Nothing like a little Spring Cleaning! That is exactly what google has been up to with its recent Google Penguin algorithm update, which affected about 3% of english language queries. May seem like a small number right? Not so much. This was a big deal. Why?

The Google Penguin update specifically targets SEO SPAM, NEGATIVE SEO and BLACK HAT SEO TECHNIQUES. 

Most of you may have no idea what this means, so let us lay it out in basic terms. First, you must understand that Google is in the business of providing the most relevant results to the user for every search performed. That is, after all, how they became the search Goliath they are today. However, there are some folks out there who insist on optimizing a website in very bad ways. Hence, your “black hat” SEO techniques which are unethical, versus the “white hat” SEO technqiues which are ethical.

So, what type of SEO SPAM or black hat techniques was Google looking for in this update? Here you go…

Content. Yup, Content is still KING (good content that is). Creating USEFUL, QUALITY CONTENT should be an integral part of your SEO strategy. If you are a client of Fortune Web, you have nothing to worry about, as we create this content for you continuosly. In fact, most of your SEO efforts should now be focused on creating these valuable content pages. Google will penalize the following:

• Cloaking, “sneaky” redirects or “doorway” pages
• Purposeful duplicate content
• Poor, low quality content

Link Building. These are known as reciprocal or  one-way links. They are also an important part of your SEO strategy IF acquired properly. Here’s what you need to know:

• If you are buying links – STOP IMMEDIATELY. Seriously. Google is on the prowl for link buyers. They do not like you and we want to be friends with Google.
• Go after only quality, relevant links for your website.
• Vary the number of links you acquire each week/month.
• Do not constantly use exact match keywords in your link building efforts, vary it. If you are trying to gain top rank for “purple sneakers” and all your links contain anchor text for “purple sneakers”, Google will see this and penalize you for it.
• Avoid article marketing sites and “bad neighborhoods”, which are sites flagged for Malware and pop-ups.
• If you practice “linking for people, not search engines” you will be fine!

Over Optimization. Oh yes, your site CAN have TOO MUCH SEO! This ties into on-site optimization techniques. Here’s the scoop:

• Google will penalize sites for “keyword stuffing”. Here is what Google has to say about KW stuffing: “Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google’s search results. Filling pages with keywords results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site’s ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.
• Check your title tags, meta data, H1 text, internal linking and alt tags. Make sure you are focusing on a select list of appropriate keywords.
• We like to optimize for 3-4 keywords per page.

What to do if you’ve been hit by the Penguin:

• First, check your analytics. If you see a decrease in traffic any time after April 24th, you may have been hit. Check to see if this drop in traffic was from the Google organic traffic source.
• Carefully review your link building strategy and follow the steps above. If you do not have a link building strategy, better start one.
• Review all of your on-site SEO.
• CONTENT. We cannot stress this enough. Start writing valuable & useful content yo your users. Since you are talking about your subject matter, it will be naturally full of keywords you want to be found for. Just don’t “overstuff it”.
• Check Google webmaster tools. You may have a notification there letting you know your site was affected.
• Make sure your IT department knows what goes into building a search engine friendly information architecture and also things like the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect. Being that engines will only follow the 301.
• Work even more closely with your SEO agency. They will know what to do. If your SEO is being managed by an SEO agency and you were hit hard by Penguin – it may be time to get a new agency. Just saying….

Conclusion: Wear a white hat, not a black hat and you will be fine!

The ultimate goal of obtaining inbound links is to drive traffic to your business. By doing this, you will also be increasing the page rank of your site on search engines and raise awareness of your brand.

How can you obtain inbound links?

The first step is to determine if your business is keyword-based, geographic-area-based, or probably both. This will provide you a direction in which to start looking for places to link.

Say you’re going in the direction of keywords. Think of popular search terms in your industry that are most relevant to your own business. Append these terms to business directory, blogs, etc, and search for other sites that could be potential link locations.

