LeWeb: The biggest European Internet Event

The LeWeb, one of the biggest and most popular Internet Events of Europe, will take place in a few days (December 8^th & 9^th) in Paris. It will be attended by more than 2500 Online Marketers, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Bloggers and Journalists and it will bring together the most influential people of the Internet ecosystem.  Focusing on the new technologies and on the key issues of web, the LeWeb event is a great opportunity to learn about the trends, discuss ideas and communicate with other internet professionals.

LeWeb’10 Speakers & Program

Most of the leading internet and technology oriented companies will attend and participate on the event. Here is a small sample of LeWeb’10 Speakers:

• Julien Codorniou, Fritz Lanman & Charlie Kindel (Microsoft)
• Nikesh Arora, Marissa Mayer & Chang Kim & Patrick Chanezon (Google)
• Mike Kerns (Yahoo!)
• Ethan Beard (Facebook)
• Jason Goldman & Jessica Verrilli (Twitter)
• Mike Jones (MySpace)
• Osama Bedier (PayPal)
• Michael Arrington & Alexia Tsotsis (TechCrunch)
• Gabe Rivera (Techmeme)
• Jason Rosenthal (Ning)

Except of the Plenary Stage where the main program of LeWeb runs, there are also the Startup Stage (a dedicated space for the startup competition), the DemoZone (a dedicated area for companies to showcase their technology and products) and also lots of Workshops rooms and Networking Zones.

Rendez-vous at LeWeb

Web SEO Analytics will be at LeWeb, so if you plan to attend it or if you will be in Paris between 6 and 10 of December, make sure you send us an email or a message on Twitter at @webseoanalytics. We are looking forward to meet you, discuss, exchange ideas and explore potential collaborations.
For those of you who are interested in attending the event, hurry up and register because there are limited tickets left. For the rest, stay tuned because we plan to cover the event on our Blog and on Twitter (check out hashtag #LeWeb).
See you at LeWeb
Posted by bbriniotis on 29th of November, 2010 at 12:02 to Marketing

New Myspace Preview

Welcome to the new Myspace

Myspace | Myspace Video

Clean New Design

New logo and a fresh design to showcase you and your interests.

Discover and My Stuff tabs at the top of the page.

Read Stream posts like a magazine or watch them like a TV.

Connect with Your Interests

All your faves for free: music, games, TV and more.

Share finds with your friends and like-minded people.

Get recommendations based on your interests.  

Custom Profiles

New artist themes and better design tools.

Earn exclusive badges for your activity.

Sync all your social accounts for simple sharing across networks Read more: http://www.myspace.com/guide/newmyspace#pm_cmp=mce_con_prod_uhpann_non4#ixzz13sT5JnmT

