At one point, it was ok not to have an account on Facebook or Twitter. However, now that over 72% of United States internet users are on Facebook and 70% of Facebook users reside outside of the USA, according to a recent study, it’s clear that social can’t be ignored any more. Businesses and individuals need a Facebook account to keep up with their peers and potential or current customer base. Facebook and other social media sites like Twitter, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn are now an integral part of how the online world communicates every day, either through computers or smartphones, which also have a growing user base. To Be Taken Seriously, Jump Right In Businesses, organizations and individuals that jump in head-first and stay connected throughout the myriad changes of social media websites may be perceived more positively than companies or individuals that shy away. A recent article by Newsday.com cites writer Morgan McKean, who explains that: “These … [Read more...] about Failure To Adopt Social Media Poses Personal And Professional Risks
Personal and professional life
Getting Up Close and Personal Online Is Bad for Business
Recruiters, prospective clients and fellow employees are all using social media to find out more information about the people they encounter in their professional lives. Keeping your personal life online separate from your professional life is very important. You don’t want professional connections knowing all about the ins and outs of your personal life. Job candidates and current employees should follow a few simple rules when communicating through social media. Professionals who fail to abide by these rules are at risk of missing out on job opportunities, potential termination from their current positions, non-acceptance into an institution for higher learning or professional organization and sometimes the awkwardness of someone finding out about a divorce or custody battle. Some things just need to stay private. A study conducted last year by Career Builder found that 37 percent of employers are screening candidates by searching their social media accounts, with Facebook … [Read more...] about Getting Up Close and Personal Online Is Bad for Business
PEW Survey Finds Most People Don’t Google Themselves That Often, After All
Marge Simpson Googling Herself"All this time I thought ‘googling’ yourself meant the other thing." A PEW/Internet Survey out this week found that 47% of internet users have done ego searches, up from 22% five years ago. That nearly half of internet users are searching for themselves seems excessive, but only 3% say they check regularly. Most (74% of those who have done such searches) have only checked once or twice. As our use of the internet decreases our privacy, the study also found that most internet users don’t find this to be a concern. 61% of adults don’t feel they need to limit the amount of information found out about them online. Only 38% have taken steps to do so. It makes sense that most people don’t search for themselves regularly, as they probably don’t make internet news often enough for the results to change much. However, as more companies, landlords, and dates use search in addition to or in lieu of background checks, it may be … [Read more...] about PEW Survey Finds Most People Don’t Google Themselves That Often, After All
How To Use Schema and Open Graph Markup For Local SEO
One of the least-tapped areas of local business website optimization continues to be semantic markup. Semantic markup can increase chances that information from your website will be highlighted in search engine results pages via rich snippets, attracting greater attention and clickthroughs. So, read on and use this checklist to see if you’re exploiting all elements possible for your local business website. While special markup likely may not directly improve your rankings in search, it does apparently increase clickthrough rate or “CTR,” as consumers are more drawn to your site’s listings. The increase is reportedly 15% on average, and potentially higher! Just this increase in CTR alone could benefit your rankings over time, as clickthroughs can influence rankings; so, there are a few reasons why semantic markup is worthwhile. Semantic markup optimizes for Google, Bing, and Facebook search, too. If you think most Microformats/RDFa/Micro Data/Schemas don’t … [Read more...] about How To Use Schema and Open Graph Markup For Local SEO
4 LinkedIn Recommendations For The B2B SEO Professional
LinkedIn’s recent announcement about the redesign of LinkedIn Group pages has had me thinking much more about why B2B search marketers need to leverage this social media platform in support of SEO initiatives. According to the announcement, “there are more than 200 conversations happening each minute across LinkedIn Groups and more than 8,000 Groups created each week.” And in Holger Schulze’s 2013 B2B Content Marketing Trends Report, LinkedIn tops the list as the most effective social media platform for delivering content. Schultze acknowledges a bias in these findings (since those polled were from the LinkedIn B2B technology marketing community). However, similar research from the Content Marketing Institute and GlobalSpec supports this notion as well. Yet LinkedIn has historically been overlooked by SEOs in favor of other social media platforms — even in the B2B sector. Why has this been the case? Links in profiles and discussions aren’t really … [Read more...] about 4 LinkedIn Recommendations For The B2B SEO Professional
