Google Hummingbird, Content Authority, and How Atomic Reach Can Help

Algorithm from Google and Atomic Reach

How a person is going to know the content, is a quality one, and relevant to him or her? Scoring engine is that thing which helps to know such information about the content. Atomic Reach is a scoring engine that is used as a tool to perfect content. Few days back Google launched a new algorithm named Hummingbird. Now what is this new algorithm for? The Hummingbird algorithm provides result more contextually, and it is much better in result. But this algorithm is not a killer of search engine optimizer. Factors more than 200 make up this algorithm, which increases the focus of searching conversationally. But one such product also helps to bring in other type of necessity and here the name of that necessity is Atomic Reach. Information, data etc are words, which help in improving the web, and quality things than quantitative things when get the priority, Google’s Hummingbird is the one should come.

The Things which can be done with Atomic Reach

The scoring engine of Atomic Reach helps a publisher to get rid of difficulties of publishing blog or video or many more things. When a publisher uploads content through his or her Atomic Reach account, the algorithm scores the content by processing of natural language, so that the quality of the content can be understood. Topics, industries etc options help to connect content with perfect audience mind via this scoring engine. Every such content has a unique goal, and it can be achieved with a few controlling factors like social media reach, audience engagement, website performance etc. Atomic Reach measure such things efficiently all the time.

Conglomeration of these two

To get benefits from Hummingbird of Google, Atomic Reach could be a great help. Google usually look for authority articles and Atomic Reach helps to craft it for a person with statistics, facts, referral links etc. How the performance in a confined area is going can also be shown by it with information like improvement scope in that particular field of work. All such integration leads the person to a better content that is demanded by Google with Hummingbird algorithm for the social web. Beside all these, the person can find many content providers or clients or partners in a specified area with which he or she is working, and this helps to get a huge exposure for his or her content resources too. Again this Hummingbird algorithm works precisely and simultaneously very fast. The name Hummingbird is thus brought in for this algorithm. With this, Google may understand all sort of meanings one try to search like ‘where is the apple showroom near my house’ etc. Here, Google will try to get the meaning by concentrating each word rather than the whole sentence.

What could make Atomic Reach more helpful?

Coming to Atomic Reach, there are a few things to explore in future. First, written blogs are only things that are used in Atomic Reach where videos, podcasts scoring can be very helpful, in addition, with written blogs. Measure in dashboard cannot be done without signing in to the account and such things like that.

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Google Hummingbird and the Conversational Search

Google Hummingbird is the new algorithm introduced by Google. It is the biggest search algorithm change which Google launches since 2001. What is the interesting part about it? Google launched the change a month before its official announcement on 27^th September 2013…and no one noticed.

What are the changes?

Google claims that its new algorithm has a better and more human-like way of interacting with users. Rather than searching for separate words, the new algorithm better focuses on the interconnection of the given words. So, for example, if you are searching for “grocery shop in x area” Google Hummingbird will focus on finding a grocery shop in the area which you have requested rather than “grocery shop” and “x area”. Google claims that this improved search option will better fulfill the search requests as its goal is that pages matching the mеaning dо better, rather than pages matching just a few wоrds.

Another major change introduced by the new algorithm is “Conversational Search” which allows users to speak out their search requests. This can be done with smart phones, tablets or simply computer microphone. The idea behind the new search option is that the search process becomes a lot more personalized and conversational, acquiring a more close-to-human form. It becomes just like asking another person and expecting an answer…Hummingbird does it!

According to Google, Hummingbird is much smarter, faster, precise and better in many ways.  It can answer questions, filter the answers, and give you comparison results. It can better understand the relationship between words and requests, improving the time and quality for retrieving the matching search result.

How does it affect SEO?

When the new algorithm was announced the online marketing world was shocked and terrified by this major change. For many this automatically meant decrease in links strength which affects SEO, traffic to the website and Page Ranking. Google claims that there are no changes concerning your SEO efforts…if you have done it right so far.

Google Hummingbird`s goal is to be less dependent on keywords. You might be terrified by this but relax! This only means that the new algorithm will try to connect words in more complex, interconnected way. So if you have good quality content which is well structured there is nothing to worry about. If not, consider rewriting your content in order to optimize it according to Google`s new algorithm and finding SEO solutions for your website. In addition, many assume that the new algorithm decreases the importance of external link building which generates traffic to your website. Google responds- make sure you have relevant website linking to your own website and you will continue generating traffic to your own website.

Google`s new Hummingbird algorithm is here for better or worse…we still don’t know and the outcomes of this new revolutionized algorithm are still to be seen. Whether it is faster, better and more precise or it is about to burry any SEO efforts? Time will tell. Until then we should keep doing everything the way we used to- with professionalism and passion.