For example: Let’s use the office product/furniture industry. Our business provides nationwide delivery of high-end office furniture with an emphasis on ergonomics.

Keyword/Search Term: ergonomic office blogs

A few potential Google results:

http://ergoguy.wordpress.com/

http://www.ergoblog.com/

http://www.ergoofficeseating.com/blog/

Next step: double-check and make sure the blog does not belong to a competitor. Then, find a recent post that relates to your business purpose and provide a useful comment with beneficial content. Otherwise, you risk being removed for blog-spamming.

If your geographic service areas are crucial to business, append these cities or counties to search terms.

For example: Let’s say we are a local flower shop that offers delivery within a 50-mile radius for personal gifting or organized events. We are located in Palo Alto, CA. We serve the following areas:  San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Menlo Park, East Bay, San Jose, Mountain View, Morgan Hill and surrounding areas.

Keyword/Search Term: event planning agency San Francisco

A few potential Google results:

http://alisonevents.blogspot.com/

http://www.abcey.com/blog/

http://mullenspr.com/links.html

The reason why we are searching for event planning in your geographic area is because many people who might be looking for an event planner, might also be looking for a flower arrangement expert! So by asking for a link partnership, you could potentially help drive business for one another.

Usually for these kinds of link sources, you will have to find an email contact or submission box to a webmaster.  Below is a sample email; keep it simple.

Name of business is purely fictional.

Overview of Inbound Links

1. It helps with successful SEO!
2. There are different types of links, one-way and reciprocal, obtained through blogs, articles, directories, and other businesses.
3. You can use keywords and geographic areas to search for potential link locations.

Obtaining inbound links is an ongoing task that you want to maintain. Try setting a monthly goal, that’s how the FWM pros do it

For years, Facebook has touted itself as a way to build new connections and rekindle old relationships. But for the users, Facebook has taken a subconscious spot in our minds, becoming synonymous with memories. How many pictures do you see of newborns just hours old? Grandpa Seth’s 90^th birthday – that’s definitely going be an entire album all to itself. And what about the monumental moment when someone changes a relationship status from “in a relationship” to “married?”

It’s with these moments in mind that Facebook will be undergoing a revolutionary change within the upcoming months. It’s called Facebook Timeline (at least, for now), and it’s the most drastic change in functionality and aesthetics that the social network has ever seen.

Let’s start at the top. Literally.

Cover Photo
Profiles will now have a large area at the top for what’s called a Cover photo. This area takes up the top third of a browser window, so make sure you have some HD images of yourself on-hand for launch.

The Cover Photo area leads to some interesting possibilities for customizing your new profile. It’s essentially a large area for a banner of some sort. Put your creativity to work and come up with something cool!

New Posting Options
In addition to standard posting options like Status Updates, Links, and Photos, we’ve now got the ability to add more sentimental (read: mushy) items to our profile.

You still have the option to tag other Facebook friends in any of these Life Event updates. For instance, you can create a Health and Wellness post about finishing a 5K and tag your running buddy in the Event. If your buddy is especially touched by this Life Event, he can even choose to add it to his own timeline.

The Timeline
The actual body of your Facebook profile now looks like this. At this point in time, it’s no longer called a “profile” either. You’re officially using a “timeline.”

Before Timeline, we would look through our Facebook past by clicking the “Previous Posts” button at the bottom of a profile, then using the scroll wheel on our mouse until our fingers cramped. With Timeline, however, you can jump straight to Status Updates from 2008, or any other time, by clicking the year on the right-hand side.

Facebook’s even taken the liberty of extending your timeline to dates BEFORE you actually had a profile (i.e. the “Born” link). You have the option of adding pictures to this event. I had a great smile as a baby, but being as bald as I was I’ve chosen to keep this Life Event picture-free…

As you scroll up your Timeline (essentially moving forward in time, Marty McFly), items from your Info section are populated onto the Timeline as well. If you entered your graduation dates, they’re on there. If you entered your work history, guess what?

