Real Time Search And The Google Superbowl Commercial

During the Superbowl I did a couple blog posts with the second one being firmly planted in my mind as a good test for what real time search can do for traffic and why paying attention to real time SEO for certain events can help drive visitors.

Being in the field we are in I was interested to see if Google would do a search commercial or something around the Nexus One, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see it was a commercial based on search, actually all the different things search can do for someone using all the capabilities Google has. Most people are not aware of the way they can use search and this was a nice venue to show them.

All that said, I knew there would be a ton of search done on Google Superbowl Commercial and although I had real honest commentary on the subject I also knew that it would be a real time search trend that would trigger Google into having their scrolling box in their search results page scrolling news as it happened from Twitter and blogs.

Well, the results, in a very short period of time I had hundreds of visitors to the one post, you can see a bit of what I am talking about by looking at the keywords  sending traffic to my blog below for just a few seconds, click on the image for the details:

This is the tail end of the real time traffic that came in, I wish I would of caught it from start to finish but this will give you a good idea of the terms that were sending traffic from the real time search box that scrolls on Google.

Just an example of how social media and taking advantage of it can do.

All About Search for Facebook

On Facebooks 6th birthday they launched a new layout that will be available  possibly tonight for  80 million of their 400 million users.

You read that right they now have 400 million users, not bad for a 6 year old company, what is really interesting is that the company started with a focus on social networks for the college crowd and now the fastest growing group on the site is women above the age of 50, how is that for covering every market, I am lazy tonight and did not go dig up the exact age range group but it says alot for the service that it does attract all types of consumers.

And that is what it is all about, learning what consumers are talking about, buying, recommending, etc. Facebook is gathering data at a level only Google could imagine. Except, some would argue, the Facebook data could be even more valuable.

All that said, today Facebook also showed they are dead serious about search, by making the search box more visible and prominent in the layout users are more likely to search Facebook which will make the site even more sticky.

For an idea of how prominent search is now check out this posterous link.

This may seem subtle, but changes like this can make a huge difference in user behavior.

More and more this makes me realize how social and real time SEO will matter to those that focus on search marketing. Makes me glad I picked up SEORealtime.com...

Apple iPad And The Future Of Your Domains

I do not blog about it much but I am a bit of a gadget junkie, I had been waiting for the day that some sort of Apple tablet would be launched, now we know that is officially the Apple iPad. I even held off buying a new Amazon Kindle this past month as the rumor mill started heating up since it was obvious any Apple device would have more functionality than just reading books. I am not really big on single purpose devices so it was worth waiting.

As much as their may be a few people saying the iPad is not the end all be all of tablet computing devices they are really nitpicking items that the general user of the device will not care about, what you need to really look at is how the Apple iPhone changed the idea of what a mobile phone could be. It changed the way you accessed information and provided easy access to casual gaming without having to carry a separate device like a Nintendo DS.

With the growth of social networking due to the non-tech crowds acceptance and use of Facebook (have I mentioned that Facebook topped Google in traffic over Christmas, yes I have, and I just did again) apps for social networking were some of the most downloaded and used on the Apple iPhone. As a matter of fact Twitter apps were some of the most requested reviews on iFones.com during its initial launch.

Before I go any further on my thoughts on this Domain Name Wire did a story on this tonight as well, I had planned on doing mine later this week but wanted to give Andrew some link love while his article was still fresh.

And on that note, I think it is important to note that a source such as Domain Name Wire has pointed out the concerns with how devices like Apple iPad are changing how people access information. Although many domainers, and I am sorry to say this, have their heads in the sand and REALLY do not want to admit the times are changing they better be ready for it because it is happening even if you do not want it too.

I spoke to a few folks at the conference about type-in traffic and although the people that spoke to Andrew for his story may not be seeing it the people I spoke to admitted openly that type-in traffic had declined rapidly over the past few years. Now I have nothing that can show exact data but that coincides pretty directly with the growth of the iPhone, better smartphones in general, and also social networking.

Why does the iPhone and now the iPad matter?