Are Your Ears Burning?- 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing

Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter make it easy for people to come together and share opinions, experiences and thoughts on a number of topics. Smart companies understand this and are using the power of social media to connect and inform their customers, and potential customers. Referred to as "Social Media Marketing", it's a smart way to open the lines of communication between you and your prospects.
Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging, micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing and more. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.
Participating in social media doesn't take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off. Before launching a campaign, you should have a firm grasp on what it is you're trying to accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting more ezine subscribers? Having more people download your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want to work on your company's brand image. Whatever it is, you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there”. Have your game plan intact before getting started in marketing yourself, or your company with social media.
There are many different forms of social media, so it's impossible to use them all. Pick three or four, and funnel the majority of your efforts there. Even if you won't be working them all, at the very least you should claim your name or company name on as many social services as possible. You don't want to find out later that someone has the user name that you want. If you need to see if your chosen user name is available try http://Namechk.com which checks dozens of social media networking and bookmarking sites all at once to see if it's available. Claim your name now so you won't end up being sorry later.
So how do you monitor all the buzz? How do you monitor your brand and protect your hard earned reputation? I thought you'd never ask. There isn't one fool-proof method but there are many services and tools out there that will make it easy to see who's talking about you online. Some are free and others will make you pull out your wallet.
These "online reputation management" tools, as they're often referred to, will help you to  define keywords, or phrases you wish to track and then watches for any mention of your company name, products, or services. It's important to defend and monitor your online reputation. Similar to High School reputations, protecting your image online is the name of the game, and just as in real life, everyone has one to maintain.
Let's take a look at some of the measuring and tracking tools at your disposal:
1)http://BackTweets.com : A search engine for Twitter. See who's tweeting your links and more. Can also sign up for email alerts of new findings.
2) http://Addictomatic.com : A little different than the others , you type in a keyword, topic or phrase and out it goes searching the top blogs, news sites, Google, Technorati, Ask, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Topix and more. You'll be given a personalized results page to bookmark with everything it finds related to your topic.
3) http://Buzzoo.net : All about Internet buzz, it tracks several different websites to bring you what's "hot" right now.
4) http://Surchur.com : Search for the latest and greatest on topics that are popular right now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs, social news sites, photo and video sites for your chosen topic.
5) http://Commentful.Blogflux.com : This service watches for comments on blog posts, Digg, Flickr, and others and notifies you of any findings.
6) http://AlertRank.com : A better way to organize and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what it finds.
7) http://BoardTracker.com : A search engine for forums only. Monitor discussion boards and be notified by email when a thread matching your search terms is discovered. Free to use.
8) http://www.google.com/alerts : I've been using this "secret weapon" for years. Simply type in your name or company name and receive daily emails of results found. They do the work, you receive the links. Free and nice.
9) http://BrandsEye.com : An online reputation management tool with a real-time, concise overview of your online reputation. Multiple levels of services and pricing available. Starting at $1.00.
10) http://Twazzup.com : Another Twitter only search engine.
11) http://SiteMention.com : Type in your url and find out what's being said about you. The results returned are gathered from Google Blog Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Delicious and many more.
12) http://Brandwatch.net: This service tracks your brands, companies, even the ompetition. Sign up for free weekly updates on any brand. Their detailed reports break down what sites like you, your most talked about features, weekly summary of all blogs and forum activity. Very similar to the old "press clipping" service.
13) http://Trackur.com : A tool that scans many websites including blogs, news, image and video sites, forums and notifies you of any mention of your brand, products/services. Easy to use and affordable. Prices vary depending on need, a personal account is only $18.00 a month, corporate account $88.00 a month with other options also available. Try a "personal" account free for 14 days.
14) http://FiltrBox.com : This one searches online news sources, Twitter and others to find out what's being said about you or your company. Pricing is based on the number of users, but there is a free version that provides "5 filters" and 15 days of what they call "article history".
15) http://SocialMention.com/alerts : Just like Google Alerts but for social media. Enter your keyword phrase and email address to be notified of any new findings. Searches blogs, microblogs like Twitter, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos and more.
16) http://BlogPulse.com : A search engine that searches only for data posted to blogs. Enter your keyword, hit submit and off it goes to gather results.
17) http://BackType.com : Billing itself as a "conversational search engine" they index millions of conversations from social networks, blogs and other social media.
18) http://sm2.techrigy.com : Industry insiders claim this to be the leading social media monitoring solution online. Choice of free or paid version. Free is limited to five searches and 1,000 results. There are three paid professional levels: Gold, Diamond, or Platinum.
19) http://ReputationDefender.com : This paid service finds out everything there is to know about you online, and if negative information is found they try to have it removed. Different types of plans are available such as "My Reputation", "My Privacy", starting at only $14.95 a month.
20) http://Topsy.com : Topsy will track your tweets that have been retweeted so you can find out who's been sending you all that "link love". Type in your Twitter user name and you'll be amazed at what you find.
If you'd like to track incoming traffic from your various social media profiles, an easy way to do it using Google Analytics can be found here http://Tinyurl.com/kuc9rL
Just as there are many ways to market your company using social media, as you can see, there's a multitude of tools and services at your disposal to track and see if all of that hard work is paying off. Smart companies realize the importance of social media in their marketing efforts and are utilizing it on some level. How smart are you?
Posted by Merle at Friday, January 08, 2010

