Thanksgiving Turkey Tales & 20 Holiday Sales Boosting Tips

Thanksgiving Turkey Tales to Kickstart the Festive Season!

 A Flying Start!

John Mueller: Google Penguin 3.0 Likely in 2014

Penguin Bro-self-chat: "We gotta speed up!"

(With reference to Penguin Refresh: To put it in a nutshell if you have been sent to the naughty corner because your site wasn't 'clean' then even if you redeem your site by disavowing spammy links or replacing these with real ones, be aware it may take some time (10+ months?) before you recover search engine rankings. This is because there is some delay with a Penguin 'Refresh' (you will have to wait for an Algorithm Rerun and not just ordinary search engine refreshes) although there is talk to have this speeded up. Note also the importance of having quality, relevant and "unique content" ... watch the video for the full story. While you may rank higher initially via Google's estimates, further social signals (engagement, etc.) or lack of will determine whether you rise or fall in the SERPs going forward.)

Quick Youtube Tip: How To Increase YouTube Subscriptions Easily

Here are 2 Quick Effective Ways to Increase Your Youtube Subscriptions: 

• Add a SUBSCRIBE BUTTON to link your Blog to your Youtube Channel 
• Tweak this Button so it POPS OUT when visitors click this link to visit your YT channel.
• GO FISHING: Sometimes you've just got to ask for a business lead OUTRIGHT because your Youtube homepage is rather busy these days. 
• And it's easy to miss that 'SUBS' button on your homepage when it's competing with a continuous stream of bright, new, shiny things (aka more videos and ads)!
• All you need to do is add some piece/s of code like so, to your blog:

YouTube: How to Create Videos Using VIDEO EDITOR

More changes on YouTube.  Wonder where your Playlists, My Channel & Video Manager went?

View the Latest YouTube Navigation Updates  

Navigation gets easier and shorter with the Creator Studio button.

How to Increase Social Sharing on Twitter

You've heard of cat-nap, well Surgey our mascot cat sometimes engage in cat-mope as well!

What's wrong Surgey?  Here's his recent rant on Twitter:

CYBER SECURITY: What Alerts to Look For to Save Your Bacon?

How to Find Security Breaches Before They Sink You (Skyhigh Networks Cloud Security Software)

With the knowledge that security breaches in previously 'safe' systems have occurred or have been compromised on a very wide scale (crims are rubbing their hands with glee), knowing what to look for in security breaches when it happens to your business is vital to control or even prevent -

TIPS on Posting TO & FROM Tumblr

 

Posting to Tumblr from Yahoo

Posting from Yahoo to Tumblr is a breeze. Open accounts on both if you don't have any. As you may have heard, Tumblr was purchased by Yahoo in May of 2013 hence the sharing bias for T?

• #1 - Click on the TUMBLR ICON (navy, lower-case T) on the Top LHS of the article and proceed (this is the best method - it's the fastest and easiest):

When you post an article with video from Yahoo this way, it will give you a Thumbnail of that Video on Tumblr without any extra work. 

When you share this Tumblr post on Google+:  your post will appear on your Google+ PROFILE (not Page even if you have chosen to post from a certain Page) - in similar format, ie. big thumbnail + title (with links to your Tumblr post), truncated news and tags (mouseover to view tag-link).

Google vs. Facebook: Who Is Winning The Tech Cold War: INFOGRAPHIC 2009 - 2014

Beginning of Rant (aka Commentary):

Wonder what Google and Facebook have acquired from 2009 - 2014?

View the Summarised Graph below or follow the above link to view the full Infographics.

Source

These acquisitions are obviously strategic regarding the race to gain (commercial) dominance over Internet market share (ie. you and me). Of course it's about selling more ads ... that's what all the social platforms are doing or will do, once they start to monetise their communities. We understand the need to monetise for survival reasons and most people would not have objections provided that membership continues to remain free.