In Quality Raters’ Handbook, Google Adds Higher Standards For “Your Money Or Your Life” Websites
Google’s continuing push toward identifying expertise and authority on the web takes another step in the form of a new type of website/landing page classification: “Your Money or Your Life.” It’s explained in detail in a new version of Google’s “Search Quality Ratings Guidelines” — the document that’s used by the company’s cadre of human Search Quality Raters. Version 4.2 (dated June 7, 2013) of that private document recently leaked online via a private SEO community and a Search Engine Land reader shared it with us. A Google spokesperson has confirmed for us that the document is legitimate. This is the first leak of the private guidelines document since version 3.27 leaked in September 2012. Google also released a watered-down version (1.0) publicly earlier this year. The “Your Money or Your Life” section is new; it doesn’t appear in either of those documents. So, what does it say? Let’s take a look. … [Read more...] about In Quality Raters’ Handbook, Google Adds Higher Standards For “Your Money Or Your Life” Websites
Attending SES Toronto Could Change Your Life
Search Engine Strategies Toronto returns to Toronto June 9 – 11th. The largest annual search engine marketing conference and trade show held in Canada, SES Toronto is a must-attend event in the Canadian online marketing community. It’s also an essential event for US and European SEMs who want to understand one of the most affluent but subtly unique markets in the world. There are as many reasons to attend SES Toronto as there are actual attendees, thousands. By far, the best reason is dramatically simple. The experience could literally change your life. More on that thought later. This is a particularly significant year in search and online marketing, one full of enormous disruption. The migrations to mobile devices, personalized and local search results, social media and video marketing are changing the ways online marketers work, think and plan. If don’t have SES Toronto on your calendar, this is a particularly good year to place it there. Like all conferences, SES … [Read more...] about Attending SES Toronto Could Change Your Life
Writing Content That Panda and Your Audience Will Like
Panda, along with all the other updates and changes in the search landscape, makes our jobs as digital marketers tough. Whether you have to answer to your clients or to in-house supervisors, knowing how to get results with your SEO work, while avoiding penalties is enough to cause sleepless nights. There is doubt Panda has caused waves in the SEO community and online space. With the continuous changes and the most recent Panda 4.0 update, some digital marketers are scrambling to ensure they are protected. We know thin content, scraped content, and article syndication can be problematic. The bottom line is that quality matters— the quality of our websites and the quality of our content. That is not new, but has been exemplified with Panda. Content is not content just for the sake of it and updates over the years have proved that. Content—including the written word—is how we communicate our messages. It’s how we build our brands and give voice to our businesses. … [Read more...] about Writing Content That Panda and Your Audience Will Like
10 Mistakes We’ve All Made on Social Media (And How To Fix Them)
Mistakes happen to even the best of us – we know first-hand from the helpful comments informing us whenever there’s grammatical error. But, that’s just human nature. And we all make mistakes. However, you can at least make the effort to be as flawless as possible. Especially when it comes to social media. Whether you’re using social media as a way to keep in touch with friends and family or as a marketing tool, you’re likely well aware of how powerful social media channels have become. When used correctly and mistake-free, you can successfully promote yourself, brand, or product. If you have a major hiccup, you can harm your reputation, both personally and professionally, for years. After all, even if you delete that angry rant you posted on Facebook, someone saw it. Someone might have even saved it. Regardless, that one mistake won’t be going away anytime soon. For example, take the following 10 mistakes. We’ve all fell victim to them at one … [Read more...] about 10 Mistakes We’ve All Made on Social Media (And How To Fix Them)
How to Get an Edge with Outsourcing
I fell in love with tech 15 years ago, when I got my first job as a Javascript developer. It was like a puzzle, putting parts together to create something bigger. Piece by piece, it came together into a working application, which was amazing to me. I stuck with tech as a career, and since then I’ve been involved with three startups and two public companies. I’ve also angel invested and/or advised a handful of startups. I’m now a co-founder at my fourth startup, Acompli. But I didn’t start out in tech. In fact my work history is all over the place… First Job: Chief Slopper at my family’s pig farm in California’s Central Valley First Small Business: Head of biz dev for my siblings’ baseball card stand in our garage (where I got my negotiating chops) College Job: A t-shirt embroidery business I ran out of my dorm room, serving the finest fraternities and sororities of UCLA College Job: LAX ramp rat at FedEx loading airplanes Somewhere in … [Read more...] about How to Get an Edge with Outsourcing