When it comes to how we consume, things have dramatically changed over the last twenty years. For instance, if your mother and father wanted to go to a restaurant in the seventies, it was probably because they heard it was good from friends or neighbors or simply wanted to give it a shot. 1979 brought about the debut of the Zagat guide, which of course gave people more of a guideline than ever before. Fast forward a few decades, and there’s suddenly more information than you could imagine available for everything from eateries to shopping for clothing. Because of the popularity of the internet as a means of sharing information, people can now log on and leave reviews for all sorts of experiences, making it that much harder to pass off a bad meal or a sleazy transaction than it used to be. In some ways, it’s great. But how is it affecting us as consumers?

If numbers are to be believed, the effect is greater than you might think. In fact, it seems as if user reviews are the method of choice when it comes to consumers making decisions in the modern age. Financial agency Deloitte were recently quoted as saying that:

 “82% (of consumers) say their purchase decisions have been directly influenced by the user reviews, either influencing them to buy a different product than the one they had originally been thinking about purchasing or confirming the original purchase intention.”

Naturally, Deloitte aren’t the only ones noticing the trend. Media Planning company EXL Media also tells us that the numbers are rising when it comes to advertising versus consumer review:

These are no small figures! So I guess all those people logging into Yelp from their phones and madly blogging about their experiences aren’t just a voice after all. Collectively, we form something stronger — a body of opinions that has enough klout to get people reading and making choices. In fact, making choices that disdain traditional advertising. In other words, the system is changing yet again — and advertisers will be forced to reinvent themselves if they want to compete with the voices of the common people.

This movement isn’t limited to finding a good place to eat, either. Even doctors are included, as there are websites such as Vitals that allow you to find and rate doctors. Deloitte tells us that home electronics rate among the items people seek out online reviews for most often, with personal electronics, games and toys and kitchen appliances close behind.

Facebook has come a long way from the humble blue-and-white, bare-bones-HTML, .edu-email-restricted social site we all came to know and love in 2005. Check out this visual map and see how the ‘book has exploded since its inception, becoming a multifaceted “people engine” that has spawned so many imitators.

INFOGRAPHIC: Web Equity – owning your digital presence — Blumenthals

As with any other form of endeavor, the more effort you put into your online presence, the better it will serve your business’s interests. Get the skinny on the major players in the web equity game with this handy infographic.

The Art of Timing – Posting on Facebook — DreamGrow

While you’ve crafted perfect actionable Facebook posts and gained countless fans of your brand, there’s one element missing: the art of good timing. Find out how to hit the scheduling sweet spot for your customers and make sure your content is being viewed by the most eyeballs possible!

Promoting Your Business via Twitter — ProNet Advertising

Twitter is a powerful networking tool, but all too often companies simply use it as another venue to spew out announcements without engaging in any customer interaction. Read this handy guide to learn about Twitter dynamics and the fine art of the 140-character strategy.

Epic: The Noob’s Complete Guide to Online Marketing [Infographic] — Social Times

Straight from the experts at Social Times, here’s a mammoth infographic that cleanly illustrates the A to Z of online marketing from the basics on up.

If you’re anything like me, when you visit a website that’s overloaded with Flash, an abundance of images, excessive menus, and just a general maze of content, your brain shrivels up to the size of a raisin and your eyes glaze over with no focus of what to look at or where to find it. (As far as I’m concerned, the same problem exists for social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Creating endless posts and tweets just for the sake of having more content and saying whatever pops into your fingers is the quickest way to get me to block or un-follow your posts. Then I’ll never hear anything you have to say!) The idea that the more there is to look at, the more visitors, friends, likes, and followers you’ll get is simply untrue in many cases.  You can still catch plenty of flies with sweet, sweet simplicity.

Too many web designers and developers make choices that, while skillfully executed with complicated Ajax and fancy Flash elements, not only confuse and deflect site visitors, but also have the same effect on search engine crawlers. While when properly used (read: in moderation) these elements have the potential to add functionality and style to your site, it is often beneficial to limit or altogether avoid these in favor of a clean, easily searchable and indexed site.

