OK … so maybe Google Panda sounds nicer than what was previously known as the Google Farmer update.

Either way – it was a change in Google’s algorithm that caused a lot of sites to lose traffic and people to panic.

But then again – what is new with any change Google makes to their algorithm right? So let’s find out exactly what this Google Panda Update is all about ….

Plagiarism was a grave issue that plagued many-a websites whose content was illegally and stealthily copied by other websites. These low quality websites that duplicated content from other sources were observed to be achieving good rankings in search engines for ages. To put this threat of online content copyright and plagiarism issues to rest. Google formulated a gigantic algorithmic change – The Google Panda.

Google Panda was officially rolled out to Google on February 24, 2011. However, the UK update happened only after six weeks of the official launch. The other countries soon followed suite. Thanks to Google Panda, websites with poor quality or duplicate content lost their top ranks and dropped several positions in Google whereas those that were victorious witnessed a miraculous upgrade in their ranks and search visitor. The main implications of Google Panda update was felt by the sites that copied content from other sites described by Google as ‘low quality’ or ‘thin content’ websites, together with those that were packed with keywords in order to have them rank well in search engines. With Google Panda’s onslaught, sites that initially fetched top rankings were tipped off and sent tumbling down the order.

Google Panda has indeed triggered a set of strict protocols for website to mend their acts and have unique, original and relevant content on their websites that will not only promote their online presence but also help them churn enhanced ROI through fair means.

Below are some of the main websites that were directly impacted by the Google Panda Update:

• wisegeek.com
• ezinearticles.com
• suite101.com
• hubpages.com

Now we all know syndicating your content is important, and if part of your key SEO strategy was to syndicate your articles to these sites or similar, you are not going to get the same momentum or SEO benefit from Google.

We still encourage you to write unqiue, compellign content that people want to read/share – its just a matter of ‘where’ this content is getting shared is going to determine the value back to you.
This leads to another upcoming change Google is pushing is Google OAuth (Authentication) - where Google is trying to determine how many people part of YOUR social network (on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn etc) are sharting, rating, commenting, recommending content – because it is more likely that it will be beneficial to YOU.

For more information on this topic, feel free to contact us 1-519-894-0846 or email info@socialmindz.com

Over the life-span of your website, there is a very real possibility that you will generate great deals of content, be it through a blog, or through articles and press releases which you’ve had written.

So, what happens to the content after a couple of years, and you are no longer getting any benefit from it, or through a lack of SEO, it never provided any quantifiable benefit for your website and company to begin with? Well, that content hasn’t gone anywhere. It may have even been archived on your website. Why let it sit there doing nothing for you?

Its time to repurpose that content and give it a fresh new look and feel. Go through your blog archives and find posts that have new relevance in the changing online world. Update it and ensure the content is fresh. Remove old chunks of information which are no longer applicable and then add some new flavor. 10 minutes later, you have yourself a repurposed peice of content!

Now then, what do you do with it? Simple.

1. Determine the new title for the post, and create title tag, and meta tags accodinginly.
2. Create good internal links with strong keyword based anchor text within the blog post.
3. Re-post your new, re-purposed content item and be sure to add your title tag and meta tags so the search engines will index it better.
4. Ensure you blog platform allows people the ability to share the post with their social networks.
5. Push it out to the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and let the people know it’s there. Give them some time to digest it, and hopefully, if your content is valuable enough, people will share it with friends on their social networks as well!

The same approach can be taken with articles that have been gathering dust for years. Repurpose them as blog posts or new articles. If the article is long enough, you may even be able to get a few new blog posts out of it.

But wait! Don’t stop there! Remember all of that info marketing material the company has printed over the years? Break ‘em back out again and put them to work for your business in a more productive fashion. It’s time to get them online! Take 20 minutes and type them up so you can turn them into articles or blog posts for your business. Make sure you update them with current information if needed, the get them onto your website.

And I bet you thought all of that old print material was only good for starting fires?

Again, follow the same principles here. Focus on those basic SEO elements like title tags, meta tags, good internal link practices, and you’ll be surprised just what that old content of your can pull off!

Mobile Marketing For Business: In this video I discuss how businesses can leverage mobile marketing with the use of SMS and MMS messaging.

I demonstrate our mobile marketing platform and show how easy it is to start your own mobile marketing campaign.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZUmU7sJT4c[/youtube]

Although Mobile Marketing has been around for years – it is only now that businesses are going to really start to learn the power of mobile. Especially with smartphones such as the iPhone or Blackberry, virtually everyone has a mini computer you can say in their pockets at all time.

This means as businesses we can now connect directly with these consumers wherever and whenever.

If you were to send out a traditional message via email, the average open rate is lower than 20% and the time to open an email is approx 48 hours.

Did you know by sending a mobile text message that it has a 95% open rate and gets read within 4 minutes?

