is operating the right way through all browsers. The number of users on tablet, and mobile devices is growing every single day. You do not want to missing out on these potential visitors because of a lack of knowledge. The iPad is the wave of the future. Although many have complained about the lack of Flash on iPads, Flash is 100% non-readable by Google. iPad may force you to use other options that make for more visibility through many browsers, and in turn lets Google index videos that may be lost in flash. This is going to be very important in future years. HTML 5 is going to become the norm due to the ease, and friendly aspects is contains. Although not all browsers use the “video” tag yet for HTML 5, this lets you get a head start in the SEO world. Google, and Apple are both very big fans of HTML 5.  You can use HTML 5 in the browsers that read it, and perform if/else functions and revert to flash for those who do not. This will allow you to be a multi-faceted website, and also allows Google to index your site appropriately.

The iPad allows you to perform essential SEO techniques while you are on the go. Using your iPad for SEO can keep you on task, can help you manage your time better, and is a very important tool considering the future of SEO. With a 3G network, an iPad is a great way to stay ahead on your projects, and beat the competition. If you want to keep your SEO business strong, an iPad can also help you to find the best way to optimize your site for the growing number of mobile users. That is something that you do not want to miss out on. Using your iPad, or any other tablet will soon be essential for all SEO businesses.

Hands-down, Google is the most popular website on earth. Yet they seem to be worried about their stiff competition coming in at a close second – none other than Facebook.

This is precisely why Google has decided to introduce their own social network as Google +. Google has tried to make a number of different social media channels over the years, like Google Buzz and Google Wave. Yet nothing has caught on so far…

But now we can consider Google + for a second. Google + makes no bones about the fact that it is supposed to be just like Facebook with a few enhancements. Maybe we could call it “Facebook with a facelift”? Instead of opening up Google + to the public, Google has decided to create a little bit of buzz, so to speak.

Upon its introduction, you can’t sign up directly for Google + just yet. Initially, you have to be invited by someone else who is a member in the beta stage of this social network. But even with this type of exclusive appeal, Google + has managed to gather 10 million members as of July 2011. This is nowhere near the mega benchmark set by Facebook at 750 million members, but it seems to be off to a strong start.

Google + versus Facebook

At first glance, Google + looks like a copycat of Facebook. You can post your thoughts and updates, just like you can to the Facebook wall. There is also something called a Stream, which is exactly like the Newsfeed on Facebook. And to compete with the “Like” button on Facebook, Google + offers a +1 button so that you can show that you are a fan of a post, picture, video, or what have you.

But the big, shiny difference between the two is that Google + has a little something called Circles.

If you’ve ever had the thought when using Facebook that you’d love to say something a little more inappropriate, a little more private, or a little wackier than what you would share with all of your friends, Circles may be the answer. You can create circles of friends, family, acquaintances, and following, which is similar to Twitter. You can also create your own circles with specific members, like Grandparents or College Friends, where you can share private jokes or special stories to your heart’s content without boring everyone else on your Stream.

And when you decide to share something, you are able to specify which circle that it is sent to. Of course, you can choose to send the information to all of your circles or just one to keep a bit of news private. This minimizes much of the fuss surrounding social media, like teachers getting fired for posting pictures of a drunken party or saying something inappropriate. If you want to post something that you don’t want your boss to see, then don’t post it to a public circle, plain and simple.

Although this may be a subtle difference between Google + and Facebook, only time will tell how the Circles feature attracts users to this new social network.

Guest Author:  Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

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What is the one thing I should do to my website that would improve my SEO?  This is a common question I am asked and I always have the same answer.

I tell people all they have to do is make their listing in the search engines the one that more people will want to click on. Simple!

Of course, there is a lot in just that simple statement.  First, for people to be able to click on your listing it needs to be seen and for them to actually click on your listing then it needs to offer the answer they are looking for.  Put simply, it needs to say “Here I am and I have exactly what you are looking for”.  Actually, it needs to shout it at you!

So how do you do this?  Well it’s all down to two very important fields on your webpage.  The Title tag and the Meta description tag.  If you are using a content management system to update your pages then the fields are probably called Page Title and Page Description.

Now before any purist SEO specialists chime in and say that the description field has no place in your SEO strategy let me tell you they are plainly wrong.  What they mean to say is that the search engines place no value on what you include in your description field.  However, it isn’t the search engines that click on your listing.  It’s people that do that and they read your page description.

You see as far as I am concerned SEO is not just about getting a high rank in the search engines.  Its real purpose is to get you traffic and for that you need people to click on your listing.  So for that reason alone I maintain that the description tag is a very important field.

So, first of all we need to get your page seen and that means it needs to be placed high in the search results.  This is where the page title comes in.  It is the most important place to include your keyword terms.  Google places a lot of importance on this tag and it expects the words you want to rank for to be in that field.

Don’t make the mistake of many websites and feel you have to put your company name into the page title.  It’s far more important to get your keywords in there and to also make sure the title reads like a proper sentence.  If you can, make it compelling to entice the click.  A good trick sometimes can be to turn your page titles into questions.  If it matches the question in the searchers head then your chances of a click are very good.

Now it’s time to look at the page description field.  As I’ve already said it doesn’t directly impact what the search engines think about your page so you don’t need to worry too much about getting keywords into the description.  What you want to do is make the description very compelling and include a call-to-action.