Take splash pages, for instance. When a splash page is your homepage, it not only prolongs the amount of time it takes for your visitors to get to the actual content they’re seeking, but it also confuses search engines. Without your homepage containing index-able elements like links to the other pages of your site and keywords, search engine spiders will not be able to properly crawl and index your site. Get rid of that splash page!

Aside from splash pages, using Flash elements or images elsewhere on your site for headers and menus can often cause visual frustration and complication for visitors and search engines alike. Dancing baby Flash headers and image-heavy menus can be a dizzying headache, and crawlers simply can’t read text embedded in Flash and images. There are several great resources for web designers on how to keep your site design from being overly complex while maintaining SEO excellence. Make sure you mind your H1′s, et al.

Personally, I agree with the late Steve Jobs when it comes to valuing the beauty of a highly-functional, simple design. There’s something to be said for keeping a clean, easily navigable, minimal aesthetic. And I’m not alone in my love of minimalism in web design.  I’m not suggesting you go out and replace all your shirts with black turtlenecks, but I am suggesting that you consider what William of Ockham said and not unnecessarily complicate matters when you can simply state your case. When you embrace minimalism, everybody wins: you, me, and the spiders. And you don’t want to upset the spiders. Trust me.

When it comes to SEO and public relations, asserting your online reputation and connecting with your fans is important. However, this proactivity must be balanced with care not to draw any fire upon yourself or your company. Check out this handy article to discover what you can do to get on top of your PR before problems even arise!

Thanksgiving Wishbone Competitiveness & Content Marketing Tips – Who Knew? — TopRank Blog

Thanksgiving has passed and we’ve all come out of our mashed potato comas, but the turkey still has a lesson or two to teach us. Read on at TopRank to get Susan Misukanis’s “wishbone strategy” on content marketing.

How The Internet Looked in 1996 vs 2011 [Infographic] — SocialTimes

Now here’s a blast from the past: this informative graphic diagrams every change imaginable from the tiny village of 1996 Internet to the bustling metropolis of the 2011 version we know and love today. What do you think is the next big thing?

What Your Analytics Software is Hiding From You — KISSMetrics

Are you relying exclusively on Google Analytics for information on your site traffic and visitor stats? You may be missing out on valuable data. This article takes a look at the most prevalent holes in the system and the logistics behind them.

How To Get A Link From A Blogger — Local SEO Guide

Well, that’s one way to do it. Check out how one clever webmaster got a link to his domain from Local SEO Guide’s Andrew Shotland with a little innovation and a fair amount of chutzpah.

So what do you find yourself doing around here? Any particular favorite aspects of the job?

Most days I’m fighting to cross off every line on my To Do list (it’s a pretty great feeling when I actually do!). My number one priority is always keeping our clients’ SEO services on schedule and making sure their sites are reaching new heights on Google. I sometimes have to spend my days staring at spreadsheets for hours and trying to keep from going cross-eyed. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s go to do it!  Some of my favorite aspects include seeing the progression of a client’s rankings when we’ve put in the work for them, and being able to show them how valuable Internet marketing really is! Oh, and I also love the office on Fridays at approximately 5:00pm, thanks to fellow Influencer Joe Luft.

Have you done any Internet or marketing work before working at SI? How’s the transition been so far?

My education background is in advertising, and I’m a twenty-something who grew up with computers, so that should tell you something about my experience with the Interwebz. I’ve worked at small ad agencies and even a non-profit where I was the communcations manager and developed their social media presence quite a bit, so I like to think I know a thing or two about Internet marketing. SEO is definitely new-ish to me, but so far the transition has been pretty smooth.  I’m learning a lot about SEO and the people here are pretty cool!

Working at SI is pretty dang fun, but be honest — what would you be doing all day if left to your own devices?

