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Foursquare.com and Search Engine Optimization

“Foursquare is a location-based application that works on the iphone, android and blackberry smart phones. It brings a game aspect and some competition into the mix and you can use that to your benefit as a small business in regards to how you market yourself locally.

First and foremost, Foursquare promotes exploration around town and trying out new venues. You can open the app, see what is around your current location, if there are any specials nearby and what those are, and you can see if any of your friends are checked-in at any of those locations. You can see if a place is trending (quite a bit of check-ins in a short amount of time) and how many people are there.  Think popularity. Foursquare has badges that one can “unlock” for certain accomplishments, say if they visit 5 different Starbuck’s they unlock the “Barista badge”.

People love playing the game, and less than 1% of businesses are seizing the opportunity to entice those users into their place of business.  And you’re spending how much on print ads that hardly convert?

Some Stats about Foursquare
At the time of my talk, Foursquare had been around for just about 1-year. In one year, they’ve obtained almost 1 million users, have over 16 Million checkins, have over 1.4 Million venues in the database (all created by users mind you). That’s fairly impressive no?  Out of the over 1.4 Million venues, only about 1200 venues have special offers. Can you say “Opportunity”?

What do badges and leaderboards mean to you as a business?
Ego.  People have one.  Competition.  People like to win. This means that people are already playing this game and checking into your business whether you’re currently aware of it or not. This means that there is a game, external from your knowledge, that is essentially tracking and awarding your customers for frequenting your venue.

SEO Benefits of Foursquare
Google maps and now Bing maps are showcasing Foursquare venues when people search locally. Again all without you spending a penny.  Google is starting to use the tips and shouts from Foursquare venues for citations about your business. If you haven’t heard, citations are used in the rank algorithm.  This is why Yelp and Google Local reviews are so powerful and sought after.

Foursquare venue pages are ranking in search results. It has your business name, address and again links to your Foursquare venue page which also has your phone number.

How Businesses get Involved with Foursquare
Simply put – go to Foursquare.com, and Search for your business. If you’re in there make sure your information is correct. There should be a little pencil icon under the info (once you have an account). This is like any site, you need to make sure your information is correct and that you’re represented properly.” ~ Source: RYNOweb.com

r the info (once you have an account). This is like any site, you need to make sure your information is correct and that you’re represented prop

For more information, please contact one of our SEO specialists.

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Posted April 7th, 2010 in SEO, Search, Social Media | No Comments »

Google & April Fools’ Day

“Google’s April Fools’ Day jokes have become the stuff of legend. Sometimes the gags are good enough to trick you; other times, they’re just good for a chuckle. Here are five of our personal favorites…

1. Google April Fools’ Joke: The Topeka Name Change
This first one may have only happened on April 1, 2010, but it’s far too brilliant to leave off the list. Bright and early this April Fools’ morning, Google announced it was changing its name…to Topeka.

The gag comes one month after the real Topeka decided to temporarily change its name to Google. Topeka’s mayor signed a proclamation to help convince Google his city was the best place for its soon-to-be-launched broadband network.

Today, Google fired back, replacing its standard home page logo with the word “Topeka.” A photo showed the Google headquarters with a freshly updated sign. And a placard was even provided to help you learn the proper way to use the new name in conversation.

2. Google April Fools’ Joke: TiSP
Google’s broadband initiative may be the real deal, but back in 2007, the G-team joked that it was launching a wireless broadband service that’d run through the sewers.

TiSP — short for Toilet Internet Service Provider — was described as a “self-installed, ad-supported online service that will be offered entirely free to any consumer with a Wi-Fi-capable PC and a toilet connected to a local municipal sewage system.” To use the service, all you had to do was flush a fiber-optic cable down the john and connect the other end to a specially provided router.

3. Google April Fools’ Joke: Gmail Paper
Google April Fools PaperAnother ‘07 winner, Gmail Paper pretended to provide a new option for paper-based backups of Gmail-stored messages. With one quick click, you could request a physical copy of any e-mail and have it delivered to your door. Or so it seemed.

“The cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements, which will appear on the back of your Gmail Paper prints in red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica,” the spoof site explained. “No pop-ups, no flashy animations — these are physically impossible in the paper medium.”

4. Google April Fools’ Joke: Pigeon Rank
Google April Fools PigeonsForget PageRank: On April Fools’ 2002, Google came clean and said the real secret to its search technology was something called PigeonRank. Yes, PigeonRank.

The system, according to a page published at the time, was built by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin during their time at Stanford.

“Page and Brin reasoned that low cost pigeon clusters (PCs) could be used to compute the relative value of Web pages faster than human editors or machine-based algorithms,” the page said. “And while Google has dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of our service on a daily basis, PigeonRank continues to provide the basis for all of our Web search tools.”

Just imagine all those tiny beaks pecking away with your every search. Man, I’d hate to get on those pigeons’ bad side.

