Infographic: Pinterest for Retail

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Three Main Reasons You Are Not Getting Enough Traffic

It may be very important to know what all methods to use for proper SEO, but its is as important to know what not to.

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Search Engine Optimization has to do with a lot more than simply having a website and dumping all sorts of information in it. There are many techniques that need to be followed in order to achieve good impression in the eyes of the search engine. 

There are tonnes of methods available on what all one should do to make your site/blog SEO friendly. The problem is that, as beginners, we make an effort to apply all those tactics on to our blogs and website and expect nothing but the best to happen. We are seldom told of what all techniques suit our type of website and what don't. 

Here are three commonly practiced SEO habits that are counter productive:

1. Having a bit of everything

When it comes to having a site that is SEO friendly you must focus more on the quality than quantity. Having a site focused on a particular topic is much appreciated than having a site with a little of everything in it. Almost every beginner has made this mistake, including me.

For example, you can have a blog about Astronomy and write anything and everything related to it.  From comet behavior to asteroid composition to planetary movements. What you should not do is to have a site about Science and write an article about genetic mutations and physics theorems and then blast furnace specifications. 

These topics may come under a common heading but the inter-relation is too far fetched. Search engines get confused and won't know to which category to put your site under. Also, you may not have enough of contents of a certain category for search engines to find your site when necessity arises. 

2. Over optimizing.

There are times when we all get over enthusiastic about filling our article with keywords. Sometimes more than one. We may be totally engrossed with stuffing as many keywords as possible tend to not know when we've crossed the limit. 

This type of  'keyword overload' can be hazardous. Search engines tend to denounce these type of articles/sites. It is better that you use keywords in a limited manner and not raise a red flag among the search engines.

3. Allotting Improper and/or Repetitive Titles 

We have seen many articles that have content completely irrelevant to its titles. It is an annoying habit and thankfully,  search engines can see right through this deceptive act of yours. Do not have a title that  promises something and gives the readers something else. This practice will make your site rankings descend and have all your SEO hard work go down the drain. 

Also try not to use the same title repetitively. If you have a different content but belonging to a heading you have previously used, by all means allot a different title. It can be similar but not the same. 

Titles have a very important role to play in search engine optimization. Having a muscular title followed by a solid content can do wonders to your rankings. You need to learn to not misuse them, it is easy and tempting but it is a big No.

Online marketing takes time to perfect. Getting organised takes a little bit of time but it has to be done.  You should try and concentrate on a specific topic and add contents related to only that. 

Search engine optimizing is a timely process, the ranking increase and decrease depending on various known and unknown factors. You may not me aware of all the unknown/uncontrollable factors but can surely do something about known errors.

Here are some highly useful and simple ways to optimize your site - SEO: 4 Strategies for this Year.

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  Free SEO Report Card_Grade Your Site's SEO_1_Text Link

Infographic: The Online Customer

What retailers need to know about the Online Customer

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3 Google Plus Extensions to Optimize Marketing

Google Plus has come up with many resources to increase to help with your marketing tactics; Be it Business-to-Consumer or Business-to-Business.

Google Plus is a marketers galore. It has many means of helping businesses promote their brand as well attracting potential leads. Google Plus has always given a professional look to its features and it takes business connections seriously.  There are many Google Plus marketing apps to consider. Out of the lot, here are 3 awesome apps that will boost your online visibility.

1. Google Plus Badge.

These are the most basic add-on's for your blog/website. Blogger itself gives you an option of adding a GooglePlus badge to your site.

Go to Blogger layout , 'add a gadget', and brows under the 'Basics' tab adding the blogger badge.

Even the '+1' Button would do you great favors in helping your page get top priority by Google search.

For other websites/blogs there are many ways in which you could get a GooglePlus Badge. One of the way is to get it from Google Plus itself. Go to this Link and Google Plus will guide your way through creating a badge for your page.

