There have been many rumors over the years regarding SEO certification from the major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. Some companies claim that they are “SEO certified” by Google to deliver the best SEO practices. Simply put, there aren’t any forms of SEO certification or approval that are provided by Google, Yahoo, or Bing. However, there is a certification process for Google AdWords. Many companies will falsely extend their AdWords certification to also say they are SEO certified. Companies that falsely market an SEO certification generally have been reported to be scammers and do not produce quality results.

Although there aren’t SEO certifications from the search engines, there are other forms of SEO certification. Some SEO companies offer services to teach SEO techniques and strategies to people who are looking to SEO their own websites. These companies may be legitimate and offer sound advice, but people should still be wary of scammers marketing these services.

Although it is clear none of the major search engines offer certification, is there a possibility of there being one in the future? Every few months, search engines change their algorithms to deliver a more organic search result. It may be hard for some people or companies to keep up with SEO trends. It may come to the point where search engines recognize the need to do more than just guide individuals and companies on SEO but actually educate, and ultimately certify, them on doing it effectively with ethical, white-hat procedures.

Will this ever happen? Who knows, but one thing is certain – search engines will never disclose anything more than a basic level understanding of how they work. Over educating for certification purposes would only give the opportunity for people to negatively manipulate the search results, not to mention give away their proprietary algorithms and competitive advantage.

So, what can people do to get recognized on Google and the other search engines? There is a plethora of valuable literature on the internet regarding general SEO practices and even advanced strategies, but SEO is a full-time job and required several dedicated hours. Individuals or companies looking to improve their search results can hire an SEO company. A quality SEO company will not falsely advertise that they have a Google SEO certification badge, but rather demonstrate their SEO abilities on their own website and those of their clients.

Google Offers Bid-per-Call Feature

Google is rolling out a new advertising method called Bid-per-Call. It stems from Google Voice phone number extensions, where advertisers pay $1 for phone calls that were made to the business using Google Voice number. Google has changed the Pay-per-Call so that Adwords advertisers are able to place bids on completed calls, this new program would be called Bid-per-Call. The new feature is very similar to the bidding process for text Pay-per-Click advertisements.

Bid-per-Call can help reach out to different customers that prefer calling into a business. Google will assign a Google Voice number on the advertisement. When that number is manually dialed, the call is forwarded to the business’s phone number. Google will give you a detailed report of call logs. For example, the report shows the cost of the phone call, phone through rate, duration, caller area code and summaries of the ad group & campaign level. Detailed reporting is great for businesses that would like to see which advertisements converted into calls. This way they can make sure that they are maximizing their return on investment (ROI). In order to have Google display their Google Voice number, the searcher must be using a non-mobile device. When searching on a mobile device, the business’ direct phone number will show up. If the person clicks to call, then Google will charge the call as a Pay-per-Click rate. When a person is on a computer, the Google Voice number will display. This way Google can keep better track of call statistics. This information can help guide Adwords advertisers determine how their money is being spent. The standard Pay-per-Call feature used to charge a flat rate fee of $1 per completed phone call, however, the new Bid-per-Call allows online marketers to determine a maximum bid and maximum daily bid. The amount of the bid determines the ad ranking in the search results.

This new Adwords program not only allows online marketing companies to compete for top ranking but also influences the quality score. The main factor of the quality score is the phone through rate. Google wants to match up the searcher with the right business, so they will place the company with the highest call through rate at the top of the search results. Prior to Bid-per-Call, quality score was only affected by the click through rate and the maximum bid. Now both Pay-per-Click and Bid-per-Call affect the quality score and subsequently the ad ranking.

The Pay-per-Call will affect online marketing companies and online marketing in general. In industries with a lot of competition being on the top of the paid advertising ranking can greatly affect your business. Online marketing companies should consider Bid-per-Call a substantial part of their marketing effort. Bid-per-Call will positively affect the ad ranking of companies that have call centers and physical stores.

