Google Controls 65 Percent Of Search, Bing 33 Percent

While market share has been stable, Google is down from July 2014 peak.

In the simplest terms, the world of organic search is roughly two-thirds Google, one third Bing. Those are the July 2015 “powered by” numbers provided by comScore for the US search market.

In terms of non-network share, Bing saw a tiny 0.1 percent gain in July and so did Ask. Google was flat with 64 percent, unchanged for the past three months. Yet Google’s market share is down from 67.6 percent a year ago.

Together Bing and Yahoo combined in July for 33.1 percent market share. AOL will soon be a Bing-powered search property. If that were the case today, the share of Bing and Bing-powered searches would represent 34.3 percent of all query volume.

SOURCE

30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business

1. Offer a peek behind the scenes. Offering a sneak preview of new products, services, or features online can help build demand and provide critical feedback to help smooth the launch. For instance, John Doyle, founder of chocolate company John and Kira's in Philadelphia, posts photos of new products on Flickr and invites comments from customers.

2. Harness your expertise. Chances are your company's white paper won't go viral. But sharing knowledge you've gathered through your trade can go a long way toward boosting your brand. Ford Models, for instance, became a YouTube sensation through a series of videos that featured its models giving beauty and fashion tips.

3. Demonstrate what your company does. Because multimedia is so integral to social media, getting connected allows you to express your company's value proposition beyond words. To show just how powerful his company's blenders were, Blendtec's head of marketing, George Wright, created a series of videos showing the appliances churning up such diverse items as a rotisserie chicken, a Rubik's Cube, and an iPhone. The series' 100 million combined views helped boost Blendtec's sales by 700 percent.

4. Put your website's content to work. Want to draw more traffic to your website? Help spread the word by encouraging visitors to share content they enjoy. GotCast, a website that connects television casting directors with aspiring actors, draws new visitors by posting audition videos on Digg and allowing others to share video links on the site. One way to promote the sharing of your site's content is to install a widget, such as AddThis, that automates linking to popular sites.

5. Be candid. In unsure economic times, transparency goes a long way toward retaining and attracting customers. Giving readers the scoop on your company blog is an easy way to keep the lines of communication open. Giacomo Guilizzoni, the founder of San Francisco software company Balsamiq, even posts sales and profit figures to show that his company is on solid financial footing.

6. But be careful what you say about others. When Leslie Richard, owner of a North Carolina clothing company, described Vision Media Television as a "scam," she was slapped with a $20 million lawsuit. While recounting negative experiences with others won't necessarily lead to a court battle, it's best to steer clear of name-calling.

7. Interact with visitors—really. Just putting up a blog or a Facebook fan page won't do much good if visitors sense the flow of conversation only goes one way. In fact, Matt Mullenweg, founder of blogging platform Wordpress, lists not participating in comments as a surefire way to kill a community. Mullenweg and his team field the many suggestions users have for Wordpress through his blog.

8. Don't try to create a stand-in for yourself. With all the other tasks required within your company, it's tempting to outsource managing your social media or even to try automating the process. That can easily backfire, as Joe Pulizzi, founder of Cleveland marketing firm Junta42, learned when he tried sending automated welcome messages to new followers on Twitter. His online contacts quickly called him out for sending out what they perceived to be spam.

9. Don't pretend to be someone else. Thanks to IP address tracking, observers can also quickly tell when company figureheads adopt fake identities for the sake of fluffing up their reputation. Not only can the practice hurt your company's reputation, it could also land you in legal trouble. The plastic surgery Lifestyle Lift had to pay $300,000 in settlement costs to the state of New York for having its employees post flattering reviews of the company without disclosing their affiliation.

10. Help employees bond. Corporations such as IBM have built in-house networks—even virtual worlds reminiscent of Second Life—to link employees working in different locations. Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of readily available tools to facilitate collaboration. The Hoffman Agency, a public relations firm, uses Ning, which enables users to build custom social networks, to connect its U.S. staff with employees in Europe and Asia.

11. Reward customer loyalty. Through social media, companies can not only run promotions more frequently than coupons in the mail will permit but also devise more whimsical and engaging campaigns. Sprinkles Cupcakes, a bakery chain based in Beverly Hills, California, uses Twitter to send out daily promotional offers. The tweets, which ask customers to whisper a "password" to receive a free treat, have helped the company draw more than 17,000 followers.