 That’s on there too.

And for every year that you were on Facebook, you get a summary of events, photo albums, friends, and posts on your profile. If you’re trying to get more specific than “summary,” you can always click this button and go through your profile, day-by-day, month-by-month.

Featured Posts
For anything that was especially important to you, click the Feature button, which then stretches the post across the entire width of your timeline, like so.

Final Thoughts
With this new iteration, Facebook is officially recognizing the fact that users are documenting years of their lives on the social network. It’s taken a long time for Facebook to come to this realization, and truth be told, it may take even longer for users to accept it.

Most of us don’t have the time (or the talent) to make a scrapbook. How many of us have started diaries or journals with intents on writing in them everyday, only to realize that months went by since our last entry? But yet we’ve dutifully posted to Facebook over the course of years. We’ve added photos, checked-in to birthday parties, and updated our relationship statuses. While the look and usability of the new Timeline will undoubtedly upset users who don’t like change, the theory of what’s being done has existed since the inception of Facebook – we’ve all created a timeline of our lives by using a social network.

This post was written by:

Dale Mahabir

Dale Mahabir, Creative Director for Fortune Web Marketing, has been an Internet marketing professional for 4 years. He holds a Master of Science in Internet Marketing and a B.F.A. in Graphic and Web Design. Dale currently resides in Ocean County, NJ where he spends most of his time going to the beach, practicing martial arts, and taking photographs. All this, plus a side gig of daily attempts to take over the world, helps fuel his imagination and creativity. He brings to the table a combination of out-of-the-box thinking and professionalism, melding the two to help clients realize their visions.

This post brought to you by our friends at Cellular Savings Now.

Flurry Analytics, a tech firm focusing on application creation and advertisement for mobile phones, recently released the results of a study on in-app advertisement and its effectiveness.  The study showed a consistently large draw offered by those seemingly bothersome application ads that disrupt your intense sessions of Angry Birds. 

Compared to television and internet advertising, in-app ads sustain a large audience share for a longer duration.  Television peaks at prime-time, usually 6pm to 9pm, when families are at home, unwinding in front of the big screen.  Internet advertisement, which over the past decade dominated sophisticated marketing strategies, takes a remarkable jump in audience share from 5pm to 7pm, when consumers previously restricted from freely roaming the web at work are free to search on their own time. 

One cause of this consistency is the rise of free apps.  The trade-off of downloading a free or “lite” version of an application can be the constant barrage of in-app advertisements.  While these ads can be viewed as a nuisance by some, the free price tag still outweighs the nuisance.  Another cause is the clear struggle by employers, schools, and other overseers to restrict smartphone use during business hours.

Personal use of smartphones has become increasingly difficult to regulate, perhaps because of its stealthy size and multi-functionality while on the job.  One moment, an employee is researching a product or viewing a corporate e-mail, the next he or she is opening their favorite gaming or entertainment application, unknowingly become an audience for the fastest growing ad market on the planet. 

Through this deregulation of smartphone use, in-app advertisement maintains consistently high audiences share, not peaking as high as television, but maintaining a slightly lower peak for up to four times as long a duration.  Flurry Analytics notes that from 7am to 11pm, mobile apps reach more than 20 million viewers.  The finale of American Idol drew 20 million viewers as well.  Imagine the advertisement rights for a finale of American Idol that lasted for 14 hours of the day and you catch a glimpse of in-app marketing potential. 

Source: Flurry Analytics via Phonearena.com

Visit our frinds at Cellular Savings Now if you’re a business owner looking to save money on your cellular bills.

Consider local listings! They are free and very easy to setup. This post will provide you with all the necessary information to get you started. You want your business to be listed on the three most popular search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Sometimes, your business might already be listed; however, you want complete control over the content so you must claim the listing.

Follow the steps below and you will have your business set up online in no time!