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Create Best Color Combinations For Your Website By Using These 10 Tools

Being able to select the right color combination is key to creating and intriguing and effective design, whether for print or the web. Achieving the right balance within the design is key to communicating a strong message easily and consistently to readers or users since color psychology have been proven to "trigger" certain types of emotions. The Internet is choke full of color combination tools that promise color nirvana to anyone who cares to listen. But not all tools have the same capabilities though, and most are no more than basic rip-offs of the better, more popular tools. 

To make things easier or you, below is a list of the 10 web-based tools for choosing color combinations for your design:

1. Adobe Kuler

This tool has a versatile, user friendly cloud based interface that offers a slick experience. It was designed around 3 core principles: users can build, browse and share color schemes through the interface (site), the desktop (using Adobe air app) or the Adobe Mac OS X Dashboard widget. Adobe Kuler is also accessible inside the Adobe CS4 suite.

The tool allows you to search color schemes by concept, color, tags, hex values and more. Another incredibly useful feature is the ability to create schemes based on the colors or images you upload. Once you've chosen the right color combination, you only need to download it as an Adobe Swatch Exchange file or by accessing the values in the color table.

2. COLORIovers

This handy tool is a little more than just a simple color scheme designer. It consists of an active community of creative people who are passionate about color. It is the place where discussions on color related topics take place and colors, palettes, patterns and the latest trends are shared. As of now, the site boats over 6.2 million colors in about 2.4 million color palettes created then share by users. Of special interest is Copaso, the advanced color pallet tool that allows you to create custom themes and gorgeous color schemes. You can either pick the right colors from their color wheel or upload the image and pixelate it to isolate certain colors. Moreover, a useful search tool that allows you to find palettes and colors was created by this impressive community.

3. Color rotate

This lets you explore colors and choose color combinations by generating 3D color palettes in real time similar to the way color is perceived by the human brain. You can use the free tool online or download it as an iPhone app. It can be connected to Adobe Photoshop CS6 or CS5 to update background and foreground colors then send them to the desktop as palettes.

The provided 3Dpyramid is fun and intuitive and makes it easy to vary color tints or hues while simultaneously blending two colors. Furthermore, the tool allows you to check how the palette you choose works with typography, browse through a list of palettes and export your customer color palettes in multiple formats.

4. Color scheme designer

Color Scheme Designer has an incredibly simple to use interface, which means anyone can start creating their color palettes within a few seconds. There is an array of options for the kind of scheme you need, front accented analogue to monochromatic. These choices have an effect on the number of colors in a palette and how they interact with each other.

Other than the Ubiquitous color picker, several other options are provided for fine tuning your color palette. Adjust Variant allows you to edit colors separately while the Color-Blind preview is the perfect way to simulate how individuals with color related vision deficiencies will perceive the chosen color scheme. The palette can be exported in various formats, with the text option providing the best flexibility.

5. Pictaculous

This tool uses an uploaded image to generate a dedicated palette. It generates a primary palette with five colors from the colors extracted directly from the image. The online tool pulls in color suggestions from ColorLovers and Adobe Kuler. One feature that sets Pictaculous apart from other tools is that you can use your phone to take a picture upload, it to the service, and matching color palettes, complete with hex codes are generated. This is ideal as more people are likely to spot inspiration on the go and Pictaculous lets you generate a color palette quickly from the snaps. The created pallets can be downloaded as Adobe Photoshop Swatch files or by copying the values in the hex table.

6. Color Blender

Color Blender's mode of operation is to generate a 6-color blend from the chosen base color which makes it easy to create a complementary color scheme efficiently. For starters, use the color picker to choose your preferred color, then the tool will automatically calculate a 6-color matching palette. In case you wish to have better control over the palette, you can switch to "Direct Edit" to edit different colors individually. This mode allows you to select any from the 6 color swatches and use RGB sliders to edit it.

A few options are provided for exposing the generated palette. You can bookmark the palette in your browser, send it via email or download it as a .PCT (Photoshop color table.

7. Color Explorer

This is a suite packed with multiple handy tools for working with and designing color palettes. It boats a well-organized feature set that can be used together or individually. You can go straight to the Color Picker, try using the color matching tool using the RGB mix or take the saturation, lightness, and hue approach. You have 8 color matching algorithms at your disposal but you can also explore the conversion and analysis tools as well as the color library.

The tools extract palettes from uploaded images or from CSS, .txt or HTML files. The pallets can be exported for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop in native Adobe Swatch Exchange file format. You can also export it as a PNG image overlaid with HTML color codes and RGB values or as plain text.

8. Colors On The Web

Colors On The Web was launched as an ASP application in 2000, but it is now a full flash application complete with variations and features for creating complete palettes. It is equipped with Color Wizard which allows you to use a base color to generate a matching palette.

Apart from being able to generate matching 5-color palettes from the base color, the app also returns a set of saturation, hue, shade, and tint variations. In case you experience trouble creating a custom color palette, an option to generate a random one is provided. Colors are exported as hex code values.