5. Google April Fools’ Joke: MentalPlex
One of Google’s earliest April Fools’ pranks, MentalPlex was presented in the year 2000 as a cutting-edge new way to search by brainwave. Just stare into a swirling circle, project a mental image of what you want to find, and MentalPlex would do the work.

“MentalPlex is the only search engine that accurately returns results without requiring you enter a query,” a FAQ created specially for the joke explained. “Google’s CEO and co-founder Larry Page calls MentalPlex ‘a quantum leap in finding what you are looking for on the Internet. Typing in queries is so 1999.’” ~ Source: PCworld.com

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Posted April 5th, 2010 in Search | No Comments »

5 Methods for Optimizating your Facebook page

Method 1 - Respect Your Audience
We’ve covered the power of individuality on the Web. While it is true the Web offers exceptional degrees of anonymity and collective activity, at the end of the day every user has his/her own judgments to make, and will make those judgments known via clicks and comments. There are websites solely devoted to expounding on peoples’ bad experiences, such as the popular Not Always Right. Rest assured that if you stick to sales pitches and infomercials, your work will be forgotten or derided quite quickly.

Method 2 - Identify and Use Your Keywords
Keyword usage requires research. It isn’t a matter of simply plugging in all the buzzwords in every awkward conversation - this is a good way to get sites to blacklist or penalize you in their rankings. Take the time to really examine what key roles your business works toward, and then research the keyword usage of related activities. Pick out those keywords that seem most relevant, and then work them into your site as naturally as you can.

Method 3 - Remember Reciprocity
The interesting thing about your Facebook page is that your company website doesn’t host it - Facebook does. This puts your content in two distinct places on the Web, potentially doubling the coverage you can receive during Web searches. Take advantage of that by remembering to provide links from each site to the other. Your company homepage should be linked from your Facebook profile, and vice-versa. This will improve traffic to each site by bringing in visitors from the sister sites, and takes less than a minute to implement.

Method 4 - Harness Multiple Media
Given the social nature of Facebook, it’s an appropriate page to include ‘related’ content to your venture that isn’t strictly relevant in the normal sense. Consider a site focused on pet care and related products. Rather than tying in a sales video, post the latest adorable kitten video from one of the many cat websites on the Internet. Tag it with keywords related to your focus by all means, but the key here is to give people additional reasons to visit your site and help drive your numbers.

Method 5 - Learn From the Best
A writer once commented that every good story has already been written - what remains is for the good writer to borrow judiciously. If there is one thing the Internet is good for, it is copious amounts of free information. Take a look at popular Facebook sites and take notes on what they’re doing. You do not exist in a bubble, but rather a network of ideas and interactions. Consider adopting different approaches that others are making work, or putting your spin on them for even more success. Creativity drives much of the Web, so feel free to experiment. ” ~ Enzo Cesario, Sitepro News

For more tips on search engine optimization, contact ebasedEVOLUTION today!

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Posted March 22nd, 2010 in SEO, Social Media | No Comments »

Personalized Search… for Everyone!

“Today we’re helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages. Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes. Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.

Previously, we only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser. It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a “View customizations” link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.” ~ Source: Googleblog.Blogspot.com

To watch a video on Google Personal Search, click here!

For more internet marketing news, please contact one of our analysts.

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Posted March 18th, 2010 in SEO, Search | No Comments »

ebasedEVOLUTION & The IWLA

For almost five years, ebasedEVOLUTION has been working with the IWLA (International Warehouse & Logistics Association) and several of their members to improve their visibility and value in search engines. This year, the IWLA’s 119th Annual Convention was held at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado, just outside of San Diego.

This year’s theme was “Surviving & Prospering, Translating Hard Choices into Profits.” The convention assembles the best minds and the best practices in the industry. Program speakers come from operations and executive management backgrounds, and provided valuable insight regarding how companies translate hard choices into profits.

This year, Project Manager Korey Kashmer and SEO Analyst Joe Restivo represented ebasedEVOLUTION at the event. While there, they atteneded the annual golf outting at Steel Creek Canyon, where they shot par and were very happy about it. Additionally, several of our clients attended, including Jere Van Puffelen of Prism Team Services, a California third party logisitics company, Andre Vanegas with Camelot 3PL, a WMS company, and Ayal Latz with a2b Fulfillment, a direct response fulfillment company.

Check out our Facebook page to see additional picture of ebasedEVOLUTION, a full service internet marketing firm, at the trade-show and golf outting!

Posted March 11th, 2010 in General | No Comments »

What’s the Buzz all about?

Google entered the Social Media realm today with Google Buzz. It’s a new way to share updates, photos, videos and more, and start conversations with your friends.  Already a fan of G-chatting, Gmailing, sharing Picasa pics and sharing articles on Google Reader? If so, you’re pretty much ready to create some buzz.

Not only am I already following 12 people already on my personal account, Google is already suggesting that I follow other contacts.

Questions to Ponder

- Will the reach be as broad as Facebook and Twitter?