12. See what people are saying about you. A quick search for mentions of your company on Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp can yield a goldmine of information concerning your reputation. Several users on Yelp, for instance, suggested that employees at Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago were less than welcoming. After reading the comments, owner Eric Kirsammer focused on improving customer service. Applications such as monitter and Trackur can help you keep track of the conversation across the Web.

13. Make amends with dissatisfied customers, quickly. Andy Carlson, owner of an Ace Hardware store in Denver, once came across an angry Twitter update from a customer who had bought a tool that broke after one use. He resolved the issue in a matter of minutes by referring the customer to an area store and notified him of Ace's lifetime guarantee. Best of all, he was able to catch the complaint after store hours—and prevent negative word of mouth.

14. Don't go on the defensive. A harsh rebuke of your business on sites like Yelp can not only bruise your ego but also hurt your livelihood. But resist the temptation to lash out in public. Sarah Dunbar, owner of Oakland vintage boutique Pretty Penny, privately responds to less-than-flattering reviewers and encourages them to visit her in person. And keep in mind that you can't please everyone. After Dunbar wrote to one dissatisfied customer, the reviewer accused her of conducting "shady business" by trying to sway opinions.

15. Keep customers in the loop. Frequently on the go? Twitter can help your customers keep track of your latest destination. Kogi Korean BBQ, which operates a food cart in Los Angeles, keeps its Twitter followers constantly informed of its location on the street. The real-time updates help Kogi keep up demand, as customers line up in advance at the broadcasted locations.

16. Find potential customers. A quick keyword search can help you find prospective customers who may not be aware of your company but could nonetheless benefit from your product or service. Bob Scaglion, a senior managing director at New York real-estate management company Rose Associates, generates 100 leads per month on Twitter for his company simply by replying to users whose tweets include phrases such as "moving to New York City" and "no-fee rentals."

17. Reach more markets. Social media can help your company reach multiple markets at a time. Restaurant chain Boloco focuses most of its advertising on Boston, which houses 13 out of its 16 locations. But as an experiment, CEO John Pepper decided to post a copy of a coupon from a local newspaper on Twitter in order to reach customers in Vermont and New Hampshire. Coupon redemptions increased by more than 150 percent as a result.

18. Target your online advertising. Both Facebook andMySpace allow businesses to run ads that attract specific groups of users based on what information they include in their profiles. By running Facebook ads targeted at students at specific colleges, StorQuest Self Storage, which has locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Hawaii, increased its number of rentals by more than half.

19. See where your customers are. A growing number of social networks are designed specifically for users on the go, and some, such as the mobile application Foursquare, offer tools specifically for businesses. Frozen dessert chain Tasti D-Lite, for instance, uses Foursquare to gather data on how many people visit its locations and send promotional offers to frequent customers.

20. Let customers help each other out. Including a customer forum on your website or social network profile can help enhance your customer service while building a sense of community. At Poolcenter.com, a swimming pool equipment retailer based in Arlington, Virginia, customers often field each other's inquiries on swimming pool equipment before they reach customer service reps. Get Satisfaction and Fixya are two sites that offer dedicated spaces for customer service forums.

21. Build a community beyond your business. Photo hosting site SmugMug has established itself as a resource for skilled photographers in part by operating a forum, Digital Grin, where members trade advice on topics such as the best techniques for taking photos at night and capturing wedding scenes. With the exception of a support section at the very bottom, the forum is devoted to photography at large, rather than the company's own services.

22. Let customers contribute. FrontPoint Security, a home security provider in McLean, Virginia, began collecting video testimonials from its customers, who filmed themselves with Flip cameras. The videos are posted on FrontPoint's site and on YouTube, and even some customers' personal blogs. FrontPoint's video efforts have helped the company more than triple its sales leads.

23. Help others promote you. Social media can help you find passionate customers who are more than willing to spread the word about your company. Crafts supplies manufacturer Fiskars reached out to scrapbookers by inviting four avid users to blog. Its crafts community, called Fiskateers, has since attracted 5,000 users who serve as brand evangelists.

24. Cultivate relationships that lead to sales. Soon after he joined Twitter, J.R. Cohen, manager of The Coffee Groundz, a Houston coffee shop, began encouraging his followers to visit him in his shop. He began getting to know customers so well that they not only initiated conversations with him through Twitter—they began tweeting orders through the site as well. Now Cohen periodically fields menu requests through Twitter, though he doesn't use the page primarily for that purpose.

