Healthy Blog Reviews

Bing Takes Baby Steps Towards Catching Google

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:53:18 +0000

Rome wasn’t built in a day. A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step. If you’re going through hell, keep going. It’s always the darkest before the dawn. Whatever the cliché being thrown around in Redmond, it must be working, because Bing’s US search share continues to nudge ever upwards. According to comScore’s data , Bing climbed from 11.3% to 11.5% , likely stealing that share from the “we’ve given up on search” Yahoo, which dropped from 17% to 16.8%. The only kink in Microsoft’s plan to catch Google? Google’s share increased too–up from 65.4% to 65.5%.

See the rest here:
Bing Takes Baby Steps Towards Catching Google

Study: 79% of Twitter Accounts Are Not Actively Used

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:24:16 +0000

Lots of cool Twitter statistics coming out of Barracuda Networks new study (pdf). Where do I start? 21% of Twitter users are actually using the service–meaning that have at least 10 followers, follow at least 10 people, and have tweeted at least 10 times. 74% of Twitter users have less than 10 followers! However, that number is improving with a 30% increase in the number of users with 10+ followers (since June 2009) 60% of Twitter users follow less than 10 people 34% of Twitter users have more followers than others they are following, showing an 70% increase from 20% in June 2009 73% of users have less than 10 tweets, as compared to 79% in June 2009. 49% of Twitter users joined between November 2008 and April 2009–the period when many celebrities jumped on the Twitter bandwagon Twitter’s growth spiked at 21% in April 2009 Lastly, who tweets the most? Those with around 1,000 followers do: I’m guessing that’s the sweet spot of actually being able to engage and keep-up with your followers. ( via )

Read the rest here:
Study: 79% of Twitter Accounts Are Not Actively Used

Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade; Next Movie Called “The Streisand Effect?”

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:08:17 +0000

Have you heard of the Streisand effect ? Long story short , in 2003 Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for $50 million because he took photos of her home. She said the photographs invaded her privacy. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the world had no clue of the existence of these photographs until after she filed the lawsuit. Filing the lawsuit created a greater issue than if she had just kept quiet. Enter Lindsay Lohan. The almost popular, but now notsomuch, actress is suing E-Trade for, get this, $100 million for naming one of its TV babies “Lindsay.” Apparently, Miss Lohan believes that she has obtained “single name” status–like Madonna or Oprah–and that everyone that sees the milkaholic manboy-stealer will instantly think of her–and that will ruin her stellar reputation . Says Lohan’s lawyer: “They used the name Lindsay,” Ovadia said. “They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan.” Ovadia wants an injunction to force the spot off the air, and the Lindsay camp wants every last copy of the commercial Actually, no one was talking about Lindsay Lohan, until this lawsuit. Oh wait, maybe that’s the point. No one was talking about you, so file a $100M lawsuit and get everyone talking about you again! Alternatively, why not actually make a movie that we think is good?

Continue reading here:
Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade; Next Movie Called “The Streisand Effect?”

Twitter Wants Your Trust

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:16:04 +0000

Social media or networking or whatever it is you want to call it continues to grow at exponential rates of speed. With the “announcement” of Facebook getting its own location based service in place the concerns over privacy and safety of information continue to grow as well. Twitter realizes this concern and is working to make Twitter free from malicious users especially in light of recent phishing attacks that have created some concern in the Twitter world. In a Twitter blog post entitled “Trust and Safety” the company says that it is concerned and is working to make the world safer for tweeters of shapes and sizes. Today, we’re launching a new service to protect users that strikes a major blow against phishing and other deceitful attacks. By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter. Even if a bad link is already sent out in an email notification and somebody clicks on it, we’ll be able keep that user safe. Sounds good and this comes on the tail of a recent Biz Stone post that described what had been going on in Twitter due to successful phishing attacks. The new feature will not be something that most will notice and Twitter is focusing on one main area of the service that is most susceptible currently to this kind of attack. Since these attacks occur primarily on Direct Messages and email notifications about Direct Messages, this is where we have focused our initial efforts. For the most part, you will not notice this feature because it works behind the scenes but you may notice links shortened to twt.tl in Direct Messages and email notifications. So Twitter is framing these efforts in trying to earn your trust and improve your safety on a “proactive” basis. I wonder if they are just trying to look like the antithesis of Facebook who throws down tablets off Mt. Facebook and lets the chips fall where they may regarding privacy and other issues. Whatever the reason, it’s the safer way to go in a world where privacy looks to be less available with each passing day. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Original post:
Twitter Wants Your Trust

