Google has unveiled its own social network known as Buzz.

It is integrated with  Gmail – allows users to post status updates, share and read and comment on friends posts.

This is pitching Google directly against Facebook, which has nearly 400 million users.  Buzz will try to capitalise on the number of Gmail users, which is around 170 million now. It needs to be seen if they can snatch users from Facebook & Twitter

Some features of Buzz

The features are directly built into Gmail.

• Users can post private or public status updates – known as a buzz – and share content from other sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Picassa.
• The messages – highlighted with a Buzz symbol – are incorporated directly into the inbox. Private updates are automatically added to a user’s profile page, whilst public updates will also be available to search engines.
• The site also incorporates elements of Twitter, such as the ability to “follow” people that share updates, and features that appear in Facebook such as the ability to “like” content.
• Buzz will also recommend content from people that it thinks you may like to see and incorporate it directly into a users content stream.
• Google mapping service has been set up with this for mobile platforms.
• Google also says public updates will also be added to Google Places, a directory of businesses that include reviews of restaurants and theatres, for example.

This is not the first attempt of Google with social networking site. Orkut did not take off except in Brazil and India.Hopefully they got it right this time. But it will still be hard to beat Facebook with that kind of popularity. The new site design to search and chat only makes Facebook better.

Did you know that “Facebook” has become a verb? “Do you facebook” or “do you FB” is a common query at social occasions!

• editing without needing to know HTML
• easy to update current events – takes a few minutes
• No uploading of files – like static HTML sites
• post-dating of articles so they can automatically “go live” in the future
• reader participation through comments
• organization of the content using tags – these are like signposts for search engines
• If you already have a site and are switching to WordPress you can retain the URL addresses
• easy addition of new functionality (because it is “open source”)
• free support by the very responsive developer and user communities
• Pinging facility – pings newsaggregators automatically
• You can add gazillions of plugins to add more functionality
• easy to integrate social media widgets – seamless with twitter, Digg etc
• Instant traffic – no waiting 3 months to see a few visitors
• So many free themes and custom themes to choose from
• Add image galleries videos very easily

What more do you want? It is one click installation if you use Hostgator.

I set up a review site last night for a product with WordPress. It is a simple 4 page site with some useful articles. Guess what this morning in my stats I saw 11 unique hits.! If I had done a static HTML site I am sure this would have taken about 2-3 weeks or more. Two keyword searches for the very specific product I was recommending. Now way HTML site can achieve this.

So if you are a small business owner and want some quick exposure online, some targeted traffic  contact me and I can set up a wordpress site for a very reasonable cost. I will train you to update your site and teach you basic SEO functions.

From my experience Google love WordPress.

There is a lot of searches for the keywords in my title. Yes I see them at least twice a week on my blog stats.

I suddenly realized the power of that plug in. It tells you where your visitor came from, what link they clicked and what keyword they used to find you! What else do you need?

If you are a small business you need to keep your content updated and fresh to make Google happy. Here is a list of things to do to make Google happy

• More than one page. More like 5-7 pages(the more the better).
• Unique content.
• Fresh content added on the site regularly.
• Adding content regularly helps websites rank well in the search engines and in turn improves your PPC quality score.
• The content needs to be written for humans but also optimized for certain keywords.
• A website with a blog. Google loves blogs. Google has a separate search facility just for blogs. www.blogsearch.google.com
• People read posts and leave comments. This helps your website rank better for relevant keywords.
• Readers will subscribe to your feeds. (Feeds are like newsletters).
• Other blogs will link to your posts. Inbound links is loved by Google.
• A good Goggle compliant xml sitemap.
• Each page optimized for titles, headers and sub headers. (Helps Google find you easier
• Each page optimized with tags – These are like signposts for search engines.
• Privacy, disclosure policy at the bottom

Wordpress as a CMS for business does all the above. I can provide a website that is compliant with all the above points. contact me for more information.

image by Mimi K

Have you planned for your holiday sales activity? It is not tool late still. If you are a small retail business, you probably make most of your profit in the last quarter. Have you got your advertising in place? Have you allocated your expense for local paper ads, brochure mail box drops, radio spots etc? Have you displayed your online advertising prominently in your website? And maybe some ads in Google AdWords to boost your sales?

I was talking to a friend of mine today who is a financial planner. She said she is very busy with clients. The market turmoil has affected a whole bunch of people. They don’t know what to do with their money and she has seen a sudden spike in her business.  Her business is cyclical like most self employed people’s business. One month she has 4-5 clients and she makes good money. Next month no clients. It goes up and down. I suggested to her to get herself a website that she can update herself and keep it fresh with content.

Looks like that whole niche has websites that never get updated! Some of the material I saw was dated more than a year old! Why do people get websites done and never update them at all. If used properly websites can be a good lead generating funnel. That way you will have clients round the year and not be cyclical like most self employed people. Staying in touch with your clients through email, blog, newsletter is the smart way to go.

What I am getting at is if you are planning to get a boost to your holidays sales maybe this is a good time to get a fresh look for your website and update it with some fresh content, images and some good advertising.

Think of even getting some quick traffic to your site with Google AdWords.

Contact me if you want a good content management system set up with a fresh looking website. You can easily update the site yourself. Get good rankings in search engines and keep in touch with your clients as well.

