Instant just got mobile. It was only last September that Google introduced Google Instant, a search enhancement that allowed users to view search engine results as they typed. Promising better, faster results, Google Instant also saved a lot of typing and time – about 2 to 5 seconds per search, according to the company. As covered by our very own Brandon Zeman, as well as of guest writer Phyllis Roe, the new feature introduces new implications on SEO and gives rising importance to efficiency in search. Two months later? Google has taken Instant search to mobile platforms. In an announcement made Thursday on the Google Mobile blog, Google is rolling out the beta release of the search service for mobile phones, particularly the iPhone and Android-powered devices. According to the company, Google Instant on mobile is tied to a new implementation of AJAX and HTML5, which thus allows dynamic page updates and eliminates the need to load a new webpage – Read the full article
The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) market is so competitive these days. There are so many different companies trying to vie for the same market, it is unreal. While many consider only three companies – RIM, Google, and Apple – to be in real competition, Facebook might just make an appearance. The key to making any of these services be in high demand is to create the right buzz through Internet marketing programs. The right program should the right people to the technology. Here’s the reason why people feel that a Facebook-created physical mobile phone is such a bad idea: they believe that the popular online social media website has no business being in the ring with the rest of the heavy hitters. The best bet being thrown out for Facebook is to create a VoIP like Google Voice and stick to creating a “softphone” instead. The softphone can easily be marketed through Facebook itself as a natural progression for – Read the full article
Now that Google Instant has aged a bit and search professionals have had the opportunity to test its effect on SEM campaigns, the general verdict seems to be that Instant has not had a dramatic effect on SEO. Like Google Caffeine earlier this year, Instant seems to be aimed at improving user experience rather than search results. Indeed, in spite of all the SEO anxiety accompanying each change made by Google, the fact remains that their recent upgrades have focused largely on three main factors: * Greater personalization * Better targeting * Increased efficiency And while these are all things that professional SEOs are already optimizing for, now may be a good time to look beyond search results and consider how Google’s changes are affecting search behavior. With the release of Google Instant, it seems clearer than ever that Google wants to make search as easy and as intuitive as possible – and the way it’s doing that is by – Read the full article
Establishing – or enhancing – the presence of your business online will require a lot of text. Let’s see: website copy (with multiple pages), product and service descriptions, blog entries, tweets, Facebook wall posts, E-mail newsletters, pay-per-click ads, etc. So who’s going to do all that writing? Hire a web content writer. That’s the simplest solution, right? It’s also one of the most efficient. You hire the writer for a specific content creation project, maybe even an outsourced writer from offshore. It’s cost-effective, and you’re also able to free up a lot of time for yourself – time that you can spend focusing on running and growing your business, as opposed to playing the role of a copywriter or communication agency. Before you handpick a writer, though, you have to make sure that he or she is your best candidate. An interview may even be necessary. The most important thing, of course, is that the writer has what it takes – Read the full article
When researching or choosing a product or service, visitors typically follow a keyword path. This keyword path can be used to help inform your SEO campaigns. For example, let’s imagine we have an imaginary visitor who is trying to choose a digital camera. Our visitor might start off by researching digital cameras. In Google, they will search upon the keywords “digital cameras”. They might complete some research, read some reviews, and decide upon a make of camera – let’s say they have decided upon a Nikon. Let’s now imagine that our visitor will now carry out a search for “Nikon digital cameras” and following further research, eventually decides upon a Nikon P100. Finally, at this stage, the visitor will carry out searches for “Nikon P100 prices”, which now indicates they are ready to buy and are carrying out price checks online. This keyword path will typically apply in most sectors, and your job as a website owner is to figure – Read the full article
Critics are quick to point out that the Apple iPad isn’t exactly a replacement for your laptop. More than a mobile business platform, it’s a sleek tablet device for consuming content on the Internet. This doesn’t mean, however, that the iPad can’t increase your productivity while on the go. As the Apple commercial goes, “There’s an app for that.” Below you’ll find a list of essential iPad apps for small business users of the device. GoodReader At 99 cents, GoodReader is an affordable app for viewing PDF files and important business documents in other formats – like Word, Excel, PNG, PPT, TXT, and JPEG. It also supports high-resolution images, and can even do audio and video – perfect for opening and viewing all kinds of files, regardless of size. Need to download a presentation or a report from Google Docs for offline reading? GoodReader can also do that, and can even unzip those files and folders for you. Memeo Connect – Read the full article
A few weeks ago marked the onset of major changes in the landscape of social gaming: Google announced plans to launch its own social gaming service and Disney purchased social gaming company Playdom for $763 million. Playdom is currently vying for second place in the social gaming industry, battling with Electronic Arts and other competitors. Industry leader Zynga is the developer of FarmVille, the wildly popular Facebook application that is set to bring in $500 million in revenue this year. Another factor that could have a major impact on social gaming is the possibility of a repeal on the ban of online gambling. At the end of July, the House Financial Services Committee voted 41-22 in favor of new guidelines that would regulate, but not outlaw, some forms of online gambling. If legalized, the federal government could bring in a great deal of revenue by heavily taxing online gambling. Real money gambling could increase opportunities to generate revenue for social – Read the full article
What happens if the best of the Internet and television came together? This is the question that search giant Google aims to answer as it launches Google TV, a new service that combines television programming with search capabilities and rich Web applications. The recent announcement by the company revealed that the service is developed in partnership with other technology companies, including Sony, Intel, and Logitech. Google TV is being marketed as a new “entertainment hub” that lets viewers search channels, recorded TV shows, and websites – and watch television content using web-enabled sets or Google TV set-top boxes. Moreover, the service also allows users to browse the Web on television, including their favorite video, music, and photo sites. The service is powered by Google’s own Android software and Chrome web browser. Users can conduct Internet searches using a drop-down box that appears at the top of the TV screen, with results from millions of channels of entertainment across TV and the – Read the full article
