Content marketing implies gaining a substantially higher following on online platforms, with an aim to benefit business.

These five techniques will help to uplift the performance of your web content and social approach.

1. Allies
Symbiotic functioning for mutual achievement of goals is effective. Website partners exponentially increase visibility and improve ad impression, as well as provide better page rankings.

In content marketing, a potential business partner can be from another industry, but should merge with a common ideology. For instance, a website of footwear reviews would team up with a foot care specialist or footwear store.

A few criteria for choosing a partner are:

• They have considerable traffic and cater to needs of a similar demographic in a different manner.
• Feature articles, guest posts, and alternative methods to enrich content visibility. Trade guest posts, run product features, and seek creative new ways to expose your content to a broader audience.
• Utilizing online means to implement relevant advertising that boosts audience segmentation and target acquisitions.

2. Platforms
Establishing a presence on every social media site, is a waste. Building and developing the same on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn, should be done in addition to using referral sites and fresher networks where exposure is higher. Inbound traffic and search engine rankings improve when sharing buttons are available.

Produce content ideally suited for newer platforms of huge referral potential. For instance, Pinterest is image specific. Creating top-quality visuals with artful or creatively witty copy would work well.

• Refresh your existing content by transforming each form into another periodically. For example, turn a past blog post into a video or a past video into a single visual graphic of data.

3. Audience Empowerment
Giving the audience this ability means getting them to work for your cause. Content marketing means allowing the audience to keep the campaign alive as it permeates different levels of the market. Nike, with the #makeitcount campaign, for instance, superbly carried out this requirement.

• Allow audience to communicate through the brand. Sharing any information is encouraged and appreciated. It helps build brand reputation and goodwill among consumers.

4. Earning Share-worthy Status
Simple language, a casual and assertive approach, and insights on trending topics, all attract fundamental human actions towards content marketing.

• Streamlined content, which requires a glance to gain a gist.

• Using confirmations of online shares or hosting a sweepstakes for most shares from a first level.

5. Extract Useful Data
Uncovering facts about the habits of the target audience, their rate of engagement, participation, and preferences, depends on analytics and scrutiny of data. With the help of online tools, this can be done easily.

Content marketing requires comprehensive effort and purposeful performance. Including these five strategies along with social modes enables faster goal realisation and revenue generation.

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P.S. this is not to say that Google isn’t already leading.

A lot is expected from Google in 2013. With Facebook changing its search strategy it is expected that Google with unveil its new tactics as well. Till that happens (if it really has to) let us look at what the markets contemplate:

1. An Unbeatable Google+ - Even though Google+ is well developed and has a number of uses, n one has really bothered to use it till date. Add-ons and upgrades are expected in Google+ this year and so is a better marketing strategy. For those who don’t know Google + is already considered far better than Facebook in certain categories. In 2013 users want to be the cream of social media. Maybe till date Google + has not been able to make a mark because it is trying to capture an audience that has.
2. Google Growth - In 2012 Google grew both in size and in operations. In 2013 it has to keep up to its expansion plans. The industry expects Google to own the companies that it acquired in the year gone by.
3. Better Awareness about Google+ - It’s sad that a remarkable innovation like Google+ is going waste because no one understands its purpose clearly. It’s not just a social networking site; it’s a social backplane service. The larger goal is to connect the data from all around the world and not just the people. The smaller agenda is to enhance information sharing.
4. Android 5.0 - The world wants a better android in 2013 and wants Google to beat the rest in coming up with the change. To stop the world from turning away from the Android fever Google will have to innovate in time.

The Internet is a pretty place to delve in. And 2013 will bring many more interesting features to keep busy with the net. Industry trends point out that there is a bigger and better on the cards. Will it be Google all the way in 2013?

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Facebook has finally stepped into the ring with Google, and there is a lot going for it this time round. After more than a year of brain rummaging on the part of its developers, Facebook has unveiled its new search tool, Graph Search, which is expected to provide far more search options than Google, particularly regarding people, their interests, places, etc. The Facebook ‘Like’ and photos of your friends would be the biggest assets in the search.

It is another giant step forward by Facebook which is already the biggest social media platform on the internet. In the words of Mark Zuckerberg, “Graph search is a completely new way to get information on Facebook.”

So, how is Graph Search different from Google?
A typical Google search is more of an undefined search that returns links in response to our query. The returned links might or might not have what you are looking for. The Google algorithm is such that only the most popular searches appear on the first page. For instance, if you are searching for best restaurants in Delhi, it will come up with the 5 star and 3 star restaurants or the huge franchises on the first few pages. You might have your own preference, your own budget, and it’s very hard to find something on Google according to those specifications. You got to dig really deep, scroll through pages and pages of information to get what you want.