What does this mean for SEO companies? As of right now, Bid-per-Call does not affect an SEO company’s organic ranking for their clients. However, having a well-rounded internet marketing strategy can supplement one’s marketing efforts and increase overall brand visibility. Search marketing is always evolving, and before undertaking a SEM campaign be sure to find an internet marketing company that understands the history and evolution of search.

There have been many reports of people updating their status while on vacation and coming home to an empty house because they were robbed. We’ve also heard about the 16-year-old girl who forgot to make her birthday invitation private and the subsequent police arrests that occurred in front of her house after 1,600 people tried to crash the party. People are even losing their jobs for inappropriate pictures finding their way online and others using Facebook as a drug network.

Some people even believe that Facebook is a threat to national security. In the “Security Threat Report 2010” created by Sophos and consisting of interviews from 500 firms, over 60% replied that they believe Facebook causes the greatest threat to national security of all the social networking sites. The reality is that while many people only use Facebook to connect with people, there are still some people in this world using it for bad things.

However, Facebook has been used for good and has contributed to society in a positive way. The most notable example is the 2011 revolution in Egypt, which is being deemed by some as the “Pocket Revolution” since many believe that it would not have been possible without Facebook. Activist and marketing manager for Google, Wael Ghonim, was able to reach Egypt’s youth on Facebook to orchestrate the first of many protests that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Egyptian government.

So why are there so many stories in the news linked to or a result of Facebook? Perhaps it is because nearly half of the entire United States population and over 750,000 million people worldwide have a Facebook account. Across the world, 95 countries and over 100 different languages (June 2011), Facebook is rapidly increasing in popularity and more people are joining the colossal social network. This massive number of users has led to the nickname, “The Third Largest Country” in the world, and inevitably making headlines.

It is doubtful that even Mark Zuckerberg, the website’s creator, ever believed Facebook could have an impact of this magnitude on society. A married couple in Egypt named their newborn child ‘Facebook’ to show their gratitude for making the revolution possible. Will there be more grateful people or will people want to see Facebook destroyed?

Over 7 million users in North America deleted their Facebook accounts in May of 2011. We can only speculate why numerous people in the United States and Canada forfeited their Facebook accounts, but perhaps it is due to the rise of companies inspecting the Facebook pages of prospective employees prior to employment. So as to avoid scrutiny, people are proactively deleting their accounts. Another view is that we are witnessing the beginning of Facebook’s decline in North America.

The real question is what is next to come? Will Facebook be remembered in history for overthrowing governments, for adulterous house wives, as a place to connect with friends and family, stalk ex-boy or girlfriends, meet new people, or will history see Facebook for something else?

Is Facebook going to introduce something new and continue its stranglehold on global social networking? Will Facebook be held responsible for an act of terror and dissipate? Or will Facebook be overthrown by a new website, as MySpace did to Friendster, and Facebook did to MySpace?

While we may not know the answers to these questions now, we do know that for the time being, Facebook isn’t going anywhere, and odds are, you are logged in right now!

Will it be enough to attract those who are unwilling to abandon Facebook just yet? Google+ users are beginning to get the hang of it, and beginning to influence their friends, because like they say “it’s just better!” The reality is that people are generally attracted to what they can’t have. So as long as Google continues to keep the red ropes up to limit the number of users, people will continue craving entry into this ‘exclusive’ network.

Google is not stopping here because it also recently purchased Frid.ge a group social network. Fridge compliments Google+ favorite tool – Circles – to make sharing among users easier and a richer experience. This will enable Google+ users to enjoy more control over their pictures, videos, messages, events and updates with their friends. Fridge operated by networking in groups, just like those who share common interests in real life.

Fridge will now be part of Google+, and will add the ability to have “Shared Circles.” Google continues to keep adding features and benefits to Google+, preparing it to be the most user-friendly social networking experience available.