When I think about an entire day with no responsibilities, a few things that come to mind (not necessarily in this order):
1. Sleeping late
2. Hanging out with my dog, Lila
3. Facebooking
4. Baking sweet delicacies
5. Eating said sweet delicacies
6. Exploring NOLA (yes, there are things about NOLA that even us natives are still discovering)
7. Watching silly YouTube videos
8. Tweeting about said YouTube videos
9. Traveling the world
10. Enjoying the company of family and friends
11. Laughing

Last, but certainly not least — if you were a traditional NOLA landmark, what NOLA landmark would you be?

Maybe a lesser-known “landmark” but definitely a NOLA staple, I’d be Hansen’s Sno-Bliz on Tchoupitoulas Street, the creators of the first shaved ice machine. It may be November, but I’m a self-proclaimed snoball connoisseur and lover of all things sweet and syrupy year-round.  I’d probably devour a snoball in the middle of a snow storm (if we ever had one of those here), given the chance.
Try one of my all-time favorites from your local snoball stand and it just might change your life:
The classic: chocolate snoball stuffed (not topped) with vanilla soft-serve
NOLA favorite: pralines and cream snoball topped with condensed milk

Here’s one of the emails I got:

Here we see a knucklehead posting a comment in a misguided attempt at link building. It’s not really the fault of the “spammer” that the link building attempt is for naught: this is an obvious mass-submission. Really, enough sites were probably hit by this submission machine that this message had some kind of benefit, and if so, congratulations to your diet supplements, dude.

Still, the fact stands that this carpet bombing of links missed its target with any LiveJournal comment fields it was posted on. Not because of LiveJournal’s disabling of HTML-formatted links on anonymous comments, or because this little comment is formatted in BB-code, but because of a little attribute on links that Google doesn’t like:

After joking with our very own Anthony Coleman about offering “LiveJournal SEO” services at our company, he admitted to researching the viability of this. Sadly or possibly as expected, he said that this was an empty pursuit, letting me know that every external link on LiveJournal is “nofollow,” as depicted and highlighted in the above picture. While my area of expertise in this company does not qualify me to comment on the exact benefit (or lack thereof) a “nofollow” link provides to a page’s rank, such links are certainly less desirable for SEO.

LiveJournal’s not the only site practicing the nofollow tactic to dissuade would-be spammers: Twitter takes the same approach, and so do the other social media giants. Even so, this doesn’t stop Search Influence from getting our clients a nutritious glass of “link juice” when we put links into our proverbial Juiceman Juicers all around the web. While “LiveJournal SEO” may not be a service that Search Influence will offer anytime in the future, we’ll always hold the site dear to us, and I’d personally like to thank my new pal “Odzywki” for reminding us of the respectable approach that Search Influence takes to SEO.

Internet Marketing Infographic by Vertical Measures

Knowing how to build website authority is essential both in terms of increasing traffic and maximizing sales. With the emerging popularity of Google+, just about anyone with a Google profile can utilize the platform to help with building awareness for their website or brand. In addition, with the evolution of Google Pages you can also help build the authority of your website and connect with your customers too!

Here are just a few ways you can use Google + to build your websites authority and connect on the platform.

Google+ Button

Haven’t added the Google+ button to your site yet? Do it! The social network is growing in popularity and should be around for a little while – at least we hope. Allow your site visitors to +1 your content such as blog posts, video, white papers, and even your products. Anywhere you think someone might want to give you props via +1 you should place a button.

Additionally, use Google+ to start sharing your content with like-minded folks. Build up your circles and share your posts to get +1’s too. Share others content and ask others to share yours. Google has access to this information and can see if you naturally receive +1’s on good content. Worth mentioning, many are saying that a +1 on content can get it indexed and cached by the search engine giant much faster.

Google Pages

The announcement that Google now allows businesses to have Google+ pages certainly thrilled many around the web. Share breaking news, updates, promotions, links, photos, and even talk face-to-face with your customers via Google+ Hangouts just like you would do with your personal profile.

First, build your Google+ page and fill out all the important areas. Add photos, video, and fill out the About section. Add a link to your website (do-follow!), and update your status messages regularly. Add profiles to your circle and encourage others to add you to their circle. Add a Google+ Page badge to your site with a link to your profile. Monitor how well your Page is doing through the use of Google Analytics and Google+ search.