A powerful tool can be to use the page title to ask a keyword rich question and use the page description to clearly state that the answer to the question will be found if you click on the listing.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you have a guitar shop in Birmingham that specializes in left handed guitars. So your keywords could be “left handed guitars birmingham”.  In this case your page title could be “Looking for Left Handed Guitars in Birmingham?” and your page description could be “You’ve come to the right place.  Take a look at our massive selection of left handers.  Many are on sale and they are sure to sell out today”.

Did you notice how the description field had a call-to-action and a sense or urgency also?  Click today or you might find all the guitars have gone.  This is a great tactic.

So if you only do one thing to your website I would suggest taking a good look at your page titles and page descriptions.  You’ll be amazed what difference polishing those up can make.

Want to know more about SEO? Why not try Mike’s Free SEO Training Course?

One of the reasons I like ecommerce SEO is that there is a tremendous amount of opportunities to increase the optimization quality of an online store. Unlike service businesses or online brochure websites which typically only have a few pages, a catalog of products creates a great opportunity to increase the amount of content and provide relevance for the search engines.

Here at Best Rank, we spend a lot of time educating clients about optimization and how they can use it to gain a competitive advantage in their marketplace.  Having a specialty in ecommerce, my conversations are often about tips and advice on what online store owners can do to improve their rankings and increase traffic. There are plenty of resources for learning SEO online, but not a lot specific to ecommerce.

For those interested in getting their hands dirty, I have created a list of 62 Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization Tips & Ideas. Of course there are tips here that apply to non-ecommerce sites as well, but ecommerce SEO does deserve its own list.

The list is in no particular order. If you have some tips or feedback you want to add, please feel free to comment .

1. Do a search in Google using site:www.yourdomain.com. This allows you to see what pages of your website are being indexed and how they look. The results should be keyword rich and have call to action for users to click.

2. Do a site: search in Google for your competitors. While you are looking at your own indexing, look at your competition. Are their search engine results better optimized or better written? Don’t let them win.

3. Use Google’s Keyword Tool to find keywords. If you have an Adwords account you are probably familiar with Google’s Keyword Tool. If not, you can use Google’s External Keyword Tool Be sure set the match type on [exact] so you are looking at the number of searches for that specific keyword.

4. Don’t forget text on your homepage. Graphics are attractive and are great for users. Be sure that there is some html text on the homepage as well. If you have to put it near the footer, fine. Just make sure it is somewhere.

5. Be sure your homepage title uses your 3 most important keywords. I prefer to limit any given page to focus on 3 keywords. Some people like 4 and some people 2. Your homepage optimization is really important to tell the engines what your site is going to focus on.

6. Choose 3 keyword phrases to focus on per category page. I use the similar 3 keyword rule for category pages as well.  I will sometimes use only 2 if it is focused. Of course you are then going to make sure these keywords are used in the title, content, etc. but we will get to that later.

7. Be sure the top keyword for the page is first in your Title tag for all category pages. The first word in your title tag is the most important.

8. Be sure to customize the product pages Title.
If your ecommerce software allows dynamic insertion, use it. For example, if you can tell the system to use specific elements of the product in the title, use it. You can use product names, manufacturer, and SKU. They are all valuable.  If you don’t have a lot of products and your software allows for custom title writing, be sure to write custom titles.

9. Format the Title For Relevance & Clicks.
This can apply to categories and products. The formatting of a Title I like to use is “Keyword Phrase 1 | Call To Action or Benefit Using Keyword Phrase 2 and 3 if possible”. For example: “Hospital Towels | Wholesale Medical Towels On Sale”

10. Use .html or .htm for page naming. If you are using a CMS system and prefer no extensions such as /keyword/ that is fine too. While using .html may be considered old school, it still works. We all know that everyone claims that search engines treat most pages extensions equally, but my experience has seen differently. It’s still a good practice.

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Guest Author: Jason Kreidman is the Vice President of Business Development for Best Rank, Inc.  Jason has been building, managing, and marketing ecommerce businesses for over 14 years and now assists other merchants in getting results online.

Welcome To the Google Network

Google TV exists; it is the interactive programming installed on certain models of Sony HDTV televisions and works with various LG products as well. With Google TV, you can search the web, check and send email, and play Internet content directly on your TV. That is seriously cool, and while Apple has it too, but theirs is a little less feature rich. Like much that Google has done in the past, it is a cool project, but it never really captures the public’s imagination; however, this may be about to change. Google is going to be working on some major upgrades to YouTube that could be the beginning of an actual Google Network.

Your Interactive Past

Does anyone remember the Time magazine cover story on our interactive future, way back when the Internet was young? Does anyone remember what WebTV was? WebTV was a set top box that connected your television to the Internet. In reality, it was a simple way to access email and some basic, sandboxed, browsing from your TV. While Microsoft bought the company and did nothing with it, a few are still out there, unbelievably, and one is now known as the MSN TV.

The interactive vision has been around for as long as the Internet has been a part of the public perception, it just never took off. Convergence was the buzzword to describe the future where TV and Internet became the same thing. The person producing the content was the single problem that arose. Companies saw a future in which people would be able to access and share their precious franchises without revenue control, and froze solid. That copyright and infringement issue has kept the Internet on a leash ever since.

