Twitter have launched a new business section under the sub domain of business.twitter.com, on the new sub domain is a section titled “Twitter 101 for Business – A Special Guide”. The new section has guides, case studies, best practices and resourses for businesses looking to get into Twitter. Could we soon see a new sub section for advertising on Twitter?? Below are a few small quotes from the new section:
“Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter…. “
“Twitter connects you to your customers right now, in a way that was never before possible. For example, let’s say you work for a custom bike company. If you run a search for your brand, you may find people posting messages about how happy they are that your bike lets them ride in the French Alps—giving you a chance to share tips about cyclist-friendly cafes along their route….”
Thursday, April 22, 2010
How do I find quality backlinks?
Link generation is the primary method to increase both your search engine positioning and also your traffic.
When it comes to the inbound links themselves, they can be in various formats. Ideally, you should be obtaining different types of one-way links to your websites to increase the diversity. The following are a few examples of the different types of backlinks available.
Inbound links from blogs:
These come from posting blog comments. If you find a blog that is related to your industry/service/products, you can leave a useful and constructive comment (not spam e.g. ‘I like this’ or ‘excellent read I will come back here often’ or simply ‘well done’), including targeted keywords as your name and a URL to link back to your site.
One-way links from forums:
These are simply one-way links that come from your forum profiles themselves. The backlinks are dropped inside your BIO / signature with your own anchor text.
Inbound links from web 2.0 sites:
These are backlinks from websites such as squidoo and hubpages and these types of backlink can rank very well. You can take advantage of articles here that include your keywords in the ‘title’ and 2/3 time in the article body. You can insert URL inbound links with anchor and also RSS feeds.
Another important thing is to get these links indexed!
Ping your links to the top RPC directories
What pinging does is to inform the search engine that your new content is available on various sites via RPC. These sites have huge amounts of updates, thus are crawled frequently by the search engines.
When it comes to the inbound links themselves, they can be in various formats. Ideally, you should be obtaining different types of one-way links to your websites to increase the diversity. The following are a few examples of the different types of backlinks available.
Inbound links from blogs:
These come from posting blog comments. If you find a blog that is related to your industry/service/products, you can leave a useful and constructive comment (not spam e.g. ‘I like this’ or ‘excellent read I will come back here often’ or simply ‘well done’), including targeted keywords as your name and a URL to link back to your site.
One-way links from forums:
These are simply one-way links that come from your forum profiles themselves. The backlinks are dropped inside your BIO / signature with your own anchor text.
Inbound links from web 2.0 sites:
These are backlinks from websites such as squidoo and hubpages and these types of backlink can rank very well. You can take advantage of articles here that include your keywords in the ‘title’ and 2/3 time in the article body. You can insert URL inbound links with anchor and also RSS feeds.
Another important thing is to get these links indexed!
Ping your links to the top RPC directories
What pinging does is to inform the search engine that your new content is available on various sites via RPC. These sites have huge amounts of updates, thus are crawled frequently by the search engines.
Google Navigation now available in the UK
Earlier Engadget reported that Google Navigation was available in the UK. We can now confirm that this is indeed true and we have tried it out for ourselves. So far, it has only been confirmed that this works with Android 1.6 devices and above. Google Navigation is the free GPS Navigation app available for Android phones only, which you access through Google Maps. The app works in a similar way to your typical TomTom, but it takes advantages of the exhaustive information available in Google Maps, such as the Places Directory (Cinemas, Pubs etc) and Google StreetView. Google Navigation has been available in the US since early 2010. See below for a video of Google Navigation in action or visit the Official Google Navigation website for more information.
Google Places (previously Local Business Center) Announced
Google have announced the release of Google Places (previously Local Business Center) This is a new push from Google into local search and gives advertisers a number of new options including a new dashboard (similar to what you get with Google AdWords.) See below for a quote from the Google Blog and a video:
“We launched Place Pages last September for more than 50 million places around the world to help people make more informed decisions about where to go, from restaurants and hotels to dry cleaners and bike shops, as well as non-business places like museums, schools and parks. Place Pages connect people to information from the best sources across the web, displaying photos, reviews and essential facts, as well as real-time updates and offers from business owners.
