2012 is certain to come with a lot of changes in the way that search engines work. More importantly, we’re going to see a lot of changes to the way that search results that show up. I’ve collected a few things that I think we’ll see (or in some cases, see more of) in 2012:

Search algorithms will continue moving toward personalized results.

Last April, Google rolled out their “Panda” update that made significant changes to their search algorithm in an attempt to “provide better rankings for high-quality sites —sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.” Suddenly, news and social networking websites rose toward the top of the search results, oftentimes pushing content farms off of the first page.

Google’s releasing of ‘Search Plus Your World’ last week was a giant leap in the way that search engines work – although I’m not entirely sure if this was a leap forward or a leap backward (post your opinion in the comments section – I’d love to hear what you think). Regardless, Google is becoming more and more personal with each algorithm adjustment, and they’re showing no signs of stopping. People are the new authority.

The takeaway: Google believes that social + timeliness = relevance. If you want to rank high on Google search, now may be a good time to dust off that Google+ profile.

Quality, not quantity.

This is one of those things that should have been at the core of search engines upon conception, alas … Over a decade later, search engines are finally starting to understand that just because a site has a lot of pages, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of those pages are very high (we’re looking at you, content farms).

The takeaway: If you want to rank high in search results, then you need to take the time to create fresh, high-quality content for your site on a regular basis.

Mobile search will soon be in the driver’s seat.

The fact is that about 35% of Americans own smartphones and if you’ve ever bought one of those, you know that you’re required to pick up a data plan as well. So, aside from playing an obscene amount of Angry Birds, what are people doing with their phones?

The short answer: searching. Mobile search is increasing, and it’s increasing rapidly. With the advent of Siri and other voice-based mobile searching, it won’t be long before mobile search overtakes all other mediums. I’d put money on it happening before the year’s end, unless of course, the Mayan’s end of the world prediction proves to be true.

The takeaway: Start thinking about the way people search on mobile vs. computers and leverage this. Browse your analytics and look at the keywords that came from mobile devices. Use this data to optimize your paid search campaigns. In order to maximize conversions, make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices.

What do you think the biggest changes in search are going to be? Sound off in the comments section below!

On June 28, 2011 Google rolled out their own social media platform called Google+. The demand, excitement and potential for this new service was HUGE.

10 million users joined within the first two weeks. In October, the number of unique users grew to over 40 million. This pales in comparison to Facebook’s 800 million active users, but then again, they’ve got seven years and mainland China on their side.

For a couple of months, users added their friends, lumped them into circles and then sat back waiting for something magical to happen. It didn’t take long for interest to wane and people began to go back to their old haunts, Facebook and Twitter. Google+ was quickly becoming a social graveyard.

It wasn’t until 132 days after their initial launch (but, who’s counting, right?) that they allowed businesses to register their pages. I had hopes that this would act as a social defibrillator and would get people re-engaged with the platform. Google+ had a real chance with this one … until it fell on its face.

So, what happened? Here’s a couple of things about the new business pages that disappointed me:

• No multi-user support. To borrow Facebook’s terminology, only one person is allowed to ‘admin’ a page. This means that a business will have to select a single person to create and maintain the page or they will have to create a new account that will be shared amongst their social media marketers. If your business goes with the first option, know that the page cannot be transferred (see also: if that one employee leaves the company for whatever reason, you’ve also lost your page).

• No vanity URLs. Right now our URL looks like https://plus.google.com/u/0/112902429086367330249. It’s not very sexy and it’s definitely not very marketable. Of course, you could use a service like http://gplus.to/ to create something presentable (for example, we’ve created http://gplus.to/southcentralmedia), but this should be built into the platform itself.

It’s not all doom and gloom for Google+, though.

The most important feature (I think, anyway) is circles. Fortunately, these are also available in business pages and they could be a game-changer in your online marketing strategy. Unlike Facebook, Google+ allows you to sort of act like a person. You’re able to follow people, you’re able to put people, or customers, into different circles depending on your marketing strategy (group your followers by location or product-type, whatever makes sense for your business) and from there you can send each circle a targeted message.