Just recently Amazon announced the release of the Amazon Cloud Player, a service that allows consumers to purchase (hopefully) music , store it on an Amazon server, and  play it from anywhere with an Amazon web music player, but the RIAA threw a fit. This coupled with Google’s YouTube announcement means the record executives will no longer control the Internet. Consider Blockbuster’s bankruptcy sale, Direct TV bought the company solely for its online business model. Netflix is starting to build an original content profile and that is what Google hopes to do. One of the major features of this overhaul is the close to $100 million to develop original content, which is the beginning of that interactive future that we forgot about so long ago.

What’s a TV?

So will your 50-inch plasma become a huge multi-purpose monitor, or will your tablet be a really small TV? By the end of the year, we will have a new ecosystem in which online services such as Hulu, Netflix, and others are serving up their own shows that they produced. This is what Google will be doing with YouTube, as it will have channels containing existing content organized by subjects, such as sports, arts, and film. YouTube will also have programs, as they were called back in the TV days, content that it will produce.

Aside from fears regarding what Google might consider entertainment, this is certainly the point where the Internet turns its back on the film and record industry and opens the floodgates. This is the end of the TV/Movie/Recording industry domination of all media; amen. Google TV may soon be more than just the cool interactive menu on your new TV, and just might be the real reason that you bought it. With enough content online, you could very well buy the new 90-inch organic polymer TV and not have a cable provider; what is the world coming to? This interactive future was forgotten so long ago, but much of this new future is driven by the tablet/smartphone/mobile revolution already underway. The iPad drove the concept of a mobile magazine, then it was video, and now the whole market is rushing headlong into the future. Soon TV as we currently understand the idea may not be long for this world.

Guest Author: Jon T. Norwood is a managing partner at High Speed Internet, a site dedicated to providing information on Internet providers and technology.  Jon can be reached at jon@webexordium.com.

When link building, many SEO practitioners face the question: Should I focus on getting thousands of backlinks, or a few quality backlinks? The answer is you want to get as many quality backlinks as you can. Building tons of links might sound like the most effective means of improving your visibility in the search engines, but quality is and always has been more important.

Think about it like this:

Backlinks are like human citation on the web. The way we link out to sites expresses how we feel about them: better sites get more links from more authoritative sites. Just as an expert’s opinion on the news is held in higher regards than your average Joe, a link from an expert site is respected the same way. If you were looking to lose weight, whom would you trust more: an experienced dietician or some random guy you met at the supermarket? Just like we trust those with more credibility and experience in our day-to-day lives, Google trusts sites that display experience and authority more as well. This principle applies directly to link building and how we practice it.

Let’s say you’re the guy from the supermarket earlier, and oddly enough, you actually know your stuff. No one is going to necessarily believe what you have to say without further proof or evidence. But what if there was a health expert nearby that verified your opinions? With the support of an expert, your opinion would now be held in higher regards by others. Similarly, you have a small niche site on health; Google isn’t going to see you as much of an authority. But if you got a link from an authoritative health site…I think you get the idea.

If you are getting a ton of backlinks from non-expert, non-authoritative sources it is going to take a lot of links to achieve anywhere near the results you want. You can improve your rankings somewhat effectively with these types of links, but it takes a ton of them. To compare backlinks with real life again; how many people would it take to convince you of a stranger’s opinion if none of these people seemed qualified to make judgments about said stranger’s opinions? 5, 10, 200, 1,000? In other words, you would probably demand the support of many people if none of them were experts in order to trust this stranger. In the same fashion, Google is not quick to trust and increase the rank of sites with just profile links and other non-authoritative links. However, each one does count a little bit, and I mean a little bit.

We always want to aim for quality over quantity. Vast quantities of low quality backlinks can help, but the core of your link building strategy should revolve around acquiring high quality backlinks. These quality links also often send traffic to your site which is a huge added benefit. You’re not going to get any additional traffic from profile backlinks which is going to leave you entirely reliant upon Google and the other search engines. Most people find a balance in their link building efforts between the two. Find what works for you, and stick to with it until you hit the top.

Guest Author: Ben Jackson is an SEO expert/enthusiast and founder of www.seodiscovery.org.

It is fair to say that most consumers consider Google and Facebook the Internet in its entirety.  While they may be aware of other sites, when they think about the Internet, what they are thinking about is one of the above corporate giants. Social networking has been around for a long time. One of the first online communities was “The Well,” which still exists and was created in 1985 as an extension of the “Whole Earth Catalog.” MySpace, Xanga, and many others were very popular until the Facebook juggernaut took over the entire Internet. So will there be only one search engine or a single social network in the end?

The Faceless Book

It was not too long ago that Facebook was, while successful, just one of a number of social networking sites that people used to keep track of friends, communicate, and post pictures and messages. Friendster, MySpace, Xanga, Classmates, and others all served different demographics and markets.

Facebook on the other hand was originally a social network strictly built for Harvard students, and because exclusivity breeds desire, it led to Facebook expanding to include all Ivy League students. It later expanded again to include all college students of any school, and, finally, anyone with an Internet connection. This “forced scarcity” and tiered rollout created a huge demand and now we have the Facebook of today.

Facebook now claims to have 500 million users, which, if true, constitutes 25 percent of all Internet users. The other social sites have faded fast and while some have survived, many are no longer in business. With the social networking side of things well in hand, and Google the largest gateway to the web, Romulus and Remus rule us all and we are experiencing the end of the Internet. Or is it?

The Little Guys Strike Back

Like Twitter, Facebook has become awash with companies and individuals seeking to make a name for themselves, generate sales, and drive traffic to their sites; however, nothing could be more annoying. A certain amount of that is to be expected, but when the party population is more networkers than friends, it starts to go flat, and for this reason, other sites are starting to strike back.