Engage

Continue to engage on your Google+ business Page and from your personal profile as well. You might even go so far as making it a company policy to get all employees on Google+ by the end of the year. Encourage your staff to participate on your branded page and with others in your industry to connect with new people. Building up a community on social platforms isn’t an easy task, but with the help of your staff you can do so collectively. You’ll find that over time your community will naturally share your content, +1 your posts, and help increase the authority of your website all at the same time.

As Google + matures and grows in popularity so will the ability you have as marketers to drive engagement and authority for your brand. See how Google + fits into the building authority process? The infographic below shows you just how important diversifying efforts are to building authority.

Examining Ripples

One interesting feature of Google+ are Ripples. “Google+ Ripples creates an interactive graphic of the public shares of any public post on Google+ to show you how a post has rippled through the network.” You’re able to see who publicly shared the post, the comments they’ve made, how the post was shared over time, and statistics on how the post was shared. Use Ripples to examine the who, what, where, when, and why of viral posts. Attempt to emulate the messages that receive the most engagement. Here’s a list of 10 amazing Google+ Ripples to get started.

Extending Network

Use Google+ to extend your network. Sure, not all your friends and connections will be on Google+ but quite a few of them will be – especially those “in the know”. Look to connect with others through the use of Huddles or examine Ripples to see who the influencers are within Google+. Add those folks to your circles and reach out to them, working to add them to your inner circle.  Build up your brands authority by being connected with these folks, or your own authority for being in their circles.

Optimize Page

Don’t forget to optimize your profile and business page. The meta description of your business page is your intro, headline, and name, so make sure to fill them in appropriately. Optimize your Google+ personal profile too with these easy-to-follow tips.

These are just a few ways to utilize Google+ to your advantage and work to build authority. As you can see in the Infographic below, using Google+ is just one of the ways you can build authority.

The holidays are upon us, and many businesses local and nationwide are gearing up for the Black Friday sales frenzy. Be a savvy shopper and utilize these handy applications in order to find the best deals, compare prices, check to see where your desired item is on sale in your area and more!

How Groundbreaking Thinkers Spread Their Ideas — Inc.com

If you’re an entrepreneur or just a savvy businessperson, you know that knowing how to think critically in order to generate out-of-the-box ideas is a vital skill. However, once you’ve come up with your brilliant pitch, how to you get your audience to come to you? Inc.com’s Jeff Haden has some key concepts to share about the simple logistics of getting your concepts out there and your audience engaged with the message.

Photos Draw Most Facebook Interactions, Links Draw the Least — Small Business SEM

When you’re busily engaging with your fans on Facebook and promoting your online presence, it seems that putting up photos will elicit the most response and engagement on your fans’ parts. Sharing links, however, is the weakest option and comparatively offers very little reward for the effort. The theory makes sense: visual stimulation is always a plus for getting attention, and with the new Facebook UI users can simply click on a posted picture to expand a gallery-style mini-window, eliminating the need to leave Facebook itself. Will you be putting more effort into curating your business’s photo gallery now?

Google+ Rolls Out Trending Topics — Mashable

With Google+ making huge strides in recovering their previously-drooping user base and opening up to the business sphere, it seems evident that they’ve taken a good, hard look at what other social networks are doing well. The introduction of trending topics, a list of the most popular and oft-discussed items on the social network, offers users an effortless peek into the most relevant news of the moment. Several other UI tweaks have been made as well — head over to Mashable to check it out!

8 Tips to Maximize Your Branded Presence in the Google Local Search Results — Bluemnthals

With the recent hubbub over a plethora of Google service redesigns, some may be wondering where to go from here with regard to getting themselves noticed in the local search sphere. Never fear! This handy guide is an excellent overview to making sure your business is front-and-center when searchers are looking for you.

As an LSU alumnus, I'm proud to say I saw Tim Tebowing while crying, after a loss in Tiger Stadium.

