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Google has just added a useful button to its mobile homepage – tagged “near me now”, this feature lets you search by using your location as the query. Currently available for iPhone and Android phone users in the U.S., “Near me now” utilizes GPS for determining your whereabouts and then searches for results near your location. The new Google mobile homepage feature lets you easily search for popular categories of nearby places. Just by clicking or tapping on the “Near me now” link right on the Google mobile homepage, you will find categories of places. And if you want more you can just select the “browse more categories” link. You can also explore the whereabouts of specific locations including reviews or rants of other people about a specific restaurants and their menus and services. To use this feature, make sure that the location feature of your iPhone, Nexus One or other Android phones is activated. Then visit google.com your phone’s browser and you can easily spot the “Near me now” tab. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Google Adds “Near Me Now” to its Mobile
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feature,
google-adds,
iphone,
location,
mobile,
mobile-homepage,
mobile-search,
people,
phone,
search engine news,
search-engine,
seo,
tools
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WordPress has begun reporting visits to a site’s home page in their stats package. WordPress Home Page Stats I am glad to see this additional level of reporting. After having blogged for 500+ days in a row @SearchMarketingCommunications.com and for 120+ consecutive days here, I was growing disenchanted with blogging because of the dismal traffic figures WordPress’ stats were reporting. Much to my relief with their addition of home page stats being reported, both my blogs have begun reporting several thousand more visitors within the last several days than were previously being reported.
The rest is here:
WordPress Reporting Home Page Stats
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additional,
begun-reporting,
dismal,
home-page,
last-several,
press-home,
their-addition,
traffic-figures
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Now, a hardcore web marketer, Paul walker started his online marketing journey about 3-4 years ago in 2005. Before he commenced Internet marketing, he was literally drowned in huge debts with very little income for his living. He strived hard every single day for nearly 12-14 hours a day in an attempt to establish his
Read more:
Paul Walker – A Scam or a Genuine Web Marketing Guru?
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every-single,
his-online,
huge-debts,
internet,
internet marketing,
little-income,
living,
marketer profiles,
online,
paul walker,
quick income blueprint,
strived-hard,
walker-started
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The idea of giving the opportunity to leave off-site comments to any page has been hot for a long time: that’s how many social bookmarking / sharing sites work (like StumbleUpon where people “review” and tag pages within the system), that’s what Google Sidewiki concept is based on and that’s how Tweeting any page works… Why it has been popular is quite clear: people are saved from the trouble to log in or filling the comment form and are given the opportunity to use their favorite web environment and instantly share their comments with their online friends. The question is how we, bloggers and Internet marketers, can keep track of those comments and utilize that off-site conversations around our web pages. This post looks at one part of the question: possible ways to keep track of Twitter conversations related to any web page : Type Instant notifications Additional tracking tools Kutano Browser addon Yes No BackTweets Browser bookmarklet No RSS feed, email alerts AddATweet Browser addon Yes No Kutano Kutano works as a browser addons (supported browsers: FireFox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome) that hides behind a handy sidebar and notifies you of recent Tweets around any page you are landing on. In short, it works as follows: Install the addon (and restart your browser). Kutano sidebar should appear; Navigate to any web page and notice a number that appears right on the sidebar (when it is closed). This number indicates how many Tweets have been found for the current page): Click on it and see the actual Tweets in the opened sidebar: Best features: Instantly see Twitter comments on any page you are currently viewing (the sidebar is open); See Tweets to the page or to the site; See “Discussions” – i.e. recent web updates that do not link to the page directly but use a related hashtag or keyword (useful for tools, brand names, etc): BackTweets BackTweets is a popular tool that tracks and aggregates tweets linking to a particular page. It supports a number of URL-shorteners which makes the tool one of the most complete. It can be added to your browser with help of a bookmarklet which allows to quickly find Tweets linking to the current page. Best features: Create an email alert for new Tweets linking to any page; Grab an RSS feed to follow Tweets commenting on any page. AddATweet AddATweet is more about commenting using your Twitter identity than aggregating all Twitter buzz around one specific page – that is you won’t see all the Tweets related to any specific page but you will be able to track comments left using the tool. Best features: Instantly see if the page has comments by the color of the addon button; Easily leave your own comments using the tool and your Twitter identity. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . How to Quickly Check Tweets Related to Any Web
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color,
internet,
online,
opportunity,
search-engine,
seo,
Social Media,
social-bookmarking,
tool,
tools,
tweets,
twitter,
using-the-tool