Google+ also launched the Google+ app, which is available to all iPhone, iPad, and iTouch users. Let’s not forget Blackberry though, which is still waiting for an app to be available for the Blackberry App World. Google+ is accessible using regular mobile browser, which takes away the fun of having Google+ account.

We expect to see the number of Google+ users steadily increase as friends and family begin to jump on this next cool thing. We’re excited to see how many users Google+ reaches by the end of the year.

If you’re a G+ user yourself, please let us know what you think!

Zucherberg introduced three new features for Facebook: Group Chat, New Design, and Video Calling. Hmm, sound familiar? The comparison between Google+ new features are inevitable.

Group Chat: Zucherberg claims that 50% of all Facebook users currently use Groups. The new idea of Group Chat is to provide members easy access to conversation with all members on the same webpage. To add more friends to chat, all you have to do is select “Add Friends to Chat.”

New design: New design for chat window. It takes account the browser size to display list of friends that are available and unavailable. A one-click access to the people you message the most will be visible as well.

Video Calling: The most important announcement of the morning. The rumor of Skype and Facebook joining forces was finally unveiled. Facebook will now have video calling powered by Skype. The new feature will not require different accounts or buttons, but will all be accessible through the click of a single button. The new feature was demonstrated and appears as easy as clicking and accepting video chats. For now, video chat is only accessible to one-on-one conversations. Mark did not make any comments about extending to
more viewers like Google+ Hangouts.

Facebook continues to dominate the social media networks, and it seems that Zucherberg is not willing to give this up, this time adding these new features to keep up with current trends. Zucherberg’s announcement, which was sent via Facebook invite and promoted over the last several weeks, captivated over 50,000 viewers eager to hear the news.

Facebook’s new features will definitely have Google developers thinking of ways to make Google+ different. So do you think Facebook will continue to be the popular giant that it is, or
will it jump on the same Myspace-wagon by having features that none of us care for? I guess we will just have to wait for Google+ to be unveiled to the rest of the population so that we may test it ourselves.

Google+ is in the process of development with limited number of active
users, with the hope of improving before launching it. Google+, as Google puts
it, is the real-life sharing, rethought for the web. So what does
“rethought” imply? Could Google+ features be so awesome that it
actually replaces Facebook?

Let’s Explore Google⁺ Features

Google⁺ introduces 5 features, so far, with the purpose of user
friendly throughout.

Circles: Circles is what we
would compare to Groups on Facebook, but with an added spin. For now, Facebook
only allows users to create groups and notifies the person what group they are
in. On the other hand, Circles allows the user to put individuals in specific
groups and gives the ability to share information with that group only. Let’s
face it, we all have friends that aren’t as “close” so how about we omit them
from sharing pictures from last night or random thoughts that we might have.
Having the ability to share the right stuff with the right people is a huge big
+ in my opinion. A Circle allows you to put family, coworkers, boss, annoying
buddies, and so on into different circles. Circles will notify individuals when
they were added in a circle but not indicate the circle name.

Hangouts: Hangouts will allow
chat conversation to initiate through invitation or if a URL link is sent to
the person. It will initiate conversation among users and create a face-to-face
conversation for up to 10 participants. Hangouts for the mean time, will only
allow 90 minute check in conversations, which might be bad for those who would
use this site as a conference meetup. Hangouts is intended to initiate
conversation among different users and have a conversation throughout the web
no matter the distance.

Instant Upload: This will upload videos and photos automatically from your
mobile device into a private album in Google+, of course with authorization.
The only thing the user will have to do is decide who to share the pictures or
videos with. Google+ makes it user friendly to use the feature since it’s
private and the user has the ultimate right and responsibility to whom to share
with.

Sparks: Sparks will operate as a reader feeder available upon your personal interests. Keep all your personal
interests available when you want them in your portal. No longer will you have
to go search what interests you, but pages will find you and be available at
your convenience. Sparks is a good way to keep up with the trends that interest
you and share them with your circles of friends.