According to Tebowing.com, tebowing is a verb, defined “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.” For a little background on the subject, Tim Tebow is a NFL quarterback who currently starts for the Denver Broncos. He’s known to be very religious, one of the greatest college football players of all time, and so far, not a very great NFL quarterback. For these reasons he has been a focal point of sports media since he joined the NFL. Since Tebow became an NFL starter the last few weeks, he has been seen praying frequently before and after games, which has given way to Tebowing — basically the same thing as planking, or taking pictures of yourself performing a specific, silly pose and posting it online.

At Search Influence, we occasionally plank, tebow, and sometimes start our own trends, but no one wanted to talk about it until we accidentally ranked for the term… or actually a misspelled version of the term. This morning I discovered that in the past 30 days www.searchinfluence.com has received 83 visits for terms like tbowing, t bowing, t-bowing, etc. How can that be, when we haven’t written anything about it? It turns out that this blog post ranks # 2 in Google for the term tbowing–which by the way isn’t how it’s spelled, but if you had no idea what it meant, you might search it with this spelling.

As you can see in the screen shot, due to the apostrophe in the word isn’t, Google is connecting the “t” and the “bowing” to form one word. Since there is no website called tbowing.com and no one calls it “tbowing,” Google has no choice but to try to match your crazy search phrase, which it has probably never seen to any significant degree before, with something seemingly relevant.

What does this have to do with SEO? Not much other than trying to understand how Google works, and realizing that you might be able to rank for a new word, or an alternate spelling of a word that gets significant search volume, but provides irrelevant results. This brings up another issue — relevance. As you can see in the analytics screen shot, our site has received 83 extra visits that we didn’t plan on getting. The problem with this can be seen in the numbers: nearly 100% of visitors immediately left the page after it loaded because the page had nothing to do with the search term. Even if the page did have something to do with the search term, the term is likely not being Googled by an SEO firm’s target market, small to medium sized business owners, and therefore these “leads” aren’t really leads at all — the overall visits for this month are artificially inflated. Whether you’re a small business owner who has hired someone to manage your SEO, or a marketer looking to track your leads, make sure to exclude numbers like these.

The moral of this story is that while sheer numbers of visits can be impressive on the outside, they’re not worth much if the viewers leave immediately. Seeding irrelevant keywords and concepts into your webpages can bring in the visitors, sure, but without some dirt to back it up, you’re not going to see results — just a veneer of success.

Build a Better Blog: 11 Valuable Tips to Successful Blogging
Do you run a blog for your business? If not, you should consider it: fresh content is good for your site on a purely technical level, encouraging higher search engine rank and favorable results from site crawlers, and thoughtful discussion about your sphere of business engages your fans and provokes stimulating discussion. Click here to find out the 11 steps to a more productive and fruitful blogging career.

3 Reasons Why You Should Be a Formulaic Blogger
Decided to start a blog for your business? Great –but there’s the pesky question of what to write about. Read this informative piece to discover why “formulaic” isn’t always such a dirty word.

12 Tips For Using Press Releases In Local Online Marketing
Press releases can be powerful promotional vehicles that can help you generate buzz around your brand, no matter how local your business is. Search Engine Land’s Chris Silver Smith gives an effective overview of the benefits of these social media-friendly publicity pieces, followed by an exhaustive list of ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of yours.

How To Post Your Google+ Feed To Facebook And Twitter
Are you one of the many business owners that have flocked to Google+’s newly-available brand pages? If you’re ready to start networking using the powerful tools available to G+ users, but aren’t quite ready to give up the more established Facebook and Twitter feeds (not to mention the fans you’ve accumulated on those networks), never fear: this handy guide will show you how to integrate your G+ updates to post to your other accounts without a hitch.

Google Places Basics: Two Business Listings Or One?
Diversity is the name of the game in contemporary business, and it’s not uncommon for establishments to offer a few different services — even under different names — under the same address. While it might seem tempting to set yourself up with a new Place Page or three to differentiate between these disparate services, Mike Blumenthal has the skinny on how you can do better.