25. But don't promote too aggressively. While social network users have proven to be open to marketing—especially if it involves a discount—they're not flocking to Facebook or MySpace to hear sales pitches. If your profile or blog reads like an ad, it will turn visitors away. Kent Lewis, founder of Portland online marketing firm Anvil Media, encourages Twitter users, for instance, to pass along industry news and retweet interesting items from others along with their own promotions.

26. Find ways to engage visitors offline. In March, Cinda Baxter, a retail consultant in Minneapolis, ended a blog post on local business with one simple idea: choose three businesses to support, and spend a combined amount of $50 per month. The post spurred hundreds of inquiries—enough for Baxter to build a standalone website, which has since attracted the support of more than 12,000 businesses. Baxter has used the publicity to bolster her consulting business: she now travels nationwide to advise retailers on building support within their communities.

27. Find influential people in your industry. In addition to maintaining your blog, make sure to keep your eyes open to what others in the industry are buzzing about online. Reading independent blogs and joining industry groups on Facebook andLinkedIn is a good way to join the larger conversation. Spoonflower, a fabric design site based in Mebane, North Carolina, has built its community of more than 40,000 users primarily through word of mouth on crafts blogs.

28. Boost your credibility by helping others. For service providers, establishing yourself as an expert in the field can bring in a steady stream of business. LinkedIn's Answers feature enables business owners to do just that. Heidi Cool, a Web design consultant in Cleveland, browses LinkedIn Answers for inquiries related to her industry and spends one to two hours per week answering them. In one month, she generated 29 leads for her services directly from her responses.

29. Look for talent off the beaten path. While LinkedIn is specifically geared toward professional use, some companies have found other social networks to be effective recruiting tools as well. Jason Averbrook, CEO of the management-consulting firm Knowledge Infusion, found 19 candidates in two days for an open position simply by writing about his search in status updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo, which aggregates contact information from social networks.

30. Connect with potential partners. Because LinkedIn is designed specifically for professional networking, businesses can find a host of valuable contacts there. Josh Steinitz, CEO of NileGuide, a trip planning website based in San Francisco, used LinkedIn to find business partners by identifying companies of interest and then asking his existing contacts to provide introductions. A third of the company's inquiries resulted in eventual partnerships.

Source: http://www.inc.com/articles/2010/01/30-tips-for-using-social-media.html

10 Social Media Tips for Bloggers

When it comes to building an audience and driving traffic, bloggers are turning to social media with record results. Instead of relying on organic search or (gasp) IRL friends, successful bloggers know they have to develop a following on key social networks as a way to promote their brands and ultimately get more clicks.

Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and now Pinterest provide the savvy blogger with plenty of opportunities to attract new readers and engage with regulars, but it can be overwhelming if you’re new to social media or if you only use it for fun.

Here are 10 tips to help bloggers navigate the increasingly complex world of social media — while still making time to write content.

1. Display your social media icons prominently toward the top of your website.

Make it as simple as possible for your blog readers to connect with you on various social media platforms. They shouldn’t have to hunt around to find your Twitter handle, but should be able to click on a button and be taken right to your profile. Bonus points if your social media icons reflect the overall design or feel of your blog.

2. Every blog should have its own Facebook Page.

Even with Facebook’s new subscription feature, there’s still merit to giving your blog its own space on Facebook. It’s nice to be able to post a link every time you publish something new, and not have to worry about annoying your friends. Plus, readers who don’t your name but know the name of your blog can search for it on Facebook. Show your fans some love on your blog by using the Facebook social plugin, which makes it easy to convert readers to fans.

3. Generate traffic with StumbleUpon.

This “recommendation engine” serves as an alternate browser where users click through pages that their SU friends and SU itself have recommended. You can submit your own blog posts into the system, but it works best if you also share them with your SU friends and accept their shares back. Like most social platforms, you need to have a strong following to get good results. While people are still trying to figure out what makes SU content go viral, many bloggers have seen terrific, albeit fleeting, traffic spikes through the service.

4. Import your RSS feed onto your LinkedIn profile using its Blog Link application.

As long as your blog somewhat pertains to your professional goals, you should be showcasing it on LinkedIn. List it as one of your three websites in your profile, where it will be labeled “Blog.” However, by using the Blog Link application, your most recent posts will display right on your profile.