Facebook Readying To Allow Users To Say Where Their Face Is

cgseo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:40:50 +0000

Facebook is going to be joining the frenzy to help everyone not only know what people are thinking but also where they are thinking it. As we move more toward a world of this total view of another’s life you can be sure that Facebook wants to be involved. With the rising popularity of Foursquare, Gowalla and other location based “services” it makes sense that Facebook be here. In the bigger picture, however, this is likely to be more about taking on Google for local advertising dollars. After all, money has to be made correct? The New York Times Bits section reports Starting next month, the more than 400 million Facebook users could begin seeing a new kind of status update flow through their news feed: the current locations of their friends. Facebook plans to take the wraps off a new location-based feature in late April at f8, the company’s yearly developer conference, according to several people briefed on the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss unannounced services. In preparation for the introduction, Facebook updated its privacy policy last November. The new policy states: “When you share your location with others or add a location to something you post, we treat that like any other content you post.” On reports like this where there is the “unauthorized” source that is talking about unannounced services I always have the picture of a clandestine meeting under a gas lamp picture. Two shadowy figures exchange a note and keep walking on a lonely street in the fog kinda thing. Then I wonder who these “sources” are, if they are really unauthorized or are they part of the new age of PR which is more about leaking information than announcing it. Officially Facebook is staying mum. Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the company wasn’t ready to discuss any possible location-based features. “We’re constantly experimenting with new things around here, but we don’t have any details to share right now,” she said in an e-mail message. It appears as if Facebook will remain friendly to the developer community on this one as well according to these “sources”. With estimates that 100 million users access Facebook daily via a mobile device (which represents 1 in 4 total Facebook users) this service is primed for quick adoption for those who like this kind of thing. As a result there is money to be made and allowing a business as usual attitude with the Facebook development community only makes sense. Of course there will be plenty of concern about security and privacy because Facebook has turned itself into the poster child for how not to do new things and thus open the door to criticism. Maybe this information “leak” is designed to let the air out of any arguments that this new offering will face. I admit, my inner ‘conspiracy theorist’ is strong today. So what do you think about this new, soon to be (we think), offering by Facebook? Of course, the details are sketchy but you must have an opinion on the general idea, right? Chime in. We’re listening but we’re not telling you from where .

Go here to read the rest:
Facebook Readying To Allow Users To Say Where Their Face Is

Buy Targeted Web Traffic – Invest In Success

BlogPostman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:26:23 +0000

If you’re thinking about getting into the world of web based business, you’re probably a little skeptical that you can actually make a living from a company that doesn’t really have a physical location. The truth is that there are many legitimate ways to make money online, but they all depend on the same two things. First, you need a good website, and second, you need to make sure that you find a way to buy targeted web traffic so that the right people know you exist.

Many people who start blogs of website businesses have really good ideas and a lot of motivation, but they simply don’t understand how important it is to bring a high volume of visitors to their website on a daily basis.

If you think that you can just design a blog or business website, and that people will automatically find themselves on your pages amongst all the millions of other sites that are out there, you are in for a rude awakening. The key to a successful online endeavor is learning to buy targeted web traffic at just the right time.

If you’ve never heard of the option to buy targeted web traffic before, you might not be aware that there are specific marketing and advertising tactics that have been shown to be successful at driving people who are already interested in your product or service to your web pages, where they will be likely to make a purchase.

One of the best reasons to buy targeted web traffic instead of trying to generate it yourself is that inexperienced web marketers can often fail to realize that a multitude of different tactics are needed to create a comprehensive marketing program. Professional web marketers can put together a package of tactics for you that are much more likely to be successful.

A proven way to buy targeted web traffic is to use a marketing service that can offer you click through keyword placement. This tactic means that when you supply a marketing service with a list of keywords that you have decided are relevant to your site, they will immediately place links using these keywords all over their network of sites, driving unique traffic to your pages for a low price.

Although you might think that you don’t have the budget to buy targeted web traffic, you’ll probably be surprised at just how affordable it can be if you work with the right marketing service.

Are you ready to take your website traffic to the next level, but aren’t sure if buying targeted web traffic will work? You can learn more about targeted web marketing services here.

New MSN Homepage Goes Live…Really!

cgseo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:25:07 +0000

Unlike last time, there’ll be no snafu about whether the time is right to reveal the new MSN Homepage –it’s now officially live for all. New features include: TrendWatch – Highlights the day’s top trends and movers on Twitter Hyper-local Tweets – Uses the power of Bing to highlight tweets from your location, available on the new Local Edition My Cities – Personalize MSN Local Edition and save up to 3 cities to follow – making it easy to keep up with your friends or family across the entire country You should already see the new design at MSN.com or you can head here: http://www.msn.com/preview.aspx Thoughts? Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

The rest is here:
New MSN Homepage Goes Live…Really!

