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How to Predict Traffic from Google

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:43:34 +0000

Google gives you plenty of really good tools at the moment to predict the traffic to your website from Google rankings. In this post I will show you how you can make a guestimation of the %age of traffic that a particular rank will give you, this is something that I have been trying to figure out for a long time now, and with Google’s wealth of tools available we can use these to get quite fair estimations (Well I think so anyway.). So what do you need to do this: Google Adwords Keyword Tool Your Analytics Package Daily Rankings Reports Google Insights for Search Firstly some caveats, This is an estimation tool remember this and make no promises based on the results, Results can depend on many other factors other than just this such as how appealing your result looks to the searcher, Results do not take into consideration the number of sponsored listings on the page or local search results and the maps with them, real time search box and Shopping results. Collecting the

Think of New Client Meetings Like a First Date

cgseo — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:36:40 +0000

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

Is Google Extending YouTube into a Gaming Site?

cgseo — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:04:31 +0000

Here’s an interesting repor t speculating that Google might actually be planning to make YouTube as a hosted gaming site. Sometime in February 19, 2009 Google applied for a patent which carries the title – “Web-Based System for Generation of Interactive Games Based on Digital Videos.” The patent application which was published earlier this month states that: “the collaborative generation of interactive features for digital videos, and in particular to interactive video annotations enabling control of video playback locations and creations of interactive games.” This seems like somehow games would be built atop videos that are being submitted to hosting sites such as YouTube. So its either games will be created that hop in and out of popular videos or a place where people could upload source videos will be created. This will allow users to play out multiple video scenes and combine them to create a YouTube hosted online game. If this is where this patent application is going through, then it will open up the possibility for anyone to create games using their video camera and a good video editing software. So, what do you think, does this makes sense at all? Here’s the part of the patent application explaining all these points: A video may have associated with it one or more annotations, which modify the appearance and/or behavior of a video as it was originally submitted to an online video hosting site. Some examples of annotations are graphical text box annotations, which display text at certain locations and certain times of the video, and pause annotations, which halt playback of the video at a specified time within the video. Some annotations, e.g. a graphical annotation (such as a text box annotation) comprising a link to a particular portion of a target video, are associated with a time of the target video, which can be either the video with which the annotation is associated, or a separate video. Selecting such annotations causes playback of the target video to begin at the associated time. Such annotations can be used to construct interactive games using videos, such as a game in which clicking on different portions of a video leads to different outcomes. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Is Google Extending YouTube into a Gaming

YouTube Joins the Rage on URL Shortener

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:32:22 +0000

It’s like saying, if Twitter, Facebook, Google and all the other sites can implement their own URL shorterner for sharing links why can’t YouTube have its own too? After all, YouTube videos are one of the most shared stuff on Facebook and Twitter. So, the YouTube folks joined the rage with its own YouTube URL shortener . So now if you don’t trust unknown sites hosting videos being shared to you, with YouTube’s URL shortener you are sure that the links that you are clicking are actually YouTube videos. Of course, that’s beside another benefit which is saving you some precious character count, especially if you’re sharing video links on Twitter. To use this feature, you must first activate the AutoShare feature on your YouTube account. This will link up your account to Twitter and Google Reader, so that the next time you found an cool video and favorite it, it will be automatically shared on your social networking accounts with the shortened version of the video’s YouTube URL appearing as link. Alternatively, you can use YouTube’s URL shortener manually by replacing the part of a YouTube video’s URL that says – “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=” with “http://youtu.be/”. So for example I have this video URL – “ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7__F5boLIk ” and I’ll just replace it with “ http://youtu.be/o7__F5boLIk “, and the link is good to go. Cool. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . YouTube Joins the Rage on URL

Yahoo Video Search Gets More Refiners

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:31:37 +0000

Yahoo just added some more search refiners to its video search vertical – TV and Movie Actors. These refineres aim to help you explore your TV shows and movies while searching for them on Yahoo Video Search. You can see these video search refiners on the left side of the Yahoo video search page once Yahoo video search displays your search results. These refiners were created intelligently which will narrow down your search intuitively. The new TV search refiner let you filter your video search result by characters, by the most popular episode and chronologically by season if you are searching for a specific TV show. In addition, you can also opt to view video clips from specific video hosting sites including Hulu or Joost. Movie actors search refiner on the other hand, lets you filter your search results by clips coming from the different movies they made, if you are searching for famous movie actors. These video search refiners add up to the previously introduced video search music refiner. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Yahoo Video Search Gets More

