Month: November 2013

Posted on

What’s Google Got In Store for 2014? Part One

Google Partner Badge
McCord Web Services is a Google Partner.

Getting or keeping search placement on Google is a fulltime job! In a wonderful and insightful review of what Google has in store for 2014 by Dr. Peter Myers for the Moz Blog in an article titled “Future SERP: a Glimpse at Google 2014” you’ll learn what he thinks Google has in store. I have to say I think that this is one of the very best articles I have read about what Google is doing.

Here are a few tidbits from the article interspersed with my own insights .

1. Google is focused on mobile. With smartphone use way up, Google’s got to find a way to monetize mobile to continue to build profits. As the mobile user reacts with search differently on their device than when using a desktop, Google is doing strong testing to identify what works and is relevant to mobile users. Expect to see the things that are being tested in mobile move to the desktop arena in the near future. For clients, this means location specificity in your content and on your website pages is very important as are location extension use in Google AdWords. Having a mobile responsive designed website is also becoming important.

2. Google is expanding the Knowledge Graph using more informational topical content from authoritative website in their organic search results to answer search questions. Questions about topics cover about 10% of all Google searches. This allows for wonderful opportunity for your own content to place in Google when you write a blog post or have content on your website that helps to education or answer a question.

3. Google is testing new ad formats that blur the line between organic and paid ads. If you’ve searched recently with your smartphone, you’ve seen some of these new formats. Some are colored the same as the organic results with a small goldenrod colored ad box in front, others are interspersed within the actual organic results. No longer are ads on mobile necessarily at the top of bottom of the page.  It is very important to know that this testing is mainly happening on mobile right now, but will move to the desktop when vetted. One of the big reasons for interspersing ads into the organic results, especially for mobile, is that there are only two ad slots using the old format for mobile – but there are more advertisers!

Visit our post on Wednesday November 20th for part two in this series.

Posted on

How to Sync Your IE Favorites between Computers with SkyDrive

Live Mesh from Microsoft went away in February. I have used this service from Microsoft to sync my IE favorites between four or five computers which I really love. With Microsoft dropping Live Mesh in favor of the new SkyDrive, I just had to find a new alternative way to sync my favorites between my myriad computers and screens.

This excellent video will show you how to set up this action to sync IE favorites using the new SkyDrive from Microsoft. This same tactic works on Windows 8 too.

Here’s a special tip for Vista users:

These instructions work great for Windows 7 and 8 systems, but do not work for Vista. I have, however, found a work around for Vista users. If you follow the video instructions and are using Vista, when you try to open favorites in Internet Explorer, you will get an error saying that the favorites/favorites folder is missing and your favorites will not show.

To solve this problem, open your SkyDrive folder for your favorites and copy all the files. Then create a new folder called favorites inside of the favorites folder and then paste inside all the favorites you have just copied. I know this seems redundant, but it works. Now open IE on a Vista machine and you can now see all your favorites in Internet Explorer.

If you are syncing to a Windows 7 and Vista machine and you are saving a favorite, you will see that you have the option to save your bookmark now in two locations  the plain favorites folder and the favorites/favorites folder. Save your same URL in both and this way you can see your new bookmark on Vista and Windows 7 and 8.

Posted on

SocialOomph More Than a Twitter Client

 

I have been using SocialOomph for quite awhile. It used to be TweetLater. Over time the application has morphed into much more than an excellent Twitter client. It has now become a social networking power tool.

Now SocialOomph allows you to schedule and post to Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and to even create a custom RSS feed you can use in a number of creative ways. With the ability to save drafts to reuse, scheduling capabilities, and the ability to use bit.ly API to track your click stats, SocialOomph.com has become a very valuable tool for professionals and those serious about promoting their products and services using social networking programs.

I use the free version, but SocialOomph.com offers a professional version. The professional version charges a small monthly fee but offers many unique “power tools”. They even offer a free test drive. One thing that I think may be worth the extra charge is the ability to bulk upload tweets. Even if all you use initially is the free version, make sure to check out some of the features that the professional version offers, they are really astounding.

I have been using SocialOomph for quite awhile. I like it for the ability to schedule tweets and reuse tweets you have saved. In fact before any other application offered advanced scheduling Social Oomph had that as a regular feature. Another thing I like and use SocialOomph for is to send a welcome message to new followers. I can even set up to automatically unfollow a follower on Twitter when they unfollow me. I have used the vetting system as well, but no longer vet followers as this can really slow the growth of followers in your Twitter account. With many unique and time saving features, SocialOomph.com may end up being the only Twitter, blog, and Facebook client you end up using.

Please note that if you click any of the links in this post and buy access to the professional application version I will be paid a small commission, enough to buy me lunch at McDonald’s. But truly that is not the reason for my post, I use and like the application. For some clients it is the application of choice over HootSuite and TweetDeck. I routinely use SocialOomph.com for the clients for whom we are providing ghost Twitter Executive services.

Posted on

Social Networking Meltdown – Which Are Important to Use

One clients just left me this comment on the phone about my recommendation of Pinterest, and I think it is indicative of how many small business owners feel. “All I could think of is  yet another social networking site I have to add to my work load.  I am about ready to throw my hands up, I don’t think I can add one more thing in the social media area as I can barely keep up with what I am doing now.” These sentiments have been voiced by many as the online world is bombarded with new programs and platforms.

What social networks deserve your real attention as a small to medium sized business owner at this point?

  1. Get on Google+ and integrate your website and blog with the +1 button. This one is just too big to not have an early participation in. Why? Because it’s a Google property and Google is tightly integrating +1 votes and Google+ activity with its search engine.
  2. Make sure you are using Twitter. The viral nature and the ability to interact with a wide market is important to selling outside your local sphere. I’m watching sponsored Tweets very closely for small business and feel that in the long run activity on Twitter will be a key marketing strategy even for local selling businesses. Link sharing and interaction with others in your industry as well as prospects in a casual environment make this one of my top social networking picks.
  3. Make sure you have a Facebook Business page set up. Although right now I feel that businesses may want to have a minimal presence there due to poor fan growth, due to the changes Facebook made to how brands use Facebook in the fourth quarter of 2011, things could change, and change quickly. In fact, Facebook is announcing what changes they will be making for brands on Wednesday February 29th. This announcement may change my recommendations, but for now based on my research paper, I recommend a wait and see approach.
  4. If you are selling business to business or business to government, LinkedIn is the place for you to connect. Establish a full profile and then update your wall on LinkedIn at least twice a day. Get active in groups and ask questions. Not all businesses will thrive using LinkedIn, but many who cater to businesses and want to reach business executives should consider LinkedIn a top priority. I have not had success with LinkedIn advertising so steer clear of that for now.
  5. Pinterest is a hot new property, but unless you are selling retail fashion merchandise, I recommend you don’t take on this social network. Although you may check it out in the future, if you are strapped for time steer clear of this one for now unless you are selling retail jewelry or clothing.

I hope this helps you to decide which networks you should focus on, the bottom-line is get going on something and start building your network now. Social media will simply not get less important over time.

If you are overwhelmed by social media we can be your solution, with competent American college educated writers, we take on updating your profiles and pages; building your network for your future.