Why You Need Social Media in 7 Minutes for your small business

Why You Need Social Media In 7 Minutes For Your Small Business

Does social media marketing work?  Absolutely.  According to IBM, 9.2 percent of consumers who saw social media marketing campaigns made purchases, compared to the overall conversion rate for web purchases, which IBM pegged at 5.5 percent…As a whole, IBM expects mobile web access on retail websites to increase 15 percent in November 2011 compared to November 2010.  Businesses are taking note, and more and more businesses are implementing a social media marketing campaign.

In fact, almost all companies report that they are growing their spending on social media marketing techniques, according to the results of a Booz & Company and Buddy Media survey released in October 2011 (Campaigns to Capabilities: Social Media & Marketing 2011).  In fact, not a single respondent to the survey reported that they would spend less on social media, with only 5% stating that they would maintain the same budget.  That is a pretty incredible consensus.

The respondents identified the most critical success enablers for launching a social media marketing campaign:

• Education on what can be achieved via social media
• Training of staff who are not accustomed to using social media
• Ability to adapt and react quickly on social media
• Clearly communicated support from executive management
• Having a clear owner of the project

In summary, in order to implement a successful social media marketing plan, it is imperative that you have the ability to train your staff on how to effectively use social media and provide the technology needed to implement plan in a quick, simple, and efficient manner.

Providing knowledge to the small business owner on how to create and implement a social media marketing plan and the ability to implement efficiently and easily is the reason for the creation of Social Media in 7 Minutes.

Here are 7 reasons why you need Social Media in 7 Minutes for your small business

1. You Don’t Know what you Don’t Know- Is there a social media site for mobile and events?  Can you use video to promote your product or service?  How can you actually use a social media site for business if you’re limited to just 140 characters?  How can I improve my SEO without spending any money using social media?  Can I implement a social media marketing plan without a website?  Understanding the possibilities of what is available for social media marketing is the first step to creating any type of plan.
2. All in one info- Social Media in 7 Minutes is designed to be a one stop shop for your social media how to guides.  Social Media in 7 Minutes will show you how to create the Top 7 online local search (posicionamiento en buscadores) directory sites, how to create, interact, optimize, and properly engage with others on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, how to set up and promote events, how to utilize mobile marketing, and how to implement video marketing as well.  This information is provided to you in both video and text formats.
3. Video How To- Most people prefer to learn ‘how to’ instructions via video, so all of our training is a recording of how to create, interact, optimize, and engage with others on specific social media sites.  Video tutorials are perhaps the most effective ways to teach people how to do something that they are otherwise not familiar.
4. Text Info- Sometimes video moves to fast for people, which is why each educational how to video is also accompanied by a written step-by-step process detailing the how-to of the video training.  Having access to both written and video training will allow the user the greatest opportunity for success to both learn and implement these strategies.
5. Constantly Updated- Perhaps the best part about using video training is that as things change, we can update accordingly.  Social media is a very dynamic market.  Since October, Facebook has created a new Timeline design and Google+ has launched.  That’s a pretty busy 30 days.   So when changes occur, like the Facebook Timeline, we can either create a new how to video or update and existing training video.  Because of our ability to do this, Social Media in 7 Minutes will always provide it users with the freshest, up to the minute detailed how to video training on social media.
6. Experienced- Social Media in 7 Minutes was created by Black Box Social Media who is a ‘done for you’ social media marketing company.  BBSM is constantly creating and implementing profitable social media marketing plans for high end clients.  As such, BBSM is a student of the social media marketing.  When things change, BBSM knows about it and will update and educate users of Social Media In 7 Minutes of these changes.
7. All in one DIY Software App for implementation- education is great, but if you can’t put it into action, then it does you no good.  Part of Social Media in 7 Minutes is the 7 Minute Dashboard, which is an all in one do it yourself software application that will allow you to perform many tasks from one location, such as scheduling and  updating all of your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles & groups, Tweeting, sending emails, autoresponders, newsletters, text messages, and blog posts all from one location.