This means you can reach your target audience via mobile marketing quicker and faster than ever before.

At the same time, mobile marketing does not cost a whole lot and there is probably little or no competition in your market now – so this would be the best time to act. Remember there are over 276 million Americans using mobile phones, the Internet you can reach out to 1.7 billion people but on mobile the reach is 4.8 billion.

For more information on mobile marketing companies, SMS Text Messaging Services or how mobile marketing can work for your business – please contact us at:

Baltej Gill
info@socialmindz.com
1-800-659-3638

Or to see a live demo yourself – go ahead and text:

(People in the USA) Text MOBILE to 94932
(People in CANADA) Text CELLPHONE to 54500

In this episode, I explain how you can fix your Facebook Privacy Settings so you can separate your business and personal account on Facebook.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r14SV2ygoaE[/youtube]

How To Set Up Your Facebook Privacy for Business Use:

1. First create a list

a) Click on Account — and then Edit Friends
b) Click on ‘Create New List’
c) Add users to the list you created

2. Now set their permissions

a) Click on Account — and then Privacy Settings
b) Click on ‘Customize Settings’
c) Set permissions

Do you have a question you would like answered in a video? Send it to AskBaltej@socialmindz.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOpBoij5hg[/youtube]

Building your fan base in Facebook can be done quite easily and in a number of different ways. The easiest is done by adding a social “badge” to your website. A social badge can look like this,  but there are numerous variations:

This badge will link back into your Facebook Business Page, giving visitors to your website the opportunity to become a fan of your Facebook Page. If you’d like to increase the number of followers, or people visiting your Facebook Page, try adding something valuable which will encourage people to become fans. It could be a promotional offer, or information which can only be found on your Facebook page.

When you offer people something they find useful, they will keep coming back for more.

Another option is include Facebook directly in your website by utilizing Facebook Connect. This will allow people to post to Facebook directly from your website, commenting on your content and spreading awareness of it for you.

Additionally, if you have the budget, you could advertise directly on Facebook, giving people the option to become a fan of your Page. This method will allow you to target your exact demographic and build out a quality fan following.

Now, you can also invite your friends on Facebook to become fans of your Page, provided they have interest in it. Look around for Facebook Groups which are about topics you are trying to market to also. You can normally get a decent number of Fan’s from these groups, provided you engage the community. Provide them with something of value, I cannot stress that enough, and you’ll hear me say it numerous times! Social Media is all about word of mouth, so give people a reason to start talking!

In Part 3 of “Social Media Optimization The Easy Way”, we’ll discuss how you can leverage Twitter for brand building and management, as well as increasing sales.

If you don’t know what social media is, you’ve obviously been living in a cave for the past few years. We won’t hold that against you though. But, I digress! Social Media Optimization; what is it? How do you do it? Is it difficult?

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It is created to be shared with a community or network of individuals, and social media optimization is the process by which we ensure your message or content is seen by the people!

So, how do you do it? Is it difficult?

It is actually very simple, and I will show you how to do it the easy way, but first, let us break down some different elements of social media.

Types of Social Media

• Social Bookmarking (Digg, Del.ici.ous, Reddit, SumpleUpon, etc.)
• Social Networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Naymz, MySpace, etc.)
• Social Blogging/Micro-Blogging (LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress, Twitter, etc.)
• Video (YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, Cafepress, VIMO, etc.)
• Podcasts (Podcast Alley, NPR, Podcast.com, etc.)
• Photos (Picasa, Flickr, etc.)

Now, these are by no means the only forms of social media, or places where you’ll find it. There are thousands of sources online where you’ll find it, and chances are you are already using some of them yourself. If you are a parent with a teenager… ask them. They are probably using at least 3. At the same time. Right this very second! I’m serious. Go and check for yourself, I can wait…

See? I told you they were using it!

Now then, do not be misled. Social media is by no means only for the young. 29% of Facebook’s users, and also the largest portion of them, are between the ages of 35-54, with the largest growing user segment being those over the age of 55. Staggering, isn’t it?

So, how can you tap into social media and leverage your business, or a client’s? Let’s start you off with a few places where a social media presence will have the most impact.

1. Facebook – Develop a Facebook Business Page for yourself or your client. Fill it in with the required information, such as business location, office hours (if applicable), telephone number, fax number and other contact information. Add an image for the Page, normally the company logo. Now, start adding content which is valuable to your visitors. There is a lot you can do. The discussion boards will allow you to communicate with visitors and create a dialog. Your Wall will let you post short information items which can be seen by visitors at a glance. Get creative with your Page. There are thousands of Facebook Apps available to enrich your Page. You can even create your own if you are savvy enough, or hire someone to do it for you!
2. Twitter – Creating a Twitter account is a good way to start generating a bit of buzz. Don’t just flood the web with posts, or “tweets” as they are known. Find people tweeting about areas you share knowledge in which is relevant to your business, or your client’s. Engage the community! If you have valuable insights, people will follow you. This is how you can effectively build out your Followers. Create a custom Twitter design so that your page is memorable and in-line with your brand.
3. YouTube – If you have video, or can create some… you need to have a YouTube channel. YouTube is owned by Google and video optimization is a sure-fire way to get some page 1 listings with Google. Again, create a custom channel design and start uploading some video. Be sure the Titles of your videos and their tags are in-line with what the video is promoting. Remember that YouTube’s search functionality works exactly like Google’s.  Your titles and descriptions have a massive impact on your visibility.