Marketing in the New Technological Eco-System

Image by Josh Russell via Flickr

There is a whole technological Ecosystem developing before our eyes, that we can either ignore; adapt to slowly at our own pace (recommended!); or race to embrace. These new methods of network marketing provide us with everything from enhanced lead generation, to high level CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Knowing that many industries are slow to move in the technological arena, I am confident that this "Snapshot" will be eye-opening to many of you!
Our Top 5 Sites for Social Networking and Micro-Blogging
These are not just communication devices to chat from, they generate leads and help close sales by increasing exposure and developing relationships. Another purpose they serve is to improve your organic ranking, as search engines are now sending traffic to your site based on these social networking "traffic sources". Here are just a few to consider...
1. LinkedIn - Use LinkedIn for business referrals and leads. A great way to introduce men to your business. This business-oriented site is used for professional networking and has a primary demographic of males averaging 41 years of age. Your developed "connections" are people you know and trust in the business. Your connections, connections & their connections (called second degree and third degree connections) allow you to be introduced to possible business opportunities. You can join relevant alumni, industry, or professional groups of your choice.
2. Twitter - Use Twitter to notify your clients of latest business developments; promotions and business initiatives. Demographic of 35-49 is biggest. This "follow-me" site allows you to put in up to 140 characters which are displayed on your profile page and delivered to those who have subscribed to, or are following you. You can restrict or allow open access to your "tweets". It's free unless you use SMS (short message service). 6 million unique visitors monthly. Currently the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for 2009. Although discovered by the media, still under 7% of the population uses it, but growth over last year was a whopping 1,382% .
3. BizNik - Use BizNik to establish yourself as an expert in your industry through articles and content. BizNik is for people building real businesses. It's a good place to go to share conversation about your business and entrepreneurial endeavours. The site is based on relationships, not referrals. You can teach a seminar; post on the boards; download your articles; host an online event; attend an online event, etc.
4. Facebook - Use Facebook to "tap into the fountain of youth". Join in by city; workplace; school, etc. You can choose your friends and use privacy settings which allow you to control what type of information is automatically shared. The most popular application is the ability to upload unlímited photos. You can now also send "gifts" for $1.00 with a personalized message to your friends; and post free classified ads to those in your network. 228% growth year over year, with the fastest growing demographic being those 25 years and older.
5. MySpace - Use MySpace to recruit, educate, introduce and boost awareness of your business and industry as a whole. One of the fastest growing websites of all time, with the primary user being 18 years of age and older. This interactive network is a user-submitted site of friends, groups, videos, musicians, photos, blogs, etc. You can use "bulletins" to deliver your message; designated groups can share a common page and message board; full service classified listings are available; you can upload recordings, and much more.
More options... bebo.com; care2.com; classmates.com; del.icio.us; digg.com; flickr.com; friendster.com; meetup.com; orkut.com; ryze.com; stumbleupon.com; yahoo!360; xanga.com; to over 100! And once you have made those decisions, consider these next two systems that are here and should be "coming down your pipes" SOON...
Mobile Marketing
This is the ability to reach consumers on their mobile devices, "where they are", with incentive advertising and email campaigns. Still in its early stages, perfecting mobile-friendly formats and savvy ways to deliver your message to this captive audience will require a unique approach and your research. Studies show that ad agencies big and small are all rushing to develop mobile-based promotional tools - it's going to be huge and it's coming fast. It's time for you to catch up with exploding consumer online demands. Still only 19% of mobile users have used mobile marketing, but critics say that it increases consumer awareness by up to 24% and increases intent to purchase by almost 5% - that's good... Start capturing new data, preferences and interest levels from clients now! Some stats: 3.3 billion people worldwide have mobile phones. Over 200 million operate phones with text messaging capabilities in North America. Over 174 million have phones capable of browsing the web in North America Check out: www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/lib/1718.pdf
The Virtual Office
Your office must be wherever you are - you can conduct business from almost anywhere today. If you're on the move, you'll need a cell phone/smart phone/personal digital assistant with wireless web. While on the go, use instant messaging and social networking sites to alert, modify, and monitor staff and client wants and needs, on the spot. Your virtual office might consist of some, or all of these:

• Videoconferencing and/or teleconferencing combined with presentation software that will allow you to communicate with several people in real time, worldwide;
• Live streaming video enables the user to view in real time, anything from a demonstration of services, to an onsite, hands-on educational program;
• Web-hosted scheduling and booking tools will allow you to manage appointments online;
• Blogs, eNews and Forums are important informational tools to help endorse your brand;
• Web conferencing (webinars) make it simple to hold live interactive seminars with anyone at any time;
• Podcasts are great marketing tools as well as a great educational means for teaching and training staff and your target markets;
• Online video has climbed 340% in recent years, as a means to introduce; learn; and sell from;
• Online sales (shop with us) are fast becoming necessary as a passive, supplementary revenue stream in the business environment.

If necessary, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant/Cyber Assistant (VA/CA - just Google) and get help with new ways on getting things done in a cyber-environment. Enjoy!

By author: Leslie Lyon

Digital Britain: a revolution for UK internet users?

After months of anticipation, communications minister Lord Carter's Digital Britain report was finally released to the masses yesterday. Although there were few surprises - the interim report released in January had many industry commentators prepared for what was to come - the revelations have created debate concerning the effectiveness of the proposals and whether or not they will really achieve the government's digital inclusions goals.
The report's main points include a minimum 2MB broadband connection for all households by 2012, a speed that Lord Carter has called "a technological minimum wage". While this objective has been public for some time, the report also revealed that the government hopes to levy a 50p per month 'broadband tax' on all households, in order to pay for the rollout of next-generation broadband.
In addition, internet service providers in Britain will be required to cut illegal file sharing on their networks by 70 per cent in the next 12 months. Analogue radio will be phased out and replaced exclusively by digital stations by the end of 2015 and, while there were some fears that Channel 4 and Five would be merged together, the report's conclusions instead will give 4 financial assistance from the government in order to create a joint venture with BBC Worldwide.
But what does the Digital Britain report mean for online advertising and the search industry? The effects will be made clearer when - and if - the proposals start rolling out over the next few years but initially, wider broadband coverage clearly indicates a broader market for advertisers. According to the report 2.75 million homes, around 11 per cent of households, in the UK do not have access to a broadband connection of 2Mbps. What's more, the prospect of superfast broadband speeds could also mean the potential for more advertising exposure - i.e., as internet connections get faster, users can carry out more searches and visit more sites in an hour then they would previously have been able to.
And while Google - a company that's been integral to the development of the digital landscape in the UK - isn't the focus of the document's proposals, it certainly makes its presence felt throughout the report. Lord Carter's introduction starts off by highlighting the huge amount of activity that takes place on Google and YouTube every day and uses the firm's massive growth over the last ten years as an example of how far the digital economy has come in the 21st century.
It also seems that Google has been taking many steps to keep the government on-side. For starters, it has joined the Ofcom-led Consortium of Stakeholders to drive Digital Participation, along with AOL and Yahoo!. This super-group will have £12 million of funding available to them over three years to facilitate this goal. What's more, Mountain View has also signed up to the Broadband Stakeholders' Group's Audiovisual Content Information Good Practice Principles, which aims to provide "clear, consistent information about commercially-provided audiovisual content". Other signatories include AOL, Yahoo!, MySpace, BBC, Channel 4, Five, ITV and Microsoft.
But it's not all good feeling between Google and Westminster. In the report's discussions of digital security and assurance, it cites Google Streetview as a key point of consumer concern over online privacy. How the future of this service will play out as the government seeks to take steps to address these worries is still to be seen, but it seems unlikely that it will move towards a total shutdown as seen in Greece - particularly since the report also states that the Space Innovation and Growth team will start cataloguing satellite data collected by Google Earth.
While the Digital Britain proposals have been welcomed by some and criticised by others, what really stands out is that nothing is yet certain. The objectives lined out in the document have yet to be agreed upon so whether any of them will come into being remains unsure. However, even if its most basic goals - like broadband for all - are approved, the implications for the digital economy, and therefore online advertising and search, are sure to be significant.

