Friday 23 December 2011

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year

Merry Christmas
It's that wonderful time of year again, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers, visitors and friends at Bloggers Network for your continued support and to wish you, your families, friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and that 2012 brings you joy, happiness and prosperity.

Unfortunately, my workload over the past few weeks has prevented me from doing my regular blog posts. You'll be pleased to know that this work has now been completed and it will be business as usual, starting in the New Year. Obviously, I will not be publishing any new posts on the blog during this festive period, but I'll continue to bring you more great articles, exclusives and news starting in January.

Don't forget that if you would like to guest post or submit an article for review for inclusion on the blog, please use the Contact tab above for more information and to get in touch.

I hope you'll forgive me for keeping this post short but it's my Birthday today and a party invitation awaits :) Thank you to all those who have posted Birthday wishes on my Facebook page and until my next blog post, enjoy the festive holidays..!!


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Until 2012, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!



Friday 11 November 2011

5 Tips You Should Know About Google+ Pages

Google+
With the launch of Google+ pages for brands on Monday and with me doing a post on the subject, here's 5 tips from the Google+ Team which I thought I would share with you.

If you have yet to create a page for your business or blog, you can do so here. Don't forget to also add my new blog page to your circles so you can keep up to date with my latest blog posts...


1. You Can +1 a Page to Show Support or Add Them to Your Circles

We know you love some brands and businesses. Others you may want to show a quick note of support, but not see all their updates. So just drop a little +1 and keep going, or add a page to any circle you want. You're in control.


2. No Google+ Page Can Follow You Until You Follow Them

We want Google+ to be a place you love to share. Pages cannot circle you until you follow them first. Of course, if you are in their circles, they can share great deals, exclusive coupons, product tips and hangouts, but the relationship is yours to start.


3. In Fact, Google+ Pages Can't Even Mention You Unless You're Connected

That's right. The Google+ page can't even say your name unless you're following. No +mention spam.


4. Google+ Pages Automatically Unfollow You If You Unfollow Them

If you remove a Google+ Page from your circles, you are automatically removed from their circles. You always are in charge.


5. You Can Find Google+ Pages In Google Search

With a new feature we call Direct Connect, just type + followed by the brand name in Google Search, and you can see pages automatically display. Type +Pepsi to see Pepsi, and +Dell for Dell. It's that easy.


You can read more about Google+ pages plus FAQs on their help page at:
http://www.google.com/support/plus/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=1710599&p=pages

Have you created a Google+ page? If so, what do you think of the new pages? Are these pages better than Facebook pages? Please let me know by leaving your valued comments.

Addendum: With today being Armistice Day (Remembrance Day or Veterans Day in the US) and Remembrance Sunday in two days time here in the UK, may we honour our Veterans and pay tribute to those who died. May we always remember and never forget those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Related articles:
Google+ Launches Pages For Brands


Google+
Using Google+? Add Derek's Home and Business Blog to your circles and stay up to date with the latest blog posts, news and resources.

If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Until my next post, have a fabulous weekend! Article posted at 11:11:11am on the 11/11/11 :)



Wednesday 9 November 2011

Google+ Launches Pages For Brands

Google+
Google announced on Monday the introduction of Google+ Pages and a collection of other tools to help businesses and brands to grow their audience.

According to Google, these pages are aimed to bring you closer to your audience, allowing you to have real conversations with the right people, connecting you face-to-face with your site's visitors and allowing current fans to recommend new ones. Giving your business a home on Google+ lets you directly interact with your users while giving them more chances to share your content with their friends.

As reported in one of my recent posts, major advertisers already use Facebook and Twitter to reach large audiences on those services. With this announcement and with more than 40 million users so far using Google+, you can now have a presence on the new social network and another platform to promote your products and/or services and to connect with your customers.

Similar to Google+ profile pages, these new pages include Hangouts, a tool that allows you to have high-quality video chats with your customers and Circles which allows you to group followers of your page into smaller audiences, ideal for sharing specific messages with specific groups of people. All pages will have access to analytics tools and support for multiple administrators in the near future.

These pages are not just limited to businesses and brands. If you're a blog owner for example, you can create a page and use it to announce your latest blog posts and to have discussions with your followers. Unlike Facebook pages, the new Google+ pages are simple to create and to setup. Within minutes of pressing the create a page link, your page is up and running and you're ready to start promoting it.

To help your users find your page and start sharing, there are two buttons you can add to your site: the Google+ icon which is available now and the badge, which will be available in the next few days. This badge lets people add your page to their circles without leaving your site and allows them to get updates from your site via Google+. You can get the icon and badge (when available) by visiting the Google+ badge configuration tool.

With the launch of the new brand pages, Google have extended the power of the +1 and brought out a new experimental feature called Google+ Direct Connect which is currently only available to a small group of publishers.

In a statement on their blog post: If you've linked your page to your site and you qualify, when someone searches for your website's name with the "+" sign before it, Direct Connect will send them directly to your page. For example, try searching for "+YouTube" on Google. Users will also be prompted to automatically add pages they find through Direct Connect to their circles.

The extension of the +1 certainly looks an exciting feature as all your +1s (from your page, your website and on search results) will get combined and appear as a single total. These totals will then be visible on your page, your website and on search results and reach all the people who use Google, including the 40 million Google+ users. For the +1 extension to work, you need to link your site to your page using the Google+ badge configuration tool.

Given this new tool, I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new Google+ page for Derek's Home and Business Blog. Similar to my blog's Facebook page, I'll be using this new page to announce my latest blog posts, post any news concerning the blog and for discussions with my followers. Now you can follow my blog on Google+ and well as on Facebook. You can access the new page by visiting: https://plus.google.com/114686242826423169197

I've also updated the blog to include the new Google+ icon that directly links to this new page. You can find the new (red G+) icon at the top of sidebar with the rest of the social icons. Note: With last month's announcement of the shut down of Google Buzz in a few weeks, I've now removed this icon from the blog and replaced it with the new icon.