It  is all about the apps and also about the way people use browsers on their mobile phone. This is also the same thing on all the Android based mobile phones that are coming out, it is all about driving people to the internet through applications, it is the same information provided in an easier to access manner with more functionality thrown in than a typical website allows. People like this, the app store is making Apple millions/billions of dollars. This is not going to change, you cannot hide from this anymore. The Apple iPad is going to accelerate this, probably more so than we can even comprehend right now.

To give you an idea, within 48 hours after the iPad was announced I had 26 emails from people to iFones.com with tips about their upcoming plans for apps that will be optimized for the iPad. Most were small time developers, but so were many of the developers that now rule the app store.

You cannot hide from this....

I typically access Facebook and Twitter from my iPhone equally as much as I do from my laptop, this means I never hit a browser. With the iPad this will increase even more, with the larger screen and other applications that will be available on it there are many times I am not even sure I will have to take a laptop with me for travel. This changes things.

With visual and verbal search on the iPhone and now on the iPad typing in a website name will become something that is more of a hassle than anything, neither visual or verbal search is big right now, but it is coming.

Look, I hate to see type-in traffic decrease as the next person but I also know that there are trends you cannot fight, you have to see what is coming and plan on how to take advantage of the trends. Social media, mobile computing devices, these are things that change the way people access the sites we have.

Your goal should not be to fight them, it should be to find out how to take advantage of them. It is possible you just have to find the way.

SEO+Social Media+Mobile Apps=Success

Staying in the same place = Failure

Social Media + Mobile Search + Local Search = Success

If you have not read all the news about social networking sites being the future of how we access information instead of search engines then you must not be reading what is happening in the online world around you. I will help you with the relevant news articles in just a minute.

One thing I think people are missing sometimes is how the BLEND of mobile and local search along with the easy access to Facebook and Twitter on a mobile phone is making it an absolute must to have a plan on how to integrate all of these technologies together when you plan on promoting a product or service. The future is now and if you are not using all methods available then you are doing an injustice to your business promotion online.

For those that may be social media doubters and who do not realize that many people use search on their mobile phone before typing in a name (and I have not even mentioned visual search and verbal search) suddenly search is all that matters at times, be very careful basing everything you have on type-in traffic. Facebook has 350 million users and bypassed Google for traffic during the Christmas holiday, do you think Facebook is going somewhere? Yes they are, UP!

The people using Facebook (and even Twitter) are not typing in domain names, they are taking a friends recommendation without even looking at the site name. Sure the domain name is important for branding and I would never discount that, and for search an exact match name helps, but when all you are is a link hidden behind a URL shortening service that is not quite as important.

If you are still hiding in the dark and believing this change is not coming here are a few great articles to read:

Why Facebook PPC is Crucial

Why Is Google Afraid Of Facebook

How Social Media Helps Website Marketing - My own example of usage.

Social Media Impact

If the stories do not show you what is happening then I cannot help you. This does not mean that you should not have a website with a great name, but the people growing up with the Internet today do not use it like those of us who had it come to be during the midst of our lives.

If your only plan is to buy a great domain name and wait for the type-in traffic to come you may be surprised at your competitor coming up behind you and using the power of social media to drive more traffic that has been recommended by a trusted peer network that converts even better.

Use all the tools together and success can be yours, ignore the holistic marketing approach at your own peril.

2+2=5

How Social Media Helps Website Marketing

One of the things I was curious to see was how much traffic I could get to my new Hyperlocal SEO site that I launched a few days back. As with any new site getting awareness and traffic to it can be a challenge unless you are putting an advertising budget in place.

With this site though I thought it would be a valuable tool to see what having an established blog along with Twitter and Facebook could do. As someone who has seen the benefits of what it can do for a site like this one and what I have witnessed on even small business sites in rural Missouri I knew social media can have quite the impact.

In reality I was hoping for something in the range of 50 visitors or so would be a good start for the first few days then build up links from there and continue to use Twitter and Facebook to promote new posts.

Well, I was wrong, WAY wrong.

Here is the number of visits per day:

Jan 18th (launch day, partial day) - 239

Jan 19th - 246

Jan 20th (partial, data as of 6:30 or so CST) - 155

Do you think that could of happened without the power of social media, and in this case I can see that Twitter was the larger portion of that?