Angie’s List is a good example. The website serves as a clearinghouse for reports and reviews on services rendered by contractors in order to aid others in finding good help and avoiding bad service. The company’s recent television ad campaign is proof that it is not fading. Recently a rush of sign-ups for Quora and Aardvark exploded; these websites provide question and answer services in which people can ask a question and get answers from other people on the network.

Increasingly, other social media efforts are gaining back the ground that Facebook claims to own. Actual social networking sites like Path and CollegeOnly are gaining momentum by limiting membership and limiting the number of friends a user can have; up to 50 in the case of Path. These sites are indications of a trend; people are looking to get away from the giant crowd and to a more personal place.

Create Your Own Social Network

SocialGo and Ning are not social networking sites, but they could be the beginning of the end of Facebook’s domination. With services ranging from free to $150 a month, anyone can create their own social network. Do you really want a stranger watching you share pictures with your family in Oregon?  Why not create a social network for only your family and friends and end the problem. Facebook has many privacy issues and this is a clear answer to most of them. Are you an avid Fly Fisher? There is a site for that called Troutpad, as a site exists for just about any hobby or interest.

Facebook may have created the social network as a popular new “Killer App” for the Internet, but the future may not belong to them. History buffs will remember that at the turn of the twentieth century, America fought back against monopolies and won. Maybe it is time for that to happen again only this time users can do it for themselves. There are many alternatives out there and users are starting to find them. The social networking monopoly, or claimed monopoly, will be temporary and people will begin to break off into more exclusive, “walled communities” that are private and safer driven by the increasing security threats and information privacy issues. Teens used Xanga as a way of keeping away from parents eyes. Perhaps the adults are doing the same thing.

Guest Author: Jon T. Norwood is a managing partner at Broadband Internet, a site dedicated to providing information on Mobile Broadband News.  Jon can be reached at jon@velocityguide.com.

After several decades of authoritarian rule, the courageous people of Egypt finally spoke loud and clear that they will no longer go on without ending the suffering of their country. For several weeks, the world watched online and offline while a groundswell of fearless protestors fought for freedom and democracy, achieving one of the greatest historic victories – the fall of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and hopefully the termination of brutality and anguish.

Like the millions of people around the globe who were following this powerful people’s revolution, I was glued to all the social networking and news sites, restlessly watching the movement. Certainly, I had a special interest in what was happening not only because the social Web was key in all of the events, but also because I have many valued Egyptian friends.  I also vacationed in beautiful Egypt several years ago.

During my visit, I sadly observed the torment of the hungry children and adults on the streets of Cairo, while Mubarak and his family slept soundly in their palace.  So at last, I was thrilled to see so many enraged Egyptians finally wake up from the fear to fight for the liberty they so longed for and deserved.  Without this new age revolution and the commanding voice of the people, the world would not have known about the 30-year distress that Mubarak caused the people of Egypt.

Mubarak’s greediness was sucking the blood out of the country by stealing billions of dollars, leaving the people to endure massive unemployment, appallingly low-paying jobs, starvation, homelessness, and wrongful treatment of innocent individuals.

There is no doubt that full credit goes to the bravery and perseverance of the people for the uprising and for the toppling of their corrupted government.  Although it was the power of the people that forced this selfish egotistical leader out, I was impressed how the Internet, social media and mobile devices played such a significant role in this strong movement.  The use of technology was one of the greatest examples of our increasing interconnected world, and the opportunities we now have to shape the world.

If it wasn’t for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as YouTube and Google, the voice of the heated Egyptian people would not have been heard so loudly around the globe.  We also would not have seen the revolution take off as quickly and reach as many people as it did.

Here are just a few ways how the Internet, social media, and mobile impacted Egypt’s historic triumph:

• Gave the demonstrators the tools they needed to launch the uprising at a newer pace and scale (i.e., Wael Ghonim’s Facebook page and video)
• Helped easily gather and mobilize the tech-savvy people for protests
• Enabled the world to share their perspective across different channels and contribute to the news as it happened
• Allowed journalists to report from the ground and post or tweet in real-time as well as link to their blogs, videos, and photos
• Enabled journalists to record audio and video through phones when video cameras were taken away by government
• Made it possible for people to use third-party apps like Hootsuite to post to Facebook and Twitter when they were blocked
• Facilitated coverage and recognition for Middle Eastern channels like Al Jazeera
• Assisted in popularizing the emergence of content and news curation
• Proved that authoritarian leaders may no longer have control of media and events
• Frightened a tyrant enough to cause his regime to suppress access to the Internet and mobile phones
• And, thanks to Google and Twitter for creating Speak2Tweet, which helped make it possible for the Egyptian people to continue tweeting by enabling them to dial a phone number and leave a voice mail that was posted to Twitter.

Of course technology did not make the revolution, but it did have a vital function.  Again, it was energy of the people online and offline that created a momentous change. Congratulations to all Egyptians around the world.  You made the world proud and proved that “Yes we can!”  I am looking forward to seeing transformation and visiting the new Egypt soon!

What do you think of the innovative use of social media I described above? How do you think the use of technology during this event will impact future significant events?

In the past several weeks, I’ve read hundreds of social media predictions for 2011, but below are the ones I think are worth mentioning (listed in no particular order).