GOOGLE:
1. Go to: http://www.google.com/places/
2. Click ‘Get Started’ under “Get your business found on Google”
3. You can sign in with your Google Account if you already have one. If not, click Create Account and follow the prompts.
4. Once logged in, you will see your Google Places Dashboard. This is where you will be able to access all of your listings in the future and be able to add, edit, etc.
5. If you are trying to create a new listing click, “create new listing” and add all relevant information to your business. The more information you can provide the more likely your local listing will appear in search engines for relevant keyword searches.
6. Once all information has been added, you must verify your listing via mail or phone call with a verification pin # provided. If you decide to verify via mail, you will have to log back into your account to enter the verification pin once you receive it.
7. Listings go live usually within 48 hours of verification.
8. You can always log into your account center to add, edit or delete information. Keep your listings as up to date as possible.

YAHOO:
1. Go to: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
2. Click ‘Sign Up’ for the free Basic Listing
3. You can sign in with your Yahoo! ID if you already have one. If not, click Create Account and follow the prompts. You also have the option of signing in with your Facebook or Google Account.
4. Once you’ve set up your account, add all relevant information for your business. Again more info the better.
5. Local listings on Yahoo do not require verification, but Yahoo will have to review your information before it is posted live on the engine. Usually within 72 hours.
6. Once listing has gone live, log back in and add any photos that may be relevant to your business.

BING:
1. Go to: http://www.bing.com/businessportal
2. Click ‘Get Started Now!’
3. It will ask for your Business Name and Address. Fill this out and click Search. Sometimes engines will generate business listings on its own or a guest might have put your information up. This search allows you to claim that listing so you have complete access and control over content.
4. If a listing pops up and it is your business, claim it. If no matches are found or your business is not there, click ‘Add New Listing’
5. A box will pop up with the info you just inputted. Plug in your business phone number and the anti-robot code, click OK.
6. If you already have a Windows Live ID, sign in. If not, create an account. It will give you the option of creating a new ID or you can use an email account you already have. Follow the prompts.
7. Once you’ve got your account set up, you will be taken to the Bing Business Portal Dashboard. You will see some icons in the top left side, one of which is My Businesses; that is where your listings can be found in the future. Right underneath is a list of all of your listings. If you have more than one location, this is where you can add them.
8. The listing you started with will be open. You will see tabs for Details, Profile, Mobile, Photos, More Details, Verification and Publish. Fill out as much info as possible on each tab. This will help optimize your business for searches.
9. When you get to the Verification Tab, you will have one or more method to verify. To verify by mail, a mailer will be sent with a pin to your business address in 1-2 weeks. Once you receive the letter, log back into your account and go straight to the Verification tab and enter the pin, hit verify. It should be processed soon after which will then allow you to publish it live.
10. To make changes, you can log back in at anytime and edit/add info in any of the tabs. Once these changes have been made, go to the last tab, Publish, and hit the publish button to the left of the screen.

Hopefully this guide has given you the steps you need in order to successfully setup local listings on search engines for your business. If you still need help, contact one of our optimization assistants.

The Debut of Google Plus

While Google Plus is still in its beta version the social network remains “invite only.” In its debut month, we saw everyone from Internet junkies to confused grandparents scrambling for invites. Ironically enough, most of these early adopters chose to simply ask for invites to the budding network via Facebook statuses and Tweets. What would Google Plus offer that other social networks weren’t already? Maybe more specifically, what would Google Plus do better than Facebook. With some 25 million users under its belt, Google Plus was being touted as the newest threat to Facebook. Some intrepid users had even dared to call Google Plus the Facebook killer.

Google Plus Features

So here we are, nearly four months after the network’s launch. The new car smell is gone, and we’re left with Google Plus, minus the hype. With its lengthy list of features, it’s easy to understand the allure of a Google powered social network. Let’s take at a few items that earn the young social network some bragging rights.