The answer is no, to launch a new site in such a competitive niche as local search would of been a long process. I cannot wait to see what happens as new writers come on board.  A special thanks to George Pickering again for his commitment to contributing to the site, just wait until the blog gets put into the mix at TargetAudience.com which will have real small business owners reading it daily in their feed, nice name George is working with there, cannot wait to see how that goes!

Yellow Page Decline Continues While Facebook Search Grows

During this past week a couple different things happened both worthy of their own blog post but time never really allowed me to get them done so I am getting them out together.

We all know that the Yellow Pages (and all copy cats) have had a continued decline in the usage of their print version, no secrets there. If early indications from real life examples are a sign of an accelerating move of their customers to smaller, less expensive ads then this year it could be a real scary ride for the industry.

A couple examples:

• While meeting with a large regional bank this week the marketing director indicated they cut their budget to a very small percentage for this year as compared to previous years based on the trends of people moving online. The person indicated that they previously had full page ads in their section of the Yellow Pages but had decided to move to the smallest listing available with a logo. How is that for a significant shift. When a conservative regional bank is making moves like that and starting to put more of their money into online marketing you know it is going to be a tough year.
• A fast growing local restaurant actually moved completely away from any paid listing in the Yellow Pages and moved back to the completely free listing. They thought it made more sense to focus their effort on expanding their web presence.

What I find particularly interesting is that the bank, who sets a yearly marketing budget and starts implementing it as soon as 2010 starts, has made such a strong move away from such a long running tradition as full page ads in their regional Yellow Page edition. This tells  me that last year was horrible for the Yellow Pages but now even the most rural and conservative of businesses are pulling out, in other words, even the strongholds in the rural regions are starting to move away.

Now on to Facebook, over the past month and a half I have seen a STRONG, and I should emphasize STRONG move upward in the amount of traffic I am receiving from Facebook search. I had read quite a bit about Facebook and the work they were putting into their search functions and had paid quite a bit of attention to that and had actually tested some things around that to see how it affected traffic to various sites.

Well the verdict is in and the Facebook dream scenario is happening more and more, Facebook would love for people not to go to Google to search (which is one of Googles biggest fears obviously), and with the amount of traffic I am seeing from Facebook search for quite a few different keyword terms it tells me that people are starting to be even more sticky to Facebook. Hopefully I can test a few scenarios with this soon and report back with some real numbers, but I can say that for certain terms that I rank well for in Google that I am getting just as much traffic from Facebook from them. A little side note, Facebook web search is powered by Bing....

FB.me Launched By Facebook And Puts A dotME In Front Of Millions

Well Tweetmeme.com used a .ME as a URL shortener (Retwt.me) and as a dotME fan I was obviously pleased since it put dotME domains in front of the millions of visitors to Tweetmeme.com.

Then shortly thereafter WP.me launched as the Wordpress shortening service, that put .ME in front of million so of more users.

Well, it just got better for dotME fans, Facebook (with over 350 million users) has now launched their URL shortener on a dotME, FB.me was announced today. One thing to note is that two letter .ME domains are only available to those that present a plan to the registry, at this point they have not been made available through landrush auctions or general registration.

Obviously a company like Facebook, with their very large user base, using .ME helps with the acceptance of the extension and helps with user awareness. So far the reports are that it is starting to show up more frequently in Twitter links and other social media services. But with the user base of Facebook once they fully launch the penetration their URL shortening service gets will be huge.

Right now it seems that Facebook is using the FB.me service extensively for mobile applications and it also works for Facebook usernames and pages as reported at Mashable.com.

Thanks to Facebook for helping along the .ME extension. I have never had any issues with customers accepting the extension but when a brand like Facebook starts using it for a service that really helps awareness along.