1. “Twitter will be acquired, most likely by a media company like CNN. Twitter has proven successful when coordinating closely with major events on television (e.g., World Cup, helping resurrect MTV Video Music Awards from the dead, etc.). With its new platform, Twitter is poised to make money. However, can it avoid becoming the next Digg?” Erik Qualman, 21 Social Media Predictions for 2011

2. “Tools, networks and services that cater to the role of the curator will emerge, with several already leading the way. Storify, Curated.by, Pearltrees, and Paper.li are becoming the coveted services of choice amongst curators as they not only enable the repackaging and dissemination of information, they do so in captivating and engaging formats.” Brian Solis, Social Media Predictions Preview 2011

3. “It’s possible that by sticking to what Google does best, they may be able to take advantage of the social web by indexing any and all social data they can get their hands on. Expect the Googleplex to “strike back” in 2011, and perhaps demonstrate that they may figure out their role and relevancy on the social Web.” David Armano, Six Social Media Trends for 2011

4. “Once you have a broad social program where you’re adding social frosting to all of the cake you already own, coordinating all of that activity becomes critical. We’ll see a lot more companies adopting (and talking about) internal social media next year.” Jay Baer, Why 2011 will be the year of social-media convergence

5. “Expect Companies to Aggregate Discussions, Struggle with Authentic Discussions and Be Frustrated with Listening Tools. Despite their aspirations, I don’t expect them to achieve all of their goals due to cultural limitations, insufficient technology…” Jeremiah Owyang, Analysis: 2011 Corporate Social Strategy Will Focus on Corporate Website Integration (Part 1/2)

6. “There are a number of great companies and apps currently experimenting with (or betting their business on) QR codes, and I predict that we’ll see a great deal more in QR territory in the coming year, including greater brand integration in print magazines, more consistent use in outdoor media, and even some clever mashups of QR codes, gamification and social commerce.” Stephanie Schwab, Five Social Media Trends for 2011

7. “Business will demand more business-driving proof, readers will demand more substance to blogs and those who are practitioners will have to demand excellence out of themselves. This will go a long way in cleaning up the industry, in my opinion.The ‘gurus’ will fade away while the practitioners excel. If you aren’t moving the needle, you’re done.” Jason Falls, 30 Social Media Predictions From 30 Social Media Pros

8. “While content marketing was clearly accepted in 2010 as a viable marketing practice, 2011 is the year where the majority of companies get serious about it – adding to budget, getting better at measurement, and begin to develop internal processes and staffing around the consistent creation of content.” Joe Pulizzi, 100+ Content Marketing & Social Media Predictions for 2011

9. “Micro payments – finally? Facebook have been dipping its toe into micro payments in 2010 by giving out free credits to help condition customers use the new credit system. I saw a Facebook “gift card” in the stores for the first time this month.  This is significant because micro-payments have been the long-time dream of musicians, writers and every other artist getting their work ripped off on the Internet. Yes, it might aimed at virtual Farmville crops but I’m hoping this will finally catch on and introduce a new much-needed monetization system on the social web.” Mark Schaefer, 2011 Social Media Forecast: Digging deeper

10. “Offline will become social as connected TV becomes a reality. Again, hardly ground-breaking, but I do feel 2011 will see social TV move from two screens to one. Google TV is live, Apple TV (though hardly social) is finally getting some love from Steve Jobs, whilst Microsoft apparently also has plans in this field.” Ciarán Norris, 5 Social Marketing Predictions For 2011

11. “As brands move this year from being on social media to using the social media ecosystem, ROI metrics will finally evolve beyond counting ‘likes’ and comments. Aligning with actionable business objectives and their corresponding metrics will be critical to being able to demonstrate repeatable contribution to the bottom line. Companies who hire social media strategists with proven marketing analytics background and business strategy experience will have the upper hand and will place first in the race to cracking the ROI code.”  Ravit Lichtenberg, 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011

12. “Privacy in social media, meanwhile will remain a puzzle that neither the industry nor government will be able to solve. Why? It’s probably too difficult a problem, with multiple, well-funded — and even well-meaning — constituencies. There’s too much money at stake (advertisers and media companies have lots of lobbyists) to risk screwing up ad targeting, and we have an internally combative situation in Congress.” David Card,  Social Media 2011: Privacy Puzzles, Search Will Stick Around

13. “2011 will be the year that companies refine their approach to social media, provide clear calls to action on their messaging and drive leads and sales as a measure of success. Online marketing is more trackable than any other paid media approach, and social media is part of that. While tracking growth of reach and other softer metrics has been the common approach, more companies will start to show conversions from social media marketing. Social CRM will play an important role in tracking and achieving these conversions.” Jeffrey L. Cohen, 11 Predictions for B2B Social Media in 2011

14. “The Full Resurrection of E-mail.  E-mail addresses are a safer long-term investment than social media features. Think about all the money companies spent advertising their MySpace pages in 2007. Even on Facebook, your direct messages to fans are relegated to a second tier inbox no one reads. This is something you don’t have to worry about happening in e-mail marketing. Among 20- to 35-year olds, at least, their physical addresses change more frequently than their e-mail addresses.” Tim Ferriss, 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011

15. “What we’ve known as the role of the foreign correspondent will largely cease to exist in 2011. As a result of business pressures and the roles the citizenry now play in using digital technology to share and distribute news abroad, the role of a foreign correspondent reporting from an overseas bureau “may no longer be central to how we learn about the world,” according to a recent study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The light in the gloomy assessment is that there is opportunity in other parts of the world, such as Asia and Africa, where media is expanding as a result of “economic and policy stability,” according to the report. In 2011, we’ll see more news organizations relying heavily on stringers and, in many cases, social content uploaded by the citizenry.” Vadim Lavrusik, 10 Predictions for the News Media in 2011

Your thoughts?  What are your social media predictions for 2011?