Other Apps that help with Google Plus widgets:

• http://gplusapi.appspot.com/
• http://widgetsplus.com/

These apps help you with customizing the number of posts you want to appear on your site as well as other Google Plus page related statistics.

via WidgetPlus.com

2. Chrome Extensions 

It isn't a hidden fact that Google has a soft spot for all its products. So, when looking for extra fittings that help sharing of an information on multiple platforms, that too in incorporated with Google Plus, Chrome is a must have Web Browser.

Chrome is a simple but effective browser to have, no hassle. It may not be aesthetically extraordinaire, but it runs light and fast, and comes with many useful apps or 'extensions' (or Add On's, as you'd call it on Firefox).

• Facebook for Google Plus :

This is an extension where you can incorporate your Facebook Stream within your Google Plus page. This extension adds an extra tab in your Google Plus navigation bar for Facebook Streams. All you have to do is connect Facebook to your G+ through this extension.

This tab will help you keep control of your Google Plus Page as well as Facebook. A highly time saving extension.
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• Extended Share for Google Plus

This application enables you to share any Google Plus update on multiple platforms. Twitter, Tumblr, Pintrest, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. You can choose as many networks as you like, there is a wide range of options to chose from.
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3. Adding Notable People  

There are many directories online that shortlist a lot of Google Plus personalities. Google plus, like Twitter, is a goldmine of professional people. Maybe not as big as twitter but it is a good place to network with professional individuals, especially when it comes to the field of social media marketing, technology professionals, bloggers and alike.

You can start searching for these professionals through Google Plus search itself. Simply type what whom you wish to locate (person or profession) into the search bar and browse through the results.

This is one way of connecting There are also some dedicated sites for this purpose.

- Unofficial Google Plus Recommended Users:

This website is dedicated to listing many people of interest and also pages that may intrigue you. There is a wide range of topics to chose from and you'd be surprised to find so many useful contacts all in one place.
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- Plus Clout:

"PlusClout is the measurement of influence a user has on Google+. It is a number between 0 and 100."

This is another useful site to look for potential networking. It follows a +1 method for ranking its users, a concept similar to Google Plus.
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These maybe only a few tips, but they are indeed very useful in managing your Google Plus page efficiently as well as getting better page ranks. The more visibility there is to your page, the better the margin of success. 

Marketers nowadays are way too interested in Google Plus. There is huge potential in using this platform for the purpose of branding. Read more about this on this LINK

Infographic: Facebook Marketing Strategies

An Infograph on how to engage more through Facebook and get more out of Facebook Marketing.

Via

Why Consider Social Media Outsourcing?

Why Social Media Outsourcing is a better option.

Businesses and Social Media have now an intimate relationship as a person and their social network. It has increased B2C interaction and narrowed the gap between the business and community. Not only B2C, social media also strengthens B2B relations and increases productivity. (B2B social media infographic)

Putting up a social media presence is time consuming. One needs to spend about 6 to 10 hours a day managing social sites/pages.  Be it a Facebook page, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIn, a blog or even YouTube, there is a considerable amount of effort and time needed to construct a professional social media presence. If you think starting is very time consuming, then maintaining the pages needs almost equal amount of time. People don't just flock on to your site/page, they need to be caught in the web. And to do that, you need to spin a web.

Spinning the web isn't all that easy either. You need someone with the knowledge and expertise to do this job well. You should know which social networks you should be a part of. Social media sites, each have a unique way of functioning and different types of audience. There is a considerable amount of time that needs to be spent just to learn the social media tactics relevant for your business. 

Social Media Outsourcing is a growing phenomena. Businesses are encouraged to opt for this instead of trying to build social media presence with their own limited staff, lacking appropriate knowledge. 

You cannot manage your social media page with already present staff due to the amount of time that is needed to input. They won't be able to cope with or be willing to spend extra hours on social media management.

Not everyone can be expected to know everything related to social media. Marketers in the field of Social Media Marketing are specialist who do work only related to the field and do not diversify. You need specialist who will produce optimum results give you a successful social media presence. 