Four million businesses have already claimed their Place Page on Google through the Local Business Center, which enables them to verify and supplement their business information to include hours of operation, photos, videos, coupons, product offerings and more. It also lets them communicate with customers and get insights that help them make smart business decisions…”
“We launched Place Pages last September for more than 50 million places around the world to help people make more informed decisions about where to go, from restaurants and hotels to dry cleaners and bike shops, as well as non-business places like museums, schools and parks. Place Pages connect people to information from the best sources across the web, displaying photos, reviews and essential facts, as well as real-time updates and offers from business owners.
Four million businesses have already claimed their Place Page on Google through the Local Business Center, which enables them to verify and supplement their business information to include hours of operation, photos, videos, coupons, product offerings and more. It also lets them communicate with customers and get insights that help them make smart business decisions…”
Facebook's News bid to rule the web World
Facebook set out its stall to unseat Google and be at the heart of the web experience as it becomes more social.
The world's largest social network unveiled a series of products at its developer conference F8 aimed at helping the company achieve that goal.
These tools will make it easier for users to take their friends with them as they browse the web.
"We are building toward a web where the default is social," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder.
"If you look back a few years ago and even as recently as today, in most cases the web isn't designed to use your friends. They don't assume you have a real identity but we are seeing that seep in more and more.
"We want to be one of the things that empowers that and right now most users are using Facebook and we hope we can be a good force in driving that forward," Mr Zuckerberg told the BBC during a news conference.
He added that the "web was at a turning point" and that the way forward was to have friends, or what Mr Zuckerberg called "your social graph", to guide you online.
"One of the points Mr Zuckerberg was making was that the web has become a lot less anonymous and Facebook is definitely positioning itself as wanting to be the owner of that information," said Maya Baratz of the Huffington Post.
Personalisation
At the F8 conference in San Francisco, Mr Zuckerberg unveiled a number of products aimed at putting users and their friends at the "centre of the web".
The most significant was an open graph protocol to let publishers tag their content by type along with a "Like" button that partner sites put on their webpage. This allows users to indicate what they like on a website, be it from photographs to news items and from clothes to music.
That information will then be stored by Facebook the way it already stores connections between people. At the same time any website will be able to take those individual preferences and use them to tailor a more "personalised online experience" for the user and their friends.
Facebook said this means its members will see a web that caters to their individual tastes.
Crucially all this can only happen when users are logged into Facebook and "makes it easy to make any page (on the internet) a Facebook page," said Bret Taylor, Facebook's director of platform.
Business opportunity
Mr Zuckerberg described the features he presented at the conference as "the most transformative thing we've ever done for the web".
Justin Smith, founder of InsideFacebook.com said there are a lot of business upsides to this product.
When someone "likes" your page, that is a valuable action because it means you will be able to publish updates directly to them in the future which could be used for a variety of purposes like promoting traffic to your website or advertising anything you want."
Some of the early adoptees of the "Like" button include CNN, the movie site IMDb.com, ESPN and Levi's.
Levi's will integrate the "Like" function on its e-commerce site as well as build a "friend" store where consumers logged into Facebook will be able to see a list of their friend's favourite products and shop online with them.
"We're creating a new shopping experience that will change the way people shop online," said Jodi Bricker, vice president of digital at Levi's.
'Audacious and a bit scary'
So what does this mean for Google, the world's most powerful internet company with billions of users who access the web using hyperlinks?
"People are discovering information not just through links to web pages but also from the people and the things they care about," Mr Zuckerberg told a conference hall of around 1,500 developers.
Om Malik, founder and editor of the technology blog GigaOM.com told BBC news "even a blind man can see this is a Facebook versus Google battle and in many ways if the web is going to be more social then that plays to Facebook's strengths."
Damon Cortesi, founder of social media company UntitledStartup, agreed.
"Facebook has won the internet," he told technology blog ZDnet.com
"Facebook has always been social, but in terms of dominating the web over Google they have made strides today."
But Mr Malik sounded a note of caution.
"The whole idea to socialise the whole web is fairly impressive, audacious and a bit scary. I am very scared about the privacy issues around this initiative. They haven't really been very clear as to how consumers will have more control over the things they do on the web."