Facebook Graph Search, on the other hand, would take your query and address it with a more specific answer rather than giving you pages of links.

Let’s elucidate this with a few examples:

• You could put a query in Graph Search, “Which friends of mine live in Pune”- and it will come up with YOUR. A more personalized search is how Facebook refers to it.
• Friends who like Dark Knight and Django Unchained. In this case, there may be another person with same friends as you, but based on your relationship with the particular friends (which Facebook lets you decide), the results would be filtered.
• It also serves as an excellent tool for dating. Suppose you are searching for single women. Ask Graph Search, “Who are single women” you will be shown profiles of single people in your friend list, and people who are friends of your friends. You can further streamline it according your city

These are only a few examples of what Graph Search can do for you. You can search for a doctor that your friends go to, or a book your friend reads, a hotel where he/she stayed. Companies can also use this search tool to recruit people.

Photo-Centric Search
Photos also serve as essential element of this new search tool. For example, if you enter,” photos of my friends at beaches”, it will return to you a page full of stunning pictures of your friends at beaches, taken at any beach in the world.

Privacy Issues Will Be Taken Care Of
All said and done, if there are any reservations in your mind that your privacy is under *threat*, trust Facebook to take care of that. Before this search tool is made available to you, you will be asked, “Please take some time to review who can see your stuff.” Thus you can set your privacy controls accordingly.
The former Google engineers, Lars Rasmussen and Tom Stocky have also been the driving force behind the development of this tool. In their words, “As people shared more and more content, we saw that we needed to give them better ways to explore and enjoy those stories and memories.”

For the initial period, this tool would be made available to few individuals. It would be interesting to see how it all pans out. Google, on the other hand, would surely have something up its sleeve.

Image courtesy Search Engine Land (www.searchengineland.com)

The ranking of a site in Google completely depends on the website copy. If a site is not properly executed then even the most advantageously planned site can be of no use. The role of SEO copywriting is to render content valuable, as readability of the viewers cannot be sacrificed.

If you do not have the budget to engage an SEO copywriter and are bound to do this task yourself, then here are 5 useful tips to follow:

1. Importance of Keywords: The title of the article is one of the most important places where the keyword should be included. It plays a significant role in grabbing the reader’s attention at the very beginning. Your keyword should also be incorporated in the opening paragraph. The opening paragraph is an introduction to the content, so it should also be catchy to draw user interest.
2. Keyword Stuffing: Over incorporating of keywords is called keyword stuffing. When you over use a keywords it leads to repetition, making the SEO copy boring for the readers. To avoid this error, you can read the content naturally to a human. This will help you hear any repetition in the copy.
3. Add Links: Links play a major role in SEO. Good content should provide links for your site as people want to share content that is appropriate, well written and useful.  You can increase your sites ranking by building links that are search engine optimized and are reader-friendly.
4. Meta Tags: Meta tags have enormous ranking value. You can use your title’s keywords in the title. Through meta tags and meta description tags, the webmasters can have constant access to relevant data on your site. But repeating keywords in these tags can be considered spam.
5. Structure of the Text: Well-structured content always catches the reader’s attention, as it makes it easy for them to read the whole content. Make sure that the copy is not too long and is broken into paragraphs and add subtitles.

SEO copywriting is all about making your content not only readable but also persuading visitors to stay on your site, thereby resulting in better rankings and higher ROI.

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Google has always encouraged and even spearheaded innovation. In 1998, Google started a new phenomenon with a series of doodles. The first doodle honoured the “Burning Man Festival” and as the years followed, the phenomenon picked up pace and got more creative and funkier. Let’s take a look at the most interesting doodles of 2012.

1. Hisashige Tanaka’s 213th Birthday: To honour the great Japanese inventor, Google created quite an intuitive doodle with flash animation. As Hisashige Tanaka created the Karakuri dolls, Google also created a doodle which portrayed the mechanical prowess of his inventions.

2. 107th Anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland: This is probably one of the most elaborate doodles Google has ever created. This doodle honoured master draftsman Winsor McCay who was one of the most remarkably talented storytellers the world has ever seen. The doodle consisted of a series of animated sketches which told an interesting story about the adventure of a boy.