With the launch of the new brand pages, I feel Google+ can now seriously compete against Facebook and as businesses and brands come to use this new online marketing tool, only time will tell how successful it will become or if it's too little, too late.

What do you think of the new pages? Do you think they will have a bigger marketing impact for your business than Facebook pages? I would love to read your thoughts on this.

Related articles:
Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms
The End Draws Near For Google Buzz


Google+
Using Google+? Add Derek's Home and Business Blog to your circles and stay up to date with the latest blog posts, news and resources.

If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Until my next post, enjoy the rest of the week!



Monday 7 November 2011

Opportunities For Guest Posting, Link Exchanges And Advertising

Guest Posting
Since its launch back in August 2010, Derek's Home and Business Blog has grown beyond all my expectations and it's all down to you, my valued and dedicated followers, visitors and my friends at Bloggers Network.

This growth is truly exceptional and therefore, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making this blog so successful and for your continued support. You make this blog and the work that goes into it all worthwhile.

Given this exciting growth, I'm now able to offer some extra services on the blog. These services include Guest Posting, Article Submissions, Reciprocal Link Exchanges and a variety of Advertising options for those wishing to promote their products and/or services on the blog.

Here's a quick break-down of the services that's being offered...


Guest Posting and Article Submissions

I'm always on the lookout for high quality, informative articles to offer my readers. If you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing/Optimisation (SMO), Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM), I would like to hear from you.

To ensure you have full recognition for your work, each published article or guest post will be featured and include two "DoFollow" links to your website or blog; one in the lead-in sentence (used to introduce you) at the beginning of the article/post and the other at the end of the article/post within the author's bio. You can also promote your social network profiles by including your Facebook, Google+ or Twitter profile links within the bio section. Guidelines on guest posting and article submissions can be found on the Write For Us page.


Reciprocal Link Exchanges

Reciprocal link exchanges that fit into the subject matter of the blog are always welcome. If you are interested in exchanging links and your site is of good quality, has a fair amount of traffic and has a Google PageRank of 3 or more, please contact me with your site details using the Contact tab above. Don't forget that if you're a blog owner, you can list your blog in our new Blog Directory page.


Advertising

Although based in the UK, Derek's Home and Business Blog receives traffic from and promotes to a global audience. If you are an advertising agency or an individual interested in advertising your products and/or services on the blog, please don't hesitate to contact me using the Contact tab above.

Advertising options within the subject matter of the blog can include Banners, Contextual Ads, Text Links, Videos and Articles. These options can be of any length of time (from one month to permanent), depending on your or the client's requirements. All advertising prices are currently open to negotiations (until further notice) and to avoid transaction and currency conversion fees, payments made using PayPal. For more details and pricing, visit the Advertise page.

Please note: To continue to ensure that the blog can be viewed by any age group, we do not offer advertising options where the content of the advertisement or the site it links to contains gambling, pharmaceutical or adult content.


If you are interested in guest posting or submitting articles, exchanging links or advertising your products and/or services on the blog, please don't hesitate to contact me using the Contact tab above.

Finally and for those of you who may be concerned over the new advertising options and what it might do to the quality of the blog, don't worry. The quality of the blog and its written content will always take priority over any advertising. Allowing some advertising on the blog and the revenue it generates helps go towards the upkeep of the blog and pay for the services I use to promote it. Striking the right balance between quality and having the right amount of advertising can sometimes be difficult but I hope to get this right...if I don't, be sure to let me know :)

Once again, thank you for your continued support and for making the blog what it is today. I'll continue to bring you more of the same quality posts that you've come to enjoy.


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Until my next post, have a wonderful week!



Tuesday 1 November 2011

How To Improve Your SEO With Backlinks

How to Improve your SEO with Backlinks
With being so busy lately, it's been quite a while since I've done a featured article on the blog. So for all of you who are interested in SEO, here's a great article by Kristina Weis of AboutUs.org with information and additional articles on getting valuable inbound links to your website...


How To Get Backlinks, The #1 SEO Ranking Factor

Links from other sites to yours - also called backlinks - continue to be the most important ranking factor that search engines look at when deciding where to rank a web page in search results. Also, links to a web page are the one and only factor contributing to the page's PageRank (not to be confused with your web page's rank in Google).

Backlinks are the most valuable and perhaps least easy way to improve your SEO. But seriously, they're worth it.

You don't have direct control over your backlinks the way you do over your title tags or other website content. So how can you get these magical backlinks to help your SEO?

  • First, create great content on your site that people would want to link to.
  • Ask. Contact site owners personally - don't use an automated system or send the same email to everyone. Give people a good reason to link to you, like a blog post you think would help their visitors.
  • Keep an eye out for sites that mention you without a link, or use not-so-valuable anchor text (like "click here" or your website name). Then ask them nicely.
  • Include your keywords and links in press releases, and submit them to press release sites. They'll be republished, complete with the links to your site.
  • Tip: Make sure links you get are DoFollow (not NoFollow) and anchor text.
  • If you haven't already, build a nice page for your site on AboutUs.org and ask us to make its links to your site DoFollow. (more info)

For more details on getting valuable inbound links, check out these articles:


Things to avoid:

  • Paying for links or getting links from "iffy" sites. You could be penalized by Google.
  • Focusing on quantity over quality. A few good links from popular, relevant sites will help your SEO more than many links from random sites.
  • Link exchanges, link wheels, or other link schemes. These provide marginal value, and could hurt you.
  • Leaving generic or spammy comments on blogs. Links in blog comments are usually NoFollow anyway, so they won't help your SEO. However, leaving meaningful comments is a good way to build your brand and get direct visitors.
  • Common website issues that can dilute or throw away your "link juice". For more information, read Quick SEO Fixes for Links.