5. Pinterest is the hot new frontier for bloggers.

Pinterest is the cool new kid, and all of the bloggers are scrambling to establish a presence there. Pin your best photos onto themed boards with links to a relevant blog post. Blogs with strong visual content, like fashion, food, design, crafts and travel, are a natural fit. Infographics will also do quite well. Don’t forget to add a Pinterest plugin (like the Pinterest "Pin It" Button for WordPress users) to make it easy for your readers to share your content on their Pinterest boards.

6. Use link shorteners even when you don’t have to.

Twitter will now shorten your link for you, and the length of your link doesn’t matter on Facebook and Google+. But by using a link shortener like bit.ly, you will gain access to metrics, so you'll know how many people clicked and at what time. With this essential data, you can experiment with different ways to tease your content and different times to post it.

7. Use your blog name as your username whenever possible.

Promote your personal brand by consistently using your blog’s name for your Twitter handle, StumbleUpon name, Pinterest name and so on. Then, people don’t have to wonder about your blog’s name — it’s right there. Also, people will remember you easily across platforms, which is key as you develop up your online community.

8. Join blogger groups on Facebook.

There are some very active groups on Facebook that are terrific resources for any blogging issues you encounter. Look for groups like “Travel Bloggers” or “Global Bloggers Network.” WordPress geeks have “Advanced WordPress” and Central Florida residents have “Central Florida Bloggers.” Not only are blogger groups good for problem-solving, but it’s well-known that bloggers like to read other blogs. Do some searching and find a bloggers group that’s suited to you, or start your own!

9. Be generous with other bloggers.

Promote other bloggers' content, and hopefully they’ll return the favor. You can’t simply blast your own content anyway — you need some variety in every social media stream. So why not check out what your fellow bloggers are posting and give them a retweet, a share or a repin whenever you can. And don’t forget to reciprocate and share content from bloggers who share yours.

10. Be on social media — even when it's not driving traffic.

It can be frustrating when you feel that you’re doing everything right (posting good content on the appropriate platforms in the best way possible) and you’re still not getting many clicks. But console yourself by thinking about all of the links that you see throughout the day that you don’t click on. Just spending time on social media platforms is great way to forge relationships, keep up on industry news and find inspiration for that next blog post.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, ardaguldogan.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/02/17/social-media-bloggers-tips/

The Best Social Networks For Promoting Blogs

 

It seems that new social networks come out every month. There are big social networks and niche social networks. There are tons of opportunities for you to promote you blog on every one of the social networks, but for most people it’s not reasonable to try to use them all.

Some have tried using every social network, but the common result is multiple accounts with little to no interaction.

A better strategy is to focus on just a couple social networks or even one social network.

Here is how you can determine the best social network for promoting your blog.

Step 1 Identify Your Target Reader

We discussed this in the first chapter. Some people use a lot of social networks. Some use only one or two social networks.

Your task is to identify your target reader and then identify the social networks that reader prefers.

Step 2 Determine The Traffic Potential Of Target Social Networks

From our experience, the social media sites that send the most traffic to blogs in general are:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn

The results vary depending on your target reader.

If your blog post is more geared around professional readers and business you might have more potential traffic from LinkedIn and Google+. If your target reader is more visual it might make more sense to focus exclusively on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

Once you start getting traffic from social networks you’ll be able to analyze the traffic to determine if your target reader is visiting your blog.

In your analytics, watch bounce rates on your posts. Segment out traffic from social media networks. You’ll be able to determine if traffic from certain networks provide better traffic than others.

Source: http://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-building-your-blog-audience-chapter-5/

Web Marketing For Dummies

You’re marketing your business on the web — of course you are! These days, if you don’t do web marketing, your business doesn’t survive very long. Read on for tips on how to market your product successfully. Find out what to put on your site and which search engines to list it with, how to expand your presence with social media, bring repeat visitors to your web site, and become familiar with web marketing terms.

Tips for Marketing on Your Own Website

As a smart businessperson, you want to make full use of the web to market your goods and services. This includes running your own website. Use these quick tips to optimize your site for marketing effectiveness:

• Attract attention with your home page and headline.
• Maintain interest with text that’s about “you,” not about “me.”
• Build desire with frequently updated content.
• Include many calls to action.
• Make your site easy to use and navigate.
• Post your phone number, street address, and social media links on every page.
• Collect e-mail addresses to communicate with prospects and customers.
• Test your site before launching it.
• Use results of your traffic and sales statistics to improve your site.