I am still getting a lot of question about Google Instant, and I am sure it’s because everyone is concerned about their search engine optimization efforts, so I thought it may be best to clarify this in a post.

Google Instant is real time search that was launched a few months ago to help make searching faster and more user-friendly.  According to Google, here are a few of the core features in Google Instant:

• Dynamic Results – Google dynamically displays relevant search results as you type so you can quickly interact and click through to the web content you need.
• Predictions – One of the key technologies in Google Instant is that we predict the rest of your query (in light gray text) before you finish typing. See what you need? Stop typing, look down and find what you’re looking for.
• Scroll to search – Scroll through predictions and see results instantly for each as you arrow down.

Google Instant works from any of the popular browsers, and the main difference between Google Instant and regular search is that Instant populates the results page before the user has completed typing their search query, giving you different suggestions. There’s no need to press Enter to generate search suggestions. Users instead select from the suggested terms or look below to see what websites come up as they are typing.

Searchers can also turn off Google Instant if they choose not to use it.

Most importantly, you can stop worrying. Google Instant does not kill SEO nor does it have any impact of rankings of search results.  Google Instant search results will show three paid ads and one organic listing while the auto-complete box is activated. This means it’s likely click-through-rates on the first and second listing will rise, while those in the third and fourth position will fall.  Thus, this may increase competition if you are using Google PPC.

If you haven’t already done so, here are a few best practices for Google Instant that you can do right away:

For SEO:

1. Edit your website’s meta titles on your main pages to include both the main keyword or phrase and a call to action.
2. Integrate new long tail search terms into your search engine optimization efforts. Use your analytics software to monitor these terms performance and find out how your users have adapted and what kind of impact it made.

For PPC:

1. Refine your negative keyword lists as necessary to lessen the chance of your ads are not displayed for less relevant terms.
2. Monitor click-through-rates carefully because many advertisers will be focusing on broader terms, and this can lead to a lot of competition.

If you need more information, there were a couple of excellent article written about Google Instant.  These will help you make changes to your SEO and PPC plans, if necessary:

Google Instant 101

Google Instant – 10 Things Marketing Teams Need to Know

Are you still using Google regular search or have you switched to Google Instant?

It was only a few short years ago that mobile searching meant driving to the nearest library and ploughing through dusty tomes to find information that would at best be slightly out of date, and at worst, utterly wrong.

The development of mobile phones has changed all this, and it is now easy to search for information wherever a phone signal can be found. This has opened up a whole vista of possibilities and has been extremely successful. Now many businesses, as well as millions of individuals, not only use mobile searching as one of their key methods of accessing information, but as a new way to access tools such as mobile billing.

Recently, there have been a number of developments that promise to take mobile searching to a whole new level and maximize its potential to such a degree that it may even become the dominant search platform of the next decade.

Google has fired the first salvo in the battle for mobile search dominance with the launch of Google Instant. Essentially a real-time search engine, current estimates are that it can on average take two seconds off a search. This, of course, may not seem like much but when you consider how many searches an average business’s employees carry out in a month, the total time saving becomes significant.

It is therefore unsurprising that this is often the single most important point for millions of users. Time is a commodity that has never been more in demand and it therefore follows that anything that can provide the user with a time saving is something that will play a pivotal role in the future.

Beyond this what does the future hold? Although predicting the future in the world of technology is always a risky business, there are some things that we can say with a degree of certainty:

• Google Instant will continue to develop and at the same time, other search engines will move towards the real-time model.

• Search engine focus will move in the direction of personalized searches. These will utilize an individual’s data (with their permission) to help narrow down search criteria. For example if a user has a large database of music, web articles and images of the Rolling Stones and they then use a search engine to look for “stones”, it will automatically look for relevant information on the rock group and ignore anything to do with pebbles.

• Social networks will play an increasingly important role in search engine results. In practice this will mean that a search engine will use the information not just about the user, but that of the user’s social network. This promises many great advantages chief among them a much more focused set of search engine results.

• Perhaps the most exciting development and the one with the potential for biggest leap forward in mobile search is the possibility of automatic searches that continue even when the user is not online. This could work by using a combination of search history, social networks and a predictive element that will result in future searches being much more focused and efficient.

This ability to have a much more user-centric mobile experience will benefit not just the ability to advance mobile searching, but other key elements such as mobile payments. A more receptive and intelligent mobile platform will help it become much more intuitive and along with the ability to have much more refined search results, the outcome will be an enhanced mobile experience.The future of search is both exciting for the user and full of possibilities for the business.

It is time to ask: what can my mobile search do for me?

Guest Author: Vera Mosley is an expert in mobile marketing. She is also a blogger and freelance writer for a mobile aggregator.  Additionally, Vera loves to spend time outdoors with her family.