If you liked ’7 Reasons You Need Social Media In 7 Minutes’, then you may also enjoy other articles about social media marketing available from Black Box Social Media

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Social Media Marketing And SEO For Business

Last month, I talked a little bit about some of the tactics you can use to increase response rates to your customer surveys. Today, I want to take a step back and cover some of the reasons you need to be surveying your customers. Maybe, you’re not yet getting feedback from your customers. If you’re not, you’re jeopardizing your success.

Here are 5 important reasons you need to survey your customers.

1. Measure customer loyalty—Customer retention should be a top priority for every business. It’s been said a thousand times, but it’s worth repeating—acquiring a new customer is far more expensive than keeping an existing customer. Surveying your customers gives you insight into the amount of loyalty they have for your company. If you don’t like the results, you can come up with a plan to improve your customer retention rates.
2. Develop ideas for new products—Adding to your product line is a good way to keep your company fresh and growing, but finding new ideas for products and services can be tough. Who better to turn to than your customers? They can tell you what they’re looking for, and if there’s enough of a demand for it, you can deliver it for them.
3. Training your staff—Customer feedback often provides good information about the effectiveness of your customer service. Whenever you identify the things customers like and dislike about their interactions with your company, you can use that information in training your employees.
4. Improving existing products and services—When I think about some of my favorite products (iPhone 4, Playstation 3, etc.), they have one thing in common—they’re always improving (or at least trying to). New updates are released to existing versions, and eventually, totally new and improved versions of the products are created. Ask your customers what improvements they’d like to see in your products and services so you can deliver the best product possible.
5. Demonstrate commitment to customer satisfaction—Asking for feedback shows your customers that you care about them and value their opinions. Just make sure you actually take the time to study their feedback and act upon it when necessary.

What are some other good reasons to conduct customer surveys? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

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SEO Hosting Blog

When it comes to social media marketing, one of the few “must-dos” is to actually listen to your network. Social media is a conversation, not a soap box for your brand. No one wants to be talked at, whether it is in a face-to-face conversation or an online one. Social networking has taught your customers that they have a voice and a right for their opinions to be heard, and they are expecting you to listen. But paying attention to what your network is (or isn’t) saying shouldn’t be important to you just because SEO and social media consultants tell you it should be. If you actually listen to your social connections and take what they say to heart, you’ll find you will better understand your customers, their needs and where your brand fits into their lives.

They will tell you what kind of content they want.
Content marketing is a critical component of a good SEO campaign, but the number one problem for many companies is coming up with topics. Social media is the perfect place to turn to for topic inspiration. What kind of questions are people posting on your Facebook walls or in industry forums? What blog posts get the most attention and “love” from your social network? Does your audience prefer videos to long articles? All these questions and more about content can be answered when you listen to your social networks.

They will let you know when you’re doing it wrong and when you get it right.
Social media is not a one-size-fits-all tool. It’s your duty to figure out the best sites to connect with your target audience, what kind of content they respond best to, when they are online and connected to those networks, when they want to talk and so forth. If you pay close enough attention, you can start to judge the effectiveness of your social media marketing based on their responses. Do links shared between 9-5 get the same kind of response as the ones between 8 PM and midnight? What kind of tone do the comments on your Facebook wall take? Keep in mind that 100 people may visit your blog post in a day, but only 2 bother to leave comments. Those two comments might represent majority opinion, or they might be the outliers.

They will let you know what they really think.
Social networking is nothing if not honest. Consumers turn to social networking sites to complain about poor customer service from the local cable company, rave about the new coffee shop that just opened up or ask their friends for great date ideas. If they love something, they’ll let everyone know. If they hate something, they’ll let everyone know. Social media gives everyone a chance to say what they want when they want to. If you’re paying attention, you’ll get access into the minds of your customers that no focus group or survey could ever give.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal: SEO Articles, Tips and News

Google +1 for websites is here for a few days, and while some people are still (or again) skeptical, there are quite a lot of webmasters who have adopted the + 1 button almost immediately. The SEO industry has been especially quick to include the buttons. I am among them, while I still don’t use the Facebook like.