Is this single feature enough to significantly shift your businesses social media strategy, though? Maybe.

What time of day should I post? How long should my status messages be? Is it okay to ask followers to like something?

These are just a few of the question that every page administrator faces daily. There are a lot of “best practices” floating around out there that helps with these inquiries, however, there isn’t a whole lot of data to back them up … until now.

The people over at Momentus Media analyzed the top 20,000 Facebook pages to find out which posting techniques really work and placed their findings online for the entire world to see. For each analysis, they dissected 10,000 – 250,000 posts to find out exactly what drives interaction, and more importantly, how to replicate it.

1. When is the best time to post something?
Weekends and off-peak hours. Most posts are made during the week with the greatest number of posts on Thursdays and the lowest number of posts on the weekends. The engagement graph looks exactly the opposite. The more posts that are out there, the lower the interaction rate is going to be. Want the best chance at being heard and engaged? Post when other people are not.

2. How many times per day should I post?
As many times as you want. Not surprisingly, the more often you post, the more interactions you can expect. Keep in mind that some people may perceive posting more than 3 times a day as being “spammy.” Unsubscription rates rise as page admins post twice or three times a day, however, these rates tend to level off at higher frequencies. Here’s the bottom line: Post as often as you like, just be sure to keep a close eye on your subscribers.

3. What type of content elicits the most interaction?
#1 Photos. #2 Statuses. Fact: Photos generate 200% more interaction than links. The most shared content type on Facebook is links (which also happens to be the most ignored content type). Photos obviously have a visual draw and connect to people on an emotional level. Starving for some quick interaction? Try posting a photo.

4. Should I ask fans to like and comment on my posts?
Yes! Asking fans to like increases interaction 216% It’s not uncommon to see posts asking for comments or likes. There’s a reason for this: it works. Simply asking your audience to like your post can significantly boost your interaction rate. Asking them to comment produces slightly higher engagement than a post without a call-to-action. The takeaway? Be shameless and ask for a like!

5. Should I ask my fans questions?
Questions don’t increase interaction rate, but they do increase commenting rate. Ask fans to answer your questions with a comment. It’s thought that being conversational and asking questions on Facebook would increase your interaction rate. Ends up that question and non-question posts have about the same interaction rate (the sum of the number of likes and comments, divided by the number of page likes at the time of publishing). If you simply post a question, you’ll have about the same interaction rate as you would if you posted a fact. However, if you post a question and ask that people comment on it, you’ll find that your number of comments will go up!

6. How long should my status messages be?
Long or short. There is no found correlation between length and interaction rate. There’s a slight uptick in interaction as Facebook posts get longer, but it’s not enough to base your strategy on. Post however much or however little as you like – people don’t seem to care.

7. How long do my posts last in the newsfeed?
50% of clicks happen within 1 hour. 90% happen within 9 hours. It’s hard to say how long posts last in the newsfeed. It depends on how many people are in your feed as well as the frequency at which they are posting. However, the data shows that the majority of the clicks that an update will receive happens within the first hour of posting. After two hours, you start to see a gradual decline in interaction. Remember that posting during off-peak times increases your chances of being seen.

FlashXML.net wrote an interesting (and useful) blog about the reasons employers look at your Facebook account.

The article lists 10 reasons that are unique in some ways, but all pretty much boil down to this: Are you an honest, upright person? To put it another way: Are you the kind of person that employers want working for them?

This article got me thinking, and not about my secret life as a lip-dub star and the voice behind the Bronx Zoo Cobra Twitter account. No, it got me thinking about how your business is no different than an employee in this article. And your employer is every person who has ever considered doing business with you.

Think about that… Every person… Ever.

Have a look at not just your Facebook Page, but at all of your social media (and your web presence as a whole). Are you putting off the vibe of a reputable and authentic business? Or are you putting off the vibe of the equivalent to an employee who calls in sick and then spends all day posting videos on his friend’s walls?

