So what’s new with Google+ and Social Media you ask?

Google+ is now allowing Nicknames!

Google+ will now be providing support for alternative names like nicknames, names in a different script, or names from birth. The name will be shown on your Google+ profile and in the hovercards which appear over your name.

New Google Accounts generate both Gmail and Google+ Accounts in 1 simple process!

Signing up for Gmail has just made it 100% easier to incorporate the creation of a Google+ account, without all the extra hassle. How and what will it effect? It could effect how users use and network on other Google Platforms like Google docs and YouTube.

Google Updates its Privacy Policy

The new Google update will take effect on March 1, 2012. It will simplify all privacy policies and make it clear that if you’re signed in, Google “may combine information that you provided from one service, with information from other services. The short version, they are going to treat you as a single user across all of the Google products, which make it simpler and a much easier Google experience.”

We would love to hear your comments! Please leave a reply below.

Five short years ago you may have been a bit oblivious to the term search engine optimization and what it could do for you and your business.  Today, in 2012 – You know many terms such as SEO, SEM, Search Engine Marketing, Ranking and that they mean more for your online business than almost anything else. Optimizing your site is just the technical process of taking it from nowhere-land to being noticed at the top of search engines. You may even know a few of these processes such as the importance of using the correct keywords and phrases and using the ever so popular Google AdWords, anchor text and footer relevance and utilizing spider bot software.

The real question shouldn’t be IF you’ve got the rhythm, but if you know how to make it work for you up until the finale! SEO is for life. Well.. It’s for the life of your website if you want it to have presence, exponential growth and ultimately drive a great deal of new traffic thereby increasing sales.

We would suggest that you become familiar with a few SEO terms so that you’ll understand how the ranking process is implanted and functions.

*Keywords / Key Phrases
*Title tags
*Back Links
*Anchor text
*Ad word keyword tool
*Relevant domain name
*Bots
*Link farms
*Keywords stuffing
*Cloaking
* CPC
*CTR
*Guest blogging (Twitter, Facebook)
*Google dance

If you decide that these techniques are a breeze then have at it!Create a strategic SEO plan and start plugging away. If you get stuck and have comments or question for us, we welcome them all!

When you’re ready in full attire with dancing shoes on – CALL US.
We’d love to dance! (And we’ve got pretty good rhythm.)

So the news is out about LinkedIn removing the ability to view tweets on your page.  It’s not a huge surprise as most of you would think.  You still have the ability to sync your LinkedIn posts with Twitter; it just won’t be on your homepage feed as it was before.

You will need to go to your settings  page and choose to send with all tweets or only tweets with a #in hashtag to your LinkedIn status updates.

If you still have not linked the 2 profiles in your LinkedIn account, here is the how you get it done.

Keep in mind that at the end of January LinkedIn will no longer be utilizing the standalone Tweets application (see image),  so make sure you update the setting as described above.

Personally we like to utilize a program like Hootsuite to post all of our content.  It’s such a great tool!

Let me know what you think about these changes and how they will affect you and your business in the comments box below.

You don’t need a ton of money to use this type of advertising system.  All you need are relevant targeted keywords aimed at your specific group of customers! Many search engines offer these applications, though none more popular than Google’s AdWords.

You will however, need some money if you don’t have any idea what you are doing and you don’t take the time to learn the basics of the system. What are the basics you ask?? We’ve listed a few to drive you in the right direction.

Customers and Cost and Competition, OH MY!

*Locate your customers – keyword software will help find who they are and how many.

*Google’s web traffic estimator will give you the cost per customer click.

*Find your competitors by using your keywords in Google and sifting through the right side bar. That is your competition. If there are so many that you’d be looking at their ads all day, you might want to reconsider your keywords.

*Create an ad, following the strict guidelines set up by Google.

*Analyze and track all of your results, then tweak it to fit your advertising budget.

Come on and take it for a test run! If you aren’t satisfied with how far you get then put us in the driver’s seat and HOLD ON!

Questions or Comments? Please post.