I’m not going to shout hooray because Google finally released a button, but nonetheless I can see that it’s the best and the hitherto most important attempt by Google at entering the social media arena. Most others failed miserably and Google has learned some lessons it seems.

The ease of use, for instance, and the quick announcement that the +1 votes will count as a ranking factor, are good signs that +1 will still be here a year from now.

It seems that Google is also adding up the best technologies from its former failed social services and products. I see features from Google SearchWiki, Google Bookmarks, Google Buzz etc. converging.

Google’s own +1 resources

Google +1 was introduced initially at the end of March, and I provided a list of 40 resources back then. Thus here I’ll add only those you need for the actual button. Most importantly, there is the code to include the website button, which is as easy to implement as Google Analytics or even more straightforward. So if you use Google Analytics already, inserting Google +1 is even easier to accomplish.

How to install Google +1 on WordPress, Blogger, Joomla etc.

You can of course add Google +1 buttons to your blog or CMS, either including the code yourself or using extensions, add-ons or plug ins. There are ways to do so on WordPress, WordPress and Thesis, Blogger, Joomla (both a how to and an extension), Magento, Open Cart… For those who want to add the button according to web standards (so that it validates), there is also a small tweak or a bigger workaround for HTML5.

Add your extension, tutorial or how to below in the comments.

Google +1 Extensions for WordPress

While you can include the +1 button manually as suggested above, there are already plenty of Google +1 WordPress extensions. I have tested several of them. There are simple ones, even one you have to save as PHP file to add-ons with multiple customisation options and features.

Choose the one that fits you best and that you trust the most to get updated in the future. I currently use the one by Alex Moss from Pleer SEO. For bloggers who already use a Google Buzz button, there seems to be a conflict and this extension has been suggested as a solution.

How to track Google +1 in Google Analytics and elsewhere

Yoast has quickly come up with a way to track Google +1 votes in Google Analytics. Others have expanded on this script with the actual URLs that got clicked and to consider negative clicks (when someone clicks +1 again to revoke the vote).

Several bloggers have come up with similar scripts. Google has already suggested that +1 votes will both get counted by Google Analytics by default and that +1 will get its own analytics suite, at least according to screenshots shown on a conference. Other analytics tools use their own hacks to allow +1 click tracking: Sitecatalyst.

I’m still on the lookout for Piwik, Woopra and other solutions.

How to use Google +1 on websites that don’t have a +1 button installed

While the quick adoption of +1 buttons on websites is quite impressive, and there are far more of them than Google Buzz buttons already, many sites don’t yet include the button. If you want to +1 them anyway, you need a bookmarklet or a browser extension for Chrome. Of course, you can still vote the site or article up in the search results as well. I haven’t found an extension for Firefox yet, but expect one to appear soon.

Why or why not use Google +1?

Many bloggers argue that it makes no sense to click the +1 button on websites because there is nobody you actually share your endorsement with, at least not directly. This may indeed be an advantage, as you can +1 twenty articles on the same topic in a row without alienating your friends or followers. Theoretically, there are many reasons to actually click +1 instead of liking or tweeting. On the other hand, privacy concerns get cited as a reason not to use Google +1 and Google forces you to join a social network again.

The single biggest reason to click +1 right now is, of course, that it is a ranking factor for Google.  So webmasters want visitors to click the button. Social Media B2B suggests informing all your existing connections. Also, Google users customise their search results using +1. They see their own votes and those by friends while searching. Logged out users also see the +1 votes. The first search results on Google for a given keyword displays the number of +1 votes, if there are any.

How does Google +1 affect your SEO and social media optimisation?

