Google is Experimenting with Sponsored Ads at the bottom of their Search Engine Results Pages?

Google regularly experiments with their advertising placements and formats always trying to improve its response.  Generally, their experiments are only displayed to a relatively small percentage of users.  If deemed successful, they will roll it out sometime in the future.

If you need internet marketing advice, visit us at www.wsib2b.com
or contact us toll-free at 888.697.5107. We provide affordable SEO as
well as a number of other internet marketing programs that are geared to
generating results.

WSI Media Relations Contact
Keith Haggerty, Internet Marketing Consultant
Offices in Orlando, FL and New Orleans, LA
Toll Free: (888) 697-5107

Contact Us

Try Out the New YouTube Interface

It seems that Google has very busy as of late with its recent launch of Google+, Google+1, its new Gmail interface, and last Thursday Google rolled-out its new (and I believe improved) interface on YouTube. Currently, they are in the experimental phase which is called ‘Cosmic Panda‘ and contrast to  Google+ it is available and open to everyone.

Personally, I like the new dark background compared to the current white background.  For me, the dark background gives it a  richer and more modern appearance.  I also like the fact that there are new editing tools and new page designs that cater to particularly to bloggers and networks.  They even have a multi-purpose template they call ‘everything’.

If you’ve installed Google Chrome as your browser, you now have the ability to leave one video open while searching for others, which is a benefit.  There are now 4 buttons below the player that allow you to switch video sizes, and even better, viewers can toggle back and forth to view comments or suggested videos.

What I don’t like about the new interface is that Google has elected not to change the controllers under the video.  The ability to skip forward or backward with the click of a button would have been a nice addition.  For me, sometimes it can be a bit annoying having to drag the slide-bar back and forth to fast forward or rewind the video.

Regardless, overall I think it’s a noticeable improvement compared to YouTube’s current interface.

What do you think? Feel free to try it out yourself.  Also, there is a blue ‘feedback’ (left side-bar) button..  Google would like for you to send them your feedback on the new videos, playlist, and channels experience.

If you don’t like it, you can always revert back to their existing interface.

Do You Want to Know More About Google+ ?

Will it be the next big thing in social networking? Will it be a serious competitor to Facebook? Will it be another failed attempt by Google as was Buzz, Orkut and Google Wave?

The debate is on.  Many believe it will be the future of social networking, but there are many so-called experts that also believe it will fail miserably.  Regardless, what you think,  there’s no doubt it is not only the talk of the town, it is the talk of the digital world.

After Google recently shut down the invitation process, some users  decided to put  invitations on auction at eBay!

Yes, it is the latest buzz word in  social media.

If you’re interested in Google+, below is a list of 40 facts surrounding Google’s new and exciting project.

1.            Google Plus is currently available on an invitation-only basis.

2.            Google+ is considered by Google a “Project”, not a “Product”.  This means they’re conducting sample exercises to see how users might approach and use some of their new founded social-networking ideas.

3.            Google does not consider it a Facebook competitor (at least publicly).

4.            Google Plus is currently available for download as an app in the Android Market.

5.            When you download that app, it splits off the “Huddle” feature as a separate app.

6.            Users can post status updates, and these appear on the Google Profile under a tab called “Posts”. The +1′s and Buzz tabs remain separate. I have to wonder if we’ll see
Buzz and Posts merge eventually.

7.            What is available now is “just the beginning” according to Google. These are just the first features or presumably many more to come.

8.            Circles is one current feature. It lets you share things with different people (kind of like Facebook Groups) but with a very different user interface.

9.            Another feature is Sparks. This looks for videos and articles it thinks you’ll like, so
“when you’re free, there’s always something to watch, read, and share.” Filter Bubble anyone?

10.          Hangouts is another feature. It’s basically group video chat. Google describes it as “the unplanned meet-up.”

11.          Instant uploads are a mobile-specific feature. Photos upload themselves as you take them, and are stored in a private area on the cloud.

12.          Huddle is another group-conversation feature for mobile. Essentially, it’s group chat.

13.          The stream is basically the equivalent of the Facebook news feed.

14.          When you share something with Google Plus it’s added to your stream and the stream of everyone you shared with.