IRS to Track Online Merchants—Will You Be Affected?

cgseo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:05:32 +0000

Flying under the radar with your affiliate income is about to get a lot harder for US tax payers. Starting next year, the IRS will be tracking all online payments made through credit, debit and electronic payment processing like PayPal. The new 1099-K form will be provided by any bank or payment settlement company operating in those areas. Even better, these forms will include only the gross amounts—i.e. the payments made excluding any fees these companies or other intermediaries may charge—or returns, chargebacks or refunds.. As most of us well know, a payment of $100 often doesn’t translate into a profit of $100, so it will be on the merchants’ shoulders to report all fees among other business expenses. Naturally, the IRS is worried that online merchants aren’t reporting their income, either through ignorance or willful tax evasion. Reporting forms like the W-2 and other 1099s help tax payers to know what they have to pay taxes on (um, everything) and exactly how much they earned. (It’s a heck of a lot easier than going through your records yourself, but you might still have to to get the fees.) According to Barbara Weltman for Auction Bytes , All merchants who accept payments through credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and PayPal will receive information returns telling them – and the IRS – the gross amount of the merchant card transactions. This will be broken down month by month. While the form uses the word “card,” the IRS has made it clear that this is interpreted broadly to include third-party network transactions (i.e., PayPal). There is at least one loophole: if you’re just not that good an online merchant. Small merchants, making $20,000 or less in 200 or fewer transactions, will not require 1099 reporting. Ultimately, there probably won’t be an effect if you’re already reporting your online income accurately. Will the new laws affect you? We are SO not tax lawyers or accountants, it’s not even funny. Please consult someone who is to learn about your tax responsibilities.

See the original post here:
IRS to Track Online Merchants—Will You Be Affected?

Watch Out America! Here Come the European Social Media Marketers!

cgseo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:53:57 +0000

According to a new study being published this week by Unica , European marketers trail their American cousins, when it comes to the adoption of social media marketing. While, 58% of marketers in North America are already engaged in social media marketing, only 34% of Europeans can say the same. That’s likely to change in the next 12 months: Some quick math suggests that this time next year, 76% of American marketers will be knee deep in social media marketing, with an impressive game of “catch-up” played by European counterparts–hitting 64% adoption. So what’s keeping Europe from making this a photo-finish? Well, the biggest set-back is the 20% of European marketers that don’t want anything to do with social media . Not, “we’re more than 12 months out” or “we not sure yet” but flat out “we have no plans for social media marketing.” I’d love to know what industries those marketers represent because I’d go and steal their lunch money!

Continued here:
Watch Out America! Here Come the European Social Media Marketers!

Colorado: Another State of Confusion

cgseo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:46:26 +0000

Being a resident of North Carolina I have had the experience of watching the state government take away an income stream for people in a time when income streams can be little more like a trickle. It did this through imposing a tax on Amazon affiliate sales in the state and Amazon essentially said “No problem, we’ll just remove the program from your residents reach”. I marveled at what can only be seen as utter stupidity on the surface (I say on the surface because that’s where I sit and have no other details) as the government pulled the rug out from under its own citizens thus removing dollars from the North Carolina economy over a dispute about the tax on those transactions. The state essentially threw out the baby, the bathwater and the tub. Way to go NC state government! Now we have another state that is entering the Pantheon of short-sightedness: Colorado. Techdirt reports You may remember last summer that Amazon shut down its affiliate programs in North Carolina, Hawaii and Rhode Island in response to new laws being put in place in those states, which would effectively make any Amazon affiliate an “official” representative of the company in that state, thus requiring that Amazon start collecting sales tax. This followed a similar mess in New York the year before. This is really short-sighted on the part of the states, pushing for additional tax revenue (of course). But it stretches the definition of what it means to have a physical presence in a state to the point where someone who is running an ad for you (all that an affiliate really is) is treated as an employee. I don’t know what to make of this quite honestly. I would need to hear the entire argument from each states’ side to see if there is any kind of logic here. You are essentially telling your citizens who may not have other viable income that they can’t perform their job in our state. The state is telling them, “If you are doing this as a significant part of your income please get up and move away because your money is no good here”. Huh? What are your thoughts on this kind of jockeying between states and Amazon? Is there a way that this could turn against Amazon? What if there is suddenly a slew of states who enact the same rules? Does Amazon keep removing itself from these states? Will Amazon affiliates need to secede from the Union or start their own state? How does Amazonia, the 51st state sound?

See more here:
Colorado: Another State of Confusion