Do you like this featured article? Please let me know by using the comments section below.

Note: If you're new to SEO, visit SEO in Practice for free, easy to understand tutorials and tips on search engine optimisation.

Would you like your article to be featured on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Related articles:
SEO Benefits of Blogging
The Seven Deadly SEO Sins
9 Questions To Ask After A Site Links To You
The 10 Week SEO Diet
5 Steps To A Great SEO Campaign


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day) or by subscribing to our blog feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, have a wonderful week!


1st page google ranking

Friday 28 October 2011

Facebook Gestures And The Dislike Button

Facebook
I was reading an interesting post today on Mashable which asked should the new Facebook Gestures allow a "dislike" button? In my opinion, no, but there are arguments for why it should be allowed.

As you've probably heard, Facebook will soon be rolling out "Watched," "Listened" and "Read" buttons and at last month's f8 conference, the company are giving developers the power to create their own actions called Gestures. These actions are the next step in integrating Facebook with every part of the web.

Peter VanRysdam who posted the article on Mashable raises some interesting points, which looks at both the positives and negatives of allowing such a feature.

One of the positives Peter has suggested is that the "dislike" button may come in useful if for instance, you don't feel comfortable "liking" a status update about a friend's dog being put to sleep, but you may want to click a "dislike" button in order to be alerted of other comments on that post. This is a good argument and one where a "dislike" button would indeed come in useful.

The negatives however, could simply outweigh the positives.

For instance, the "unlike" button as Peter suggested, may be used to "dislike" your wedding photos or the announcement of your new nephew. Although this may not be nice if you're on the receiving end, it could also lead to worse things such as cyber-bullying of which you have no control.

There are also implications for businesses in which the "dislike" button could have a negative impact. Peter says rather than encouraging people to "like" its own page, a company could promote the link to "dislike" its competition. He goes on to say that although there is nothing illegal about this, it's not exactly business friendly. With advertisers funding Facebook, this kind of activity could have serious financial implications for the social network.

Facebook have already blocked developers from using the word "dislike" during the Open Graph development process. As Peter mentioned in his article, words like "loathe" and "doesn't like" are not on the blocked list, leading to speculation that "dislike" was specifically excluded, presumably along with a long list of profanities.

Although the "thumbs up/down" are employed on many blogs and sites such as YouTube, for Facebook, it comes down to money Peter thinks. He says "The site has built a platform that is without a doubt the most targeted marketing tool for brands of all sizes. Where else can you target potential customers down to their specific interests, age, sex and zip code? Sure, dissatisfied users can post negative comments on a brand's page, but that company has complete control to moderate and address those issues."

From this perspective, you have to agree that Facebook have indeed created a solid platform for advertisers but it's also correct in saying that they're also thinking about their revenue and the implications if such feature was allowed.

So there you have it, a handful of positives and negatives regarding the Facebook "dislike" button. Given the above arguments, will Facebook ever allow this feature or give developers the opportunity to create one? I don't think so but what do you think?


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day) or by subscribing to our blog feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, have a wonderful day and a fabulous weekend!



Tuesday 25 October 2011

Blogger Introduces Google+ Integration

Blogger
Further to my post yesterday, Blogger Buzz have just announced the integration of Google+ on their testing platform, Blogger in Draft. The option to use a Google+ profile on the normal blogging platform (www.blogger.com) will be available in the coming weeks.

The announcement came not long after it was found that the "Edit User Profile" section on Blogger's profile settings showed a message and links to connect Blogger to Google+. Although the links were redundant, this message caused quite a stir and incited speculation on what the integration might mean for users of it's platform. This message and links were later removed and the announcement posted shortly after on Blogger Buzz.

The integration is exciting news and by logging into Blogger in Draft, you are now able to replace your Blogger profile with your Google+ profile by clicking on the "Get started" promotional message that will appear at the top of the screen or alternatively, by using this link.

Although the switch is seamless, Blogger have suggested that you backup your original profile information as it will not be transferred to your Google+ profile. If for some reason you want to switch back, you can do so within 30 days by using this link. If you don't switch back during this period, your Blogger profile will be permanently deleted from their system once the 30 days is up. Once you switch to the new profile, blog comments that use your original profile will be automatically redirected to your new Google+ profile.

The integration certainly has a lot of benefits. For one, you don't need to maintain two separate profiles and as announced on Blogger Buzz, you will be giving your readers a more robust and familiar sense of who you are and your social connections will see your posts in their Google search results with an annotation that you've shared the post.

Blogger have indicated that blog owners who switch to the new profile, will automatically get access to the new Google+ integrations as and when they are rolled out. One of these new integrations could see the replacement of the old (and probably soon to be discontinued) Google Friend Connect widget with a Google+ widget which will give blogs and their owners a wider social connection.

With Google's latest announcement that they will soon accommodate pseudonyms (see post: Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms), it will not be mandatory to associate your blog with your real name. However and when pseudonyms are finally allowed on the social network, it is recommended that the switch should only be done by those who want to associate their real-world identity with their blogs.

As yet and probably because the integration is still in draft, new blog comments made using the new profiles are only viewable on the blog and not on Google+. It shouldn't be long however, when full integration between the two platforms is evident. This will probably happen when the switch is widely available on the normal blogging platform in the coming weeks.

As I mentioned above, this is exciting news and I personally cannot wait to see what the new integrations will bring. If you have yet to switch your profile, you can do so by visiting Blogger in Draft or find out more information by visiting the FAQs page or the Blogger Help Forum.

Have you tried the new Google+ profile integration on Blogger Draft? Do you think the new integration will improve the blogging platform? Please let me know by leaving a comment.