15.          The stream shows you what all of your Circles have shared with you.

16.          If you mention a user, using the “+” or “@” symbols, the person may receive a
notification that you mentioned them.

17.          You can see who specific posts were shared with in the stream – whether they were shared publicly, to extended circles, or a limited group.

18.          You can filter the stream by specific Circles.

19.          You can chat directly in the stream

20.          You can report inappropriate content.

21.          You can search for people from the search box at the top of the stream.

22.          Soon, Google says you’ll be able to search the stream itself from the search box.

23.          If you leave comments on a post, you can edit or delete them.

24.          Same goes for posts, you can’t edit a post’s sharing settings after the post has been shared and you can delete the post and share again to different circles.

25.          You can “re share” posts made by others (like re tweeting).

26.          You can “mute” a post. This will let you stop receiving updates from a post, like if the comments get out of control for example.

27.          You can use the “Google Plus Bar” that appears at the top of various Google products as your connection to the social network.

28.          When you’re signed in you’ll see your full name or email address displayed with a photo or avatar next to it, to help you identify which account you’re currently signed in to.

29.          If you have enabled multi sign-in you can sign in to two different Google accounts and switch between them using the Google Plus bar.

30.          When you sign up for Google Plus, you’re also signing up for Picasa Web Albums, so all photos and videos uploaded to Google Plus (including from your phone via Instant Upload) will also be available in Picasa Web Albums.

31.          You can use the Google +1 button from the stream.

32.          You can have a ton of friends on Google Plus. Robert Scoble quickly added over 1,000.

33.          The central user interface is very Facebook-esque.

34.          Google Plus quickly became the butt of a lot of jokes (and even cartoons) but has also received a great deal of praise thus far.

35.          With Google Plus Google adds a “You” link to the recently redesigned (painted black) navigation bar across Google properties

36.          You can view public Google Plus content without actually being invited (Danny Sullivan has a guide on how to view it)

37.          China is already blocking Google Plus. That didn’t take long.

38.          Invitations have been listed on eBay.

39.          There are already privacy concerns about Google Plus.

40.          According to the Financial Times article, you can share something within a closed “Circle,” but someone from that circle can then re-share it with anyone, and even make it public.

Source: Webpronews

If you need internet marketing advice, visit us at www.wsib2b.com
or contact us toll-free at 888.697.5107. We provide affordable SEO as
well as a number of other internet marketing programs that are geared to
generating results.

WSI Media Relations Contact
Keith Haggerty, Internet Marketing Consultant
Offices in Orlando, FL and New Orleans, LA
Toll Free: (888) 697-5107

Contact Us

Foursquare Valued at $600M and Raises $50M to Create Merchant Platform

The location-based social networking website, Foursquare has announced that it has raised $50M to assist in building out its merchant platform.  Considering the size and popularity of Foursquare it’s pretty remarkable the capital venture went practically under the radar.  During this process, the company was also valued at $600M, up from it last valuation of $120M, but lower than the $1 billion it was rumored to be worth.

As of June, Foursquare was up to 10 million users for its mobile app, which may seem huge, but is actually relatively small considering other major social networks.  The greatest obstacle Foursquare will have to overcome is that the marketing space is beginning to get crowded.  With Google, Groupon, Living Social, Yelp, and others targeting advertisers, there’s some concern that retailers may be tapped out.

The good news for Foursquare is that it has major advantages in the marketplace.  Its focus not only on rewarding loyal customers but also tracking how their referrals navigate through the social maze bodes well for the location-based social networking site. I also like how they have been very patient, waiting until their model has been perfected before aggressively selling through direct sales and partnerships.  Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare recently stated, “We know what it’s going to be, we just haven’t flipped the switch on it yet”.

In response to the company’s ability to remain under the radar with its valuation and venture capital, Crowley stated, “Loose Tweets sink companies.  The series B played out very publicly and it was hard for the company, so we came up with a better process this time.”