9. Color Munki

This tool offers color control solutions for both designers and photographers. The main tool is provided as a downloadable software package, but the website also features a free palettes creation area. This offers the introductory functionality needed to get you started in created your custom color combination.

Start by choosing a color, then clicking on it. A list of options will be provided. Go to "Add Patch" and the color will be added to your palette. After this, you will be able to access harmonious and similar colors download it or save it for future reference.

10. Oto255

While it may be the simplest tool on this list, Oto255 can by no means be considered as less useful. The tool lets you find multiple colors in the same spectrum within a few seconds without having to manually look for darker or lighter shades of the chosen color. This makes it ideal for finding the perfect border, gradient, or hover color. You only need to find the color, select it with a mouse click and its hex code will be automatically copied to the clipboard.

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How To Get Your Website Across Smartphone Users in 2013

First off, why would you even worry about Smartphone users? And weren't there plug-ins and stuff for all that? To answer the first question, there really is no reason to to worry about whether smartphone users browse your site or not. All you'll lose is about 73% of traffic from users between the ages of 18 and 44 who use their smartphones to browse. If your desired target audience does not fall into that age group, then, nope - you got nothing to worry about. If, on the other hand, you are like most other marketers or webmasters, you should be very, very worried. 

As for the second question - plug-ins just don't cut it any more. Not if you want your site to appear the way you created it. Plug-ins render a mobile version of your site while you'd normally want it to appear the same across all devices and platforms because you optimized everything (presumably) on it for the most perfect browsing experience (and, therefore, possible sales). 

Fortunately, the Web grows as a whole, and when there is a need, there is a way. There are ridiculously simple ways to make your website accessible to smartphone users in 2013. All you have to do is know about them - and the fact that you do actually need them.

1. Get a 'smart' hosting service provider

To begin with, you can find a host that will provide you a convert to mobile (read, smartphone) option as part of the hosting features. Godaddy is currently advertising such a feature, and it looks good. You have to design the site - which is no big deal since everything is DYI - but that takes time. Also, it will still be a 'mobile version' of your site, somewhat like what the plug-ins do. You cannot use this feature on sub-domains - which means, if you have a blog with your main site (as in yoursite.com/blog), the blog will not be accessible by smartphones. Still, in spite of its limitations, this could be the beginning of a great idea that others will soon take up and improve upon.

2. Get yourself a Responsive Theme

This is by far the easiest. If you are on Wordpress, find a theme that is Responsive - and that means, your blog / site will display similarly across all platforms, including smartphones. The HTML in a responsive theme remains constant, and the CSS3 responds to the queries for site display by offering the most compatible rules for the device (and screen size) the query originated from. In plain English, that means your theme will have separate CSS rules for a smartphone and a computer. A single URL (as opposed to the usual redirection to the mobile site with its own URL) is generated no matter the device being used, and that makes it easy for Google to index your site. No wonder this is Google's preferred method of making a site mobile friendly.

3. Get your own apps

If you've browsed Facebook on your mobile phone, you have probably also installed an app to make the browsing simpler. The pages load faster, and your overall experience is enhanced. Apps make downloading a site on mobile devices a less complicated job, and everything, from ads to content is displayed effortlessly. You can design apps for your site too. If you have a huge audience base, it makes sense to create and app and let all your subscribers know where to download it from, as well as advertise on social networks and anywhere else you can think of. Otherwise, your loyal visitors might eventually get tired of your site because it refused to keep up with the changing times. 

How do you create an app? On your own, if you know how - or with a few clicks from sites like Conduit.Com. 

4. The 30 second solution

If you are in a hurry, head over to bMobilized.Com, type in your site URL, click the 'Mobilize' button and you are done. Okay, this takes a little more than 30 seconds, and the customization can require more than just one click, but you have to admit, this is one of the simplest methods available anywhere. This method works on redirection, as we mentioned earlier in passing. It takes only $9 per month to keep the site running with the bMobilized support team behind you. If you think you can manage on your own, you pay just $5 (still per month, of course). The best part is that you get a full featured 7 day trial. So go ahead and try it!

5. The elaborate solution

For an elaborate business solution that claims to deliver a mobile experience as seamless as that which an app can provide, head over to Mobify.Com and check out the features and pricing. $495 is the starting price per month, and it goes to a negotiable price per requirement in the Enterprise Class. Don't back off yet if such a big budget solution is not for you: Mobify has a free alternative for smaller sites where you can access all the core features (in a limited way) for no charge whatever. This is suitable for sites that have no more than 10,000 page views on mobile devices per month. All features are activated by the inclusion of a small tag in the existing site header. Simple, huh?

6. Promote

Don't just create a smartphone friendly site and be done with it - promote it with paid advertisements. Your ads will flash across as many devices as you choose, and since this is a relatively new concept, now would be the time to cash in on it.