The good thing about establishing a monetising system means that businesses will then have the means to tap some of the traffic on that social platform. The bad news is you, the user, will be subjected to more ads, but provided this is executed as unobtrusively as possible* and if businesses were clever enough to change the strategy** about their ads, it should not affect the community-membership. YouTube seems to be able to strike a good balance when serving ads to viewers by

• serving less obtrusive ads than some other sites via their *Overlay In-video Ads (the small ad at the bottom of the player that fades to a hint) 

• or by giving the user control over what they see eg. **TrueView In-stream Ads where you can click away after 5 seconds if you wish. (Here is where smart players can tap what Youtube already does so well. Tip: It's about moving away from the 'dodo format' of yesteryear if you wish to decrease the bounce rate.)

And because many of these sites are gathering so much data about the user you can be sure that the ads served will be very specific and tailored to you, your tastes and habits, etc. (that's the scary thing - that these social sites will know more about you than you yourself or your own Mother!).

I predict that there will come a time in the future when you will not mind these ads so much (because they will be preempting your thoughts and actions) which will become very pervasive by then. Your life will be an open book -  swathed 24/7 in The All-seeing Electronic Cloud from which there is ... NO escape!

Not only is Ares (Mars) watching us mere mortals, so is Zeus, Poseidon and all of Olympus.

(End of Rant).

You may also be interested in:

19 Turbo Google Shortcuts to Power Surge Your Searches!!

FAST CREATE VIDEOS with YouTube Slideshow Creator Tool

Tutorial: How to FAST & EASY CREATE VIDEOS with YouTube Slideshow Creator

 

Writer's Block? Vlogger's Void, Creator's Cramp, Author's Apathy or Poet's Permafrost?

From time to time all content creators experience crawls or drought in their productivity.

What if you could create (video) content easily, repeatedly and fast - in 2 or 3 minutes?

What if you could spin many variations of your original video quickly and consistently?

Do you have photos / images on your hard drive that's gathering dust? Unpolished gems
waiting in the 'wings' to be rediscovered, loved and shared with others - on center stage?

Photos waiting to bask in the sunshine! If you do not have a stash of pics then it's time to
capture great photos of everyday life so you will never be short of content-material again!

Here's what you can do with your photos and images - view the video below to find out:

To view #3 DEMO created go here: http://youtu.be/Uxb45qdzW6M
To view #2 DEMO created go here: http://youtu.be/PvKgi9VT0-A
To view #1 DEMO created go here: http://youtu.be/krV72mrqP5I

Similar Demo, different Audios - these Demos were Generated for the Tutorial above.

TIP:  If you change some of your images and use different audio backgrounds, you could generate a ton of content very quickly using YouTube's slideshow creator tool and tapping into whatever images you have already amassed on Google+, Blogger - for your different social channels. How cool is that? Do ensure that you do not infringe copyright rules when you scrape content and do so sparingly.

You get more kudos (especially from the search engines) if you create YOUR OWN CONTENT and try to keep this as original as you can although you will find that wholesale plagiarism of images and other content are rife on the Net and your content will NOT be exempt from such risk. Do not fret unduly though as it is harder to fool search engines for they are well equipped for the task compared to humans, and will penalise sites where content has been plagiarised, stolen or extensively copied.

The YouTube Slideshow Creator also facilitates more variations to your slideshows via duration, slide and transition effects:

1. slide duration - fit to music or from one to 10 seconds
2. slide effect - pan & zoom, or none
3. transition effect - 14 effects to choose from
4. 9 audios - pop, rock, rap, etc.(the menu changes each time)

This means that even though you use your original content as a 'mould' your 'spin-offs' can be quite unique if you plan this project thoughtfully and creatively. If you begin with a substantial pool of images (and the 9 audio offers are different each time, for each creation), then the permutations / combinations will result in a large amount of new video variations ie. more new content for your social sites.

All this with 6 quick, easy clicks. Pre-select and upload images to an album on your Google+ profile if you do not have any online images that's accessible. Then point to this album when you create videos with the Youtube SlideShow Creator.