Related articles:
Blogger And Google+ To Integrate
Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day) or by subscribing to our blog feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, have a fabulous Tuesday!



Monday 24 October 2011

Blogger And Google+ To Integrate

Blogger
As reported today by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch, Google+ will soon be integrated with Blogger providing additional social features to the popular blogging platform.

This news comes after the "Edit User Profile" section on Blogger's profile settings is now showing the message: "Connect Blogger to Google+ : Use your Google profile and get access to upcoming Google+ features on Blogger," and includes links to "Learn more" and "Get Started." Both of these links are currently redundant (broken) but it shouldn't be long before they become active and you are able to connect your Google+ profile with Blogger.

With Google Friend Connect slowly being discontinued, given the shutdown of the Friend Connect Discussion Group and the closure of the Google Friend Connect Help Forum, it's not surprising that Google are taking steps to integrate it's new social network platform with Blogger.

Once the integration is complete and according to Alex Chitu at Google Operating System, Blogger profiles will be discontinued and replaced by Google Profiles. This integration will also be used to introduce additional social features that have been provided in the past by Google Friend Connect.

If the discontinuation of Blogger profiles is correct, the integration could also mean major changes to Blogger's current commenting system. This would mean blog comments would be made using Google+ profiles with the comments posted simultaneously and viewable on the blog itself and also on Google+. This is similar to blogs that use the Facebook commenting system.

As this is mere speculation at the moment, we will just have to wait and see what Google has planned. Whatever it is, the integration can only improve Blogger and make the blogs that are hosted on it more social friendly.


UPDATE: As of publishing this post, the message to connect Blogger to Google+ has now been removed. It looks as though Google have decided to remove this message until work has been completed. If I hear any more news on this integration, I'll keep you informed by updating this post.

UPDATE 11:30pm: Blogger Buzz have just announced that you can now replace your Blogger profile with your Google+ profile using their testing ground, Blogger in Draft. The option to use your Google+ profile on the normal blogging platform (www.blogger.com) will be available in the coming weeks. For more details on this announcement, see our new post: Blogger Introduces Google+ Integration


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day) or by subscribing to our blog feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, have a wonderful week!



Friday 21 October 2011

Google+ To Accommodate Pseudonyms

Google+
At the San Francisco's Web 2.0 Summit on Wednesday, Google announced that they will soon accommodate pseudonyms, support Google Apps users, roll out pages for brands and be launching a developer platform for Google+.

With pseudonyms being one of the major criticisms of the new social network, Google's Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra addressed this issue by asking for a little time to figure out a way to use nicknames and handles without dramatically changing the atmosphere of Google+. "It's complicated to get this right." Gundotra said.

Google's policy to force users to go by their real names has been hit by controversy over the past few weeks. With this in mind, Google is now working on a way to allow people to sign-up under pseudonyms on Google+.

Support for Google Apps users should be coming in a matter of days, according to Gundotra with tools for brands taking a little bit longer. A developer platform is also on it's way but you might have to wait until next Spring, possibly at Google's I/O developer event before it becomes available. "We don't want to do anything haphazard to change the platform after developers come to depend on it" says Gundotra.

Gundotra also said Google+ would roll out pages for brands. Major advertisers already use Facebook and Twitter to reach large audiences on those services. This is good news for advertisers and it's indicated that this new feature should be available before the end of the year.

Although Google+ has increased it's momentum with more than 40 million users (which is up from 10 million from three months ago according to Co-founder and Chief Executive Larry Page), it still has stiff competition and some catching up to do with Facebook, which has more than 800 million users around the globe. When asked how Google could compete against the world's most popular social network, Gundotra said: "We're going to play a different game. It may take some period of time."

It certainly looks as though Google are working hard to improve Google+, but it's also very clear that they are also learning from their recent mistakes, especially with a policy reversal to accommodate pseudonyms.

Do you think Google was wrong not to allow pseudonyms in the beginning? Are you looking forward to these new features? Please let me know by leaving your comments.

Other News: In the next week, Google's Reader tool will get a revamp to add a social layer and connections to Google+. The refresh will see Google retire many of the Reader's existing social features, such as friending, following and shared-link blogs. "We think it's important to clean things up a bit," says Google's Software Engineer Alan Green in a blog post yesterday. You can read more on this story on The Official Google Reader Blog.


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day) or by subscribing to our blog feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, have a fabulous weekend!



Tuesday 18 October 2011

The End Draws Near For Google Buzz

Google Buzz
Google announced on Friday that it's going to shut down Google Buzz in a few weeks and focus instead on Google+. Other Google services are also being shelved including Code Search, a tool for finding open-source code on the Web and Jaiku, a Twitter-like microblogging service that Google acquired in 2007.

In a recent post on The Official Google Blog, Vice President of Product Bradley Horowitz wrote: "We aspire to build great products that really change people's lives, products they use two or three times a day. To succeed you need real focus and thought - thought about what you work on and, just as important, what you don't work on. It's why we recently decided to shut down some products, and turn others into features of existing products."

He continues to say: "Changing the world takes focus on the future, and honesty about the past. We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google+. Our users expect great things from us; today's announcements let us focus even more on giving them something truly awesome."

As of writing this post, the Google Labs site has already been shut down and in a previously announcement, Boutiques.com and the former Like.com websites will be replaced by Google Product Search.

Google launched Buzz, it's social media offering back in February 2010 and was initially seen as a threat to Twitter and Facebook. However, controversy hit when Gmail users discovered that the network's default settings automatically set members to follow their most e-mailed contacts and then posted those contacts publicly after a user "buzzed" about something. This default setting was reversed by Google two days later but the damage had already been done which later resulted in a class-action lawsuit and a settlement deal with the Federal Trade Commission.