One of the fastest ways to get traffic to your site and see some sales is through pay-per-click or PPC.  All 3 top search engines have pay-per-click programmes.  Google is the best and you see instant results.  It is very easy to open an account with Google. I cover the basics in the article Google AdWords.

What is pay-per-click?

PPC ads are the ones you see on the right side of the page when you type a keyword in Google or Yahoo  and the search results come up. Every time someone clicks on those ads you pay a certain amount of money to Google or Yahoo. This may vary from 10 cents per click to $20 a click depending on the niche you are in.

Step 1

Go to www.google.com

click on Advertising Programs – Google AdWords and set up an account. It is very straightforward

Step 2

If you are a small business owner you will know your business inside out.  You will have an idea how people will search for you online.  Do some keyword research based on the niche you are in. Google has an excellent keyword tool and it is free. 

Google external keyword tool.

Come up with a few lists of keywords. Look for related keywords and synonyms. Use plurals. Use present continuous tense like buying, looking, losing. Keep the keywords organized in spreadsheets.

Step 3

Type in some of the keywords into Google or Yahoo and observer the ads that come up on the right. They are your competition. Try to copy the top 3-4. Watch those ads for 4-5 days. If they are still there they are making money.

A few tips

• Try to have the keyword in the headline. Google/Yahoo will make it bold
• State a benefit of the product.
• Clear call to action.

Example ad

Suffering from Back Pain?
XYZ Mattress Will Help You Lessen Pain.
%50 Off This Week. Buy Now!

See how I have capitalised each word? It helps to improve readability. Try Questions in the headline or sympols, dashes. Have comma for a pause. Anything that will help you attract attention to your ad.

Step 3

Create groups of keywords that are tightly knit together.

Buy mattress
Buying mattress
Queen mattress
Firm mattress etc.

Each group will be counted as one adgroup. Write two ads per adgroup.

Step 4

Make a list of negative keywords. This is very important to keep your costs down. If you are bidding on broad match. Google will display your ad for even a single keyword in your phrase. example If you  are bidding on “Handmade beeswax candles”, on broad match. Google will display your ad for the word candle which is too broad for your niche. Negatives will stop Google from displaying your ad for unwanted terms.

Step 5

Download Google Adwords Editor. It is a local hard drive based editor. It is free. You will enter the groups of keywords & ads and set a daily budget, then bulk upload to your Google account.

Step 6

Enter your campaigns into Google Adwords Editor. Set a low daily budget till your are confident. Something like $20 a day will be a good starter.

Step 7

After a week log into your cpanel in your hosting account and look at the keywords that have been used.  You will be able to get a longet negative keyword list from these keywords. Tweak your campaign as you go along.

I have only given you the basic information. You can start with this info and get traffic to your website in a short period. With so many variable in play, it is a fine game. Keep watching for the next instalment in PPC later.

As a small business it is tough to ride the current recession and market turmoil. As people lose homes and jobs consumer spending will go down. And as a small business you will feel the pinch. Some tips to ride the downturn.

1. Postpone any expansion for the next few months. Wait and see how quick the market bounces back.
2. Don’t panic and make rash decisions.
3. Track your marketing efforts for conversions
4. Once you find out the channel that is most successful double your effort.
5. Try online advertising. Get a Google Adwords campaign going. Learn more about pay-per-click.
6. Advertise on Google local.
7. Advertise on Google Base. (It is free).
8. Write up an informative article and get it published in local newspaper.
9. Place classified ads in the local news paper (If you have never done before).
10. Try a mail drop with a simple flyer done on your home printer. Have a special or something free to prompt action.
11. Get your website refreshed and write some informative articles about your business niche.

For example if you are a landscaper try to inform your customers what best to plant now how to avoid pests. Good info about organic gardening. Plants in season. Where to get a good deal on plants. Etc. Get the visitors engaged.

Image by Randy Levine

Put out a newsletter 4 times a year. Keep in touch with your customers regularly. If you manage to get your website to 20 pages or more Google is going to love you. Add the content regularly – like once in 10-15 days.

It is so easy to update your site with the CMS package I provide for small business like yours

I am sure you have seen it on TV read in the newspaper. It is everywhere. The doom and gloom – the credit crunch the housing market collapsing etc. I am sure you know all these things are cyclical. Yes it is bad this time round due to the greed of those in Wall Street. There are 2 options available to small business owners

Option 1

Get really worried and run around like a headless chuck.

Option 2

See the opportunities that are available and make use of them.

The bright side – houses are cheaper. Stocks are cheaper. Things will get worse in the coming months. And you know that means? It’s a GREAT time to invest, because you can get rock bottom prices and when things recover a few years from now you’ll make a hefty profit.

As a small business owner I am sure you are worried what will happen to your business. One marketing tip is to ramp your online advertising.

• You can start a pay-per-click campaign. Learn to set up a PPC campaign

• You can revamp your website to make it look fresher and get a CMS. Learn to update your site regularly. Search engines love fresh content. This way you will get more organic traffic. Learn more about CMS websites.
  

The website packages with content management system are made to attract organic traffic.

So instead of waiting & worrying about your business contact me and see how I can help your business.