Weekly Search & Social Coverage: 11/24/09

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:12:39 +0000

Welcome ot another edition of ‘ 7 Days of Search and Social ‘ – I hope you are well and getting well into another week in the trenches. Last week was a particularily busy one in the blogosphere which made it even harder to try and keep the list managable. Even in the world of patents it was a busy one. I sure hope you have your reading caps on because this edition is a HUGE one. As such we’re also not going to have a ‘lead story’ as there is so much to cover and nothing really stood out as the ‘big story’ for me… Anyway, let’s get on with it shall we? Talk of the

Try Out Chrome OS on a Virtual Machine

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:53:02 +0000

So you’ve read all about it, seen all the video materials, the what’s not and what is – of the Chrome OS , that is. What’s left now is how you can actually have a look and feel of it in action, or at least almost in action. Over at TechCrunch , they are running a piece on how you could possibly run Chrome OS using the available materials. The whole process might seem easy but I bet it is not for non-geek people like us. It will require you to download an image of the Chrome OS either here or here . The first file is a Torrent version and you need to extract it from the .BZ2 format. After getting the Chrome OS file, you need to download and get VirtualBox running on your machine – that is you need to create a virtual machine. The process involves: naming your Chromium OS build choose Linux as OS allocate ample memory to your VM use existing hard disk open the Chrome OS image select hard disk image Then hopefully you did the process correctly. You’d know you’ve successfully installed the Chrome OS on your newly created VM when the screen turns dark and you’ll see the Chromium splash screen. You will then need to log in using a valid Google Account ID, either your existing ID or a newly created one. And that’s pretty much it. If you’re brave and patient enough to do all those steps and successfully fired up Chrome OS on a VM, we would like to know your impression. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Try Out Chrome OS on a Virtual

Bing Integrates MSN Videos and Video Search

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:11:55 +0000

Microsoft is rolling out the new Bing Videos site aimed at bringing a new unified online video destination. The new Bing Video site combines Bing’s video search engine and MSN video site . In addition, the new Bing video site also lets you access videos across the web including those videos from MSN video, Hulu, ABC, and YouTube. This practically translates to over 900+ T.V. shows Bing videos was also re-organized to make it easier to navigate through the different video content and find the exact videos that you want to watch. And to make your video viewing session more pleasant, you can always turn on the “dim the lights” feature and enjoy watching videos online. Great if you have that new iMac or a MacBook hooked up on a 52″ Samsung plasma Tv. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Bing Integrates MSN Videos and Video

The Partnership of Blogging and Biz

cgseo — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:43:18 +0000

by Damon Nelson Running a small business has the similar demands as that of a huge one. One particular aspect that you have to focus on is marketing. Blogging on the web is a cheap and effective tool to spread the word about your company. You can tell of your products and services, as well as the history and contact details of your business. Also, it can even be useful for inspiring employee loyalty. In blogging about your products and services, you are also taking pride of the efforts and time that your workers have contributed to your business. Hence, it helps keep your workers at peak morale If you are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, consider what starting a blog might be able to do for you. Similar to other forms of blogging, utilizing blogs for business, also has its unique advantages and disadvantages. The foundation of a successful business blog is creating a clear blueprint, where each and every step in your plan are clearly stated. In blogging, its easy to lose your way, mostly if you are just getting started with this technology. Thus, you must be focused. Write up a plan for how often you will update your posts. Is it going to be a weekly, bi-weekly or a monthly post? Also, list down what will you be writing for the next few weeks. In this manner, you can do more research to retain the loyalty and attention of your readers. You must give some attention on the overall design of your blog. It should be “readable” and the design must not be straining to their eyes. Of course, the quality of your writing should also be impeccable. Make sure that you have your post checked before you have it published. Lastly, is promotion. This kind of task is easy if you have the money. If you are starting out with your business, it is a good move to get to know other bloggers in the industry. In this way, you can get help once you’ve published your blog. About the Author: Discover more about blogging to success from Blogger’s Paycheck . Visit Damon Nelson’s site to learn more about online business at Fast Video Reviews .

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The Partnership of Blogging and Biz

Add Cool Features to Google Search with Google Bump

cgseo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:13:43 +0000

Google Bump is a n awesome Greasemonkey script worth giving a try. It adds some cool functionality to the Google web search: Main features include Multisearch, Image & Video results with a Player, Wikipedia definitions and links, and some clutter cleanup by Most Useful