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News & analysis on digital marketing & analytics
Fathom That?! Ep. 2 – “How to Build a Following with Twitter Promoted Accounts”
Get the 4-1-1 on Twitter Promoted Accounts and Tweets with this week’s episode of “Fathom That?!” with Fathom paid search specialist Brittany Amato.
This week, Brittany talks to us about how to leverage Twitter Promoted Accounts to help build your following. She also mentions promoting individual tweets and how you can draw more attention to certain tweets most important to your business.
Listen along and tweet away!
Don’t forget to check back next Friday to learn about YouTube Promoted Accounts! And in case you missed it, check out Episode 1 – “How to Optimize Content for Your E-commerce Site.”
Choose Your Friends Carefully…
Did you know you can increase your Google rankings just by making friends? 
Now that I have your attention, let me clarify. There seems to be a correlation between people adding you to their Google+ circles and your ranking on Google search results.
In a recent blog post by Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land, he stated that by liking a certain brand or person on Google+, they are more likely to show up in your search results. For example, he found if you became a “friend” of the Ford Motor Company, one of the few companies with a test brand page, they would be more likely to show up in your top results. However, if you signed out of Google+, Ford may not show up in the top results at all.
Since 2009, Google’s social search results have allowed content from people you know to rank higher if you are logged in. However, the function has never really worked for brands. If you followed or liked a specific brand on Twitter or Facebook, it was still unlikely they would actually show up in your results because of it.
So what’s the catch? As of now, you can’t create a brand page on Google+. Only a very small percentage of brands are actually being accepted. Eventually this will change, but for now, you can only use your personal page to show up in Google search results.
In the meantime, you can take advantage of Google’s +1 feature to help searchers make a direct connection with you. In the past, Google has mentioned that +1s can influence your ranking for those who have added a +1 to your content.
Want to learn more about Google+? Check out our earlier post on the launch of Google+.
Web Design Best Practices: Oversized Layout
If your website doesn’t deliver, it’s on to the next one
Your website is one of the most credible and easily accessible representations of your organization or company. For many consumers, this is the biggest selling point and will determine whether or not you receive your visitors’ business. Designing LARGE seems to be a trend that’s catching on pretty quickly. Going large can be quite attractive and beneficial if it’s executed correctly, but it can get you in a heap of trouble if it isn’t. If your web designer isn’t designing correctly for the web, then it limits the potential impact you will have on your prospective clients.
When designers put together an oversized website, it’s typically because they are experimenting with something new. They feel like they’re being innovative by designing a site that is metaphorically explosive (well, that’s the idea behind it, anyway). In some cases it’s beneficial, but a lot of the time it’s done because designers get their ‘creative kicks’ out of it. Optimization is the largest part of creating a successful website. As awesome as the site may look, without optimization it can be worthless and a waste of money.
Search Engine Marketing NewsWire – July 2011
New: Microsoft AdCenter’s Quality Score
A few weeks back Microsoft AdCenter released quality scores within the UI and keyword reports. This significant improvement gives advertisers the ability to make informed decisions based on keywords, ads, and landing pages.
The Power of Holistic Online Marketing
So you’re covering all the bases now in online marketing – SEO, PPC, Email, Social, Mobile, Video – but are all of these channels working together for maximum effect? This is the power of Holistic Online Marketing, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Are Your Online Reviews Fake?
Online reviews of your products and services are becoming more important in Google’s search results. As such, Google is getting better at identifying and penalizing fake reviews.
New Privacy Regulations Proposed
Pending legislation in Congress could mean big changes for the ways that online marketers collect and use consumer data.
Do You Have a Video Team?
If you don’t, you’re missing the boat on video marketing. Find out how a great team can give you the return you’re looking for from your videos.
Who Wants a Google+ Business Profile?!
Not so fast!
Like the Google+ personal profiles, Google planned to slowly roll out and test Google+ company profiles through a test program first. They asked interested businesses to apply to be considered for the test program at the beginning of July. The feedback they received was overwhelming. According to Googler Christian Oestlien, “Believe it or not we actually had tens of thousands of businesses, charities, and other organizations apply to take part from all over the world.”
Because of this interest Google+ has accelerated the business profiles program and they will hopefully launch for everyone in Q3 2011.
According to VentureBeat, Google+ business profiles will have analytics as well as more sophisticated sharing options. A Google spokesperson told VentureBeat,
“There will be a product very soon that has businesses’ interests in mind… We want to give them the features businesses expect and the features that can improve the sharing experience both for consumers and businesses… You can expect to see a level of analytics and measurement that you’d typically find in Google products as well as a nuanced approach to how things are shared. It encourages and enhances conversation, it doesn’t just put things in the stream.”
Google is asking businesses not to create Google+ profiles using the regular profiles. They will even be disabling business profiles that use regular profiles. They recommend using a real person to represent your business until business profiles are ready.
So as tempting as it may be to set up a personal Google+ profile for your business – don’t! The wait will be worth it!
For more updates from Google+ on business profiles follow Googler Christian Oestlien at https://plus.google.com/105923173045049725307/posts
What do you think of this Google+ business profile saga? Will you create a Google+ business profile when they are available?