Wikipedia: Foursquare is a location-based social networking website based on software for mobile devices. This service is available to users with GPS-enabled mobile devices such as smartphones. Users “check-in” at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by running the application and selecting from a list of venues that the application locates nearby. Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes “badges”.

The service was created in 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai. Crowley had previously founded the similar project Dodgeball as his graduate thesis project in the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University. Google bought Dodgeball in 2005 and shut it down in 2009, replacing it with Google Latitude. Dodgeball user interactions were based on SMS technology, rather than an application.

Foursquare is the second iteration of the same idea, that people can use mobile devices to interact with their environment. As of April 2011, the company reported it had 8 million registered users. As of June 2011, the company reported it had 10 million registered users. The company will pass 750 million check-ins before end of June 2011, with average users about 3 million check-ins per day. 50 percent users came from outside US and 50 percent of users were male.

Google’s PowerMeter and Health Removed from Life Support

On Friday, Google announced that two of its less than popular free tools will be shut down.  The web energy management tool for online users, Google PowerMeter will be powered down on September 16th, 2011.  While the tool that was intended to give people access to their personal health and wellness information, Google Health will retire on Jan. 1 2012.  Google wants to provide its users an opportunity to download their data and transition to other services.

PowerMeter was aimed to raise awareness about the importance of giving people access to data surrounding their energy usage.  At no cost, users were able to manage and monitor their online power consumption via an iGoogle widget.  Unfortunately,  the tool never really caught on generating a mere 11,000 users since it was launched in 2009.  Truth is, it’s extraordinarily difficult for any business, even Google, to develop and market a successful tool that requires consumers to really care about energy consumption.

Health was created in 2008 for the purpose of helping people live healthier lives with online personal health records.  The concept and technology is considered relatively new and one that is still looking for a space in the marketplace.  Only 7% of consumers have even attempted to use online personal health records, and fewer than half of those continue to use them, which is primarily due to the applications being a bit complicated.

Google Senior Project Manager, Aaron Brown wrote in an official blog post, “By helping people make more informed decisions through greater access to more information, we believe Google Health and PowerMeter have been trailblazers in their respective categories.  Ultimately though, we want to satisfy the most pressing needs for the greatest number of people. In the case of these two products, our inability to scale has led us to focus our priorities elsewhere.”

If you need internet marketing advice, visit us at www.wsib2b.com or contact us toll-free at 888.697.5107. We provide affordable SEO as well as a number of other internet marketing programs that are geared to generating results.

WSI Media Relations Contact
Keith Haggerty, Internet Marketing Consultant
Offices in Orlando, FL and New Orleans, LA
Toll Free: (888) 697-5107
Contact Us

Must See Video! Social Media Revolution 3

Based on #1 International Best Selling Socialnomics by Erik Qualman this is the latest in the most watch social media series in the world.

Display Advertising Market Continues to Boom

According to eMarketer, by the end of 2011 Facebook will surpass Yahoo! and become the #1 display advertising sales company in the country.

It is projected that Facebook will grow its net display sales in the US by a whopping 80.9% to $2.19 billion.  Unbelievably, this is actually a growth decline over the previous two years where Facebook realized triple digit growth in 2009 and 2010. eMarketer also expects their growth to slow even to 31.3% in 2012.

Facebook accounts for 17.7% of the total display market and in 2012 eMarketer projects they will reach 19.4%. The race for second will be interesting with a Yahoo! falling to 12.5% and Google moving up to 12.3%.

“Facebook’s supreme popularity – both in terms of the number of people and the amount of time they spend there – creates a plethora of display ad impressions, mainly for its unique form of banners,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst.  “And that popularity is also boosting what advertisers will pay for its display ads.”

Overall, the display advertising category is booming with a phenomenal 24.5% growth in 2011.  Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL all are realizing double-digit growth.

Google’s revenue growth in this category comes from large advertisers that currently do business with Google, small to medium-sized businesses looking to expand their reach, and brand marketers using Youtube to expand their reach.  Another indication that Google is serious about display advertising is their planned acquisition of the display advertising agency Admeld.

