The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry continues to evolve. More and more experts are finding out ways and thinking up new strategies to make their websites – and their content – friendlier to the search engines. Nowadays, it’s no longer such a mystery to figure out how to rank higher, find faster, and optimize better. For the most part, SEO covers just text and image content. That’s because search engine robots understand only text. But times are changing, and we’re seeing new innovations in video SEO that bring us closer to being able to rank published video content more systematically in search. Why is this important? Well, it’s important for the simple fact that people are publishing videos on the Web more than ever. On YouTube, the well-established leader in this industry, users upload 20 hours of video every minute – and 10.5 million hours, or 120 decades, every year. More videos are uploaded using other platforms, which include Vimeo, – Read the full article
It’s easy to slap a name onto your business and call it a brand. But that alone won’t cut it these days – especially not online. It needs constant nourishment and attention in order to position it into something that will be successful. The great thing about promoting your brand online is that there are plenty of tools available out there for you to use. Like websites and blogs. Social media and local business listings. Online maps and directories. E-newsletters and RSS feeds. Of course, by building a brand online, you can also reach and influence more people than ever before – and at a much quicker pace than through traditional means like radio, TV, or print. Before you throw your brand onto the World Wide Web, however, it’s best to follow some of the online brand management tips which you’ll find below. Develop an Online Marketing Strategy You may have a lot of high-quality valuable information on your website, – Read the full article
These days more and more people are accessing the Web through their mobile phones. They’re checking their E-mails, surfing, reading the news, and even shopping – literally “on the go”. Wouldn’t you like to make your website “pops” for mobile? Don’t think it’s an impossible task. Today tools that format your website or blog for mobile phones and smartphones are aplenty. Most of them don’t even require web design or HTML expertise! Let’s take a look at some of them. Really Sweet Tools Mippin: This is a fast and free service that can “mobilize” your website or blog, so long as it has an Atom or RSS feed. It also offers built-in content variety through a list of sites delivered in simple format for the mobile audience. While there aren’t lots of features on Mippin, you’ll still have full control of your logo and branding efforts, as well as access to your traffic and reporting stats. And, to make sure – Read the full article
Do you know that 54% of CIOs ban the use of social media in the workplace? “Wow” was our first reaction, too. A bunch of Web 2.0 marketers are of course prone to advocate the merits of using blogs and sites like Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, and YouTube in efforts to help businesses grow. But like with many things, social media can be a double-edged sword. A secretary will tweet about the laughable fashion sense of her boss. An employee will write an eloquent blog about how the routine Monday meetings are a total waste of time. And then another staffer will post status updates about how nothing here – certainly not promotion up the corporate ladder – is based on meritocracy. Don’t think social media can be stopped, though. While this new digital sandpit is highly interactive and engaging, it can also be extremely hard to control. There are varying approaches taken by companies to either ban or limit it, – Read the full article
Bing is revving it up once again by adding new features to its search functionality. Among the latest additions to the search engine’s features is a new video portal called Bing Video which offers original programming as well as videos from a variety of sources. It combines content from MSN videos with Bing’s search technology, while also housing web-based videos from sites like YouTube, Daily Motion, Hulu, and MySpace, among others. Also included is content from sites like MSNBC, CBS, Fox Sports, National Geographic, and other providers and sites from which MSN offered original media programming. Bing Video may just be what Microsoft needs to help add to its current second-place video market share (next of course to YouTube). With videos organized into several categories like News, Sports, TV Shows, Music, as well as sections for viral clips, “Last Night on TV”, and “Best of Bing”, search on Bing Video is easy, with capabilities that enable faster viewing experience and – Read the full article
The following video contains really buff dudes dancing without their shirts on. If that’s not your cup of tea, please click away. Meet the Men of Lakeshore Branding As you can see, sometimes things get a little wild in our office, with our team of studs. In the video is Ryan, our Creative Director, Michael, who looks over the books, Brandon the social media marketing guy, Mark works as a consultant, and myself, who does Search Engine Marketing. We made this video not only to make you giggle, but to show you the power of a short video that was created in under an hour. Videos are a great way to communicate with your audience and convey your message. YouTube is now the #2 search engine above Yahoo, and it’s more important than ever to establish or grow your presence on this video search engine. Are you completely nuts? Yes, we are, but it’s this creativity that leads to innovative – Read the full article
LinkedIn isn’t just for individuals looking to power their career and build their professional network. It’s also for companies and business organizations looking to establish and promote their professional identity. Creating a LinkedIn company profile page will go a long way in letting people know what your business is all about. First of all, you can use it as an opportunity to build an online reputation for your company. When created and managed strategically, it can also be a great branding tool. A LinkedIn company profile, moreover, is friendly to search engines: it’s public and can show up in search results, giving you an extra edge in exposure and helping your business attract potential new customers or employees. Create your company profile now on LinkedIn. The instructions are simple and easy to follow. We have even included a short Youtube video on how to create your profile. Below are a few tips to help you maximize the Linkedin company profile – Read the full article
Thanks to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, charity is moving beyond direct mail, newsletters, and door-to-door campaigns. It has gone “non-traditional” – and so have forms of giving. What d’ya know: social media has churned out something we may aptly refer to as ‘social good’. This came to record-setting light in the recent #BeatCancer campaign. You might have heard of it. Actually, you may have participated in it. Here’s how the fundraising effort went. For every Tweet, Facebook status update, or blog post containing the #BeatCancer hashtag, eBay/PayPal and MillerCoors pledged to donate one cent to cancer research. The campaign went viral, mobilizing raised social media users everywhere. On October 16 to 17, #BeatCancer raised significant money for several cancer charities – to the tune of over $70,000, actually – and set the Guinness World record for the most social mentions in a 24-hour duration: 209,771. Not all have set records, but more and more fundraising initiatives are – Read the full article
