The Internet should be fast. At least that’s what Google says. In line with an announcement the search engine made last year, the speed of a website is now officially a ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm. While the new ranking factor impacts very few queries, the change is still a significant development. We here at Lakeshore Branding are all for it. Indeed, the Internet should be fast. It should snap, show, and respond quickly. Whether you’re a small business owner, an Internet marketer, or an e-Commerce retailer, it’s important to understand that the speed at which your site loads can affect the level of engagement that you will have with your audience. Create a page that loads at a snail’s pace, and chances are that you’re shooing visitors and potential clients away. After all, no one wants to wait for a website or a page to load forever. So here’s a list of simple formatting tips to keep your – Read the full article
We all know that the Apple iPad has set the world abuzz. Fans have praised the tablet computer as a revolutionary, game-changing device, while critics have pointed out that it’s no more than a giant iPod Touch. In any event, the impact of the Apple iPad on how we share, consume, and publish online content can no longer be doubted. It will change, if it hasn’t already, the way we use the Internet – especially if the iPad becomes widely adopted. That’s why – if you run a small business or work as an Internet marketer or web developer – it’s important to think about optimizing your website or blog for the iPad. After all, more and more people are using Apple devices to surf the Web: part of engaging with and reaching out to these users is providing them with a smoother, glitch-free experience of your website or blog. Forget Flash Apple emphasizes HTML5, CSS, and Javascript – but – Read the full article
The impact of many About Us pages has pretty much been underestimated throughout the growth of the Internet. If you own a small business or run an e-Commerce site, chances are that you haven’t paid as much attention to your About Us page as to your product catalog or company blog. But make no mistake: About Us pages are one of the most visited pages in a site or domain. It’s also the page visitors go to when they want to find out more about the people, the faces, the team members, behind the website or the company. That’s why you shouldn’t pass up on writing and creating a killer About Us page. Here are a number of tips: Be brief: Sure, it’s important to be able to tell a story, but don’t make your About Us page sound like a long-winded literary novel or some such sort. Be brief. If possible, keep the whole text above the fold (the – Read the full article
Video sharing website YouTube recently marked its fifth anniversary, and all signs point toward even bigger growth – and more video content being uploaded, broadcasted, and shared through the website. According to the recent release of statistics, YouTube enjoys an astounding two billion hits every day – almost twice as much as people tuning in to America’s three biggest prime time TV stations. The milestone, which was announced in conjunction with the anniversary, also reflects a massive growth from when YouTube was founded in February 2005. While minor glitches and copyright issues have not been uncommon, the website has enjoyed more than its fair share of sensations and successes: the viral Iranian election protests video, President Barack Obama’s YouTube interview, the massive popularity of Nike’s Ronaldinho football commercial, and – more recently – the rise of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” music video to the top of the list of most watched videos ever on YouTube. Here are other interesting YouTube – Read the full article
It’s one thing to get a lot of followers on Twitter; it’s another to be able to retain them and keep them engaged and interested. To be followed is not enough, especially if you’re a small business owner looking to maximize the long-term value of the social microblogging site for your company or brand. You’ll want people to eagerly await your tweets, and to have them “retweet” whatever you have to say. You’ll want them to keep asking you for more. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should suffer from tiny little panic attacks whenever someone decides to un-follow you. But retaining followers on Twitter can be one of the most crucial parts of your social media strategy. So here are the top 7 tips on how to keep them once you have them: 1. Quality over quantity Twitter users follow you not because they want their home page cluttered with meaningless minute-by-minute updates, but because they assume they’re going – Read the full article
In one way or another, all Internet marketers have emphasized the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) techniques in growing one’s business and gaining a competitive edge over competitors. However, while some of us have focused well enough on optimizing the text on our websites and blogs, there aren’t as much taking the time to optimize images and photos for search. Lakeshore Branding hopes to change that. Image search, after all, is a feature present in all major search engines. Optimizing your site for that will likely bring in more targeted traffic, more conversions, and more subscribers. That’s because image searchers are usually interested in what a particular product or brand looks like. Want these people to find your site? Focus on optimizing each of your images and they just might rank higher in search results. Use good-quality photos Image search results take the form of thumbnails, so make sure that the images you use on your site have good – Read the full article
In recent times we’ve seen social media grow exponentially fast. Thanks to quick Internet adoption and the advancement of mobile technologies, hundreds of millions of people are now part of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. These two sites in particular have enjoyed an incredible amount of attention, but we must understand that they form but a part of a continually evolving social media landscape. That’s why it’s important to take a wider perspective and check out which new social media and social networking sites may soon become the Internet’s new darling. Foursquare Foursquare is a location-based social networking site that’s lately been getting a tremendous amount of hype. A number of its features are parallel to Twitter (like the ability to post quick status updates wherever you are), but Foursquare sets itself apart by encouraging – and rewarding – users to explore their own cities. Here’s how it works: users “check in” by posting updates through a messaging service. – Read the full article
It’s great to have your own blog to support your main website: you can keep updating it with new content and engage with a community of readers. But what if that community isn’t growing or responding as you had hoped, no matter how great and fresh your content is? Don’t worry: an increase in engagement is not impossible. Facebook Connect is one of the most popular ways to reach out to members of the social media community through your blog. This Facebook API (or application programming interface) is currently being used by all kinds of third parties: from websites like the Huffington Post and Mashable, to gaming consoles like Xbox Live and Sony PS3, and even mobile applications on the Apple iPhone. Basically, what this tool does is integrate Facebook into your blog, so that you can tap into the social networking site’s 400 million active users worldwide. Facebook Connect also allows you to help your blog readers connect with – Read the full article