AUDIO TIP: Select appropriate audios for your background because they can make or break your video (depending on your video content, niche, audience, etc. eg. if you are creating a classical ballet slideshow, use classical music for your audio; use poignant music when dealing with sad circumstances eg. loss of a loved one, relationship breakups, unrequited love, etc.).

101 Awesome Marketing Quotes

101 Truly Awesome Marketing Quotes
With Beautiful & Fitting Illustrations to Seal In Each Message - Enjoy & Be Inspired.
 

101 Awesome Marketing Quotes from HubSpot

Free Webinar by Internet Millionaire Mark: >>

How to Make $112k Per Month - 3 Step Strategy Revealed

Twenty-Five Inspiring Quotes
From Experts Shaping the Future of Marketing: Nate Silver, Seth Godin & Scott Harrison

25 Inspiring Quotes From Experts Shaping the Future of Marketing from HubSpot

 

The NEW Twitter: TIPS on How to Optimise Your New Twitter Look to Your Best Advantage

The new Twitter look has rolled out for some accounts. If your account has been updated you will notice that it looks very different to the old Twitter. In fact it looks similar to Facebook's format. It uses up more webpage real estate (more room for ads to come?) and the header is much bigger.

There is plenty of 'space' and you can no longer personalise your background (similar to when Youtube rolled out its changes last year). The only parts you can personalise is your profile and header images and your theme colour (your link colour and shades of this to form your background base and border colours).  So the focus of this post will be based on what you can customise.

The New Pristine Twitter Look

 

Your Profile Image: 

This has been significantly enlarged (400x400px) and Twitter has done a good job of resizing this without distortion, so you can retain your profile image as is, if you wish. To edit, log in, go Edit Profile (clearly visible on the RHS immediately below your Header) then click on your Profle Icon; select the option: Upload or Take Photo (or Remove or Cancel). Click Apply and Save Changes after editing.

Your Header Image:

The default size is 1500 x 500px (wxh). Twitter does not accept animated gifs for this. If your image before the changeover was HD it would show up fine, even it was 500px in width.

Smaller images especially where the quality is not that good, will look blur once you switch over to the new Twitter. That is because it is enlarged significantly.  Similarly your usual banners (728x60 etc. even 1000x100 - won't work properly, they blow up but with half of your banner missing!)

Tip: Upload HD images for your header and if you still insist on using your banner (why not if it is a good brand image?) try decreasing it in size slightly and then incorporate it into a bigger background.

Upload this image then increase the size to your satisfaction using the Slider Tool on Twitter. With this strategy it is possible to move your banner not just up and down but also side to side so you can resize and reposition your banner with some PRECISION!

Tip: It's the attention to detail that will sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to quality.

Tip: There's no limitation (as yet) as to how you can use your header-real estate so it's possible to stamp your brand on it for instant, landing-page exposure. The main thing is if your header appeals to your target market and promotes your brand, subtly or not, then that's success indeed, where headers are concerned.

Theme Colour:

Log in, click on the Theme Colour bar, below your Bio and select a colour. You will notice your link colour changing to the colour you have chosen, and the background will be a lighter shade of that, including the borders surrounding the Tweet Box. Click Save Changes to lock in the changes.

Your Tweets:

 

Your tweets now feature prominently and occupy the central part of your page. Scroll to view all your past tweets. Who You Follow also shows up on your Tweet Feed.

This Tweet Feed looks unchanged in size but with the new format, addition of your following activity, plus bigger, bolder, featured tweets (more important - for popular, trending topics?), and the clean background your Tweet Feed does takes center-stage. It's in your interest to use this valuable, real-estate space wisely as it is very visible. A cleanout to declutter your feed of irrelevant tweets would not be amiss.

Tip: Keep your trivial posts to other non-business accounts if you love tweeting while partying!