7. Facebook it

That 73% user base we talked about right at the beginning? Well, in the same age group of 18-44, about 70% access Facebook from their mobile devices. These stats are from a survey conducted by Facebook, and we are talking about a test group of 75,000 owners of smartphones. The percentage may go down a little if we refer to worldwide studies, but the actual number of users shoots way up. What does that mean for you? It means you've got to get your site 'out there'. In addition to paid promotions, get active on social networks and let people know about your site. On social media, you'll find a ready and waiting audience with smartphones in hand, and what sense does it make to waste such an opportunity?

Apart from all this, you could create a strategy of promotion that would include super short videos (5 seconds sound good enough?) to consistently promote your mobile site. This is a very popular concept - has been, for a while now, and the more creative you are, the more popular you are likely to become in a very short while. Don't forget also to check the Net regularly for newer innovations in reaching out to the new generation of audience - everything is moving so fast these days that you sure can't afford to get left behind.

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6 HTML Validation Tools To Minimize The Errors On Your Sites

It is important to validate your blog's HTML code to ensure that is complies with the principles of the World Wide Web association. An authenticated HTML code makes it very easy to maintain your site. As well, it plays a huge role in reflecting the degree of your professionalism in the blogging industry. Besides that, it augments the compatibility of your site with future versions of HTML. 

Here is a review of some top tools for HTML validation

How to validate your site HTML

Firefox Add On

Firefox HTML validator is a small icon located on the status bar which validates the code as the page loads. The add-on was developed by W3C but has evolved over time in tandem with changing needs. The extension is embedded within Firefox and makes the validation on your machine without involving a third-party server. This is a superb option for those using FireFox. 

Google Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome HTML validator resides as an icon just adjacent to the address field. When it is auto-run, it displays a green badge. Number 0 is an indication of no validation errors. A red badge with a count is an indication of validation errors. If you click on the icon, it'll pop-up a small window at the bottom of the browser displaying more information about the errors. It is available free of charge and is pretty easy to use.

WDG Validator

This is one of the quickest ways to check the syntactical correctness of your HTML. The best thing about it is that it supports enormous pool of character encoding. W3C is highly accurate and even though it does not include a lot of extras it does provide useful links where you can easily find and run those tools on your site. 

HTML Toolbox

This is a subscription service (available online) that you can use to check your site for any bad links and HTML coding errors. It'll also check from browser compatibility. You pay an annual subscription fee of $60 for a maximum of 100 pages. You pay more for any more pages exceeding this number. The best thing about it is that it is compatible with literary all the major browsers. 

CSE Lite

CSE Lite is a fast, easy and reliable way to validate and edit your HTML code. The validator allows you to view the errors in your code without having to search for corresponding line numbers. This one is quite nice an option for casual HTML authors. 

HTML Power Tools 

This is a comprehensive package of Windows applications that helps you to manage your website. The best thing about this tool is that it will validate your site even when you're offline. It also checks links, spelling as well as orphan files. You however have to pay for the entire kit which comprises: HTML Rulebase editor, PowerSpell, PowerAnalyzer, Image Scanner, PowerSearch, Metamanager, HTML to Text Convertor and Date Stampler. 

Don't hesitate to give your blog that much needed breathe of life. Conduct a HTML code validation check soon and avoid errors that could hamper your future opportunities.

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10 Simple ways to improve your SEO

If you are a business owner, or otherwise, an individual trying to promote a certain product or service, you’ll most likely already know about a service called SEO. At first, you may find this service a little complicated to grasp, it is after all a very complex system. The traffic gained from this system is however phenomenal.

With so many variables involved in the making of SEO services, it can sometimes be a little hard to understand the ins and outs of this system. However, regardless of this, there are several simple things you can do to boost your SEO and in turn, rank higher in today’s search engines.

SEO as an essential way to gain traffic

SEO is one of the easiest ways to reach consumers today; this is mainly down to technology in the 21^st century. More and more consumers are choosing to use their smartphones and tablets to shop, and with so many expensive technologies on the market today, surfing the Internet is a widespread pastime!

All in all however, it comes down to the content you choose to share – if it isn’t interesting and it doesn’t grab the attention of those surfing the net, excelling in this field is quite simply impossible!

SEO is constantly changing and as such, it’s often improving, which makes it an asset to most companies and a great business tool. On average, Google supposedly makes more than 500 alterations to their search algorithm on an annual basis. This in actual fact means that they alter their algorithm on a daily basis. Despite this, there are always certain things that stay the same and such factors comprise of how you upload, manage and update the content you choose to broadcast online. Listed below are ten of the easiest rules to follow when it comes to SEO and following these rules will allow you to use this particular system in a successful manner. This is regardless of the service or product you wish to promote, and regardless of whether you’re in the business sector or the creative industry. In fact, SEO within the finance industry is extremely effective. Due to its competitive nature, international recruitment services benefit from this strategy hugely!