Essential Tasks of a Successful Marketing Website

Your website can be your strongest marketing tool. It serves as the face your business presents to the online world. If visitors find that face engaging, you’re on your way to increased sales. You should see those increased sales once your site accomplishes these goals:

• Draws new visitors to your site.
• Keeps them there for several pages.
• Brings them back for repeat visits.
• Answers “What’s in it for me?”

Crucial Search Engines for Web Marketing

To market goods and services successfully on your own website, you must submit your site for free to these three search engines. They cover well over 90 percent of the natural search market:

• Bing
• Google
• Yahoo!

Use Social Media to Enhance Your Web Presence

Use social media to entice visitors to visit or return to your hub web site where they will receive your full message. Double the benefits by optimizing every social media channel to improve your search engine ranking. Remember to listen twice as much as you talk.

• Use Facebook for brand loyalty, customer support, and to solicit opinions and reviews.
• Use Twitter for news, local color, events in progress, and time-dependent offers.
• Use LinkedIn to reach business-to-business clients, qualify prospects, and to find new vendors or employees.
• Use content-sharing sites like YouTube (video), blogs, podcasts, and Flickr (photos) to encourage customer participation.

Market Research Sites to Use for Web Marketing

You want your business website to attract customers — that’s the whole aim of your web marketing strategy after all. Time spent researching your target market, industry news, or competition is never time spent in vain. The websites in this list can help you:

• ClickZ
• Internet.com
• MarketingProfs
• MarketingSherpa
• Mashable

Source

How to turn facebook fans into customers

Did this video help you?

Top 5 Ways to Market Yourself Online

Thanks to the Internet, we’re living in a golden age of communication. A person in the most remote part of the world still has the capacity to reach an audience of millions. At the same time, the need to stand out from the crowd heightens and marketing becomes more critical than ever.

The amount of ways that you can market yourself online is almost immeasurable. Of course, each method of marketing comes with its own set of pros and cons.

While no method is going to work universally, these are the top five ways that we’ve found for self-marketing.

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosauraochoa/3256859352/

SEO Through Backlinks

If you’re trying to market yourself online, then you more than likely have a website or some other product that you are trying to promote. The amount of page views that your site gets is a direct result of how well you’ve marketed yourself. When it comes to page views, nothing is more effective than SEO, or search engine optimization. Backlinking refers to inbound links that lead to your website. They boost your site’s overall ranking in major search engines such as Google and Bing.

To put it bluntly, backlinks are a critical part of almost any online and local search marketingcampaign. If you can get other sites to link to your content, you’ll be organically marketing yourself by placing your website right in front of people who are using local search for searching for what you’re offering.

Networking

In real life, one of the most effective ways to market yourself is to know the right people. The same holds true when it comes to online marketing. Knowing the people who can place a valuable link to your website or who can direct traffic through a favorable blog post is critical. Even if you’re not concerned with small business marketing SEO, having a good relationship with people who might review your product can have a tremendous amount of value for your marketing efforts.

Google+

Google has built something interesting through its Google+ social network; they’ve built a network that encourages people to share interests and share content with one another. For the self-marketer, though, there’s a hidden value to Google+.

Google has included a button on its network and now in its search results that lets users give a +1 to a page. The more pluses that a site earns, the higher it ranks. Thus, being active on Google+ and gaining pluses there will give you a boost in search engines, making your marketing efforts on Google+ effective in other areas of the web.

Build an Email List

This is one of the oldest marketing methods on the Internet, but it’s still effective even with email supposedly on the downswing. Having a person’s email address is the 2012 equivalent of having their name and home address a decade ago.

With an email address, you can communicate on an ongoing basis and consistently market towards a base audience. By offering some sort of newsletter or other offer that entices users who visit your site to give you their email address, you’ll be able to build a repeating customer base.

Understand the Power of Social Media

At this point in the Web 2.0 game, social media is known by everybody. It is still worth repeating, however, just how much social networks have become the backbone of the Internet. Facebook has hundreds of millions of active users. Twitter sees users publish one billion tweets per month. There is no doubt that social media is at the core of the Internet now, and if you’re marketing online at all, you need to understand how to use it to your advantage.
Source