- How will Google effect Facebook, Twitter’s traffic?

- Will Buzz effect SEO rankings?

From Technology News’ article, “From a marketing perspective, one factor to consider is that if there are any SEO benefits from Google Buzz, people will use it more, Havens said. “Likely, there will be [SEO benefits], since it’s Google. Since tweets can raise your SEO — using appropriate keywords — likely Google’s new social networking app will as well.”

Like Tech News said is this a Killer Buzz or a Buzzkill?

For more information on social media and the new Google Buzz, contact our Charlotte SEO team.

Posted February 10th, 2010 in Browsers, SEO, Social Media | No Comments »

Real Estate & SEO

This week, I stumbled across an interesting article in Realtor.org regarding search engine optimization for real estate companies. Given that ebasedEVOLUTION has a couple real estate clients across the country, this would be of interest to our audience.

It provides 6 tips for improving rankings on your site:

1) Write Better Page Titles: Make title tags very specific, as search engines scan this data when indexing websites

2) Broadcast your Links: Develop a campaign to get other web sites linking to yours

3) Use keywords Generously: Incorporate the top phrases you want associated with your site onto the pages in your site.

4) Reword Outgoing Links: The hyperlink text should be specific and include phrases tha search engines can index. Ideally a “No-Follow” tag would be great to put on these links, to keep value in your site.

5) Develop a Site Map: Site maps are now a major component for search engine indexing.

6) Tweet About It: “Now that tweets are indexed in Google, Twitter has become an important part of SEO strategy”

Does this information sound familiar? This is essentially a brief overview of the services ebasedEVOLUTION can provide your company. Contact us today to see how we can help grow your business!

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Posted February 9th, 2010 in SEO | No Comments »

Google has a Semantic Memory

Photo : Picture : : Song Word : Song Lyric
Can Google really understand synonyms?

It appears that Google Search is beginning to understand the nature of human language. From this recent article, Google goes over their ability to pull synonyms into search results. Photo doesn’t just mean ‘photo’ anymore in SEO speak; it could also mean ‘picture’, ’snapshot’ or ‘pic’. This reassures us that their algorithm goes beyond understanding basic SEO techniques that we have almost become too comfortable with.

For SEO writers, it also reiterates the importance of well-written copy with more than just keyword-rich text. The use of naturally descriptive phrases with flow, meaning and non-repetitiveness is essential. Cluttering and bogging down MDT and Title Tags with your list of targeted keywords will only hinder your progress.

As crazy as it seems, Google’s algorithm has a semantic memory. Not only can Google  pick up on synonyms, but they’re smart enough to pick up on when they are not. The article’s example highlights on ‘arms reduction’ and ‘arm reduction’.

Try it yourself. In Google, search for ‘SEO’ and you’ll find ’search engine optimization’ is also highlighted. Try searching for “BB” and you’ll probably get  ‘Blackberry’ results.

If you have any questions, please visit our SEO/SEM website and/or contact us! Our SEO Team is always up for a good chat.

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Posted February 3rd, 2010 in General, Search, Technology | No Comments »

Google’s Froogle… What is it exactly?

ebasedEVOLUTION has a reputation for being a leading internet marketing company among the logistics industry, but we do have our fair share of retail clients. These clients are always looking for new venues in which to sell their products. Popular sites to list your products include ebay, Amazon, and Yelp, but lately, we have been getting a lot of inquiries regarding Froogle.

Froogle was launched by Google in 2002. Unlike it’s competitors, Froogle does not charge a fee to use its service. Rather, in order to generate revenue, Google does display it’s infamous Google Adwords advertisements on the right-hand column. Retailers and merchants supply the data the Froogle displays in its search results.

To achieve high rankings on Froogle, simply apply the same rules you would for achieving high rankings in other search engines, with a couple tweaks. For example, let’s say you sell tennis shoes. For good site optimization, you would include “Tennis Shoes”,  in your sites title and meta-tags. However, if you are aiming to boost rankings in Froogle, you would want to revise these tags to include phrases such as: “Buy Tennis Shoes”, “Purchase Tennis Shoes”, “Tennis Shoes for Sale”, etc.

Froogle is not for all industries, and is mainly designed for retail.

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Posted January 14th, 2010 in Branding, Search | No Comments »

Got Resolutions?

Since the New Year is right around the bend, it’s about that time to reevaluate, ramp up or to just simply create an Internet marketing strategy. With the recession slowing coming to an end, there is no better time than now to position yourself effectively and efficiently.

Where do you start? What do you change? What are the best ‘runs for your money’? We found a great article on Entreprenur.com that drilled down how worthy 10 popular online trends were in term of investment. From blogging to SEO and PPC advertising, this article could be a great way to get your feet wet on where to focus your efforts.

As SEO analysts, we really like to talk about and analyze new websites, efforts and campaigns. Feel free to contact us or visit our internet marketing firm ’s website!

Posted December 30th, 2009 in General | No Comments »

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