Most Popular Tweets:

These appear larger, eg. some Google+ posts, to help others find your best content?

(They could also pave the way to sponsored tweets ... as part of the drive to monetise users?)

Pin Your Tweet:

You can now pin your best post (tweet) to the top (similar to Facebook). Click on " ... " (use the MORE tab at the top of your page) and select the "Pin to your Profile Page" option.

Fly Your Flag Tip: Make your brand / business more visible. Organise an 'intro' tweet then pin this to the TOP: whether it is your logo, tagline, jingle, all or some of this mix, it's your brand in a nutshell that's flying on your Twitter flag-pole. Keep it fluttering (by tweeting & interacting) for best visibility.

 General Layout:

• This is clearer - your bio is now more visible (for those who used to have a header image behind their bio in the old layout), and your handle, photos and videos sit below your profile photo.  

• Tabs of who you are following, your followers, favorites, and lists are found and easily accessible at the top.

•  Who to follow, and trends are now on the RHS.

• Your following and followers are now displayed in a grid fashion.

• Home, Notifications, Discover, Me - sit above your header on the LHS.

• Direct Messages, Settings, Compose A Tweet - sit correspondingly on your RHS.

Tip: Watch the above video for a refresher on How to Adjust Your Header Image 

so that you Optimise Your New Twitter Look to Your Best Advantage.

Join Me, Thanks!

Postnote: You may notice that you can still access your old format if you go to Settings (TOP RHS) and to Design (via Account - LHS) if you wish to change your old background image, perhaps to reflect your new header theme for the sake of brand consistency. Unlike YouTube when it redesigned its platform, Twitter hasn't done a clean changeover. Presumably Twitter developers will do away entirely with the old format soon or eventually as it's a confusing mix in its current state, especially for newcomers.

NEW! Free Webinar by Internet Millionaire Mark: >>

How to Make $112k Per Month - 3 Step Strategy Revealed

Hurry, Limited Time Only! Oct 2014

Facebook advertising: Trends forecasted - What you should know!

If you use Facebook without paying for the marketing of your business interests you might want to take note of this piece of information and rethink your strategies.

As is often the case, a piece of news can be good or bad - it depends on your perspective. If you recall, the Chinese character for "CRISIS" is also the same as for "OPPORTUNITY" (J.F. Kennedy).

Take a closer look at the ideas suggested below which show how you can rework this trend of "declining organic reach" to your ADVANTAGE?  Perhaps you might not persevere with this option and decide to refocus your effort on other social platforms instead. One thing is definite, if you intend to continue successfully on Facebook you will need to adjust the strategy you are using now regarding marketing to your Facebook fans or concede to those who are better at responding to these changes.

Alternatively you could dip into your wallet and "pay-to-play". There are definite advantages to be gained when you pay for your ads, eg. you eliminate that hope-and-pray element from your marketing campaigns which can then be very tailored (and measured) to the segment/s you are targeting. This will in turn allow you to make swift and optimal responses to garner the results you desire, faster and more accurately.

Renaissance of the Humble Blog - A Rising Trend:

Ultimately it looks like one's success will boil down to having ... AWESOME CONTENT* ... more precisely, BLOG CONTENT* ... yet again! There simply seems to be no way of getting out of this (for those who have not yet embraced content marketing wholeheartedly). Why? Because "personal profiles aren't limited to organic reach". It is (blog) content that will "drive real engagement". Have you noticed? People happily share content with their Facebook friends when it is outstandingly good and/ or highly entertaining.

On a tactical note, what kind of campaign then? To find out follow the discussion-link below:>

*Here are Some Tips on How To Rock at Blogging

How to rock blogging: The beginner's guide from Kelvin (KC) Claveria


 Note: There are many blogs that are not found, and worse still ... not read when found.
The above blogging info will help you to begin blogging and reach your audience better.