Judging from my own use of +1 buttons, I tend to click +1 instead of like on Facebook or tweet it. It easier than sharing on Twitter, and it prevents flooding your followers and friends with your numerous votes. So some people may vote more often now, while the number of likes and tweets may suffer. Another point to remember is that many people tweet just for the SEO of it. Now, with +1 they can go the direct way to improve their rankings – they don’t have to tweet.

Aside from my subjective musing, there have been two very impressive studies, one by SEO Effect to test the actual ranking and CTR impact and another one that analyses the performance of the Google +1 button and the scripts it uses. While the SEO is seemingly improving significantly, the website speed issues are a drawback right now. The Google engineers haven’t done their homework here. Also, there seem to be canonical issues.

I have to repeat here: Google has officially announced that +1 votes will count as a ranking factor. Many in the SEO industry doubt that the impact will be big, but as we see the actual tests show otherwise. So using +1 buttons on your site and encouraging your readers to click them will be a part of link building (posicionamiento web) from now on.

What else you need to know about the Google +1 button for websites

Google +1 buttons are also displayed on YouTube and Google Shopping (products) search results. As of now (June 8th, 2011) only Google.com users can see the +1 votes from their so-called social circle. These might be people connected to you via the various existing social sites like Twitter, Google Buzz, Quora, Friendfeed etc.

Still, so-called social search results seem to be separate from +1 votes right now. Both are connected to the same social circle you can manage on your Google Profile. While Android smartphones of course support +1, it seems that the buttons do not display on iPhones.

Additionally, WebProNews has compiled a list of things you have to know about Google +1. Kikolani has also a great guide.

© SEOptimise – Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. Everything Webmasters Need to Know About the Google +1 Button for Websites

Related posts:

1. The Google+ Honeymoon is Over: How to Deal With It
2. 40 Google +1 SEO Resources
3. 10 New Google Tools, Products and Services Every Business Person Has to Know About

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SEOptimise » blog

Mike Blumenthal dissects Google Places’ latest redesign:

According to Mike:

“They include a strong call to action (review, upload photos) and clear sense of priorities as to what is important going forward – even coupons now have a higher visibility - more user generated content, more understanding of your social circles intent and a greater desire, at least in the hotel industry, to use Places to “close” the sale.”

While reviews are still a big part of Places, my initial impression after checking out Mike’s screenshots is that Google thinks that reviews are a much lower priority than other elements such as coupons and social mentions.

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Local SEO Guide

When speaking to small business owners, I often find myself being told that SEO isn’t right for them. Unsurprisingly, I rarely agree. So I thought I’d write about the five most common reasons people give for not adopting an SEO strategy and outline why I think they’re wrong.

Reason one:  I’m just a small, local business

There’s a common misconception that SEO will only benefit companies that are already operating on a national or even international scale. Many small businesses only want to attract customers in their local area. Casting a wider net would be a wasted investment as the firm can’t cater for a non-local customer base.

Why you’re wrong

From an SEO perspective, it’s actually much more effective to target geo-specific keyword phrases. Geo-targeting will help attract visitors in your own local area when you optimise your website for search queries with a geographic preference, such as ‘Cheshire chimney sweep’.

Not only does this mean that you benefit from highly relevant, localised traffic, it can also be much easier to rank higher since competition is relatively low. After all, climbing the search engine results for a widely-used term like ‘SEO agency’ is much more competitive than optimising it for ‘Oxfordshire SEO agency’.

Google is passionate about providing users with relevant search results. By linking your business with platforms such as Google Places, you therefore benefit from high quality traffic. Furthermore, the likelihood of localised searches converting into actual buyers is far greater than users searching for generic terms. Hence, in reality as a local business, it would work in your favour.

Reason two:  I don’t have the budget

SEO does require some initial investment and many firms are put off – especially if they think they can’t see how they will measure the returns. Many small businesses prefer to rely on more direct marketing, such as email promotions or postal drops, simply because these are tried and tested methods.

