Google ranking and video SEO: The future?

Can I become No 1 on google?

There are some that say yes, there are some that say no. Google says no, some promotion companies say yes? The fact of the matter is, if you are lucky enough to have a website on the 1st page of Google then my hats off to you, remarkable work – well done, I am sure you are getting lots of visitors and a fair amount of sales too! So all good news.

But, hold on, step back for a minute; It is all going so well, the money is coming in, Google loves you and so does your credit card processor and then whap, whammy you are gone, out from the 1st page and onto the 10th. Nobody seems to love you anymore, your website has gone into oblivion and that Lego Indiana Jones set you promised your nephew is also out the window because the sales have dried up.

Video SEO

Utilizing video SEO and movie optimization is in fact one of the newest forms of search engine optimization and has become one of the most critical factors in online marketing success. But not many entrepreneurs that publish a website understand this! The problem they must contend with, however, is a desire to remain a little behind the times as far as the development of new and effective SEO strategies go. For example, many have not yet embraced the benefit of video SEO. This is unfortunate because video SEO and movie optimization are quickly becoming the preferred means in which an internet marketer can draw in huge amounts of traffic. And you would not want to be an old stick in the mud would you?

What is it about movie optimization that makes it so popular to those ‘in the know’? The answer is rather simple. People enjoy watching interesting and intriguing video clips online. This opens the door for video SEO to become wildly popular. With more people looking to view video clips online, more and more entrepreneurs will look towards movie optimization as the means in which to boost their traffic and search engine rankings. Yes, there are those that may resist a little. They fall into the comfort zone of doing what they have always done to promote their online ventures. While this is certainly such a person’s choice, it may prove to be a very limiting one. It is certainly much better to look towards a modern and viable method of search engine optimization as opposed to sticking with a traditional one.

The bottom line factor here is that video SEO and movie optimization are the wave of the future. Those looking to take advantage of what such methods offer are well advised to explore the opportunities available.

So to sum up this little story, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t rely on good old Google propping you up forever, and look at everything and anything that can give you a helping hand.

How your Internet speed can ‘slow your business down’

Businesses are being impeded by slow broadband, says the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

This follows a report by communications watchdog Ofcom, which reveals that more than 50 per cent of broadband users are receiving less than half the speed promised by providers.

Phil McCabe, spokesperson for the FPB, says: ‘Slow internet speed could be a reason for the low take-up of small businesses going online. For cost-effective marketing it’s imperative that business owners are embracing this technology. What we need are real measures to facilitate better access to the internet and quicker communication. At the moment, it’s completely uneven across the country.’

According to a survey by Mr Site, more than half of small businesses in the UK do not have an online presence.

Jetit solutions Aberdeen

End of the Recession…

The end of the UK’s longest-ever recession has been confirmed when official figures were published.

Experts predict the beleaguered economy grew by 0.4% between October and December, ending a record six straight quarters of contraction.

During 18 months of recession brought on by the credit crunch and then financial crisis, public borrowing has ballooned to an estimated £178 billion while output has slumped 6%.

This far exceeds the recession of the early 1990s and is the worst slump since Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took office 30 years ago.

The data should reflect a slow recovery among services firms – accounting for more than two-thirds of the economy – as signalled by recent surveys. Manufacturers are also likely to have seen tentative growth, helped by the Government’s cash-for-bangers scrappage scheme, despite disappointing retail sales figures for December last week.

Official confirmation of recovery will mean that the UK is the last of the major G7 economies to leave recession.

Faint signs of green shoots may also ease the political pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces a general election within months.

But nerves remain over the strength of the recovery – in particular the threat of a “double-dip” recession as savage spending cuts loom and the Bank of England begins to move interest rates up from their current record low.

Economists had forecasted a return to growth in the third quarter of 2009, but were caught off-guard by a shock 0.4% decline in the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) first estimate, later revised upwards to a 0.2% fall. The first estimate is made with only around 40% of the data available, so there is “plenty of room for surprises” in today’s figures, according to Investec’s David Page.

While signs such as the first fall in unemployment for 18 months, and a gradual recovery in tax revenues are consistent with a return to growth, Mr Page added: “Official GDP estimates have been significantly revised in recent quarters. The last time a first estimate of GDP was left subsequently unrevised was the first quarter of 2007.”

There is hope for the economy and small businesses, because the end signifies the halt of a free fall and the beginning of progress. Although it should be noted that the progress might not be an instant one, but at least there are reason to smile based on the hope that the next few months should be better.

More to come on how the end of the crunch would help boost your business sales…

How to Improve Your Get Paid to Write Articles

You may be unhappy with your get paid to write articles because they aren’t earning the money that you want. After awhile you can start getting discouraged & feeling like you are in rut. You will have a greater chance of success if you write for several different companies & produce a lot of quality content. To do this, you need to really like writing. Here is how to fall in love with writing, even article writing.