Don’t fret; I’ll explain how you can build a following leverage your newly created social media channels. In Part 2 of “Social Media Optimization The Easy Way”, we’ll focus on Facebook!

The typical blog consists of 6 parts, or elements:

Posts: A blog post in written by the blog author. In some cases, a blog will have multiple authors or contributors. A post will typically consist of text and images, but can also include embedded video and links to other posts or pages. Depending on how the blog is set up, it can show either the full post, or an excerpt of the post which tends to consist of a few sentences designed to capture the reader’s attention and get them to click for the full post.

Comments: A comment is written by the reader is response to your blog post. In many cases, it will be a reader who is thanking you for what should be great information. In other cases, the reader will be asking for additional information. This provides you with an excellent opportunity to open a line of communication with your audience. Take advantage of this opportunity to build a rapport with your readers!

Sidebar: A sidebar on your blog tends to consist of a number of features, normally widgets which increase the functionality of your blog. Widgets can include functions to pull your Twitter timeline or other things directly into your blog, but is not limited to this. There are thousands of widgets available for free online. Find ones which complement your blog!

Categories: A categories list on your blog allows readers quick access to different information on your blog. Categorizing your posts also gives you SEO benefits by allowing you to separate your information into easily spiderable themes/topics. When you create something user-friendly, it is normally search friendly as well.

Archives: An archive section on your blog gives people easy access to your past posts, normally on a month by month basis. Including an Archive section on your blog is always a good idea, simply because your readers will not have to spend a great deal of time searching for your posts. If they recall a particular post you had written in January for example, they can simply click on the January Archive and find it.

Recent Posts: This is made up of a list of recent posts, normally for the month, on your blog. It will allow your readers the quickly choose from a list of your post titles, drawing them in deeper. Due to this element, you will want to make sure your blog posts of attractive titles.

Now, as stated at the beginning, the typical blog is made up of these 6 elements. By no means should you feel obligated too make use of only these 6 elements. You can pick and choose what elements to include. Make sure you explore your blog platform to discover what other elements they might offer which could be leveraged to provide an enhanced user experience on your blog.

Try including multimedia elements, such as video, if you have some. Blogging is all about capturing your audience, so build a captivating blog and give people a reason to keep on coming back for more!

The actual process of blogging is simple, right? Sit down in front of your computer with a cup of coffee and start typing, right? Wrong.

This is actually the very last step in the process of blogging. First, you need to know your audience. What type of people do you want reading your blog? What type of blog is it? Is it a personal blog where you are simply blogging about your day, your thoughts and feelings? Or, is it an industry related blog, where you will be blogging about new developments in your field of expertise?

These are very important things you need to take into account. So, let’s break down what you need to know before you actually start blogging!

1. What type of blog are you creating? (Personal, Industry, News Aggregation, Political, etc.)
2. What is your target demographic? (Teens, adults, industry professionals,  bloggers, etc.)
3. How often are you going to blog? (Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, monthly, etc.)
4. What blog platform are you going to use? (WordPress, Blogger.com, TypePad, etc.)
   • It is important to consider a few things here. Are you planning to host the blog on your own server/URL and does it support certain blog software, or are you going to host it for free through blogger.com or wordpress.com, for example.
   • Each option has positives and negatives. Free hosting, you don’t have as much control over your blog. You can’t completely customize your blog. When you pay for hosting, it’s all yours. You can modify your blog to your heart’s content. Custom templates, widgets, plugins… you name it!
   • Do your homework. Always make sure the information you are putting out is accurate. If you are writing a personal blog, you need not worry. However, if you are writing an industry blog, you need to ensure you information is factual and has value for your readers.
   • Do it from the heart. If you don’t enjoy doing it, it’s going to show in what you do. To quote Dale Carnegie, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

And please keep in mind, if you can’t find the time to write a blog post every few days consisting of about 200-300 words, you are working too hard. Take a breather. In the words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

In other words, do what you love, and love what you do. If you don’t like blogging, then don’t torture yourself into creating new posts every day, every week, or even every month! Myself, I enjoy blogging. This post actually has 465 words right now, and I have only been writing for a few minutes. The trick is, don’t stress about what you are writing.

Just let it flow.