Why you’re wrong

Firstly, there are many tools that help measure return on investment for SEO projects and secondly, in a survey conducted by Econsultancy early this year found that search engine optimisation provided the highest ROI for marketers above email marketing.
Furthermore, SEO is a bargain when compared to banner ads and PPC campaigns. The benefits of SEO are long term and residual; hence, you reap high quality traffic even after SEO campaigns are complete.

Reason three:  I don’t sell online

A large number of small businesses have only set up basic websites and don’t accept sales or commissions online. Because of that, they often assume that there’s little point working to promote those websites – they don’t really anticipate receiving many enquiries via the web.

Why you’re wrong

Even if your website is nothing more than an in-depth listing, you should make sure it can be found easily – otherwise you’re wasting the investment you made building the site. Therefore make sure that the title and meta tags should all include the city and country where your business is based. If you offer a service, it is very important to include the areas or regions you serve.

Remember to add neighbourhood names, smaller towns in the surrounding areas and any popular landmarks people often use in searches. Place your physical address and phone number on every page of your site, in addition to the contact us page.

Reason four:  My key phrases would be too hard to rank for

Some small companies are already competing with larger organisations and so believe that the most relevant search terms are simply too hard to rank for. When larger businesses with far bigger SEO budgets are already ranking for the best keywords and phrases, it can seem like a wasted investment trying to beat them to the top.

Why you’re wrong

There’s no point throwing a massive chunk of your search budget into ranking for those terms when other businesses can easily spend far more. That’s true for SEO and often true for search engine marketing too.

But there are alternatives. Aim to rank for long-tail keywords covering more specific products. These will be less competitive, as well as driving even more relevant business to your site. An example for this is trying to rank for ‘life insurance for over-50s’ rather than the more generic and competitive ‘life insurance’.

Reason five: It’s too complicated without specialist staff

Very small businesses with just a few employees often assume that SEO requires a team of computer programmers with marketing qualifications and a hefty price tag.

Many won’t have bothered investigating how much investment is needed because they simply assume it’s beyond your means.

Why you’re wrong

SEO can be an expensive business but that doesn’t mean that a smaller budget can’t achieve some easy wins.

If you don’t have the funding to bring an agency on board or take on a specialist member of staff, you could still spend time learning the basics of SEO yourself. There are a lot of great blogs and web sites where SEO knowledge is shared freely, not to mention several books on SEO that cost less than £20 and offer terrific information.

According to Mintel there are a lot more people purchasing products online than ever before and a lot more now shifting toward mobile search for product information. Therefore, making sure your business is visible to these prospects will undoubtedly benefit your business in many ways, not to mention your bottom line.

© SEOptimise – Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. 5 Reasons You Think You Don’t Need SEO (and why you’re wrong)

Related posts:

1. What Does SEO Consist of?
2. 30 SEO & Social Media ROI Analytics Resources
3. Twitter Netiquette: 10 Reasons to Unfollow Someone

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SEOptimise » blog

I love blogging, but let’s face it, there are some harsh realities about blogging that you have to learn how to swallow.

1. Not every post will go viral—I used to try to push every post I wrote as hard as I could, exhausting my promotional network in the process. Eventually, I realized that, no matter how hard I tried and wanted it, not every post I published was going to be linkbait. Furthermore, people get sick of you pretty fast if you’re constantly shoving your content down their throats. Promote your blog, by all means, but save the really big pushes for the posts that stand the best chance of going viral.
2. At some point, your readership will plateau—Hopefully, your blog experiences significant growth during its lifetime, but at some point, it’s inevitable that your growth will stall. That’s not to say that you won’t be able to attract new readers. You just need to mix things up. Try new ways to promote your blog and reach new readers.
3. People will criticize you—If you’re doing your job as a blogger, you’ll have some critics. That’s all there is to it. Not everyone is going to agree with everything you say, and some people will be downright nasty with letting you know they think you’re wrong. Want to be a successful blogger? Better have some thick skin.
4. You’ll write a post you regret—I doubt there’s a blogger out there who doesn’t have a post he (or she) wishes he could take back. Maybe you made a bad prediction or took a position that you later changed your mind on. Or maybe, you just wrote a post that wasn’t up to your standards of quality.