1. Conduct a full site on page SEO review/audit in order to determine the issues at stake.

2. You should always write content that is tailored to your target audience and not just to the search engines. Quality content is a must.

3. Using bold lettering, anchor text and html coding will help you to enhance your on-page content structure. Don’t also forget to use interlinking which can also benefit your SEO.

4. Use sites with higher page rankings as opposed to low quality link sites.

5. Use social bookmarking sites and add new content to these on a regular basis.

6. Use the likes of social sharing buttons on your site in order to promote content further.

7. Never duplicate content as this will put off users as opposed to draw them in. In order to keep the attention of existing consumers and attract new consumers, it’s important to keep content fresh and desirable.

8. In order to create successful content, use URLs that contain keywords and link these keywords to various sites and products that promote your own.

9. Add new content on a regular basis and at prime times when others are surfing the web.

10. Create effectual title tags and ones that encompass your target keywords.

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Local SEO Experts Will Take Care Of The Negative Ratings

Your web-page might have the best web-design and it has all the contents in it that are required for better rankings on Google. It’s a good thing, but it is more important to do the right things that will help you in retaining the position for long. This will help you in getting maximum customers for your business. There are many other websites that are offering services like you do, and there are chances that they might get better rankings than you do. Thus it is necessary to hire the best local SEO company that will cater to all your business needs in an effective manner.

There are quite different things that need to be done for increasing in the ranking of your webpage. Some of the steps are quite simple, while others are complicated and needs proper steps and procedure that needs to be followed for becoming successful online vendor. It is necessary to choose the right type of keyword that will improve or fasten the search process for your potential client.

Keyword in Title

A keyword in the title of your content will get direct the clients directly to your webpage, without consuming much time.  Also, on the title you can mention the name of the place where you render such a business. This will narrow down the search and help the potential customers in getting better and quick solutions without wasting much time. So if you haven’t been very serious about your title tag until now, then it’s time to be careful and thoughtful about the same. It is necessary to discuss your needs with the service providers so that they can take the right step and help you in the best possible manner.

The Other Details of your content:

You need to ensure that your webpage also has services like Google and Bing maps as these features will help your clients in getting the right information. With the help of a professional, you can get these things properly integrated on your webpage. No matter whatever type of business you might have, such simple things will help you in accomplishing the task perfectly and satisfactorily.

The other thing that can be done here is listing your business with Google. It will give you a list of names, places, and other details then it will help you in improving the Google rankings.  You can check the details and then claim for one as per your needs and requirements. All the listings are quite important and help you in different ways, to progress in your business. Also, you can easily cope with the competition in the best possible manner.

Give proper contact information:

In order to become successful it is quite important that you provide the right contact information to your existing and future clients. Special attention has to be paid to NAP, which is nothing but name, address, and phone number.

Benefits of Local SEO are as follows –

1. The experts will try and implement unique ideas to improve the listings on your webpage.
2. They will take care of negative ratings, and solve any problem arising due to the same.

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A Web Designer Should Know SEO Techniques

A web designer’s primary job is making things look great. Bring the beauty, let someone else deal with the code. But if you are fortunate enough to have worked with someone who has both the designer and developer skill sets, you know what a striking difference it can make to the finished product. The ability to incorporate SEO concepts into the very design of the page is priceless.

Since the days of hand-coded HTML sites, we generally have dealt with SEO by applying it on the back-end, once the site was aesthetically developed. However, with the advent of CMS solutions and other development platforms, we have the opportunity to make or break the SEO of a page at the template stage, and with the placement of every piece of content thereafter. The design of a site needs to incorporate the philosophy that SEO is the end-game of the project, not a bolt-on to be dealt with later.

Consider the scenario where a CMS template is employed. Perhaps it’s a sleek design, it has customizations based on the organization’s vertical, and it’s Responsive. Those are great functionalities that mean nothing without tight CSS, good use of header tags, and image layouts that are functional and don’t overburden the image/html ratio.

Speaking of tags, it’s within the typography portion of the design phase that a developer can make or break a site. Especially in a template scenario, a designer might elect to make the H1 tag flaming yellow, to discourage its use, when that could cause SEO problems for the rest of the site’s existence.

It’s a rare venture that has both a developer and a designer in one person, but if you can find that individual, you will pay yourself back one hundred times with a site that performs beyond expectations. If you are working with a design house and hiring your own developer or SEO consultant, make sure the entire web team gels well and have strong communication skills.

Kathleen Hurley, COO at Fidelity Networks, has over 15 years’ experience as a business services CIO, a background as a small business owner, and more than a decade as a web developer. Kathleen says that her MBA in IT from the University of Wales and her BA in English allow her to do two things really well: read the directions and speak to fellow humans.