Even though Buzz is being shelved, Google have said that while you won't be able to create new posts after Google Buzz has been shut down, you will be able to view your existing content on your Google Profile and download it using their export tool, Google Takeout.

Although seen as a flop by many, I personally use Google Buzz along with many other services to announce my latest blog posts to my subscribers and followers. However, I have found that in recent months, Buzz has lost most of it's appeal, especially since the launch of Google+. I do think now is the right time to shut down this failing service and for Google to concentrate on it's new offering.

Do you use Google Buzz and if so, how will this news effect you? Do you think Google are making the right decision to shelve this service? I would love to read your thoughts on this.


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Until my next post, enjoy the rest of the week!



Tuesday 11 October 2011

Don't Worry, I'm Still Alive And Kicking!

Latest News
With not posting on the blog for over three weeks, I've had many emails asking what is happening as it's unlike me not to post on the blog for such a long time. Don't worry folks, I'm still alive and kicking :)

The past three weeks have been a bit hectic here. First of all, I decided to take a week off at the end of September because we had some glorious hot weather here…it was my last chance to get some serious bike riding done before the winter months set in. You can view some of the pictures I've taken on Facebook using the following links:

Bike Ride Photo Collection:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.166986493359078.40086.100001431864818&l=6fd20cc127&type=1

Bike Ride Photo Collection 2:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.225591604165233.56469.100001431864818&l=ab103574c7&type=1

After my week of bike riding, I was suddenly inundated with a few tasks which needed my urgent attention. These tasks took longer than normal to complete, which is the reason why no blog posts have been published. Hopefully, everything should be completed within the next day or so and I can get back to my normal blogging routine…I surely could do with the rest :)

Thank you to all those who were concerned about me and thank you to all my followers, visitors and friends at Bloggers Network for your understanding and patience during this time…it will be business as usual very soon, I promise..!!


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Until my next up and coming blog post, have a fabulous Tuesday!



Friday 16 September 2011

Rankings Dropped? 9 Possible Reasons And 9 Ways Out

Search Engine Ranking
Has your search engine rankings dropped but you don't know the reasons why? This week's featured article is by Alesya Krush, a marketing manager at Link-Assistant.com which gives 9 possible reasons as to why your rankings may have dropped with solutions to putting it right...


Rankings Dropped? 9 Possible Reasons And 9 Ways Out

Sometimes SEOs and site owners encounter the problem of their sites suddenly going down in the search engine results pages for no particular reason, it seems. When this happens, it is often hard to figure out why your rankings nosedived.

So, let's consider possible reasons for and solutions to the problem. I arranged them by relevance, starting with the most common ones.


1. Your Site Got Penalized for Using Black-Hat SEO Techniques

Google has Webmaster Guidelines by which all SEOs and webmasters must abide. If Google finds out (or your site gets reported) that you are not playing by the rules, your rankings may drop substantially, or your site may get removed from Google's index altogether.

As stated in Google Webmaster Guidelines, one must not "participate in link schemes" (buying/selling links is basically meant here), create "doorway pages", or use "hidden text" on a site. These are considered illegitimate (Black-Hat) SEO practices and may incur Google's wrath.

The Way Out

Well, if your site does get penalized, find out what might have caused this. Re-read Google's Webmaster Guidelines and remove whatever is in violation from your site - then file a reconsideration request.


2. The Search Engine Algorithm Has Changed

On the one hand, search engines are trying to keep their search results as relevant and SPAM-free as possible. On the other hand, there are people who are trying to game the system or just take advantage of the existing loopholes. And, with the ever increasing number of websites on the Internet today, search engines are forced to tweak their search algos every once in a while to keep spammers at bay.

For example, Google's latest big algorithm update known as Panda (or Farmer) was intended to do away with sites that provide poor-quality content and, as a result, provide poor user experience. However, it also affected groups of sites that have significant duplicate content by nature, such as e-commerce sites, online directories, etc.

The Way Out

First of all, if you are doing SEO and you really mean it, you should be informed about what's new in the Search Engine Land at all times. The online resources to keep an eye on are Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land [http://searchengineland.com] (yes, I did it on purpose :) ) , the official Google Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com), and the inside-Google Matt Cutts' blog (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/).

If the rules change, and there is no way you can continue using the same SEO techniques you've been using before the algorithm update - you have to change your ways then. However, if you think your site was not supposed to get affected by the algo change but it did - you can write about it on Google Webmaster Forum - that often solves the problem.


3. Your Website's Content Got "Scraped"

If your rankings suddenly deteriorate, that could be because someone has stolen (or "scraped") the content from your site and posted it somewhere else on the Web. In this case, search engines sometimes lower both sites' rankings - then look deeper into the matter. Eventually, they are likely to start ranking your site as high as they used to before the incident, once they realize who copied whose content. However, this may take some time.

The Way Out

Dealing with content thieves normally involves locating the site that posted your content, contacting their webmaster, emailing their host, filing a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) request or taking the matter to court - whatever helps. It's recommended to start with contacting the scrapers. If this does not help - take the other measures mentioned here.


4. Your Site Got Penalized for Copyright Infringement

For various reasons, this may happen as well. It can be that your in-house SEO or a third-party firm you hired to promote your site used somebody else's content to boost your site's rankings in which case the owner of the content may have filed a DMCA request (the request is normally filed in written form) or reported your site to Google for copyright infringement.

The Way Out

Remove the duplicate content, hire a new SEO or an SEO services provider and submit your site for re-inclusion (just follow the same procedure that's described in way out 1 of this post)
(http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35843)


5. Competitors Beat You in the SERPs

Sometimes your rankings may go down just because a competing site (or sites) manages to boost their rankings to a substantial degree.