1. Creating Your Profile

Once you’ve received your Google Plus invite through whatever means necessary, setting up your profile is a relatively simple process. Since I registered my profile with my Gmail address, Google Plus searched through my Gmail address book, recent contacts, and whatever other Google products I have to suggest other Plus users I may know. Some may call this creepy. I prefer to call it “intuitive”.  At this point in time, you’ll now have the ability to send out 150 invites of your own, so pay it forward and settle your debt with the universe.

Introducing the Circles Tab

2. Circles

If we’re talking about buzz, this is the entire beehive after it’s been kicked. The circles tab (shown in the previous image), allows you manage your social connections on Google Plus.

Once you’ve found other Google Plus’ers that you know, add them to one of four default circles Google sets up for you, or create one of your own. Each circle allows for different levels of visibility in your profile. This is, for all intents and purpose, your privacy controls. The Friends Circle can consist of users that you’re comfortable sharing EVERYTHING on your profile with. Meanwhile, the Acquaintances Circle can contain users that you should really exercise some… discretion with. For instance, while we maybe comfortable with our Friends Circle knowing about our Twilight viewing party, we don’t need our coworkers privy to this information (especially if they didn’t get invited). Put them in the Acquaintance Circle and start…

3. Creating Status Updates

Since we’ve segmented the users we know into different circles, we now have the option to choose which circles see which Status Updates.

Much like Facebook, we also have the option of posting a link or picture. At the time of its debut, the Google Plus was the only social network offering the ability to add your location to a Status Update from something other than a mobile device. As of last week, however, Facebook has officially added that to their lineup. But after posting our update, we’re confronted with a strange new creature. We actually have the ability to edit a Status Update after it’s been posted.

In fact, we have a few more options than simply changing what we posted.

As you can see, we can post individual Updates and disable comments on it. We can even Lock a post. In non-Google-speak, that means that we can stop other users from sharing our post with anyone else.

Google Plus Vs. Facebook

So there you have it, folks. With its new take on privacy and some extra controls over your status updates (mainly after they’ve been posted), Google Plus is charging headfirst at the Facebook defensive line. It’s at this point in time that Google would like to personally hand you a box of tissues for your tears of joy. Unfortunately, there’s always a “but.” Google Plus has provided us with some excellent ways to control our privacy, BUT the network hasn’t actually provided users with any levels of control that Facebook doesn’t. Believe it or not, it’s entirely possible for Facebookers to segment their Friends List into smaller groups. Users can determine exactly what Status Updates, notes, personal information, and photos each of these groups have access to. Google Plus’ main advantage isn’t that it’s providing its users with new privacy features – it’s making them easier to use. Alas, many Facebook users don’t even know about the existence of custom Friends Lists, much less use them. In the coming months, we’re sure to see the Facebook/Google Plus war heat up. Check back soon for our next blog post, where we’ll go in-depth with Google Hangouts and find out what a “+1” is.

This post was written by:

Dale Mahabir

Dale Mahabir, Creative Director for Fortune Web Marketing, has been an Internet marketing professional for 4 years. He holds a Master of Science in Internet Marketing and a B.F.A. in Graphic and Web Design. Dale currently resides in Ocean County, NJ where he spends most of his time going to the beach, practicing martial arts, and taking photographs. All this, plus a side gig of daily attempts to take over the world, helps fuel his imagination and creativity. He brings to the table a combination of out-of-the-box thinking and professionalism, melding the two to help clients realize their visions.

As 2010 came to a close and the New Year was quickly approaching, it was time to revisit all of our past work for the year and propose a strategy for 2011. Sure, we analyzed analytics reports, populated new keyword lists, re-evaluated PPC campaigns, strategized online marketing techniques such as email blasts, press releases and social media; but before any of this, we needed to revisit the tried and true SEO strategies that have been the bane of our success. We like to refer to it as “Your Mother’s SEO”, just like the apple pie recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation, it never changes! Some things should just be left the way they are. 