The issue of privacy has been something of a thorn in Facebook's side. It has suffered backlashes in the past over moves to change users privacy settings.
"Nothing we have released changes any of the privacy protections we have," said Elliot Schrage, the company's vice president of public policy and communications.
"We're providing new opportunities for people to have a social experience if they want it."
The world's largest social network unveiled a series of products at its developer conference F8 aimed at helping the company achieve that goal.
These tools will make it easier for users to take their friends with them as they browse the web.
"We are building toward a web where the default is social," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder.
"If you look back a few years ago and even as recently as today, in most cases the web isn't designed to use your friends. They don't assume you have a real identity but we are seeing that seep in more and more.
"We want to be one of the things that empowers that and right now most users are using Facebook and we hope we can be a good force in driving that forward," Mr Zuckerberg told the BBC during a news conference.
He added that the "web was at a turning point" and that the way forward was to have friends, or what Mr Zuckerberg called "your social graph", to guide you online.
"One of the points Mr Zuckerberg was making was that the web has become a lot less anonymous and Facebook is definitely positioning itself as wanting to be the owner of that information," said Maya Baratz of the Huffington Post.
Personalisation
At the F8 conference in San Francisco, Mr Zuckerberg unveiled a number of products aimed at putting users and their friends at the "centre of the web".
The most significant was an open graph protocol to let publishers tag their content by type along with a "Like" button that partner sites put on their webpage. This allows users to indicate what they like on a website, be it from photographs to news items and from clothes to music.
That information will then be stored by Facebook the way it already stores connections between people. At the same time any website will be able to take those individual preferences and use them to tailor a more "personalised online experience" for the user and their friends.
Facebook said this means its members will see a web that caters to their individual tastes.
Crucially all this can only happen when users are logged into Facebook and "makes it easy to make any page (on the internet) a Facebook page," said Bret Taylor, Facebook's director of platform.
Business opportunity
Mr Zuckerberg described the features he presented at the conference as "the most transformative thing we've ever done for the web".
Justin Smith, founder of InsideFacebook.com said there are a lot of business upsides to this product.
When someone "likes" your page, that is a valuable action because it means you will be able to publish updates directly to them in the future which could be used for a variety of purposes like promoting traffic to your website or advertising anything you want."
Some of the early adoptees of the "Like" button include CNN, the movie site IMDb.com, ESPN and Levi's.
Levi's will integrate the "Like" function on its e-commerce site as well as build a "friend" store where consumers logged into Facebook will be able to see a list of their friend's favourite products and shop online with them.
"We're creating a new shopping experience that will change the way people shop online," said Jodi Bricker, vice president of digital at Levi's.
'Audacious and a bit scary'
So what does this mean for Google, the world's most powerful internet company with billions of users who access the web using hyperlinks?
"People are discovering information not just through links to web pages but also from the people and the things they care about," Mr Zuckerberg told a conference hall of around 1,500 developers.
Om Malik, founder and editor of the technology blog GigaOM.com told BBC news "even a blind man can see this is a Facebook versus Google battle and in many ways if the web is going to be more social then that plays to Facebook's strengths."
Damon Cortesi, founder of social media company UntitledStartup, agreed.
"Facebook has won the internet," he told technology blog ZDnet.com
"Facebook has always been social, but in terms of dominating the web over Google they have made strides today."
But Mr Malik sounded a note of caution.
"The whole idea to socialise the whole web is fairly impressive, audacious and a bit scary. I am very scared about the privacy issues around this initiative. They haven't really been very clear as to how consumers will have more control over the things they do on the web."
The issue of privacy has been something of a thorn in Facebook's side. It has suffered backlashes in the past over moves to change users privacy settings.
"Nothing we have released changes any of the privacy protections we have," said Elliot Schrage, the company's vice president of public policy and communications.
"We're providing new opportunities for people to have a social experience if they want it."
Search gigant Google reveals government data and censorship
For the first time Google has released details about how often countries around the world ask it to hand over user data or to censor information.
Brazil tops the list with 3,663 data requests while the US made 3,580 and the UK came a distant third with 1,166.
Just last month the internet giant pulled its search engine out of China over online censorship issues.
Google said it cannot provide statistics on requests from China which are regarded as state secrets.