If you need internet marketing advice, visit us at www.wsib2b.com or contact us toll-free at 888.697.5107. We provide affordable SEO as well as a number of other internet marketing programs that are geared to generating results.

WSI Media Relations Contact
Keith Haggerty, Internet Marketing Consultant
Offices in Orlando, FL and New Orleans, LA
Toll Free: (888) 697-5107
Contact Us

I might look like I know, but I don’t!

I came across the below post this morning by WSI Digital Marketing Consultant Liezel Strauss which I found quite humorous yet very applicable to how we strive to communicate technical terms into everyday understandable dialog with our clients.

Last week I emailed a client asking for the FTP and CPanel details to their existing website and to please advise if they have PHP 5 or higher running on the platform and whether or not we can have access to a MySql database, so we can start their project.
The client replies:

“Hi Liezel,

The following response is satirical tongue-in-cheek – not to be taken seriously!

When Gerrie* and I were born, the world was very different. The following items were not invented: microwave, cell phone, PC, dishwasher. No dvd, cd or even video machines – TV was black and white and had no remote control. Bread and milk were delivered to the house every morning by a milkman. I can remember when the first man set foot on the moon. A hard drive was going to Durban in summer in the car – no aircon. A mouse was something we poisoned.

You ask me for a FTP and Cpanel to the existing doohicky. You also ask for the state of my PHP 5 (something to do with the pool water?) and then you want to touch me on my Squeal Base?

Yeah Right!!!

Have mercy on me – I might look like I know, but I don’t!

Have a great day!

Regards

Jacques*

(I can do smileys – does that count?)”

Have a great week! And contact WSI if you feel the same as Jacques and need us to lend a hand.

*names were changed

Does Your Business Have A Social Media Policy?

Recently, the National Labor Relations Board  supported a worker who was fired because while at home, posted disparaging comments about a supervisor on facebook.   Co-workers read the post, ‘liked it’ and added their own comments.  The employer felt that the employee violated company policy which prohibits employees from portraying the company “in any way” on social media.  However, the National Labor Relations Board stated that employees are allowed to discuss the conditions of their employment with co-workers while on break, in the company parking lot or on Facebook.

In the end, the case was settled with the employer agreeing to revise their overly-broad rules to ensure that they do not improperly restrict employees from discussing their wages , hours  and working conditions with co-workers and others while not at work and they would not discipline or discharge employees for engaging in such discussions.

The problem is that case-law and regulatory opinions have difficulty keeping up with the popularity and growth of  social media .  Amazingly, most companies are of the opinion that they can fire employees at will for making posts on the internet they believe reflect poorly on the company, brand, and/or the individual.  However, unless companies have a clearly defined social media policy, lawyers and government agencies will successfully object to such firings if they violate laws governing discrimination, harassment or other legal protections, such as the “concerted activities” cited in this case.

If you’re a small business owner or an HR manager and do not have an updated social media policy and plan, contact us today at 888-697-5107.

WSI June Webinar

Thank you to everyone who participated in our May end client webinar with Ron Packer who discussed social media marketing. We invite you to register for our June webinar “Take Online Lead Generation to The Next Level: 5 Ways To Capture New Market Niches.” Registration details are below:
Topic: Take Online Lead Generation to The Next Level: 5 Ways To Capture New Market Niches
Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/542877185

This month’s whitepaper entitled “Take Online Lead Generation to the Next Level: 5 Ways to Capture New Market Niches” is now available for download from http://getwsipowered.com.

Many business owners ask the same questions about capturing and sustaining market share and achieving revenue goals. Some common questions that get asked are as follows:

1. My current strategy isn’t yielding the results I thought it would. How do I keep my competitive edge without squeezing my marketing budget?
2. How do I find growth potential when business is slowing down or has hit a plateau?
3. What is the most effective way to launch a new product?
4. How do I test a new market in a cost effective manner?
5. How do I allocate my marketing budget to optimize returns?

The answer to the above questions is simple: Find market niches and have a system to capture them. This whitepaper shows five ways to achieve that.

We looking to speaking with you soon.