Facebook Fan Page Vs Facebook Group

With more people using Facebook Fan Pages lately I also have heard people talking about Facebook Groups and how they relate to Facebook Fan Pages. For the most part people are looking for the difference between the two and when they should use one versus the other. This is a quick post just to outline some of the key points to be aware of when thinking about creating one or the other:

• Facebook Fan Page updates show in the fan news feeds which is very powerful, it takes advantage of the true value of the social network. If your fan likes it that goes along way with their friends, then their friend, etc, etc. This does not happen with Facebook Groups. This makes Facebook Fan Pages much more useful for a business to use for social marketing.
• Facebook Fan Pages are visible to users not registered with Facebook, this means that you have a chance to get your message to people that may not be Facebook users. This is important since Google indexes Facebook Fan Pages.
• Facebook Groups allow for bulk invites, one of my biggest frustrations with Facebook Fan Pages is having to manually do invites once the page is created. With a group you can do a bulk invite and so can the people that join the group. As other have pointed out, this makes them very powerful for viral networking of the group.
• Facebook Fan Pages allow for custom Facebook usernames which makes it easier to promote your page in text and offline places.

In my opinion a Facebook page is preferable for marketing messages and business promotion, a Facebook group is more for active discussions. To me the real value is the fact the Facebook page updates show in the fans news feed which is really a downfall for Groups since the group member has to proactively go to the group to see the updates, etc.

Top Twitter Plugins For Wordpress

As I work with customers more and more everyday I get asked more and more, can you set my site up to work with Twitter, can you have my new content or products automatically go to Twitter and so on.

Usually if more than one person asks me the same question it turns into a blog post, below I outline several of the top Twitter plugins for Wordpress and some other tools that you can use to integrate Twitter with your website or blog.

Twitter Tools - The Twitter Tools plugin is probably one of the most widely used plugins for Twitter and Wordpress integration, until recently this is the plugin I used and still do on a few of my sites. It provides a very high level of configuration and allows for digests of your Tweets to be sent out or blog posts to be created from your tweets. It also allows for very simple ways to show your Tweets in your sidebar.

Twitter Tools Bit.ly URLs - We are all choosing our favorite URL shorteners as we use Twitter more and more to promote our content or sites, Bit.ly is extremely popular and this plugin allows Twitter Tools to use Bit.ly as the link shortener when posting links to Twitter.

Twitter Tools HashTags - This allows you to set the # hashtags in the Tweets you send from Twitter Tools to allow for easy searching for your Tweets on Twitter.

Tweetmeme Retweet Button - It used to be that everyone showed their Digg count, now more and more showing your ReTweet count is important, this tool also allows for you to easily have users ReTweet your content straight from your site. It uses the very popular service Tweetmeme.com.

My Twitpics - This allows your to show your pictures you have posted through the Twitpic service that allows easy posting of photos to twitter in your sidebar. I use this on BruceMarler.com

Twitter Style Links -This one is pretty cool, if you post a message to someone on your blog using the standard Twitter @NAME it will search their comments and then add a link to their name, in other words @NAME will be automatically linked.

Twitter Widget - Very simple plugin, simply adds a sidebar widget to show your Tweets.

Twitter Tracker - This allows you to show a Twitter sidebar based on  a search term, it can be used to track certain topics, such as domain names, social media, etc.

And one that is not a plugin but still very useful, this is something I have used for quite sometime with very great success on some of my automated news aggregators, it is Twitterfeed.com , this allows your to schedule a set time to have an RSS feed sent to your Twitter account, this could also be used to post news that is not from your blog but instead from another source that your followers may find of interest.

Post your favorites in the comments section, there are pages and pages, the above are a few I have a tried with success or have heard of other people using, I am sure you have many more.

Murdoch Wants To Block Google – Xbox 360 Loves Facebook and Twitter

Been along week, but wanted to do a quick random news post before the weekend hits. Here are a couple stories that caught my eye this week related to search and social networking:

News Corp Wants To Block Google - Rupert Murdoch continues to threaten to use such viscous tools as robots.txt to stop Google from indexing the content of its site saying that Google traffic is not valuable... Good luck on that.... Rupert is a very smart and rich man but dropping 25 percent of your traffic just causes those people to go elsewhere that have found the proper online model, or even worse drives them directly to your competitors who may of been struggling but now have a reason to cheer for your readers coming to their site. The other piece that is interesting is here is that he is pushing the other news entities to follow.

Twitter and Facebook Come To The Xbox 360 - In a very cool and interesting move, and one that shows the continued importance large companies are putting on social media Microsoft is adding Facebook and Twitter integration to the Xbox 360 dashboard. I know my son interacts with people through messaging on the Xbox more so than through email and this will take that even one step forward. Cool move.

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