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6 Mistakes That Wordpress Bloggers Make

It is widely accepted that WordPress is currently the most popular blogging platform with features and capabilities very few content management system software packages can match. Most internet marketers love WordPress for the SEO value it adds to their e-commerce website although a good part of the population is more inclined to channeling traffic to websites or blogs they built using the CMS software. To keep you followers interested, below are six things you need to emphasize on if you are one of those who believe in the power of WordPress.

1. Always update your blog content

One of the reasons why most people's blogging efforts fail is reluctance to update their posts. It is understandable that some posts might only be valuable for a short period of time but this does not necessarily mean that you should overlook the essence of updating as it would cost you in the long run. For instance, if you have a post whose title is "Must have gadgets for 2013" it would be necessary to update it "Must have gadgets for the year 2014". If you have noted, a web user visiting your blog in the year 2014 would navigate away if the change and other modifications were not made.

2. Protect your website

Malicious software can cripple your blogging efforts and even discourage you from ever posting again. Consider a situation where you blog is banned from major search engines and not to forget the devastating message which warns visitors of malware whenever they land on it. The short term effects of such an attack would be losing your followers after which you would be forced to start all over again with an aim at seeing your blog get back on major search engine rankings. To prevent this from happening invest in an Antivirus software and security plug-ins which protect your site from malware.

3. Update your WordPress website and all your plug-ins

To ensure convenience for its users, WordPress makes regular updates to its software. The reason why installing these updates is necessary is because they fix bugs and other issues which might expose you to malware and malicious hack attempts. Remember, hackers are always looking for challenges and will soon loop holes which might cost you a lot if ignored. Update all your plug-ins regularly as one of your security strategies.

4. Keep abreast with information about new WordPress plug-ins 

As a WordPress blogger, it would be difficult to survive without using plug-ins. Most of them are intended to help you keep ahead of your competition by making certain webmaster tasks easier. For instance, a tool like WP polls allows you to get information from your web visitor and displays it in an attractive way which can be used to influence more people into making a certain decision. Most people like Plug-ins because they allow them to improve the look and feel of their website without necessarily reviewing their CSS files. 

5. Reply to those who comment on your blog

Replying to those who comment on your blog might not be necessarily a good strategy for SEO but it helps where one wants to improve their conversion rate. Communicating with your followers helps you win their trust and hence makes it easier to convince them into taking a required action. Besides, a follower feels good when a comment they made is replied to; this increases the chances of such a customer revisiting your blog for more information in the future. If you are after making a long emailing list, you could use your replies to manipulate visitors by promising them free informational products like e-books.

6. Take care of your wording

People read blogs because they need views or advice about something. Although it is important to portray yourself as an authority in your niche, your wording should not make you sound as if you are bragging about your expertise in the field. Always use a tone which will make your visitors believe that you intend to help them and all you are doing is sharing valuable information and not selling it.

With these tips, you will soon notice an improvement in your search engine rankings and more important your conversion rate. Emphasize on them and do whatever you can to keep ahead of your competition.

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Why You Should Learn About Black Hat SEO

Any SEO practitioner worth their salt knows that black hat tactics should be avoided. While such activities may boost your rankings in the short term, they will ultimately have a negative impact on your website, and it takes a lot of work to rectify the problems that will occur.

Rather than ignoring black hat SEO completely though, the best approach is to educate yourself in the area. Here’s why.

It gives you a broader understanding of how search works

SEO is a complicated field, and if you want to get it right, it’s wise to know about the potential pitfalls that you could hit along the way. It’s only through gathering as much knowledge as possible that you can do this. A good tactic here is to review your site whenever you learn about a new black hat process. Checking that you haven’t accidentally broken any rules will help to protect your site.

The rules are always changing

Some SEO practices that were commonplace in the past are now widely accepted as being black hat, so it’s important that you keep on top of any developments and tweak your campaigns accordingly. Not gathering new knowledge whenever you can means that you’re putting yourself at risk of falling foul of ethical guidelines.

It can help you to spot bad SEO practitioners

If you’re using the services of an SEO practitioner for your campaigns, it’s a good idea to be aware of how they’re developing your site and the sort of activities that they’re carrying out on behalf of your business. And perhaps more importantly, you need to know what they really shouldn’t be doing, as it can harm your business. Part of the reason for hiring a professional SEO company is that you can leave the tricky stuff to someone else. Whilst this is true, it’s always best to know sufficient about the field yourself, so you can choose the very best practitioners to work with.

Of course, now the main question is how you gather all the information that you need. Due to the fast paced nature of the field, the internet is your best resource here. Pinpoint around five of your favourite blogs and news sources, and make a point of checking them on a regular basis. Any more might be too overwhelming, so it isn’t a viable long-term option. This sort of dedication to ongoing learning is bound to have a positive impact on your skills, and ultimately, your search engine rankings.