Question: There are so many pseudo social media experts out there, each with his or her “solution,” that it’s become overwhelming to identify the real McCoys. What criteria do you suggest people use? – Jim Taggart, LeadershipWorldConnect

Answer: Thank you for asking a very important question, and for trusting me to answer it for you. I am asked this same question at least once a week.  Unfortunately, the real social media experts are buried under all the hype of the fake experts because the real ones don’t have time to go calling themselves experts so they can pitch you on why you should have 100K Twitter followers, and why you should hire them to do the job. The true authorities in any industry are not hard-selling 24/7. They are too busy strategizing, sharing, learning, educating, creating, experimenting, executing, testing, growing, and helping others thrive.

It is difficult for me to answer this question without being too controversial or self-promotional.  However, my intent is to always educate and create awareness. Thus, the answer is not only based on my opinion, but also years of business experience and thousands of hours of research and execution to back it up.

So, how do you weed out the pundits from the fakes?

First, let’s define expert.  Here is how Wikipedia defines the word:

“An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.”

Having extensive knowledge about a topic beyond the average person makes you an expert.  Your skills training and credentials make you an expert.  Your years of experience and education make you an expert.  However, given the above definition, the word expert should not be a self-proclaimed title. This title should be earned and given by peers after a person has logged tens of thousands of hours, and the results should speak for themselves.

Hence, your social media expert is NOT:

• Someone who shows you how to use the latest feature on Facebook
• An individual who tells you to just create pages on the major social networks
• Your web designer or programmer
• Your previous mortgage broker who has moved on to social media because it is the next hot industry
• Your virtual assistant
• Someone who is simply online
• Someone who has five different types of businesses going at once to see which one makes the fastest buck

Am I an expert in social media because I live and breathe the Web every day? It’s possible. However, I wouldn’t use that term.  I am a student of my work. I am constantly learning, experimenting, and educating.  My expertise and knowledge are put to the test every time I have a new challenge, a client, or a new project. If I can’t prove that I have some expertise when the situation calls, it doesn’t matter what I call or describe myself.

The criteria on how to select a social media expert will depend on the individual business and its goals.  However, below are a few other things to consider when selecting a professional to help you with your social media or online efforts.  Please note, these are not listed in any particular order, and this is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but only a guideline to be used along with some common sense.

• Successfully using the Internet for business a minimum of three to five years. Social media for business has not been around long; however, the Web has been around long enough for some people to have a decent amount of knowledge and visibility.  For example, I started placing banner advertising for brands online in 1997-98. While consulting and completing my master’s degree in 2005, I started doing extensive research on the search industry and social media, then started my own business in 2007. There are many people who have been online just as long, if not longer.  You just have to do your homework and find them. Remember, it is not possible for someone to know everything about the Internet.

• Strong online presence. I don’t mean the number of followers they have on Twitter or likers on Facebook.  Google their name and see where they show up.  Where are they mentioned online?  Who is talking about them?  Are they published anywhere?  Who are they engaging with? How are they engaging?  How are they showcasing their expertise and sharing their knowledge? Are others praising them and referring to them as experts? Do they walk the talk?  Their online visibility does not have to be perfect, but it has to be strong. If someone’s online presence is virtually non-existent, do you think they can help you accomplish your online goals?

• Does not preach social media. An expert does not preach or shove social media down your throat right off the bat.  Instead, they give sound business advice based on what they have learned about your business. An expert will explain how social media can complement or enhance current efforts, not replace it.  A true expert may even talk you out of using social media.  I have done this with many clients because I simply felt they were not ready.  So my role at that point was not to convince them to jump on the bandwagon, but to help make changes in their business that would prepare them for the online world so they leverage it properly.  Social media may not make sense for every single business out there.  In addition, not every tool is for every business.  If your so-called expert starts the conversation telling you that you need to be on Facebook before evaluating your business, then there is your first sign to look for someone else because the tools should not even be discussed up front.

• Solid business background. It is not enough to just have online knowledge.  Being able to give someone effective advice about their business requires some form of business leadership.  An expert may have led a business and knows how every aspect of a business comes together.  That person should be able to walk into any business, analyze the current situation, learn about the products/service, research competition, understand the culture, review business objectives, and make a recommendation based on the needs and objectives of that business.

• Understands strategy. It is essential for a social media expert to have an understanding of strategy.  Do they know the difference between goals vs. objectives or strategy vs. tactics?  Can they pinpoint the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a business? Do they explain a long-term program? Are they able to develop or recommend a sustainable and scalable plan? Can they answer your ROI and measurement questions?  All these questions and more are very essential.

• Recognizes social media is not a campaign. It upsets me to still hear people call social media a campaign.  I come from the advertising world, and a campaign was something that had a start and an end date.  Guess what?  Social media does have a start date, but not an end date.  An expert identifies that social media is a process, a program, an ongoing never-ending conversation.  Although, you may be creating short campaigns within your entire strategy, an expert should help you brainstorm ideas that have sustainability and fluidity.

• Explains integration. Social media is not meant to be used as a stand-alone.  As I mentioned above, social media should be integrated into the entire business strategy.  Is your expert able to discuss and integrate every aspect or department of a business, including the culture, marketing, advertising, public relations, customer service, business development, internal communications, etc.? An expert should be able to explain the how and why to any business. If the goal is marketing, they should be able to help you integrate social media with all your offline marketing efforts as well as explain how it impacts search engine optimization and other online techniques.