Of course, the SEO landscape is constantly changing and we have to stay up to date on all the current trends, algorithmic changes (Google Panda people!) and what our competitors are doing, but it’s also extremely important to remember that there are certain free tools available to closely monitor and improve your site’s crawl rate, indexing and overall traffic. We will outline below a few of the basic tools and techniques that we used to significantly improve traffic and conversions on many of our clients websites!

Google Webmaster & Bing  Webmaster Tools: Use these tools people! They are free and may not give you ALL the information that you are looking for, but it IS the place to start.

Submit an XML Sitemap – If your site currently does not have an XML sitemap, get one! You can use a free XML sitemaps generator to populate up to 500 pages here http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/. If you have more than 500 pages you can purchase aversion of this tool to generate an XML sitemap for larger sites. Save the generated file and deploy to the root of your domain. Before you do however, give it a quick once over, make sure that the sitemap contains the most important URL’s that you want the engines to place in their index. Also make sure there are no broken or old links that have been included in the sitemap, so the engines WILL NOT index those broken pages.

Quick tip, if your domain is registered in Google Webmaster Tools without a www. Google will not let you submit a XML Sitemap with URL’s populated with a www. Please review that when you populate your Sitemap that it is with the same exact domain you have registered with Google Webmaster Tools.

Check Robots.txt File – if you do not have Robots.txt file in the root of your site, you need to! You can generate a robots.txt file right from Google Webmaster Tools.  The robots.txt file should be deployed directly to the domains root, just like the XML sitemap. The Robots file does differ from the XML file in this way. The Robots file tells which engines to crawl pages and directories, or what not to crawl. The XML sitemap does not tell engines what to crawl, but what to place in the engines index. It is important to have the robots file because within a sites domain. It tells engines specifically to crawl the XML sitemap, which in turn will tell the engines exactly what pages are most important to your site and what shoals be placed in the main index.

Quick tip, don’t just use your robots.txt file to tell engines what to crawl, tell them what NOT to crawl. Any old pages with duplicate content, broken pages that return 404 errors, old or  redirected pages,  etc. These can all be added to the robots file to Disallow engines from crawling/indexing these pages! Use your Google webmaster tools to find such errors!

These basic free tools can greatly change the landscape of your site and how engines determine its crawlability, relevance and  importance. Constant changes to robots and xml files will help keep your content up to date and will also provide the most relevant, useful pages the end user. Don’t just set it and forget it!

What is a QR Code?

“QR” is short for Quick Response. A QR Code is a graphic image, much like a barcode, that can be read quickly by a mobile device.  You will need to download an app specifically for use on your mobile device in order to read QR Codes. There are many free applications out there for multiple mobile devices that allow you to not only read QR codes but generate them yourself.  

They are more useful than a bar code as they can hold & display much more information such as links, text, images, contact information and geographic coordinates.

Example QR Code (test it out with your mobile device!)

Why should you be Using QR Codes?

Small, medium and large sized businesses alike should be incorporating QR Codes into their marketing pieces. By now you have probably seen them in magazines, billboards, web pages and even t-shirts and business cards. Here are some common pieces of information QR codes contain:

While not considered mainstream just yet – they will be. Using them now in your marketing & advertising initiatives will define you as a tech savvy and modern company, which is always appreciated by prospects.

Most importantly, we have been keeping on top of the ever-changing landscape of search and online marketing – no matter what the major players such as Google and Bing throw at us. This year in particular, we have seen some pretty big advances & changes in search, social, local, etc…and we mean big. So big that we are still talking about their impacts. Let’s recap:

• Google Instant: Oh Google, Google…you have done it again. Just when we thought our search results pages had settled into a normal display and our search behavior was streamlined, you give us Instant. Now, with every letter we type you change our search results. Oh the relevancy!!  Alas, some are simply not digging this new technology, others love it.  We can say one thing for sure…from organic to paid results, Instant has kept us on our toes. Now we see they are in beta for Instant on Mobile devices. We can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve next!
• Yahoo/Bing Search Alliance: We were preparing for this earlier in the year and boy was that a good idea! First, Bing began powering all organic results on Yahoo. Next, as part of the final stage, Bing began powering all of Yahoo’s paid listings. From organic optimizations to the migration of paid campaigns, this was no small task. We have to give extra thanks to the folks at Microsoft though for providing us tools (like Silverlight) to make the transition from Yahoo to Bing Ad Center a snap. More so, migrating campaigns from Google into Bing could not be easier. So thanks, keep up the good work.
•  “Checking In” is Cooler Than Justin Bieber:  We can’t not mention the check-in craze. Whether you are a diehard Foursquare user (like us), A Yelp junkie or a new Facebook Places friend, most of us are doing it. Nothing wrong with it, in fact it can be fun! Try it if you haven’t yet.
• Engines Get Personal: It’s no secret that engines have been personalizing search results for a while now. Especially with the big push into local or location-based marketing its no surprise one of the top personalization factors is your geographic location. Then you add-on your previous web browsing history, search history and if your logged into an account (like Gmail) and have that synced with your social pages, you will actually see results for sites your social inner circle likes or are fans of. Ok, we know…a little bit on the big brother side of things. It also goes along with how behavioral targeted ads are displayed. This is all a big debate right now regarding privacy and personal data collection on the web. Look for major rulings in 2011.
• Social Sites Get a Facelift: You’ve got new profiles, pages and overall aesthetic changes for both Facebook & Twitter. Are you happy with them or do you want the old look back? Unfortunately, everything evolves, you are probably just going to have to roll with it.

So….those are just some of the items that kept us on our toes in 2010.

In addition, we had some very exciting news of our own this year. We began putting out our newsletter, we started this blog, added press release and online video creation to our service offering and we redesigned our website. Last but not least we closed the Jersey City & Lakewood NJ offices – which was great while it lasted but it was time to move on. Our new home, come early 2011 will be in Asbury Park. A city that we love dearly and is close to our hearts. The revitalization of this city is phenomenal and we are happy to call it our new home. After all we are New Jersey natives and are proud of our Garden State. We even started NJBuyLocal.com a few months back to promote local NJ businesses.

All in all 2011 is looking like it’s going to be a stellar year for us. We want to take a moment to thank all of you for being here with us and we hope we have been an integral part of your growth as you have been to ours. With all the love and thanks in the world, we wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season. Here’s to a great 2011!

Let’s start with videos:

• Optimize your videos as they are 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of search results 
• 90% of all internet traffic will be video by 2010 (Nielsen). Consumers would rather watch the internet than read it.
• YouTube now 2nd most active search engine in the world with 2.6 billion visitors daily.
• Video increases conversions rates 46% on page whether the video is watched or not (NCM Fathom)
• Average time spent on a website WITH video is 6 minutes (NCM Fathom)
• Video should live everywhere on all channels not just your website

• Images are good for the user, but  search engines don’t crawl them – unless they link somewhere. 
• Use an alt tag to describe what the image is linking to in order to assist the search engine as to what the image and the page it’s linking to is about. 
• Use a good mix of images & text. Too many images can clutter a page and confuse the user as to exactly where they should be looking for the info they need. A good use of images &text will guide them in this process.

Flash:

• Engines do not crawl flash. Yes, it’s pretty and it illustrates your product well, but use it wisely.
• Consider using it for rotting banner ads, product demos, etc…it should not be the main focus of a page.
• Avoid flash-based homepages that simply say “Skip Intro” to get to the main pages of the site. This is an extra lick for the user and is a major road block for search engines.  



PDF’s:

• Engines crawl PDF’s so absolutely place them on your website.
• Save the PDF with keywords in the title as the title of the PDF will be part of the URL string. 
• Optimize your PDF’s for search engines.
• Always open them in a new window.