What are some other sad realities bloggers need to accept?

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SEO Hosting Blog

Google officials hinted on Wednesday that they will be bringing back the RealTime Search results. If you didn’t notice them in your search results, they provided information about what people were saying right then about a certain topic. These results were particularly interesting when big news was breaking on Twitter, like the death of Osama Bin Laden.

For businesses, the RealTime Search results were great for managing online reputation (reputacion online). You could see what people were saying on Twitter and other social media almost instantly. You could nip a nasty rumor or respond to a negative comment quickly.

Google ended the RealTime Search in June, when it couldn’t come to an agreement with Twitter. Google officials just pulled the plug on the results because without Twitter they didn’t feel they were effective enough. There is no official word on when RealTime results will be back but Google officials said they are “working on it.”

And just because Google is considering bringing it back, that doesn’t mean they have struck a new deal with Twitter. According to officials they will be pulling information from their new social network, Google +, which debuted in June. This move could help Google + unseat Twitter as the number 2 social media site sooner than expected. Google + was growing at a rapid rate at first but that growth has slowed down some. Still, the company has more than 25 million members in its first month—a growth rate that is faster the Facebook and Twitter when they first began. Including the Google + posting in RealTime Search could result in renewed interest among users who have not been swayed from Facebook or Twitter.

In the meantime, Twitter is still trying to compete in a crowded race for social media users. On Wednesday, Twitter announced it was launching a version for I-Pad users. Also this week, the company officially announced it was retiring the old Twitter. A newer version of the social media site debuted last year and until this week, users could choose between the old and new version. All users are expected to be converted to the newer version within the next few days.

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HigherVisibility

Small businesses on the Internet are increasingly resorting to Google Adwords and with Google’s effort to rope in more and more businesses to try the service with all the free Adwords coupons and assistance, there is every reason for the businesses to try this amazing advertising service.

Given Google’s simple and intuitive interface a person with half decent knowledge of Internet can set up and run an Adwords campaign and apparently there is no reason for a business to hire an Adwords consultant or specialist . So why do you still need an Adwords specialist?

Recently I have been working with a client in Hyderabad helping them with Internet marketing for some of their projects and one of their projects was DealDrums.com – a Groupon type service, currently available only in Hyderabad and projected for nation-wide growth in near future. They were running a very small Adwords campaign at their end and was seeing decent results however, they wanted me to do an audit of their account and do any necessary change required to improve the performance.

The top level figures for the account were ok (though the CTR is extremely low) considering they were trying their hands on Adwords for the first time.

After studying the account and the website I noticed the following:

a)There is no conversion tracking in place. The way their website was set up it wasn’t easy to set up the conversion tracking.

b)There were dual objective for the campaign : to sell the deal of the day and also to get user registration, however, the way the website was set up it was predominantly focusing on selling the deal of the day than getting user registration, which is a more profitable objective for the campaign.

c)The campaign was running on both search and display network and Display was literally cleaning the campaign in terms of extreme low CTR.

d)The campaign structure was missing a proper planning.

e)There were adgroups with mixed keywords like restaurants in Hyderabad and consultancies in Hyderabad.

f)Some of the keywords were too broad for a small budget campaign. There were keywords like sale, deal coupon etc.

g)Also noticed they were missing on certain opportunities in terms of keywords.

h)All visitors were sent to the home page of the site ( which featured the deal of the day) irrespective of the keyword or ad copy they clicked

Whether its SEO or Adwords consulting my approach has always been to provide a more holistic solution and after some discussion with the client I felt that it is not just the Adwords account but for the campaign to be successful we need to work on the website as well.