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More digital impact on your business makes more of online marketing

Introduction

Online Press Releases and Social Media Marketing combined are abundantly capable of increasing your revenue and engagement. Please allow me to go through some tips in a strategic planning takeaway for you to utilize at a later date.

Here I’d like to assist and help implement your ideal strategy using user-generated content. This includes monitoring positive and negative brand perception through tools such as Facebook, Twitter and G+, as well as increasing brand engagement all-round.

Working at The Genuine Gemstone Company, I experience the online marketing tools and channels for PR as part of our online strategy. My tips here will improve your brand placement online, even without necessarily over stretching the budget. 

Online marketing takeaway

Press Releases

Online press releasing activities include influencing media, communities and online specific audiences; you need to be making a sound through online channels.  You can achieve this via social networks, news search, discussion threads, search engines, and other online communication tools.

A useful tip to about press releases is that they essentially only work as a successful online marketing strategy if used alongside social media and your natural link building techniques. If you do not then you won’t reap the benefits of social sharing, engagement and redistribution that enable the spread of your marketing projects.

Planning an enhanced approach to your online marketing strategy is a critical place to make a start. There are SEO tools that can help, including Google Insights and FollowerWonk from Moz. It’s essential to manage your brand reputation and then monitor it, and then store data, create targets, ensure growth.

•     Give out the social signals that reach the most users, post all PR out on Twitter and Facebook
•       Create strong call to action or incentive to click troughs on the release to your website.
•     Publish your work on authoritative site, like The Times; more positive for reads and re-circulating
•       Follow the organic SEO rule of natural link building each month
•    Create unique content every time you create an article; think of the user before the algorithm
•       Vary anchor text as to not upset any search-engine algorithms

Social Media

Social Media is very good for engaging with other users on a channel used to connect with people. If you were connecting with journalists; especially those that target your industry, reporters, bloggers and influencers who cover topics in your industry then this would be a fantastic way of gaining social interaction and building up recommendations and exposure.

Start tweeting with them and engage, but don’t oversell your business or product, just ask about a particular topic that they write.

Create fun, interesting content, for your users to read and enjoy! Just by being creative, conjuring something, compelling, interesting, or even funny; people will naturally want to talk about it and share it with friends, or even do a write up about it with no pitching required.

Think of the great videos you have seen on YouTube and why videos get so many shares and likes. It won’t be because someone spent ages crafting an amazing pitch, to a journalist. It’s the content itself that was really cool, and that meant that it was popular with the public, who just kept on sharing it with their friends etc.

This can create a lot of links and traffic, and work as an effective tool in your overall marketing strategy.

•          Get fans liking your posts, get popular and improve your Google authority
•          Promote everything that your brand has to shout about through social media
•          Cross promote with other brands and endorse affiliate partnerships on Facebook
•          Make your Facebook username and Twitter handle your brand name
•          Hash-tag and include your brand name in your Tweets
•          Use competitions to draw fans, get them to post and interact for prizes
•          Ensure your logo is your profile picture, and create a nice landing page banner
•          Add your website's URL to your profile

Conclusion

"The company’s No.1 appearance in the Fast Track 100, is testimony to their skill and determination to succeed" – says Sir Richard Branson in The Sunday Times.

Being connected to our audience through the spots they will go to online on a regular basis, their emails, social media, browsing the internet. We may have a new promotion which includes a set of Sapphire Rings on GemsTV and it’s important that the outside world have an awareness of this.

So subliminal signals from channels such as Facebook, and email require our marketing team to create a promotion and ensure that it is maximising engagement and customer reach. Our marketing is completed with an on-site campaign to synchronise our campaign when the user visits us on our Gems TV and Rocks TV website.

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Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

If you run a business and have a website, chance are good you’ve been introduced to three powerful but often misunderstood letters: SEO.  It’s no longer good enough to simply have a web presence, now that web presence must be easy to locate through a search engine.  With only 6% of Google searches making it past the first page- and about 1/3 not making it past the first result- poor SEO could have a tremendous negative effect on your business.  Here are some common mistakes to avoid in your efforts to raise your ranking:

Keeping it too simple with keywords: Do your research!  Don’t assume you know the best keywords to use, or how to use them.  You could end up missing opportunities to integrate search friendly terms into your website.  Think synonyms and words with similar meanings that could be substitutes for each other in a search term. Picture and photo, for example, or optometrist and eye doctor.  You should also try to get inside the mind of potential clients that are searching for your product or service- what terms would you use if you were a potential customer of your own business?  People often search in questions, like “What’s the best restaurant in NYC?”, so you might consider incorporating relevant questions into the text of your website as well.

If you’re purchasing keywords from Google, make sure you fully understand the system so you don’t waste your money.  Broader is not better.  Choose some strategic but specific key phrases that will target your ideal audience. 