The Way Out

If this is the case, analyze competitors' sites and see in what way they are better than yours. Pay attention to their backlinks, keyword density, social media popularity and act accordingly, depending on what your site is missing.


6. Your Site's Structure Got Crippled

Spotless site architecture is crucial to high rankings. If there are broken links, HTML code errors or other structural discrepancies on your site, search engine bots might not be able to crawl it within a reasonable span of time, and thus, your site's rankings may deteriorate.

The Way Out

Run an audit and fix all the flaws that may hold back your site's rankings. Sometimes a site may not be visible in search results for the simple reason that the host is down and the server is not responding. A thorough site audit will show that.


7. Important Backlinks Got Removed from Your Site

Sometimes it's due to "juicy" backlinks with top Google positions pointing to your site being removed, resulting in a rankings drop for your site.

The Way Out

Check the backlinks pointing to your site. Experienced SEOs run such checkups from time to time to see whether any of the links got assigned the "nofollow" attribute, were hidden from search engines because of the robot txt file or were simply removed. If this happens, you should get these links back or get similar backlinks from other websites.


8. This is Google's QDF Algo at Work

QDF stands for "query deserves freshness" and is the algo Google uses to balance its appreciation of older content. Google applies it to trendy queries that all of a sudden become popular on the Web.

The Way Out

The way out is simple - just don't do anything. The query will eventually stop being trendy and Google will resume giving more power to older sites with time-tested content. You can always check what topics are popular/trendy at the moment at surchur.com, www.buzzfeed.com or similar sites. Let's say, your site is optimized for the word "silver spoons". All of a sudden, a hot topic about a cafe called "Silver Spoon" appears on the Web, and millions of people start looking up "silver spoon" on Google. Google will most likely decide that "query deserves freshness" and will serve users new pieces of content at the top of its search results.


9. Google Started Picking "the wrong" Canonical URL for Your Site

Sometimes, your www homepage may be ranking at position 3 on Google, while the non-www version of your homepage does not have enough link juice and may be ranking at spot 50 at most. If, because of poor canonicalization, Google decides to pick your non-www page to include into its search results, your site will end up at a substantially lower position.

The Way Out

The way out is to get your canonicalization right. Use internal linking, 301 redirects, canonical tags (not always justified) to explicitly point out your canonical URLs to Google, so that it makes no mistake.

So, these are the most widespread reasons for sudden rankings drops. Of course we could not cover all possible causes and situations - sometimes it's several reasons combined. Besides, sometimes unexpected things happen, like Google removing some 11 million co.cc domains from its index all on one day.

But, if you get armed with the advice provided in this post, it'll take you far less time to figure out the reason for the sudden rankings drop, and you'll be able to fix it much quicker.


About The Author: Alesya is a blogger and a marketing manager at Link-Assistant.Com, a Europe-based SEO software provider and the maker of the celebrated SEO PowerSuite toolset. Link-Assistant.Com's SEO tools have set industry's benchmark for automated link building and Web promotion.

Do you like this featured article? Please let me know by using the comments section below.

Would you like your article to be featured on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
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Until my next post, have a wonderful weekend!


1st page google ranking

Sunday 11 September 2011

10th Anniversary Of 9/11: A Personal Tribute

10th Anniversary of 9/11
It was ten years ago here in the UK, when I watched on the TV the unbelievable events that unfolded in America. The shock and horror I felt on that day back in 2001 is still hard to describe. A mixture of shock, disbelief, sadness and anger were just some of the emotions I felt.

Ten years on and it's still hard to believe that those terrible events happened and how it's changed America and the world forever.

With today being the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, this post is to pay tribute to all those people who tragically lost their lives on September 11th 2001. Our thoughts and heartfelt prayers go out to all those who died, their families and the people that were effected by this horrific act of terrorism.

I also want to pay tribute to the brave men and women on Flight 93 who helped avoid another catastrophic disaster, thus preventing more loss of life and to the emergency services who sacrificed their lives to help others in need.

Even though ten years have past since the terror attacks of 9/11, the visions and emotions of that day are still very clear in my mind. As we continue to live our daily lives and as more time passes, may we never forget and continue to honour those people who sadly lost their lives. You will always be in my memories.

Addendum: Since the aftermath of 9/11, I want to take this opportunity to also pay tribute to all the service men and women who put their lives on the line defending our countries from such acts of terror.


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Tuesday 6 September 2011

Brandwashed: Martin Lindstrom's Explosive New Book

Martin Lindstrom's Brandwashed
Ever wondered what techniques advertisers and marketers use to persuade you to buy their products? What if I told you some of the techniques used include secret data-mining and chemically addictive make-up.

Martin Lindstrom, a bestselling author of Buyology and 2009 recipient of TIME Magazine's "World's 100 Most Influential People", is releasing a new book called "Brandwashed" which reveals shocking findings of how advertisers and marketers internationally target children at an alarmingly young age and how companies of all stripes are secretly mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of our private lives, then using that information to target us with ads and offers 'perfectly tailored' to our psychological profiles.




The book, which is due to be released in the U.S. on the 21st of September, also reveals how certain companies, like the maker of one popular lip balm, purposely adjust their formulas in order to make their products chemically addictive as well as the first ever neuroscientific evidence proving how addicted we all are to our iPhones and our Blackberry's. You can read more about the new Brandwashed book by visiting: http://www.martinlindstrom.com/brandwashed/

"My goal is that by understanding just how today's newest hidden persuaders are conspiring to brandwash us, we as consumers can battle back" says Martin Lindstrom. "The purpose of this book is not to get you to stop buying, the purpose is to educate and empower you to make smarter, sounder and more informed decisions about what we're buying and why."

The new Brandwashed book certainly lifts the lid and exposes the shocking and persuasive techniques that are used by some advertisers and marketers. If you buy products, you need to read this book. It's really that simple.