3. Robert Moog’s 78th Birthday: How could Google ignore one of the finest creations gifted to the world by Dr. Robert Moog. As a token of gratitude to Bob Moog’s unique inventions, the Google Doodle created a close version of the keyboard, consistent with the theme of 1960s music.

4. Julia Child’s 100th Birthday: For the love of Julia Child, Google Doodle celebrated her birthday with a Google Doodle. Celebrating in the honour of someone who has been an ardent supporter of causes close to her heart was a small yet significant tribute.

5. Howard Carter’s 138th Birthday: It was the most FUN Google Doodle ever. Some may say that it had a kind of dizzying effect; nonetheless, it was addictive. Intricately detailed, this doodle also ranks as one of the best of 2012.

Now, Google creates doodles to honour major festivals of the year, known personalities and various other things. With its doodles, Google has given its followers an extra something to look forward to.

Images’ courtesy google.com

It is not difficult to build a blog, but at the same time it is difficult to build a successful blog with traffic.  Blogging is like an art through which you can share your thoughts, interests and knowledge with the world. Successful blogging can only be achieved with hard work and dedication and through this you can drive thousands of visitors to your site. So, here are some effective tips to increase traffic to your blog.

Write Often and Write Well: You must update your blog with useful content frequently, so that you can attract visitors. Make sure that you think like a consumer and let your voice be heard with meaningful facts to maintain the consumers interests and gain loyalty from them.

SEO Friendly Content Many bloggers tend to ignore this channel because of a variety of reasons, but search engines give an enormous opportunity for traffic. Setting up SEO for blogs is very simple, if you are using an SEO-friendly platform. You can make your page or you’re website more relevant to search engines. If your page or website ranks the highest in search engines, then it will be viewed by larger number of viewers.  The use of relevant keywords can also make your content SEO friendly.

Use Social Media and Q&A Websites: One of the easiest ways to increase blog traffic is social media. You can make public profiles on popular networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc to build a fan base for your blog. Sharing your blog posts will help you increase traffic. Getting active on Q&A sites by reacting to comments and providing your website link as a source can also help you increase blog traffic.

Get Interactive: You must also react to the comments left on your blog by giving the readers your opinion about a particular topic. Commenting on other blogs is also helpful, but don’t forget to leave your URL to create a link back to your own blog. However, always make sure that you leave meaningful comments.

Whilst the success of a blog hugely depends on how it is shared and promoted, unless you have quality blog content, all of those efforts may go in vain!

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Blogging has gained a religious following among the digital population and has apparently become their new vocation. The potential of a blog is limitless if it has something useful and unique to say. You can also make a decent amount of money from blogging if you  do it the right way. Below are listed some neat tricks which can help you to transform your blog into a rich income source.

1.       Place Ads: This is one of the most common ways to start generating revenue from your blog. You can sign up at Google Adsense or any other another network to get some ads placed at your blog. If your blog caters to a niche audience and has a decent following then you can also sell the ad space of your blog at business forums, online communities and other groups. 

2.       Go Affiliate: Affiliate marketing can generate a fat stream of revenue from sale commissions. You can put up links of products and services that are relevant to your blog. There are various affiliate network programs which you can opt for such as Amazon, LinkShare, Commission Junction and Click Bank.

3.       Paid Reviews: You can post a review of a product, service or a company on a blog and get paid for it. However, you need to be picky about the reviews you post as you might risk losing your blog following if your post irrelevant/false reviews. You can work your way around business forums to find such opportunities or can also try websites such as ReviewMe or PayPerPost.

4.       Donations: Many blogs earn a lot of money just from donations of their followers. If you are providing very useful and informative content, then you can certainly ask for donations. You might be surprised by how generous your followers can be.

 5.       Sell Something: You can always use the conventional method of making money. Sell any product or service that is relevant to your blog. For eg. Sitcom and movie fan blogs make a lot of money by selling merchandise and other collectible items.

Do take into account that any of the methods listed above will only work if you have a decent amount of traffic on your blog. The first step of monetizing your blog is putting up original, interesting and informative content on the blog. If your blog has some substance to offer then only it can be monetized. So, make sure you use the right resources to create impactful blog content.