And there you have it. In a nutshell, the broad strategy is to do what it takes to drive traffic from Facebook to your blog; from your blog your awesome content creates far-reaching ripples which in turn drives more traffic from Facebook back to your blog. You rinse and repeat this two-gear action** (using ads and creating an awesome blog) until you have a seamless, ever-expanding reach due to the multiplier effect of awesome content, engaged fans and influencers. The tactical campaigns will depend on your niche, target market, budget, etc. It pays to test the water thoroughly first before you spend big. Note the key role that your blog plays in this strategy. It's also where your important Call-To-Action links reside!

 Blogging & Passive Income Resources To Check Out:

• Submit Your Articles (Videos, etc.) System (dominate searches, huge savings)
• Creating a Regular & Continuous Income Online (expert from the IM trenches)
• CB Passive Income, Simple Model (newbies' push-button clone system)

Misson IMpossible

Easter Egg 2014 Postnote: For Whom the Bell Rings

From the Assignment Files of IM Agent Maxwell (aka Agent 0070)

 

**Secret Mission IMpossible Briefing: 

"As a canny and determined IM possible Agent, you know that NO Mission's Impossible. And so you are charged with the mission of priming this 2-Gear Engine until it morphs into the Foxy Ferrari of your 8-Gear Dreams. You will know when you have finally arrived (ie. mission accomplished, code name: "The Sound of Music") when you hear those dulcet tones, normally associated with the Christmas holiday season, 'peal' merrily on high ....... ALL Year Round!" (Good luck Agent 0070!).

Clue: Snoop on the above Video till the very end to Crack the Code ...
  

GOOGLE+ Adds PAGE VIEWS to your Profile & Pages

It could all be a hoax of course especially if you find that you've 'collected' 10 billion views, afterall today is April 1st (in some countries)!! At midnight those figures will vaporize like Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach?

Update 3.4.2014: Turns out it wasn't an April Fool's joke! :) - so now you can relax confident in the knowledge that your Google+ page views are permanent.

Do I Need a Google+ CUSTOM URL? Really?

Tapping the Link Juice of the User-Friendly, Google+ CUSTOM URL

5 Reasons to Claim Your Google+ Custom (Vanity) URL:

Matching Tea Set!  Twitter tea-pot, Facebook saucers , Google+ tea-cups, Pinterest plates? Grandma would 'love' this!  I mean would you think of serving a sumptuous afternoon tea (high tea) complete with chef's signature patisserie with a hotch-potch tea-set of a myriad design pieces?  They would ruin the look and taste of your tea party even if chef's patisseries were 5-star michelin, culinary masterpieces! The (visual) delivery (how it is served to your customers) is as important as the (hidden) execution (how it was prepared).

So too when you serve your social media links to your audience: the consistency of your social URLs affects the appearance and branding of your business.  The more matching they are the less confusion and diffusion there will be of your BRAND.  And shorter, pretty URLs make you more memorable for a longer period - you literally stamp your mark onto their hippocampus (the seat of memory in the human brain) eg.

• Twitter: twitter.com/perthpatisserie
• Google Plus: google.com/+PerthPatisserie
• Facebook: facebook.com/PerthPatisserie
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/perthpatisserie

In a Nutshell, the Advantages of a Google+ Custom URL are:

- A Google+ custom URL is shorter and looks more attractive and professional
- You have the option of adding suffixes (handy if you're partitioning for different target markets)
- Is easier to remember and PROMOTE (rolls off your tongue if you choose the name carefully)
- And is better and easier for BRANDING purposes.
- Your brand is more cohesive when social URLs are CONSISTENT across different platforms.
- Easier to build trust because your custom link looks less formidable than the original.


However You Should also Consider the Downside of a Custom URL:

- Custom URLs may not be100% customised eg. google.com/+YourDomain1 (1 is the suffix)
- It is not going to remain free forever - if you want free then don't customise.**
- Custom URLs are permanent! Don't customise if your website/name is going to be short term.
- You need a verified listing for local business pages
- And a verified website for non-local business
- Unless you use .com your Google custom URL will end with your TLD such as .net, .info, etc. 