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Until my next post, enjoy the rest of the week!


Monday 5 September 2011

SEO Benefits of Blogging

Each week, I will be doing a featured article on the blog. This week's featured article is by Kristin Page of KristyPage.net which explains the search engine optimisation (SEO) benefits to keeping a company blog...


SEO Benefits of Blogging

Blogging
Adding a blog to your website is a big decision, but it is something that every company should consider. A regularly updated blog can give people a reason to visit your website more often, and there are also SEO (search engine optimization) benefits to keeping a company blog.

Perhaps you've thought about starting a blog for your company, but you're not sure it will be worth the extra work. Here's a rundown of the SEO benefits to help you decide.


More Content for Search Engines

Most websites have a fairly limited number of pages, and a limited number of words per page. Adding a blog means you can regularly create rich content, and include the keywords you're trying to rank well for in search results. You'll be giving search engines more pages and content to crawl on your site, and more opportunity to see your important keywords.

For every blog post you write, you are giving yourself the opportunity to add content containing five to 10 new keywords. Some of these keywords could actually be longer phrases containing keywords you're already trying to rank well for in search results.

These longer phrases - called "long tail keywords" by SEO professionals - can be easier for you to rank well for. That's because, as a keyword phrase gets longer, there are fewer instances of it in search engine indexes. In effect, there's less competition for top rankings in results for searches on those keywords.

For example, a gardening supplies website could add a blog that offers gardening advice. Perhaps the company wants to increase its online sales of bulbs. Of course, the website will have pages selling spring bulbs, autumn bulbs and summer bulbs. The blog could also have articles about spring bulb planting mixtures; bulb planting tools; autumn bulb soil amendments; summer bulbs for shade; and many, many more topics surrounding the word "bulbs."

Every one of those phrases around "bulbs" is another keyword phrase. By adding lots of articles that include these phrases, the gardening supplies site would be signaling to Google that it has plenty of information about bulbs. The site's pages would show up higher in more searches that include the word "bulbs."

The more pages of your website you can get into the top slots of search engine results, the more potential website visitors you will have.


Updated Content for Search Engines - and People

Search engines don't like it when we allow websites to get out-of-date. Having a blog encourages people to update their websites more often.

When a new URL is added to your sitemap from a blog entry, search engines have a reason to come back to your website, crawl its pages, and possibly adjust its rankings of your pages. If your content just sits there and is never updated, search engines have no reason to re-crawl your site.

Updating your blog frequently will give people a reason to return often to see what's new. It also gives them a reason to subscribe to your RSS feed. If you update your blog with information about your new products - or new uses for your products - you could generate more sales.


Link Power

One of the key elements of search engine optimization is links - not just inbound links to your website, but outbound links from your site to others.

When you link to other websites, you show search engines that you are trying to provide a good user experience for anyone who visits your website by sending them to other information sources you've judged to be valuable. Because links are how search engines discover new Web pages, you're also doing those other sites a good turn.

You can link to important pages on your website from your blog. Doing that signals to search engines which pages have information you think your blog readers will find valuable. While this won't automatically shoot your pages into the No. 1 spot in search results, linking to pages within your own site will help search engines "see" the connections between your pages and their content.


Watch out for Duplicate Content

If there's one thing you should not do with your blog, it's duplicating content from another page of your website or even worse, someone else's website. Search engines try to avoid returning duplicate content in search results. If your pages are seen as mere duplicates of other web content, that can cause search engines to rank your pages lower than they would otherwise.

There are, however, times when it's useful for your audience to republish material from another website. That's called syndication. You should always get permission from the author, and attribute the material to the original source, with a link back to the original article. Pages with content you've syndicated from others may never rank as well as pages where you publish your own original content - but you're providing a good experience for your visitors. That's never a bad idea.

To sum up, a blog is a great way for you to keep your website content fresh, boost your rankings in search results, and give people a reason to visit your site frequently. You don't have to be a slave to your blog, and there's no law saying it has to be updated daily, or even weekly. Start with once a month, and grow from there.


About The Author: Kristin Page is a project manager at Golden Technologies, an information technology services company based in Valparaiso, Indiana. Kristin has been involved with web design since 1998 and is interested in SEO, blogging, social media and Internet marketing. Article originally published on AboutUs.org.

Do you like this featured article? Please let me know by using the comments section below.

Would you like your article to be featured on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Until my next post, have a wonderful week!


1st page google ranking

Thursday 1 September 2011

Blogger Launches New User Interface

Blogger
The popular blogging platform Blogger have officially rolled-out the new user interface to all of it's users.

In a post by Chang Kim, Product Manager on Blogger Buzz: "It's been a few years since we made major updates to Blogger's look and feel, and there's a lot more to these changes than just shiny new graphics. We've rewritten the entire editing and management experience from scratch so it's faster and more efficient for you - and easier for us to update and improve over time."

Mr Kim continues to say: "Throughout the design process, we conducted user interviews to help identify how to make Blogger even easier and more enjoyable to use. We also watched users try our new interface and made many refinements based on their feedback."

Here's a screenshot of Blogger's new post editor which has been expanded and simplified to give a larger canvas for drafting and previewing work.


Blogger's New Post Editor


This new streamlined interface which has been in draft for the past few months (see Relevant articles below) is clean, easy to navigate and most importantly, has good statistics reporting showing recent traffic numbers, comment activity and follower counts.

If you're using Blogger to host your blog, you can choose to update to the new interface immediately via a pop-up announcement that will appear on your Dashboard. If you decide not to update immediately, you can always update to the new interface at a later date by clicking on "Try the updated Blogger interface" on the top-right of your Dashboard.

Note: I have updated the post: Have You Backed Up Your Blog? with information on how to backup your blog on this new interface.

