17 tips and tools to make Gmail better

If  you use Gmail from Google, check out the tools  that are available.

17 tips and tools to make Gmail better

Guest author Justin Smith is product engagement manager for BloomReach.

Understanding what people do on different social networks is the key to effectively using those networks for marketing. Companies currently spend 8.4% of their marketing budgets on social media, and that’s expected to grow to 21.6% in the next five years. But with so many social networks competing to grab marketing dollars, determining the most effective channels can be extremely difficult. To illustrate, let’s look at how Facebook and Pinterest stack up against one another.

Different Networks For Different Reasons

While both Facebook and Pinterest offer deep customer segmentations and user engagement, it would be a mistake to target audiences in the same way across both networks. For example, you wouldn’t market your product to someone shopping at a trendy boutique the same way you would to someone walking down the street with their friends. In a store, you’d likely look to make a sale, while on the street you’d probably have more luck building brand awareness.

Similarly, BloomReach’s analysis consistently shows that Pinterest has a higher concentration of people who are in a ‘buy’ state of mind, while Facebook users are more interested in interacting with friends - and brands. (According to Paul Adams, Facebook’s global head of brand design, Facebook’s strength is relationship-building, noting that many lightweight interactions over time can help promote brands.)

Traffic Analysis Tells The Tale

That is borne out by BloomReach’s analysis of total traffic – 46,277,543 site visits – for a set of retail clients from Sept. 20 through Dec. 31, 2012. We looked at five key metrics: total traffic, revenue per visit, conversion rate, bounce rate and average pages viewed. While Facebook delivered more than 7.5 times the traffic, Pinterest handily won the remaining four areas:

• Pinterest traffic spent 60% more than did traffic coming from Facebook.
• Pinterest traffic converted to a sale 22% more than Facebook.
• Facebook traffic bounced 90% of the time, compared to 75% for Pinterest.
• Facebook users viewed an average of 1.6 pages. Pinterest users saw an average of 2.9 pages – a 76% difference.

The average revenue per visit for Pinterest traffic was more than $1.50. But while Pinterest is able to drive highly lucrative leads – and the release of Pinterest’s Analytics Tool for Businesses should help companies make use of them - it can deliver only a relatively limited set of eyeballs.

Facebook Still Rules Awareness

If a company’s goal is to simply reach a larger audience to create or maintain brand awareness, Facebook remains the best option. Its sheer volume of users – 1.06 billion active monthly users, 680 million mobile users and 618 million daily users – and the army of people ready to sell impressions make it an easy channel to leverage. But it may be difficult to realize an immediate return on marketing investments on the network.

Perhaps the best approach is to look for ways to optimize Facebook campaign while expanding Pinterest presence. Both Facebook and Pinterest should become larger parts of the media mix model as visitor referrals from these sites grow. At the end of 2012, only 2.7% of total traffic in our analysis came from the networks, demonstrating that social commerce is still in an early stage. In the meantime, though, it seems fair to say that Pinterest is a more efficient marketing channel than Facebook.

 

 

Article from http://readwrite.com/author/justin-smith

 

SEO trends to look for in 2012

SEO trends to look for in 2012  

Social
Social has always played a role in SEO, but its influence on search engine page results is expected to increase in coming months. For a business, this means integrating social media into daily practices. Get “Likes” on Facebook. Go after “+1s” on Google. Stay active on Twitter and get those Retweets!  It also means creating content that people want to share, and that ties into the next SEO trend for 2012…

Quality
People don’t share cruddy content. Yes, everybody already knew that! But now the search engines are also “learning” to be more
discerning. Their algorithms are being adjusted to place higher-quality content above sites that employ archaic or spammy SEO techniques. This is good news for entrepreneurs…it means they can boost their results without having to learn complex SEO tactics.

Context
Search engines – Google in particular - now examine the context of keywords in your overall site. For example, let’s say you operate a site dedicated to donuts, and on this site, you feature one page about a different topic, like cosmetics. Google’s algorithm is getting savvy enough that it may skip over your donut site in favor of one that’s dedicated exclusively to cosmetics. It takes into account the content site-wide. The lesson is to be mindful of your site content and your message. Once you decide on your message, add the appropriate keywords across your site. Tie it all together in a way that makes sense.

Localization
It’s a big buzzword these days, and it gives SMBs like your clients a nice nudge above the competition! Localization’s taking over online marketing in general (check out some of the findings from the CMO Council to learn more), but it factors into SEO especially. Remember to use city- or neighborhood-centric keywords in blog posts, social updates and website content. Also advise your clients to make sure there’s a link to their site on Yelp and other business review sites.

Authority links
Okay, so links have always been valuable when it comes to SEO. But with all the emerging emphasis on context and content, people are beginning to realize how important outbound links are. We know inbound links are important to SEO – after all, that’s your traffic! But word on the SEO beat is that outbound links are starting to matter. So add links to sites with authority or credibility, like Wikipedia (see what we did there?).
We hope these up-and-coming SEO trends will help you and your clients prepare for 2012. And no matter what year it is, you can always count on Customer Care if you’ve got any questions!

Posted by Randy Cantin : article by MAWebCenters

Building a Facebook presence from my friends at MA Webcenters

What's it take to build a solid Facebook presence?

MAWebCenters at MAWebCenters - 1 month ago

Earlier this month, we asked you all to weigh in on our upcoming blog post. We had a lot of requests for social media marketing topics, and quite a few people wanted to discuss Facebook. So we’ve got a quick primer about building a great Facebook presence. 1. *Establish a strategy.* Know your goals, understand what you want to do with your social media efforts before you type your first words. Maybe you want to build buzz around one particular product or service. Perhaps you’re promoting an upcoming event. The point is to consider long- and short-term goals associated with your... more »

Are you going to watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Here is a link that may help all of my NYC friends. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011

BLOGGR

Google to wind down Google Labs

I found this article from Parmy Olson at Forbes Tech

Google says it’s winding down Google Labs, a site where users can try out new products its engineers are experimenting with. Google made the announcement in a blog post entitled, “More wood behind fewer arrows,” the LA Times reports. Google Labs was where the Internet giant first experimented with successful products including Maps, News and Trends – but it now wants to focus on launching fewer products.

Meanwhile Google co-founder Larry Page, who took over as CEO in April, is said to be refocusing the company on products and its “start-up philosophy,” AFP reports. Patrick Pichette, speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, also said investors need not worry about revenue from the Android OS or Google’s Chrome browser.

“Through the reorganization, the realignment that Larry did a couple of months ago, he just wanted to put focus specifically on product,” Pichette said. He went on to say that Google is a “very young company, we are in start-up mode and we are going to invest for the long term.”

Investors are concerned that Google’s revenue is still primarily coming from searches, despite it being 36 months since the launch of Android. Pichette said this was “short-termish,” adding, “That’s just not the way Google thinks.”

Doesn't sound like it this decision will slow them down any. Thank You Parmy and Forbes Tech for sharing.