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Search Engine Optimization or SEO as we know it, is the skillful manipulation of keywords in a website content so that it receives a high ranking from the search engines and hence, attracts more traffic. Here are the 5 things one must advertisers and content writers must know about SEO copywriting-

1. The Right Keywords – SEO works on a basic principle- insert the right keywords at the right places in an article. Do a short research and find out the keywords that relate to your business that are most likely to be searched on the various search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. Insert the keyword at times 3-4 times in your article, in headlines as well as subheads.
2. Analyzing Competitor Websites – SEO is a race of its own kind. It’s your approach towards SEO copywriting that will win you the race. To get it right, go on to your competitor’s website occasionally and get an access to what is making Google rank their website on the top.
3. Title Tags and Meta Description Tags – Title tags have enormous ranking value. Be the attention seeker, if you have to survive in this market and make your links clickable by using unique title tags on every page of your website and optimizing them.
4. Content of an Article – The quality of content must be top notch. SEO copywriting relies on the use of the right keywords at the right places. It may put you in the spotlight for some time but it is up to the content whether you stay there for long or not. The quality of your content decides your customer’s interest.
5. Writing Links – Build links that are perfectly search engine optimized and are reader-friendly. Building user friendly links will enhance your site’s ranking. Also ensure that you get your keywords into the link text.

SEO copywriting can fetch you great results if you get it right. The world of web may be over used, but it is here to stay, leaving the only option to marketers – Grab the attention!

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When it started, which was on June 28, 2011, Google+ was hell-bent on not being another business or brand promotion page. Today, it is exactly the opposite. From being considered as a complete flop strategy, Google+ has come a far way to becoming a major social media approach for many businesses. Zillions asked “Will Google+ beat Facebook?” But frankly, there isn’t even a comparison.

There may be a few rough spots for Google+ to mend; however, as far as business and brand promotion is concerned, Google+ reigns. Read on to know why Google+ offers a solid start to brand and business promotion.

• Sharing it Right: Social networking is all about sharing. But Google+ goes one step further by optimizing sharing. Making right information available to the right people has surely been around as a business tactic since times immemorial. But how many of us really live by that rule in the virtual world? Google+ has smartly switched to “intelligent sharing”. With filters that allow you to ‘select your audience’, and e-mail that notify them in time, your business definitely creating a better bond with the customer.

• Get Instantaneous Feedback: The “hang-out” feature on Google+ allows businesses and their clients to get talking one-on-one. Now that’s a way of obtaining real-time feedback. What’s more, it is not just feedback on your existing services but some great future ideas coming straight from the horse’s mouth. Google+ works like the face of the company, literally. Even though you business page is a page about your corporation, it is being managed by a human. So, when customers “hang-out” with you they know the brains behind the corporation.

• Be Experimental (with design): Okay, all those who think that Google+ has blindly copied the layout of Facebook, all we have to say it “NOT TRUE”. At the first look it may seem so, however, look deeper and you will realize the design advantages of Google+. There are absolutely zero restrictions on header images and profile photos. What it means is that you can even highlight a follower in you header image. Get experimental with the designing and grab more user attention.

The list of goodies the Google+ offers to businesses seems to be never ending. Apart from the above listed features, with Google+ you can expect to see your business ads on skyscraper spaces. Whoa! Can you beat that?

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When it comes to SEO, the local businesses of a city are still struggling to gain a foothold. The learning, understanding and execution of search engine optimization are sinking in. Unfortunately, there is no crash course to ensure successful SEO applications. The hope is there with the knowledge shared by businesses that have managed to sail through the early storm. The gist of it is listed here:

Blog More: First things first, when one starts with a business, there are no dearth of discursive topics. So, it is better to take the discussion from the conference table to the website. Sport a blog on the site, sharing business ideas and hiccups.

Listing: It is absolutely essential that the business is listed with the search engine. So, with the customer looking for specific requirements in a particular locality, the business should appear as part of the Google search. Also, the business should not miss out on the opportunity of the smartphone applications. With local hub search being introduced to mobiles, the consumer would be looking for ‘you’ just about anywhere, anytime. So, be present.

Bookmark: The next step in luring the web traffic to the website would be through book marking tools. The social bookmarking comes easy with sites like Reddit, Digg etc. By bookmarking the latest content on the blog to these social networking sites, the content will be introduced to the world. This would facilitate for more traffic inflow.

Get Linked: It is important to understand that website submissions should be made to have increased inbound links. This would not be possible if the submission is not done to a relevant website directory. Thus, if your business deals with catering, the links should be placed strategically to food and dining categories. Making sense of business and smart associations with websites help optimize the business the right way.

Tweet: Tweeting about your product and new ventures is a good way to go about optimizing your business. One must know that SEO for a business does not happen over content which is ‘business’ but more when it speaks of/about the business.

Image source: seoservicesgroup.com