So here is a small account of what we did.

a)The campaign was completely restructured. Keeping the limited budget in mind, we set up basically four campaigns Generic (covering generic keywords), City (covering Hyderbad specific keywords), Category (covering broad deal categories like Restaurant deals, Salon deals etc), and Daily (keyword specific to the deal of the day)

b)A thorough analysis of the existing campaign was done to identify performing keywords and keyword research was done to find more potent keywords

c)Some of the existing ad copies were modified and a few new ad copies were written with suitable landing pages

d)Display network was switched off

e)Targeting was set to Hyderabad and 40Km around the city

f)A new landing page was designed with the objective to drive registrations with very clear call to action. The landing page had a sole objective and there was no chance for the user to be confused.

g)The website structure was slightly modified to ensure all conversions could be tracked.

So did it make any difference to DealDrums Adwords campaign ?

CTR increased by 31 times and CPC came down by 5.95, which effectively means at a budget of INR 10000, earlier they could get 622 clicks, which has now increased to 989 clicks ( an increase by 59%). They did not have conversion data earlier on Adwords so it was difficult to map the progress, but from the number of overall signups they were seeing on a monthly basis they were not close to the present numbers. A conversion rate of 31.32% is definitely something that any business would love to have.

There are still a few variations of the landing page that needs to be tested and can be further optimized to increase the conversion. This is in progress. However, going by the figures and the clear increase in performance it shows how an experienced Adwords consultant can drastically improve your campaign performance.

Adwords campaign set up being so easy, it often doesn’t occur to the beginners that there could be so many nuances to it and there could be so many different factors that play a role in the success of a campaign. Adwords is an extremely powerful tool and to make best use of it, it is of extreme importance that you have complete knowledge of all the tools, features and functionalities that Google provides and also have a proper understanding of how Adwords work. There is no harm trying to learn or taking a DYI approach, however if Internet marketing is not your domain of expertise, it is always wise to take help of an Adwords consultant while doing it for the first time. In all likeliness he will pay off for his fees in terms of the savings/increased number of clicks and conversions you receive from Adwords with his expertise.

Read more on SEO at SEO Consultant India Blog

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SEO Consultant India – SEO Kolkata

Google +1 for websites is here for a few days, and while some people are still (or again) skeptical, there are quite a lot of webmasters who have adopted the + 1 button almost immediately. The SEO industry has been especially quick to include the buttons. I am among them, while I still don’t use the Facebook like.

I’m not going to shout hooray because Google finally released a button, but nonetheless I can see that it’s the best and the hitherto most important attempt by Google at entering the social media arena. Most others failed miserably and Google has learned some lessons it seems.

The ease of use, for instance, and the quick announcement that the +1 votes will count as a ranking factor, are good signs that +1 will still be here a year from now.

It seems that Google is also adding up the best technologies from its former failed social services and products. I see features from Google SearchWiki, Google Bookmarks, Google Buzz etc. converging.

Google’s own +1 resources

Google +1 was introduced initially at the end of March, and I provided a list of 40 resources back then. Thus here I’ll add only those you need for the actual button. Most importantly, there is the code to include the website button, which is as easy to implement as Google Analytics or even more straightforward. So if you use Google Analytics already, inserting Google +1 is even easier to accomplish.

How to install Google +1 on WordPress, Blogger, Joomla etc.

You can of course add Google +1 buttons to your blog or CMS, either including the code yourself or using extensions, add-ons or plug ins. There are ways to do so on WordPress, WordPress and Thesis, Blogger, Joomla (both a how to and an extension), Magento, Open Cart… For those who want to add the button according to web standards (so that it validates), there is also a small tweak or a bigger workaround for HTML5.

Add your extension, tutorial or how to below in the comments.

Google +1 Extensions for WordPress

While you can include the +1 button manually as suggested above, there are already plenty of Google +1 WordPress extensions. I have tested several of them. There are simple ones, even one you have to save as PHP file to add-ons with multiple customisation options and features.