• Marketing or corporate communications expertise. Although I don’t think it is an absolute requirement, I believe it is a major benefit to select an expert who has a marketing, corporate communications, or public relations background.  Experts from these industries have the knowledge about selected the right target audience, conducting surveys, understanding consumer behavior, creating effective messages as well as responding to a crisis situation.  I have seen many people succeed online without these skills; however, it is extremely helpful to hire a person with some knowledge or has the willingness to do the research.  If you do look at this as one of the criteria, please make sure they are open-minded and are aware of the communication shift.  It is not wise to choose someone that is still stuck on the traditional way of doing things.

I hope this helps you and others to identify the real McCoys from the fakes.  Of course, when hiring any professional, asking for results and references are always a must.  I can tell you upfront that consultants cannot always share who all their clients are or publicly share case study information.  For example, my work is all based on a client’s business strategy, and this information is generally kept confidential. Thus, don’t be surprised if others tell you the same thing.

The most important thing is to do your research and take your time before selecting the right person for the job.  It is only a matter of time before the fakes drop off.

As you may recall, at the beginning of the year I wrote the “7 Signs Your Social Media Consultant is Really an Expert” blog post, which was very popular. This was meant to be a fun and light post covering the basics, and all seven signs I listed are good basics to consider as well.

Was this helpful? What other criteria have you used to identify if someone is a true social media expert?

The Droid is quickly gaining popularity with phone users looking for a functional, attractive alternative to the iPhone, and the impressive selection of free Droid apps is one reason. If you’re using a Droid phone and haven’t added any slick applications yet, it’s time to explore. Here are some impressive apps you’ll love and should not do without:

1. Layar

This augmented reality program downloads digital information in real time to your phone. Wherever you are, simply take a quick picture with your camera and Layar will superimpose information over the image, providing information on everything from the temperature to restaurant information and nearby hot spots. Layar uses the camera, compass, and GPS on your Droid to determine where you are and give you pertinent information.

2. Tweetcaster or Seesmic

These are both Droid apps that let you follow and manage multiple Twitter accounts. You can see who’s following you, update your Twitter accounts and retweet. If you’re an unrepentant Twitter addict, either of these apps will help you get your fix while you’re on the move.

3. Barcode Scanner

This practical app makes comparison shopping a breeze. Simply scan the UPC code on anything with your camera, and you can launch price comparisons across the Internet and from store to store. You can even download additional specs about the product and check the inventory at local stores.

4. PayPal

If you’re running a business or like to manage your bills online, the Droid PayPal app is darn near perfect. It lets you do just about anything you can do with PayPal on your computer, including sending and receiving money, invoicing, and reviewing your account. It even has a nifty little feature to help you split bills properly if you’re dining out. The “Bump” feature lets you transfer money from one account to another simply by bumping two Droids with the PayPal app together.

5. Fake-Call Me

Here’s one that everyone will want to use at some point, but most of us will feel mildly guilty the first time. You’ll get over it. With Fake-Call Me, you can program your Droid to ring wherever and whenever you want, giving you a graceful out no matter who you’re talking to. Cornered at a boring networking event? When your phone rings, glance at the screen and say, “Oh! It’s my mother, I’m sorry but I have to take this. She’s been sick.” The fact that you can flash them a look at your screen, where your mother’s name will indeed be displayed, makes this a practically foolproof way to do the fade. You can choose who the call will be from and even opt for a pre-recorded conversation that comes on when you “answer.” Yes, it’s sly and a bit sneaky, but you’ll use it.

6. FourSquare

Now you can keep tabs on your friends and stay in touch easily while you move around your city. FourSquare lets you know where they are and what they’re doing, making it easy to choose a place to meet that’s easy for everyone. You can also give tips to your friends about places you’ve been. Is the coffee lousy at that new bistro? Let everyone know on FourSquare. Most users also end up competing for “Mayorship” of favorite locales; it’s good, clean fun and rather addictive. The less talked about joy of FourSquare is that you can also use it to avoid people, like that pesky ex.

7. Anything Google

There are maps, navigation tools, and information apps galore by Google that will work on your Droid. Go ahead and download all of them, because they’ll come in handy at some point. Perhaps the greatest Google App is Google Voice, which lets you make long distance calls over Google, saving you a bundle on your long distance phone bills. You’ll even save a significant amount on international calls. They also offer an awesome Sky Map of the night sky. Just hold your Droid up and you’ll soon see a detailed map of the stars and constellations above you.

8. Pandora

Sure, you can listen to your iPod, but after you’ve listened to your play list about a thousand times, you’re probably desperate for a great radio station. You can tailor multiple radio feeds to your listening preferences and listen any time you like, but the nicest aspect of this Droid app is that you can plug in to your car radio whenever you like and get music you’re guaranteed to love.

9. USA Today

Keep current on politics, finance, and breaking news with one of the best newspaper downloads you’ll find. This is the nicest newspaper app for Droid you’ll find, with good graphics and easy navigation.

10. Talk to Me

This is an impressive auto translator app. Simply talk in English, and then choose the language you want to translate to; your Droid will translate and speak in the language of your choice. If you’ll be traveling overseas, this is the ultimate auto translator to smooth the way toward better international relations. Supported languages for the speech mode include Spanish, Italian, German and French. There are about 40 additional languages that can translate if you type in the words.

What are your favorite free Droid apps? Is there one app you just can’t live without?

Guest Author: Vernon Marker is a Droid fanatic and a freelance writer for a company that specializes in small business phones. When he is not downloading the latest apps or writing, he loves to travel around the world. Follow him on Twitter @VernMarker.