Keep in mind, that your web-presence should always be an accurate representation of your business. If your business really IS the equivalent to our bad-employee example, there are other issues to address first. But assuming your business is legit, you owe it to yourself to have a second look at your online reputation.

by Daniel Hadaway

A former colleague of mine used to have the following mantra about online video: “If it’s great, it will go viral.”

Every time I heard that statement, I would wince. While the sentiment was honorable enough, the facts just don’t back up such a worldview. There is a ton of great content out there that never gets shared or viewed by anyone. And this isn’t true just for the online world- it’s true in pretty much every form of media.

Some of my favorite (and critically acclaimed) TV shows were canceled in their first season. In fact, some of today’s most popular TV shows came dangerously close to being canceled because no one was watching them.

For example, NBC’s The Office was on its death-bed midway through its first season, and the only reason it didn’t get canceled was because the network’s president at the time was a huge fan of the series and kept it alive.

So, great content is important, but it doesn’t guarantee viral success. So what does guarantee that a video will go viral?

While there are no guarantees that any method or strategy will make a video go viral, here are three strong points to consider if you’re hoping to make the next “Chocolate Rain”.

1. Start with a Goal.

Ask yourself this question: “What do I want someone to say or think after watching my video?”.

Do you want them to think “I can’t believe that happened!”? Or maybe you want them to say “Is this real?”, or “That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week!”.

Think in terms of what kinds of reactions make people want to share something. The overriding principle here is: Don’t aim for getting people to share; aim for a reaction that motivates people to share.

2. Show that You’re Listening.

Encourage interaction with your video content.

One way to do this is by responding to comments on your videos. It doesn’t take long to reply to a comment posted to your video. You can even take critical or hateful comments in a positive direction by responding to them in a light-hearted, non-confrontational manner. If someone comments “This is the worst video I’ve ever seen!”, you might reply with “Is it worse than this one…?” and link to another video you’ve produced.

Another way to show that you’re listening is to post follow-up videos that take into consideration previous comments, video responses, etc. Remember last year when the Old Spice Guy did a series of video responses to individual users? That was a great way to generate buzz and get people interacting with their videos, and thus their brand!

3. Use Your Brand Carefully.

People have a strong aversion to feeling like their being advertised to. So if you’re using your brand as an anchor to the content in your video, make sure you are very careful.

Don’t make your video feel like a commercial for your brand. Ask yourself, “Is the primary message of this video a call-to-action related to my product or service?”. If so, your video is probably too brand-focused.

Viral videos almost always function as standalone content or entertainment.

Obviously you want your brand to benefit from your viral success, but it’s up to you how you want to accomplish that. Some viral videos make no mention of a brand in their content. The video generates buzz on its own and then the brand posts a follow up video to “claim responsibility”. That works well, but you can be creative with how you want to reveal your brand’s affiliation with your smash internet viral video sensation!

Overall, just remember to not stay attached to a failing idea. There are no guarantees when attempting to make content go viral. So if something isn’t working and you TRULY tried your best, be ready to move on and try a new creative idea.

We’ll post follow-up articles in the future with more tips for making your videos/content go viral.

But now it’s your turn. What is your favorite “viral” video of all time?

While most companies would love to show up higher in search-engines, can you imagine a situation where showing up first on Google is a bad thing?

This blog has an interesting article about a client that had this exact issue. Google was suggesting the company’s brand name + the word ’scam’ in their suggested results.

How would you feel about a company if when you typed in their name, the word ’scam’ was added to the brand name and suggested by Google?

While this function of Google is certainly useful for finding companies that truly ARE scams (and avoiding them), what happens when Google gets it wrong? Or more importantly: why is Google getting it wrong in the first place?

Let’s get this out of the way first: no one has a definitive answer about why Google gets it wrong sometimes. Google is very secretive about the algorithms and methods it employs to serve up search results, as well as suggested searches. However, there are two ideas floating about among search-intellectuals that may provide some insight:

1. There aren’t that many people searching for “brand name + scam” at first- but maybe just enough are searching for that term to make it appear low in the suggested results. Once it appears, people’s curiosity gets the better of them and they click just to see what’s out there. The user thinks “If Google is suggesting it’s a scam, I should at least check it out.”
2. Another, much-less fleshed-out hypothesis, is that Google is simply biased to serve up “scam”-related suggestions.