1. Look at the history of writing. Many of the classical writers died penniless. Others wrote fantastic things but never had the means of getting their words out to thousands or millions of people, the way the internet affords us. It is a tough, aggravating, & unpredictable profession but it is better than so many other jobs.
2. Write what you love. If you are writing for residual income, you may be basing your articles on keywords. If you are writing for a company, they probably give you the title & the topic. Either way, you can feel burnt out. Writing may feel more & more like a job. Keep a diary or personal blog that you don’t monetize in any way. This will keep your words fresh & you’ll be able to voice your opinion without the added pressure of having to pay bills with it.
3. Before you start writing take a few seconds to close your eyes. Envision what you are about to write in your mind & make it as colorful & as imaginative as possible.
4. Fall in love with words. You probably wanted to be a writer because you read something you loved. Stop writing long enough to read. Draw inspiration from other article writers. Pick up your favorite book or just play around with the poetry magnets on your fridge. Remember why you wanted to write in the first place.
5. Learn from your mistakes. Carefully go through your writing & notice what adjectives you use a lot. There are probably a few that you use over & over such as great. Edit out these words to change things up.
6. Expand your vocabulary. Get a thesaurus out & spice up your writing with new synonyms that make you smile.
7. Take a break. You are probably working at your own pace & want/need to write as much as possible. Try switching up your work station by taking your laptop to a cafe or working outside.

SEO: Google reveals factors for ranking tweets…

It’s ok to say “no” to Twitter if that’s not your thing. There’s a chance that it just doesn’t fit into your strategy or help you achieve your goals. That’s cool. However, if it is your thing, you may be interested in how Google ranks tweets. That is if search marketing is your thing.

Do you see Twitter as important to an effective search marketing campaign?

Google and Microsoft almost simultaneously announceddeals with Twitter a few months back, that would give the companies access to tweets in real-time to fuel their respective search engines’ real-time results. Microsoft immediately launched their version, but it was separate from the regular Bing search engine. Google waited a while, but eventually started incorporating real-time results right into regular Google SERPs (including not only tweets, but various other sources).

After the Twitter deals were announced, Bing came out and said, “If someone has a lot of followers, his/her Tweet may get ranked higher. If a tweet is exactly the same as other Tweets, it will get ranked lower.”

Google was not as vocal about how it would rank tweets and other real-time results, but the company has now shed a bit of light on that via an interview with MIT’s Technology Review. David Talbot interviewed Google “Fellow” Amit Singhal, who has led development of real-time search at the company. According to him, Google also ranks tweets by followers to an extent, but it’s not just about how many followers you get. It’s about how reputable those followers are.

Singhal likens the system to the well-known Google system of link popularity. Getting good links from reputable sources helps your content in Google, so having followers with that some kind of authority theoretically helps your tweets rank in Google’s real-time search.

“One user following another in social media is analogous to one page linking to another on the Web. Both are a form of recommendation,” Singhal says. “As high-quality pages link to another page on the Web, the quality of the linked-to page goes up. Likewise, in social media, as established users follow another user, the quality of the followed user goes up as well.”

But that’s only one factor.

Do you commonly use hashtags in your tweets? If your goal is to rank in Google’s real-time search index, you may want to cut down on that practice, because according to Singhal, that is a big red flag for a lower quality tweet. This seems to be part of Google’s spam control strategy.

Another noteworthy excerpt from the interview:

Another problem: how, if someone is searching for “Obama,” to sift through White House press tweets and thousands of others to find the most timely and topical information. Google scans tweets to find the “signal in the noise,” he says. Such a “signal” might include a new onslaught of tweets and other blogs that mention “Cambridge police” or “Harry Reid” near mentions of “Obama.” By looking out for such signals, Google is able to furnish real-time hits that contain the freshest subject matter even for very common search terms.

Well, we certainly know more about Google’s strategy for tweet ranking now, but there are still plenty of questions about it. What is Google’s stance is on Ghost Tweeting? Are Google’s ranking factors a good reason to create and follow more Twitter lists in hopes for gaining more reputable industry followers?

The factors mentioned aren’t the only ones Google employs. It’s not like Google is going to tell us everything. It also helps to keep in mind that real-time search spans far beyond just tweets. Still, Twitter is clearly a big part of it, and even the significance of tweets themselves will evolve in time.

Google says it hopes to factor in geo-location data (with regards to tweets) into the real-time search results at some point. Google and Twitter engineers frequently collaborate on  real-time search, which Google itself says is evolving.

By the way, it stands to reason that Google’s strategy for ranking tweets probably shares similarities for how it ranks content from other sources drawn from for real-time search.

Do you see Twitter as important to an effective search marketing campaign? Let’s discuss!