If in doubt don't customise...yet, but if the whole world is trending that way you may not have much choice but to confront that issue again in the future. In the meantime you could risk losing that valuable Google+ custom URL to your competition or other parties. Don't kick yourself later when it's gone! As an extreme measure you can always delete your page later if you change your mind.

IMO it is wiser to get your Google+ CUSTOM URL for your PAGE sooner rather than later, if you have already claimed your other social URLs. This way you have a matching 'Tea-Set' of social URLs for both aesthetic and functional purposes when it comes to your online social presence, SEO and branding!

Note that custom URLs are NOT 'standard'. Even when you get your custom URL there may be slight differences or variations eg. /+PerthPatisserie versus /+Perthpatisserie or even /+perthpatisserie. I prefer the former version (capped first letters) because it accomodates visual recognition better (although it would not make any difference to application text-readers).

You will find out what version you get when your custom URL is offered to you. Hopefully it matches your expectations because you CANNOT edit it in any way at this point in time (unlike Facebook's custom URLs although conditions do apply). You can however ensure your Google+ page has the name you desire most (which is editable but within their TOS) and hope that the URL Google offers you will match the version you have displayed! A small detail perhaps, but it may be important to some?

Examples of custom URLs:
google.com/+amazon  (no caps)
google.com/+SocialMediaToday  (capped first letters)
google.com/+BOOM_Studio  (caps and underscore)
google.com/+WanderBehindEverythingMusic  (very long url)

Google+ use is offered within a large selection of languages
Google+ expands custom url rollout, view 500 comments here
Tip: if you're going to comment, add your custom url too?

Last but not least Grandma notes that her Google+ custom URL is not obviously visible on her Google+ page so here's a video tip on how to make that highly visible on your Google+ page. It can't be assumed that your audience automatically knows about your custom URL unless you make it visible and easy to find (ie. high above the fold on your 'Home Page' - Grandma's sagely adage yet again!):

Google+ CUSTOM URL: She's Sitting Pretty on a Lofty Perch

High visibility is good for branding, sharing, traffic and SEO generally. And all this for ... free! Even if you are a household name make it easy for your fans to find you because your Google+ URL is not that obvious especially to those who are new to Google+ or if you do not post often. And if you're not a household name yet then this strategic move using Google+ custom URL will help you in the right direction. So if you've got it, flaunt it and in the process, help your audience find you more easily even as G+ membership surges ahead year on year!

BTW there's another bonus in using your Google+ custom URL. Your Youtube videos located on your Google+ YouTube TAB gets a truncated link eg. /+Surgeyourprofits/videos which you can now share easily (pssst...take your fans to your Google+ and Youtube page with just one click). Remember to upload your videos first (only the nine latest videos will be displayed on Google+).

Now Meet Grandma @ Grandma's Tea Party - Isn't She Lovely?? Enjoy!!

**Google+ custom URL’s terms of service
1. We reserve the right to reclaim custom URLs or remove them for any reason, and without notice.
2. Custom URLs are free for now, but we may start charging a fee for them. However, we will tell you before we start charging and give you the choice to stop participating first. (Emphasis mine)

Further reading from around the web:
It's time to get Google+ (14 Tips for 2014)

Should I Get a Google+ Custom URL? | ByteLaunch

(what you should know before you customise your Google+ URL)

Vanity URL: What It Is, How To Get One, & Why Your Life Is Worse Without Them
(some of the comments no longer apply but read the current parts anyway because they're still relevant)

Google’s Knowledge Graph Now Being Used To Enhance Individual Search Results

Manage your Weight by Eating Foods which Suppress Hunger 

Social Media News Update: Pinterest's New Shopping Feed...

Google's 'New' Hummingbird Search Algorithm: Experts' Views
(related to the article above, Pinterets' New Shopping Feed..."hummingbird compliant"?)