I personally like the new interface but what's your thoughts?

Related articles:
Google Plus, Facebook Chat & Blog News
Google Profiles Gone Secure & Blogger Getting A Facelift


If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to +1 or share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.

As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Until my next post, enjoy the rest of the week!



Monday 29 August 2011

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google Plus One & Other News

The past week has been a busy week on the news front, what with the resignation of Apple CEO Steve Jobs for example. Here's a quick rundown of some of the topics that has hit the news recently...


Apple CEO Steve Jobs Resigns

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last Wednesday as chief executive of the technology giant and will be replaced by chief operating officer Tim Cook. Mr Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant following pancreatic cancer, said he could no longer meet his chief executive's duties and expectations.

The 56-year-old has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since January. In a short letter to the board of Apple, Mr Jobs wrote: "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's chief executive, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as chief executive of Apple."

He continued "I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role."

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in the 1970s with Steve Wozniak, and thanks to innovative and hugely popular products such as the iPod, the iPhone and more recently the iPad, Apple has become one of the most sought after brands in the world. His extraordinary vision and leadership has guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company.

Although no longer CEO, Steve Jobs will still play a vital role in Apple's future with Tim Cook at the helm.

Do you think Apple will be as successful without the former CEO? I would love to read your thoughts on this.


Google +1 Button New Features

Internet search giant Google have added two new features to the +1 button, including the ability to directly share a webpage to Google+.

In a recent post on the Official Google Blog, Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced: "Beginning today, we're making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new 'Share on Google+' option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share."

The second new feature added to the button is the +snippets. The +snippets feature will automatically include a link, an image and a description of the webpage you've shared using the +1 button. These +snippets are a great way to jumpstart conversations with people in your circles.

To encourage more sharing of content on the Google+ social network, Google have made is easy for publishers to customise their +snippets. More details on this can be found on the Google Webmaster blog.

Since it's launch in June, the +1 button has gathered momentum and is now installed on more than 1 million websites with over 4 billion daily views, according to Google. These numbers are very impressive and only time will tell how successful the +1 button will become.

Note: If you're on Google+, you can add me to your circles by visiting my profile at: https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776

Do you like these new features? Please let me know.


Bing Webmaster Tools Now Includes Yahoo! Data

The Bing Webmaster team have recently announced on the Webmaster Central blog the integration of Yahoo! traffic data into Bing Webmaster Tools reports. Bing Webmaster Tools will now be showing integrated data from Yahoo! within certain areas and reports.

The areas you will notice the changes are on the Traffic Tab. The "Traffic Summary" and "Page Traffic" reports will be impacted with Impressions, Clicks and Click Through Rates (CTR) increasing based on combined data numbers across both search engines.

As a visual reminder that data is now combined, you will see both the Bing and Yahoo! logos directly above the graphs shown on these pages. At this time, the data will be combined and not selectable with September being the first full month of combined data. The data will also update in any market where Bing is powering Yahoo! search.


Facebook New Sharing Improvements

Facebook announced last week a bunch of new improvements that makes it easier to share posts, photos, tags and other content with exactly the people you want.

According to Facebook, the main change is moving most of your controls from a settings page to being inline, right next to the posts, photos and tags they affect. There are several other updates that will make it easier to understand who can see your content (or your friends') in any context.

Here's a quick rundown of the improvements (courtesy of AllFacebook.com):

  • The privacy settings are moving toward individual post windows and profiles.
  • Users are gaining the ability to approve tags of themselves in others' posts and photos.
  • All tags will include an attribution of the person who did the tagging.
  • Places no longer require physical check-ins, so people can add locations to posts, even from the desktop.
  • You don't need to be friends with someone to tag them in a post or photo.
  • You don't have to like a brand to tag it in a post or photo.
  • Facebook has changed the word "everyone" to "public" in privacy settings, for clarity.
  • You can customize privacy, or visibility of information, on a post-by-post basis.
  • Users can edit the visibility of individual bits of content anytime after they post.
  • The changes don't affect mobile users, at least not for now.

These changes, according to Facebook, have already started to be rolled out across their system. Once your account has been updated, you'll see a prompt for a tour that walks you through these new features from your homepage. You can read more about these changes from the links that are available on the Facebook blog.

Do you like these new improvements? Do you think Facebook is copying Google+ by changing the word "everyone" to "public" in the privacy settings. I would love to read your thoughts on this.


Google Translate For Google+

Ever wanted to read posts and comments written in another language on Google+? Well now you can.

As of writing this post, Google have just released a Chrome Extension, Google Translate for Google+ that translates posts and comments into more than 50 languages.

In an update on Google+, Josh Estelle (Leading frontend and mobile development for Google Translate) writes "We've heard from a lot of Google+ users wanting an easier way to understand posts written in other languages. I'm an engineer on Google Translate and thought we could do something about that. That's why I'm happy to announce our Chrome extension, Google Translate for Google+, that using the power of Google Translate, can automatically translate any post or comment into more than 50 languages.

Once you've installed the extension, refresh Google+ and you'll see Translate links next to posts and comments. Click the links to instantly see translations."

Although still in the experimental stage, this is a very helpful extension and one that I'll be using quite regularly. You can get the extension by visiting:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jfppgkomfopklagggkjiaddgndkgopgl


HootSuite Adds Friendly Facebook Features

HootSuite (the popular social media management system) has today added new Facebook features to it's dashboard. The social media dashboard is now equipped with even fuller Facebook functionality which means you can do even more in the dashboard than ever before.

Now you can manage your Facebook Groups and Events, along with your Profiles and Pages from within HootSuite streams. You can also attach and upload photos directly to Facebook, search all public updates for brand mentions and even geo-locate your campaigns.

All these new features are now readily available the next time you login to HootSuite.


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