Huddle: We all come across,
tough decisions to simply plan a time where we can meet with friends.  We’ll wait no longer, this is the solution
for that, or so it claims. Huddle will take the conversation among your circle
of friends and upload it to a chat conversation where all members can see it
and be on the same page, to save you time deciding and instead hanging out.

For starters, the 5 features mentioned above seem great already! With some
improvement and customization, I’m sure it will sure be a delight for users. It
is not certain when Google+ will be available for the rest of the public, but
I’m sure it will spark reaction from social media sites.

Do you think Google+ stands a chance to compete with Facebook, or is it
too early to know?

On June 14, at a San Francisco Google media event, new
innovations for slow searches and new features were discussed along with the
next step for Google Instant, called Instant Pages.

Google Instant Pages changes the “I’m feeling Lucky” to a
more accurate search. This increases the expectancy of relevant pages being clicked
by the user. Available only to Chrome 13, promises to offer a more user
friendly experience by delivering instant results.

Instant Pages is enabled through pre-rendering on the new
upgrade on Chrome. Instant Pages will be triggered when Google has done its search
and give the user content such as text, images or even JavaScript at a faster
rate to load.

This new feature is presumed by Google to save the user an
average of two to five seconds on typical searches. So what makes ‘Instant
Pages’ different from Google Instant?

Google Instant gives search results while you type and
Instant Pages will take it to the next level. Instant Pages gets the top search
results ready in the background while searchers are deciding which link to
click.

Let’s see how well Google Instant Pages does with its new
added feature.

To many Apple loyalists, fans and enthusiasts, this announcement was music to their ears! The ability to access all of your personal social information on one device and share it on multiple devices has been unheard of, well sort of.

I have been using the same features Apple announced at the World Wide Developer Conference for the past two months and many other users for over two years now. What’s our little secret called? It’s simple, webOS!

I have always been impressed by the webOS mobile operating system since it was announced in Spring of 2009 by Palm, Inc., now owned by HP through an acquisition of $1.2 billion in Spring of 2010.

Unlike iOS whose architecture is based on “traditional” programming languages such as C and Objective-C, webOS truly lives up to its name. It was developed and designed with modern web 2.0 technologies: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Did I mention that the main developers of webOS brought us Netscape and Firefox web browsers?

HP’s webOS was designed to deliver the capabilities mobile users really want in a smart phone or tablet, including true multitasking, unobtrusive notifications, seamless integration with popular cloud services and apps that simply work together.

HP Synergy (Apple’s equivalent to iCloud) brings together into one place all the information mobile users have stored in popular services like Google Docs and Gmail, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange, Skype and many others.

But one thing that webOS lacks is media sync. HP currently doesn’t have a“Media Store” like iTunes, but that may soon change with rumors of HP signing record label deals with major music labels.

In conclusion, although Apple was not the first company to bring a fully web-powered mobile operating system, they did perfect and add some features that webOS currently lacks. For example, twitter integration, revamp notification system, over the air updates, and media sync.

If you are a loyal iOS user you may soon have a webOS powered device at home or at the office. HP’s webOS powered printers are due to be released by the end of the summer. The HP’s touchPad is due on July 1st, and Samsung Electronics is interested in licensing webOS for future products such as TV, refrigerators and home appliances.

Apple’s iOS and HP’s webOS are on the right path while Google’s Android and Microsoft Windows Mobile Phone 7 platforms still lack the cloud push. Time for Google and Microsoft to ramp up their OS too before their systems become too outdated.

As the first of the big social networking sites to go
public, LinkedIn saw great success in its market debut. Since filing to go
public in January, hype has been snowballing around LinkedIn, and the result
pushed the company to a valuation of $8.9 billion at the closing of its first
day. Priced at $45 before entering the market Thursday morning, stocks opened
at $83 and reached over $122 at their highest point. While trades are sure to
taper from day one’s final $94.25 pricing over the next few weeks, the debut is
undeniably notable, being one of the most impressive first day moves in the
last 10 years.