Choose the one that fits you best and that you trust the most to get updated in the future. I currently use the one by Alex Moss from Pleer SEO. For bloggers who already use a Google Buzz button, there seems to be a conflict and this extension has been suggested as a solution.

How to track Google +1 in Google Analytics and elsewhere

Yoast has quickly come up with a way to track Google +1 votes in Google Analytics. Others have expanded on this script with the actual URLs that got clicked and to consider negative clicks (when someone clicks +1 again to revoke the vote).

Several bloggers have come up with similar scripts. Google has already suggested that +1 votes will both get counted by Google Analytics by default and that +1 will get its own analytics suite, at least according to screenshots shown on a conference. Other analytics tools use their own hacks to allow +1 click tracking: Sitecatalyst.

I’m still on the lookout for Piwik, Woopra and other solutions.

How to use Google +1 on websites that don’t have a +1 button installed

While the quick adoption of +1 buttons on websites is quite impressive, and there are far more of them than Google Buzz buttons already, many sites don’t yet include the button. If you want to +1 them anyway, you need a bookmarklet or a browser extension for Chrome. Of course, you can still vote the site or article up in the search results as well. I haven’t found an extension for Firefox yet, but expect one to appear soon.

Why or why not use Google +1?

Many bloggers argue that it makes no sense to click the +1 button on websites because there is nobody you actually share your endorsement with, at least not directly. This may indeed be an advantage, as you can +1 twenty articles on the same topic in a row without alienating your friends or followers. Theoretically, there are many reasons to actually click +1 instead of liking or tweeting. On the other hand, privacy concerns get cited as a reason not to use Google +1 and Google forces you to join a social network again.

The single biggest reason to click +1 right now is, of course, that it is a ranking factor for Google.  So webmasters want visitors to click the button. Social Media B2B suggests informing all your existing connections. Also, Google users customise their search results using +1. They see their own votes and those by friends while searching. Logged out users also see the +1 votes. The first search results on Google for a given keyword displays the number of +1 votes, if there are any.

How does Google +1 affect your SEO and social media optimisation?

Judging from my own use of +1 buttons, I tend to click +1 instead of like on Facebook or tweet it. It easier than sharing on Twitter, and it prevents flooding your followers and friends with your numerous votes. So some people may vote more often now, while the number of likes and tweets may suffer. Another point to remember is that many people tweet just for the SEO of it. Now, with +1 they can go the direct way to improve their rankings – they don’t have to tweet.

Aside from my subjective musing, there have been two very impressive studies, one by SEO Effect to test the actual ranking and CTR impact and another one that analyses the performance of the Google +1 button and the scripts it uses. While the SEO is seemingly improving significantly, the website speed issues are a drawback right now. The Google engineers haven’t done their homework here. Also, there seem to be canonical issues.

I have to repeat here: Google has officially announced that +1 votes will count as a ranking factor. Many in the SEO industry doubt that the impact will be big, but as we see the actual tests show otherwise. So using +1 buttons on your site and encouraging your readers to click them will be a part of link building (posicionamiento web) from now on.

What else you need to know about the Google +1 button for websites

Google +1 buttons are also displayed on YouTube and Google Shopping (products) search results. As of now (June 8th, 2011) only Google.com users can see the +1 votes from their so-called social circle. These might be people connected to you via the various existing social sites like Twitter, Google Buzz, Quora, Friendfeed etc.

Still, so-called social search results seem to be separate from +1 votes right now. Both are connected to the same social circle you can manage on your Google Profile. While Android smartphones of course support +1, it seems that the buttons do not display on iPhones.

Additionally, WebProNews has compiled a list of things you have to know about Google +1. Kikolani has also a great guide.

© SEOptimise – Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. Everything Webmasters Need to Know About the Google +1 Button for Websites

Related posts:

1. 40 Google +1 SEO Resources
2. Simple Goal & Conversion Tracking with Piwik: the Open Source Google Analytics Alternative
3. 10 Tips to Improve Your Social Graph for Google

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