Neither of these seem to fully explain what’s going on, but that’s okay, because there is a simple solution.

While you can’t do much to remove any negative content on the web about your brand, you can make sure there’s plenty of positive content that is easily found by search engines. In fact, Google recommends this method for dealing with negative search results about a brand. It may not be immediate, but publishing positive content about your brand across the web, and then using SEO best-practices is a great way to push the negative search results further down the list, and keep your new positive article at the top of the list (and the top of your customers’ minds).

Consider implementing an online reputation management strategy, or at least a basic content strategy for your brand. Even if you aren’t experiencing any negative press or search-engine-woes, consistently publishing well-written, positive, and relevant content to the web is a great way to improve your off-page SEO. And if Google ever does suggest a negative term related to your brand, you’ll be ready!

The formula for sticky content is simple: Start with an engaging headline that peaks the reader’s interest (enough to read past the first line of copy), provide value and build trust leading up to a compelling call to action.

I’ve prepared a brief list of 5 headline types that are time tested and true to grabbing your audience’s attention.

Be Direct

Skip the fluff and go directly to the meat of your value proposition.  If the offer is sexy enough, and you’ve clearly stated the process, outlined the steps involved and built your case for conversion, then this headline type can be very effective. NOTE – The headline can only be as good as the offer and supporting copy.

• Free 60 Day Trial of XYZ Product
• Shop Our Line of 2010 Designer Suits -  Prices Reduced by 50 Percent!
  
• Sign Up for XYZ Product Today and Receive an Additional 30 Percent Off

Be Subtle

A slightly more clever approach, this headline type uses the power of curiosity to subtly engage the reader. Employing the power of metaphors, a pun or two and even subtle humor can go a long way in catching the reader’s interest without hitting them directly in the head with your offer.

• SEO is Like a Fleeting Lover … Difficult to Catch but Well Worth the Effort
• Out with the  Old Ways of Selling XYZ Products and In with the New (make sure product is easily recognizable in this case).

Ask a Question

No better way to gain empathy from your audience then by asking a relevant question that sparks a personal response. The idea here is purely psychological (though all good copywriting is). You ask a question that the audience feels compelled to answer or can easily relate to their personal lives, problems, etc., then provide the answer in the copy that follows your headline.

• Are You Tired of Watching Your Competition Dominate the Market?
• Are You Suffering From Hair Loss and Tired of all the Gimmick Solutions?
• Who Wants to Get Rich Online in Only 90 Days?

Call to Arms

Break out your arsenal of highly effective verbs and unleash! Actually, the approach is rather simple. Use a clear call to action that incorporates a strong verb and prompts the reader to take immediate action.

• Subscribe to Our Monthly Product Newsletter
• Contact XYZ Company for Your Free Consultation Today

Listing Like a Maniac

The cat’s meow for just about every successful blogger out there today, the list headline type is actually an mash up of two traditional headline types – the Reason Why and How to.

Reason Why headlines traditionally employ a bulleted or numbered list that provides multiple “reasons why” your reader should buy a product, contact your company, etc.

• 50 Reasons Why You Should Use These 5 Headline Types in Every Blog Post
• 5 Reasons Why Building Relationships is the Best Kind of Networking
  

A How to headline also generally uses a bulleted or numbered list. The idea here is you are offering a direct correlation between the valuable information you provide and a question your reader needs answered.

• How to Use Free Wordpress Themes to Generate XYZ Result
• How to Minimize Bookkeeping Errors with XYZ Product

So now you have a beginner’s arsenal of effective headlines, but what about the follow up? Effective headlines are only the first step to using your content to engage an audience.

Be sure to check out Three Crucial Tips for Turning Your Audience into Rabid Fans for more information on the steps to take after you’ve engaged your audience with sticky content.

The tips provided actually would work equally as well for blogging, or even website copy… So be sure to check it out!

Have a look for yourself at the link below:

Writing E-mail Marketing Copy That Sells