Outsourcing your social media marketing is the best solution to this problem, especially for small businesses. And hiring new personnel for this job wont be so monetarily wise.  You must also keep in mind that not all outsourcing agency's will be able to provide optimum results. 

Consult a good social media agency to take care of your web presence and fan management. It not only makes sense to outsource, but is also more productive since these people know what they are doing and know how to do it best. 

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Social Media Infographics:

• Social Media Vs Search Media
• State of Social Media in Small Businesses 
• Branding in the Social Media Age
• ROI of Social Media
• How Social is B2B

Infographic: Facebook Timeline [Branding]

What Branding pages need to know about Facebook Timeline. 

Just about a week ago Facebook mandated Timeline for all Business/brand pages. Many of you may be struggling to understand the new 'timeline' view of your Facebook page. Here is an infograph explaining in detail of everything you need to know about the Facebook Timeline, for Marketing. Hope this helps you out.

Also Check out the 5 essential need to know aspects of Facebook Timeline : Click Here


Infographic:  click image for larger view

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Happy Marketing!

Infograph: Small Businesses and Marketing

Infograph showing how small businesses use Social Media for Marketing.

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Infographic: ROI of Social media

The Effectiveness of Social Media

source - http://www.tpblog.it

Infograph: Branding in the Social Media Age

An Infograph of how Branding can be optimally achieved in this Social Media Age.

Source

Infographic: The History of the Marketing Executive

An Infograph explaining the Evolution of the Advertising Executive

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Infographic: Social Media vs Search Media

Who gets better priority, Social Media or Search Media?

Social Media is becoming a staple for Businesses to connect itself more intimately with customers as well as other businesses. Even though thoroughly concentrating on Social Media a business cannot forget the power of Search Media.

Search Media is where a business should initially establish itself. This is the place one would initially try to locate a product or service and learn more about them. When it comes to brand awareness Search sites may take a back seat but is still a prominent area to establish itself. It is only later, when the basics of a business product or service are learned, a potential customer would try to locate the business on Social Media.

In certain areas though, Social Media gains priority over Search Media, here is an Infographic representation of the battle between Social media vs Search Media.

Image Source: MG Advertising

Infographic: Social Media Benchmark

A Graphical guide showing how Businesses are using Social Media Today. 

Source : http://www.smbenchmark.com/

The Fold and Below.

You've all heard the term 'above the fold' and some of you may think this is an old practice an wave against keeping all the important info above the fold. Indeed, 'above the fold' is a diminishing custom. Although there are many who still abide by the procedure.

The the upper half of the front page of a newspaper is known as the area 'Above the Fold'

The phrase 'Above the Fold' was traditionally used with newspapers. The 'fold' implies to how the newspaper is folded. The crease, above which all the major news and headlines are situated. Since 'above the fold' is the area where all the important news is printed and so that is how the reader is captivated into buying the paper, came the importance of keeping the main points above the fold.

This practice evolved and is was widely practiced with email marketing and web designing. It makes sense to apply this practice in email marketing, since that is where most of us tend to look, above the fold. If what we see initially does not captivate us then off to the trash can the mail goes, without even a second thought. But for web pages, one can slack on the using the principle of keeping all the main info above the fold. This is purely because we all love to scroll and make it a point to see the whole web page before deciding to leave. So it doesn't actually make sense to keep all the interesting parts above the fold.

One can argue that the 'fold' can be defined differently for an email and a webpage. Of course,  we all find it painstaking to scroll through emails but not on websites. Therefore, for the email the fold would exists at the end of the screen and for a webpage the fold would exist at the end of the page, no matter how long the page might be. Even so, I would suggest to keep certain captivating items above the fold, in a webpage, so that the visitors desires to keep exploring the webpage and eventually the website.

This is a purely a personal opinion, you can go ahead an do as you like with your webpage.