Facebook has integrated with WordPress to offer a new plugin that allows users to share blog content on the social media network with just one click. The plugin can be downloaded on WordPress under the name Facebook for WordPress. “The plugin was built by Facebook engineers in collaboration with open source partners, and makes it simple for anyone to make their WordPress site more social – no coding required,” says Facebook engineer Matt Kelly in a blog post.
Now, WordPress publishers are able to cross-publish content on their blogs and on their Facebook Timelines and Pages they manage. For example, mention a friend in a WordPress blog post and it will appear on that person’s Facebook Timeline. It will also appear on the author’s Facebook Timeline and the company’s Facebook Page as the information is further distributed. Continue reading “Facebook Integrates with WordPress to allow Social Publishing” »
Google has introduced a new technology that changes the way users search on the web. Launched last week, the Google Knowledge Graph works with users to determine their search intent. For example, search for a generic term like “orange” and a new window will appear with options asking what you intend to search for (the county, the city or the fruit). Simply click on your meaning and the Google Search results will filter accordingly.
The world’s largest search engine company has introduced a new feature to Google Search; the right hand column summary. A search for a well-known figure, for example, will lend a summary of that person’s bio, date of birth/death, achievements and other related figures to appear on the right hand side. This function of the Knowledge Graph is meant to guide people to potential serendipitous discoveries if a search for one topic leads to a related one.
The simplicity of this change carries great ramifications. Google is switching from simple keyword recognition to understanding the meaning of relationships and entities. Search terms are no longer a string of words but rather an identification of a person, place or thing. Google has built a database of over 500 million of these “things” and 3.5 million facts about them from Wikipedia, Google Local, Google Maps, Google Shopping and Freebase. Users will begin to see the new Knowledge Graph prominently in Google Search results in coming weeks.
It is still unclear how the Knowledge Graph will impact search engine optimization. Because Google is now focusing on grasping the user’s intent, it narrows down the field of search engine results. And by offering a more complete user experience without having to leave the page, it could mean more revenue coming in through Google Adwords.
For now, Google is collecting information from users so that eventually it will no longer have to ask for the user’s intent. What do you think about Google’s new Knowledge Graph? Do you find it to be helpful? Let Blue Interactive Agency know in your comments below!
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website organically when searchers type in targeted keywords on search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing. The ultimate goal is to get a website to rank on the first page of search engine results – where customers are most likely to look and find your business.
With more and more people going online to find businesses, it’s important for lawyers to market their law practice through a quality, search engine optimized website. SEO will help people to find your website in order to generate qualified leads and potential clients. The great advantage of SEO is that it can target specific keywords for each type of law practice, such as DUI or divorce attorney, to attract the right type of clients. Even better, long tail keywords such as “Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer” can narrow down your law practice to a more unique niche.
SEO results are easy to measure through tools like Google Analytics or metrics software like Omniture. These tools provide valuable data such as how many visits a website receives, how long people are staying on the site, where they are coming from and what keywords they are searching for. These analytics give insight on how to effectively market your website.
Compared to other forms of advertising, SEO is relatively inexpensive but has an enormous potential to increase exposure for a company. Search engine optimization is part of a long term interactive marketing strategy to help business increase their online visibility. In addition to law blogging strategies and social media marketing (see previous posts), Blue Interactive Agency helps law firms to maximize ROI by offering search engine optimization services at competitive rates. Contact us to see how we can help.
In this blog series, we’ve gone over the Google for Nonprofits suite of free or discounted apps and websites available. Now we’ll discuss what Google Analytics can do to help your nonprofit organization reach its goals.
Google Analytics is a free service that offers measurements tools for your website. It presents a dashboard of tools that allow for creation of real time, customizable and sharable reports. Content analytics will tell you how often people visit each page of your website, how long they stay, and how often they convert. The Google Analytics conversion suite goes beyond page views and visitor counts to track sales, downloads and video plays to help you truly understand visitor behavior. Learn which social media sources refer visitors and whether you gain the most traffic from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google +. If your nonprofit organization has a mobile-friendly website, mobile analytics is available to monitor the performance of apps and tell you where mobile traffic comes from.
Understanding this valuable data will help you to improve your website and increase marketing ROI. You’ll be better able to manage your online advertising dollars as you make smarter bidding and keyword choices on Google Adwords. Google Analytics has proven to be a powerful tool for many companies, such as PBS, which unlocked data and insights to see a 30% increase in visitor traffic. Switching to Google Analytics helped the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art gain new efficiency in performance measurement and realize a 15% gain in traffic accuracy. Using Google Analytics, nonprofits can learn which online marketing initiatives are cost effective and see how visitors actually interact with their sites.
As part of the Google for Nonprofits program, the company offers a suite of Apps including Google Sites which allow nonprofit organizations to easily create and share group websites to promote their cause. Nonprofits can create dynamic websites without coding or HTML knowledge, which saves on billing costs. Google Sites are a useful tool for centralizing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, videos and slideshows to keep teams organized.
Google Sites offer dozens of pre-built website templates – all customizable – and easy, single click page creation. New templates for company intranets and project workspaces help nonprofits to build collaborative sites.
A great advantage of Google Sites is that it is securely powered by the web, so users can access pages anywhere from the office or on the road via mobile or tablet technology. “Google Sites has revolutionized the way we communicate with our clients and with our team members. We currently have 15 Active Google Sites. Each of our clients has a dedicated site containing important project related information. As an example, we use lists to capture information about the meetings we setup. Several people can update information on each meeting in real time…we now use Google Sites as our core vehicle for communication. We have sites for HR, Training, Sales, Systems and Project Management,” says Steve Lightstone, president of Corner Office Leads.
On Wednesday Google launched the “Four Screens to Victory Initiative” aimed at helping political candidates run a successful campaign. The strategy involves taking full advantage of television, PC, mobile, and tablet technology – a method useful for businesses as well.
Google has been working with presidential campaigns for years, and is now ready to share some key learnings and best practices for harnessing the power of the web. Four screen ad campaigns are more effective in driving campaign awareness and engagement. Google breaks down the four steps to victory: Continue reading ““Four Screens to Victory” Helps Campaigns and Businesses Alike” »
A Facebook business page is valuable for communicating with your customers as well as for search engine optimization purposes. Facebook marketing allows businesses to create targeted messages and to leverage personal recommendations from patrons. If you don’t have a Facebook page designated for your business, follow this step-by-step guide to get started.
Facebook has integrated with WordPress to offer a new plugin that allows users to share blog content on the social media network with just one click. The plugin can be downloaded on WordPress under the name Facebook for WordPress. “The plugin was built by Facebook engineers in collaboration with open source partners, and makes it simple for anyone to make their WordPress site more social – no coding required,” says Facebook engineer Matt Kelly in a blog post.