by Search Copywriter
Y. Sulaiman

Who Tweets? A Twitter Census (PC World)

Image by luc legay via Flickr

American Twitter users are predominately young, poor, blog-centric, social-network-happy urbanites who like to read the news on their mobile devices, according to the The Pew Internet and American Life Project. The PIAP released a report yesterday called "Twitter and Status Updating" that discusses who uses Twitter or similar services, and how that choice impacts their daily life. According to the paper, only 11 percent of online American adults are Tweeting, but their average age is much higher than other social network users and they have a preference for mobile technology. The Pew Center researchers arrived at their numbers by conducting phone interviews with 2,253 adult Americans (502 of which were on a cell phone) between November 19, 2008 and December 20, 2008.
An important note: Pew's (and my) references to "Twitter users" really means anyone who regularly updates her or his status through any number of services such as Twitter, Yammer, Facebook, MySpace, or even LinkedIn. Perhaps we should give them a more generic name like status updaters, but Twitter users or Tweeters sounds so much better, don't you think?
Portrait of a Tweeter
Surprisingly, and unlike many other social networks, the average Tweeter is 31. By comparison, MySpace has an average age of 27; Facebook is a little younger at 26; while LinkedIn is the social network of choice for those in their 40s. In the tweetosphere, 25- to 34-year-olds hold a slight majority over 19- to 24-year-olds by about 1 percent. With age comes money in our society, and that litle tidbit of truthiness is reflected among tweeters as well. According to PIAP, 17 percent of adult Internet users who make $30,000 or less also tweet, while only 10 percent of households making $75,000 or more broadcast their status into cyberspace. This is not particularly suprising as the memo points out, since the younger generation typically earns less money than older folks.
Tweeters are also more ethnically diverse and more likely to live in a city. Neither statistic is suprising as American youths are more ethnically diverse than older Americans. Twitter most likely appeals more to those in the urban jungle because city social lives are typically more active and less centralized than in rural areas.
Tweeters embrace social media
What I found most interesting from the PIAP memo was the fact that tweeters are using their status updates as one piece of a much larger social media landscape. In other words, Twitter is an add-on for other social media. This is not all that surprising, since Twitter welcomes third-party developers to create other uses for Twitter, such as broadcasting your tweets into your Facebook status, blog, or other web page. About 23 percent of social network users tweet, with only 4 percent of non-social networkers do the same.
Tweeters are also more likely to consume and read blogs than other Internet users. Fifty-seven percent of tweeters have read a blog, and 21 percent said yes when asked if they read a blog yesterday. By comparison, only 9 percent of non-tweeters said they read a blog yesterday and only 29 percent have ever read a blog. The statistic gets even wider when talking about blog creators: 29 percent of tweeters have created a blog, while only 11 percent of the Twitterless have ventured into the world of Wordpress and Moveable Type.
Other Tweeter facts
The PIAP memo also says that tweeters are big on wireless devices, including laptops, cell phones, smartphones, and PDAs. They are more likely to read the news online and typically they'll do it on a mobile device. Tweeting is a great way to share a news story or some other little tidbit you found on the internet. Services like TinyURL or Snurl also make it easier to Tweet your discoveries since they shorten long web addresses, allowing tweeters to maxmize their 140 character per message limit.
Tweeters may only make up a small percentage of online users at the moment, but I wonder if this is a trend that is likely to continue and expand. Recenlty, NPR's On The Media took a trip to Japan to study the Japanese love affair with mobile devices . The Japanese use their phone regularly for everything from boarding a plane to paying for simple purchases; most interestingly, however, the mobile device is the primary and sometimes only gateway onto the Internet for the average Japanese citizen. There are a variety of reasons for this including the way their digital culture developed and financial constraints, but I wonder if U.S. tweeters are simply ahead of the curve and one day, like the Japanese, Americans will give up their personal computers and get online primarily through their BlackBerrys and iPhones.

iMedia Connection: Facebook in full stride at 222 million users

Image via Wikipedia

Facebook hit 222 million users last December, according to comScore. Shelly Palmer of MediaBytes says Facebook now has 100 million more users than MySpace, although both sites were neck and neck just six months prior.