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We discovered in 2009 that AdWords inaccurately attributes the geolocation of your AdWords visitors. I previously wrote a blog post about AdWords geotargeting’s inadequacies in Feb 2009 (” “> Hey AdWords, Do You Offer GeoTARGETING, Or Just GeoSUGGESTION? “). Though my desired fix (allow experts to turn off query parsing even even if defaults “on” for noobs) was echoed by many users, nothing has changed. After almost a year, Google can’t even tell me they intend to schedule an improvement in this area. AdWords users need to understand why they’re getting inaccurate geolocation information and make sure they adjust their advertising efforts accordingly, and be sure NOT to segment their ads in accordance with inaccurate info. A Second Major Problem Due to Query Parsing? I believe all of these problems relate to query parsing, which overrules the geotargeting you set in AdWords. “It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature” – by Mauralyn , Flickr Creative Commons Our AdWords rep called query parsing a feature. I said, “that’s like telling someone who wants a manual transmission that their automatic transmission is a feature.” Regardless, all we ask is that experts be able to turn it off. But the inaccurate attribution I cover below makes it a bit more complicated. This means that query parsing is somehow trumping IP-based geolocation in both reporting and ad serving. AdWords Geographic Report Disagrees with Both Omniture GeoSegmentation and Google Analytics [The experiments here are from one of my expert PPC/SEO/Social Media apprentices, Josh Williams , also of Fuel Interactive and WhatOurBossSaid .] Josh ran a test to see how AdWords’ geo targeting correlates with actual traffic from the targeted areas. He created a campaign targeted only to South Carolina, put an Omniture campaign parameter in the destination url, and ran it for a week. We compared the AdWords geographic report with Omniture’s GeoSegmentation report. AdWords said all but 5 impressions (and zero clicks) came from South Carolina (thus 100% of clicks were from South Carolina according to Google). That would be nice, since that’s what we asked for. However, Omniture SiteCatalyst said that the visitors actually came from 38 U.S. states, and only 12.2% of clicks came from South Carolina: The majority of visitors came from North Carolina, which as previously mentioned, fits with what we know about Myrtle Beach tourists from many other data sources. However, we didn’t ask Google to serve ads in NC, and Google says they didn’t. AdWords reports that what we asked for was achieved, even though it was not. In some circles, we would call that lying. But let’s not call an automated report a liar. Let’s give Google the benefit of the doubt and call it a technical error that they need to fix. (I would not be so cagily accusatory if I had not been through the unsatsifying AdWords customer service run-around on this issue for a year. I doubt my blog posts are more effective than running up and poking Goliath. This kind of neglect will lead Google to inherit the ire Microsoft has achieved- an ire they have expressed a desire to avoid. Neglect and/or stockholder interests could incentivize AdWords reps to be more PR diplomats than the customer champions we need.) If you don’t have Omniture, you can get the same confirmation from Google Analytics. We checked both to make sure our conclusions were correct. Our AdWords rep said this: “AdWords reports on IP addresses the same way Omniture is, so it shouldn’t show up differently in the geographic report. For example, that person from Colorado searching on the keyword with a location specific term, if he sees the ad and clicks on it, it should register as a click from Colorado in AdWords and not as a click from a South Carolina IP address.” But clearly the results show that’s not what’s happening. Omniture and GA agree with one another, and both disagree with the AdWords Geographic report. More Impossible Results Reported in AdWords Web Interface In a similar experiment, Josh created a series of 9 campaigns, each geotargeted to one state, and all using only the same two keywords: exact matches [myrtle beach hotel] and [myrtle beach hotels]. He ran these from Oct 5, 2009 to Nov 2, 2009. And when he didn’t see response, he attempted to get more impressions by raising bids and budgets. The results were striking: According to AdWords, more than 99% of the impressions came to the South Carolina campaign. Highly Unlikely, as we know from other data, and contradicted in the other study by Omniture and GA. Implications: Can You Trust Geo Data In AdWords? So why would you ever run a Geographic report in AdWords? I suggest you don’t, unless your business is not locally oriented and your brand names have no city names in them.What’s more, it means you can’t trust the impressions, clicks, and other data you see in the AdWords web interface if your campaigns are geotargeted. TAKEAWAY: Make sure you’re using another analytics package- use Google Analytics and link your AdWords account to it. Rely on that for your geographic data. GOOGLE: Fix the error, please. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Local PPC: Google AdWords GeoAttribution Is
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flickr,
local search,
north,
search engine marketing,
Social Media,
south,
south-carolina,
tools
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I recently had a meeting with a potential new client who operates a high-end dating service similar to Bravo TV’s The Millionaire Matchmaker . It was one of those meetings where everything clicked. I was just as fascinated to learn about her business as she was to learn about SEO and Internet marketing strategies. The conversation flowed—it was more of a dance, really. And then she stopped me in my tracks by saying, “Oh my gosh, this is just like a great first date!” I was a bit taken back at first. I’ve been out of the dating pool for a while, so I thought I’d better ask the professional matchmaker what she meant. As it turns out, it was a compliment (not a line that I had crossed). She summed up her feelings about our meeting in two words: Excitement and trust. Now think back to some first dates you’ve had. I’ll bet that most started with a good deal of excitement, but a first date can’t be great until trust is established. Without trust there’s no cutting loose, no real connection, and no potential of a future relationship. So what’s this got to do with new client meetings? A first meeting with a potential client is no different than a first date. Well, of course there are differences (thankfully), but the same rules apply. In fact, my own “first meeting mantra” has been a big factor in the growth and success of my consulting business. A lot of people go for the whole enchilada in the first meeting—the business equivalent of taking a girl to dinner on the first date with the hopes that she goes home with you that night. Sure, it happens sometimes, but expecting to close the deal in your first meeting is an unrealistic goal that will set you up for failure. I like to think of the first client meeting as a two-step conversion process: the first goal is to establish trust and then get them excited about working with you. Five Ways to Establish
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Business,
client,
internet marketing,
marketing,
meeting,
research,
search engine marketing,
search marketing career,
tools,
video