For a company valued at only about $2.5 billion in the secondary
markets, LinkedIn’s IPO showing is certainly appealing to other social
networking sites looking to make the jump into the public arena. With
speculation of Facebook, Groupon, Zynga and more going public in the next year,
LinkedIn’s opening performance may be just the push these sites needed to file.
At the day’s highest point, the company was being valued at 41 times their 2010
revenues. The downsides to these huge numbers are concerns regarding a second
internet bubble.

When a company like LinkedIn goes public, its means they
believe there are growth opportunities in the market place. Companies use share
sales to fund new developments, business expansion, and most importantly to
consumers bigger, better services and features. LinkedIn’s profits are modest
compared to those of social networking giant, Facebook, so when the days of
high priced trades begin to dwindle, the company is really going to have to
have progressed in terms of worth per user and growth of business clients.

As the biggest tech IPO to go public since Google in 2004,
LinkedIn has a lot to live up to, and will certainly set the tone for those
ready to follow. Whether LinkedIn goes on to justify itself as a nearly $9
billion company or not, the buzz surrounding public shares in social networking
companies shows that Wall Street is finally ready to believe that social media
is here to stay.

With the popularity of check-in and review sites across the
social networking sphere, users are interacting with company pages that may or
may not have been generated by the actual business itself. For many companies,
this means a Facebook or Yelp presence, whether they wanted one or not.
Managing and monitoring these pages, even those that have been purposely set up
by business owners, can be overwhelming to employees and marketing departments
unfamiliar with social media practices. Cue the rise of the ‘Social Media
Expert.’ Designed to free up your time from social networking, outsourcing your
social media efforts to these firms or individuals is neither necessary nor
practical for everyone.

Social networking is still a supplement, first and foremost,
to your marketing effort. If you handle your own marketing campaigns, you can
probably handle the social media side. The most common reason why a business
feels they need to hand off their social networking to someone outside the
company is a lack of time. Business owners who don’t have the manpower to
implement social campaigns or to learn the techniques to grow their social
influence benefit most from outsourcing their social media.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU NEED ONE

Determining if you need a social media expert really depends
on how you’re using or plan to use social media, and how much time you’ve got
to devote to achieving that plan. Like any marketing campaign, specify your
target audience and learn about them. Find out how these users interact with
social media and what they like. If you already have fans and followers, are
they just looking for quick updates regarding discounts and promotions? Do they
engage in discussion regarding your product or service or look to your business
as a source for information regarding your industry? If your audience has a
sense of community or you’re looking to build a sense of social community, do
you have the skills, time and energy to participate with them and help grow the
community?

Networking, in its most basic sense, is building
relationships with people. Social networking is no different, and to build a
following and nurture relationships with your customers takes time and genuine
interest. If you can’t dedicate the time to recognizing and engaging with your
online community, you may need the outside help.

PROS

• Social media experts are familiar with the most updated
  tools, trends and features and of networking sites
• Blogger network for affiliate programs.
• Campaign metrics and analysis
• Fresh perspective

CONS

• Doesn’t allow YOU to get to know your customers on a
  personal level
• Difficult to maintain consistency across pages run by
  multiple sources
• Added expense

FINDING THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT FOR YOUR BUSINESS

So maybe the pros out weigh the cons and you’re ready to
pass off your social media pages to someone who has the time to attend them
properly. How do you let someone else handle your online efforts while
maintaining your company’s image?

It’s important to work with someone who understands your
voice and personality. If the brand is young and sassy, and you have someone
updating in an understated tone, fans, friends and followers won’t get it and
will lose interest. While the content may be marketing driven, it shouldn’t
always sound that way. Marketing copy shouldn’t sound preachy, it should be
inviting. Remember that even though an expert is outsourced, they still work
for you and your brand. Choose someone just as you would internally, a good
fit, who will make sense to the community they’re interacting with. The right
social media expert for you will know the business just as you would.