View >>

Facebook moves closer to conquering the web

Image by via CrunchBase

The data portability wars may now be in full swing, and Facebook has taken an early lead with the launch of Facebook Connect, a service that lets users log onto other websites through Facebook and view their friends' activities on those sites.
Some of the third-party websites partnering with the social network include Digg, Twitter, Citisearch and CBS, with the Discovery Channel, San Francisco Chronicle, Hulu and the genealogy network Geni expected to join soon, according to The New York Times.
There is no financial agreement between Facebook and the websites using Facebook Connect, with the only benefit being increased traffic. There are currently no plans to explore advertising potential with Connect, but of course Facebook will now have even more information about which websites its users visit, creating the possibility for better-targeted ads.
The launch of Facebook Connect is the latest chapter in the growing war between Facebook, Google and MySpace as all three companies vie to become a digital hub of sorts, where users update and manage their profiles and information across the web. 
All three web giants announced their initiatives in May, and Facebook fired the first shot in the war shortly after when it said it would not participate in Google's Friend Connect because of privacy concerns. MySpace, meanwhile, is working closely with Google to make sure its services are compatible.
The battle for third-party partners is intense as well. When MySpace announced its own data portability project, it named Twitter as a partner. But according to TechCrunch, the micro-blogging service will actually integrate with Facebook first.
Facebook has also taken the utmost caution in launching Connect, largely because of the criticism it received for its Beacon program a year ago. This time around, the social network put its users' privacy at the forefront.
"We want to make the experience as lightweight and easy to use as possible," said Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg. "But we also have to make sure that people understand what�s going on and have control over it."

By Rich Cherecwich

Increase Site Traffic Easily And Affordably

Image by Coneee via Flickr

 By Giorgos Kontopoulos
Many people doing business online have great websites but don't seem to be selling anything. Their products or services are top-notch, and their looks both professional and unique. So why aren't they making any money? The issue is that it really doesn't matter how amazing your website is if no one ever sees it.
Here are 45 ways you can increase your website traffic easily and affordably.1. Create your site with search engines in mind. Most people who look up something on the internet do so by using a search engine. Use words and phrases related to your business throughout your site.
2. Blog about your site. Even if you don't have a dedicated blog for your website, mention it in your personal blog. You might even make multiple blogs-a personal one, a business one, etc.
3. Update these blogs on a regular basis (at least once a week).
4. Tag your blogs on sites like http://del.icio.us and www.technorati.com.
5. Use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to advertise your website.
6. Put your website address in your email signature.
7. Put your website in the signature area of any forum you post on regularly, especially if the forum is related to your service or product.
8. Add an RSS feed to your website news section or your website blog.

9. Watch for any grammar/spelling errors on your website. No one will stick around your site if it has obvious (and avoidable) errors on it. Proofread!
10. Likewise, make certain all the links on your website work.
11. Look at what kind of navigation tools you are using on your site. Some may not work with every web browser.
12. Write good articles and press releases about your website. The goal here is to get keywords into the article that will send people to your site.
13. List your website at DMOZ ( http://dmoz.org).
14. Review products on epinion.com and other review sites that are similar to yours.
15. Post comments on other blogs and websites that discuss products or services similar to yours. Be sure to include your website if there is space for a URL.
16. Put up business-related photos on sites like Flickr and tag them with your website address.
17. Make comments on blogs related to your website, and encourage people to comment on your blog.
Continue reading this article.

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About the Author:
Giorgos Kontopoulos is a web consultant from Greece. He is one of the authors of GeoLand.org where he can often be found blogging about issues related to web development and search engine optimization.