SEO First, user experience second: Search engines, especially Google, design their algorithms to find the best sites and content for their users.  That means a frequently updated website with rich content that’s well organized with page titles and descriptions will have a natural advantage on the results page.  The primary purpose of your website and the text it contains is to serve your customers, not your search ranking.  Always keep keywords in mind, but don’t stuff your page with search friendly terms at the expense of quality, informative content- search engines will punish you for it in the long run.

Search term blinders:  Look beyond search terms and keywords.  Both inbound links and social media exposure (or lack thereof) can affect your search standing.  Retweets, likes, and shares are all indications of quality and reputability within a search engine’s algorithm, as are links to your site from other respected websites.  With links especially go for quality and not quantity, though.  Links from less reputable sites- or worse, those known for spam- will count against you. 

Getting complacent:  You’ve researched your search terms, added content accordingly, and you have an impressive web presence that extends to social media and other websites.  That’s a great milestone to reach, but it doesn’t mean your SEO obligations have been satisfied.  Search engines and their algorithms are constantly changing, as is the web content you’re competing with in the search rankings.  To stay at the top of the results page, you’ll need to keep reinforcing your web presence with fresh content, and you’ll want to periodically re-evaluate your keywords and search terms as well.

SEO is a complicated- but high stakes- cat and mouse game.  The top search engines don’t make their algorithms public so you’re never completely sure how to get your site treated well in the results, and constant tweaks and updates to those algorithms mean a good ranking today may not carry over to tomorrow.  The good news is that the basic set of SEO best practices are fairly stable, so you’ll never go wrong by avoiding the above mistakes.  Quality content and well researched keywords will always strongly correlate to high search rankings. 

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Make the most out of email marketing

Online retail is really going to get your business jumping. The internet is as well used throughout the retail world as the high street for shopping. In fact the popularity of web is a tremendous boost to your company.

Emailing customers does not just give you more chance of making a sale, it is about value, customer relationship and putting your marketing right in-front of the user, and in a much more direct way then any commercial could have been able to do for you before. Think of it as an advertisement board, hooked up to the shop you want to get to.   

There are many things that can make or break your email. And really I need to go over them in some detail for you to understand and master it. The stages of an email begin with building a campaign idea. 

Planning your sell

Think of the items you’d like to promote, it may well be a themed range, such as new in, summer, men’s, women’s, shorts, hats, sneakers. 

During this time, your marketing team must strategize a banner, design and theme, strapline and overall brand communication. You want to point at selling your products and services to your consumer, so think through the basic essentials, you can’t underestimate the power of verbalisation. Specify why the product is worth value; suggest some lifestyle choices to go along with it. 

Creating your headline

Be too vague and expect email opens and clicks to be poor. Create something intent on selling and it is off-putting. Get straight to the point, because you have no time to pull back people’s attention once they are withdrawn. Tell the customer you need them to sign on the dotted line, tell them you need them to be on the website right away because this is important.

Making an email that incorporates your brand name, and people will open your email on recognition! Bring some empathy to the client and think about what they need, is it a special offer or a new in promotion. Find out something that they want and incorporate this into the title.

Designing your email

Creative visuals produce results. Design needs clean white areas, allowing the text and images to do the talking. CSS designed alt text is an added bonus, because it enables customers to read more about your promotion without clicking the view images button.

Creating a responsive design is great for the mobile market, and with about 2 thirds of all internet users going mobile, that isn’t a bad idea. Adding that fluidity could bring the level of engagement that users are asking for too. Responsive is just one design that re-scales to the device. Good design wireframe will work wonders for your click through.

Using a good email provider

The budget is fairly just when buying an email provider that really knocks out the sales.  While Mail Chimp is wildly appreciated for its bargain of analytics and social connectivity, you still have to create your emails by manual. With a powerful tool such as Silverpop by comparison, using its tools including Behavioral Database:

Behavior, Data and List Management, emails can be automated.

A specialised email for every customer is very smart, because people engage more when they see items that are similar to what they want, rather than a mass broadcast.

What we do at my company

At The Genuine Gemstones Company we like to work towards building the best service we can provide for our clients. We need to optimize our online campaigns so that they are covered over our websites, Facebook, Twitter and emails. A new promotion for emerald rings gets sent out on a Thursday afternoon, we need to deliver it to a gigantic email list, so we have the best online strategies in place to do this correctly.

Communication is important and every week we will email a new marketing promotion.  Our brands Gems TV and Rocks TV are strong in the UK and USA respectively, however it is through our online marketing that we can bring customers back to the show as well as back to our eCommerce website.

Our online marketing team is always looking to develop our email strategies. We have mastered a better engagement through using some of the technical information used in this article, and we are always trying to better our last email, with more intelligent ideas and client communication.

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