Brazil also made the highest number of requests to Google to remove content with 291 calls between July and December 2009. In second place was Germany with 188, India with 142 and the US with 123 requests.
The search giant has launched an online tool breaking down the figures which it hopes will be "just the first step toward increased transparency".
"The vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations or for the removal of child pornography, " said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer.
"We believe that greater transparency will lead to less censorship. Unless companies, governments and individuals do something, the internet we know is likely to become ever more restricted - taking choice and control away from users and putting more power in the hands of those who would limit access to information."
Google has been at the centre of a high profile battle with China over the issue of censorship. It stopped censoring results earlier this year after the Gmail accounts of users associated with human rights groups were hacked.
The company said the attacks had originated in China while the Chinese authorities denied any involvement.
Inspiration
Google's "government's request tool" was unveiled on the same day that Canada's privacy commissioner sent an open letter to the company regarding privacy issues.
Officials from 10 nations backed the complaint sent directly to Google boss Eric Schmidt.
The California based firm said any suggestion that their release was done to deflect from that news was "unrelated".
guy in a tshirt that says freedom
Few companies publish any sort of data about such requests
"We have been noticing a trend with these requests and working on this initiative for a long time, " Scott Rubin, a senior spokesman with the company told BBC News.
"This is really about our ongoing quest to make information accessible and we are hoping this will inspire other companies to share data and become part of the conversation people are having about the scope of these kinds of requests."
Google said it was disclosing the information "in the spirit" of principles laid out by the Global Network Initiative, a group that promotes freedom of expression online. Yahoo and Microsoft are also part of the organisation.
Google said that to date 40 governments censor information compared to just four in 2002.
"Google's numbers are not nearly as transparent as they could be," said Tom Krazit of technology news site Cnet.com.
"The tool doesn't break out the data for the number of times Google complied or refused requests for information on individuals. It does say how often - in general - it complies with takedown requests, but does not provide specifics."
Google said it is working to perfect the information and that "it will get better". The next release will be in six months' time.
Brazil tops the list with 3,663 data requests while the US made 3,580 and the UK came a distant third with 1,166.
Just last month the internet giant pulled its search engine out of China over online censorship issues.
Google said it cannot provide statistics on requests from China which are regarded as state secrets.
Brazil also made the highest number of requests to Google to remove content with 291 calls between July and December 2009. In second place was Germany with 188, India with 142 and the US with 123 requests.
The search giant has launched an online tool breaking down the figures which it hopes will be "just the first step toward increased transparency".
"The vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations or for the removal of child pornography, " said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer.
"We believe that greater transparency will lead to less censorship. Unless companies, governments and individuals do something, the internet we know is likely to become ever more restricted - taking choice and control away from users and putting more power in the hands of those who would limit access to information."
Google has been at the centre of a high profile battle with China over the issue of censorship. It stopped censoring results earlier this year after the Gmail accounts of users associated with human rights groups were hacked.
The company said the attacks had originated in China while the Chinese authorities denied any involvement.
Inspiration
Google's "government's request tool" was unveiled on the same day that Canada's privacy commissioner sent an open letter to the company regarding privacy issues.
Officials from 10 nations backed the complaint sent directly to Google boss Eric Schmidt.
The California based firm said any suggestion that their release was done to deflect from that news was "unrelated".
guy in a tshirt that says freedom
Few companies publish any sort of data about such requests
"We have been noticing a trend with these requests and working on this initiative for a long time, " Scott Rubin, a senior spokesman with the company told BBC News.
"This is really about our ongoing quest to make information accessible and we are hoping this will inspire other companies to share data and become part of the conversation people are having about the scope of these kinds of requests."
Google said it was disclosing the information "in the spirit" of principles laid out by the Global Network Initiative, a group that promotes freedom of expression online. Yahoo and Microsoft are also part of the organisation.
Google said that to date 40 governments censor information compared to just four in 2002.
"Google's numbers are not nearly as transparent as they could be," said Tom Krazit of technology news site Cnet.com.
"The tool doesn't break out the data for the number of times Google complied or refused requests for information on individuals. It does say how often - in general - it complies with takedown requests, but does not provide specifics."
Google said it is working to perfect the information and that "it will get better". The next release will be in six months' time.
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