Tumblr allows users to share anything and everything on a live feed. The site allows you to customize your dashboard with blogs you will be interested in. On your dashboard you can then comment on the blogs, reblog, and like posts that you find worthy. Similar to Twitter, tags are also created using hashtags (#). These hashtags are used to help other users find their post. For example, if this blog were being tagged on Tumblr I could use #Yahoo #Tumblr.

Added features for a user’s blog is the ability to use a custom domain name. For a blogger, editing your HTML coding to enhance the appearance of your blog helps it become more visible online and more appealing to readers.

Beginning a year ago this month, Tumblr began allowing advertisers to run campaigns on their site. Companies are also able to promote their posts to reach a larger audience. According to Lee Brown, Tumblr’s Head of Sales, the average ad purchase on Tumblr is just under six figures. Other sources of revenue include selling themes to those users who wish to improve the appearance of their blog. These huge sales are likely what got Yahoo’s attention. 

Yahoo in the process of buying Tumblr

Yahoo! Inc is in the process of purchase this growing blogging network for a very high price. This acquisition will cost Yahoo approximately $1.1 billion (pocket change, right?).

I assume Tumblr users hope to see little to no changes to the process of posting and sharing blogs. Users, along with Tumblr CEO, David Karp (only 26!), hope to not see Tumblr have the same fate as Geocities and Flickr. After Yahoo acquired these sites, they were neglected and “got lost” inside Yahoo.

Why is Yahoo buying Tumblr?

Yahoo CEO, Melissa Mayer, is choosing to make this aggressive move in an attempt to challenge Google and Facebook in the realm of social media. With around 108 million blogs, Yahoo is hoping to capitalize on this audience. With this purchase, Tumblr is expected to expand Yahoo’s audience by 50 percent.

In order to succeed, Yahoo will need to have a positive impact on a user’s experience. Things to avoid would be overwhelming users with ads and taking away Tumblr’s “cool factor”. Yahoo and Tumblr will now have to work together to keep the site interesting and its users active while inconspicuously increasing ad sales.

We should see this deal finalize by the end of the year, but possibly much sooner. So will Tumblr bloggers embrace this change or show resistance?

What is Mint.com?

Mint.com is a website that tracks all your transactions from your bank account. Remember checkbooks? I don’t. I never used one. But if your older than 25 you might. Think of Mint.com like a digital checkbook. Instead of having to keep a record of every check you write in your checkbook just to keep track of your balances and expenses, Mint.com automatically reads all your transactions from your online bank account. It shows where you purchased items, how much it costs, and with a little help it categorizes it.

It’s safe. That’s usually the first concern. Mint.com only reads data. This means it can’t deposit, withdrawal or transfer any money, ever. It’s secure under 256 bit encryption, so you never have to worry about hackers.

Getting started is free. All you do is register an email address to sign up. Once you first login you’ll need to start adding accounts. Just search or type in the name of your bank, your username and password you use to login to your online bank account, and that’s it. The magic begins. Mint.com will start to pull your transactions automatically. You can now scroll through all the purchases you’ve made in the transactions section.

Mint.com For Business

Here are a couple ways Mint.com can be useful to your business.Categorizing transactions.

1. After you’ve set up your first account, you can now see the transactions you’ve made around town. What you can start doing is clicking under the category column on the transaction and selecting the proper category. As you can see, the name of the business where you purchased the item is listed in the transaction so this makes it easy to categorize. If the category doesn’t exist you can create it by selecting a category on the right side. There’s an option to add/edit categories. A nice feature about Mint.com is once you start categorizing your purchases the system will remember and automatically file it under that category next time you buy something at that location.
2. Seeing your trends. Another nice feature of Mint.com is trends. In the trends section you can see all sorts of options. After you’ve categorized a lot of your transactions, trends will start to appear. You’ll see if you’re spending too much on a specific item, like if you’re buying too much office supplies and need to cut down. Another nice feature is you can also track your income. Trends create a nice flow chart of all your assets and expenses. You can see why this could be useful to any business owner.

Now that you’re a little familiar with Mint.com, you can see how it can really save you time. No more pouring over checkbooks, receipts, and expense sheets. You can sit down and view it all from one screen. See, technology can be a useful friend. Now you can get rid of all those other friends. Youtube and Facebook I mean, of course.

In this video, Matt Cutts responds to the question “What should we expect in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google?”

Advertorials

One of the issues that Google is addressing is the use of advertorials. Matt clearly states that there is nothing wrong with advertorials and native advertising. However, it is Google’s belief that these pages should not violate quality guidelines and that they should not pass page rank. Penguin 2.0 will be more strict when it comes to removing the ability for these pages to pass rank. Matt notes that these forms of advertising should clearly disclose to viewers that they are, in fact, a paid advertisement and not organic content.

Link Value & Devalue of Upstream Spam Links

Matt points out that they are in the early stages but working on more sophisticated ways to analyze links to determine their value. We can also expect to see focus put on ways to go upstream and devaluing many link spamming tactics.

Hacked Sites

Google is also planning to roll out a more comprehensive hacked site detection that communicates better with webmasters through Google Webmaster Tools. This will allow webmasters to quickly gain additional information about the issue and start the clean up process.

Author Rank

While Matt still does not make what I would call an “official” statement regarding author rank, he does comment that Google is getting better at recognizing when somebody is an authority on a given subject and that those individuals will be given an extra push in the SERPs.

Panda

Later this summer we can also expect a Panda update that softens the blow taken by websites who sit in the gray areas. This will help websites that show signs of quality but were negatively affected by previous rollouts.

Result Clusters

Google will also be looking into rolling out an update that counters the saturation of single sites in the SERPs. A cluster is when you perform a Google search and a grouping of results from a single website dominates the results. Matt mentions that once a cluster is discovered it will be unlikely to discover additional clusters from that website as you move deeper into the search result pages.

By the end of the summer we should see less results for webmasters who practice black-hat and spammy practices and better results for those of us in the SEO profession who are producing great quality content and using the appropriate ethical tactics.

I tuned into the keynote for the news about Google+ updates. Let me tell you; they are making some major improvements and changes. I’ll focus on the Google+ changes. Check back here for information about other big announcements.

Major Google+ Changes Announced

Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President, Engineering for Google, announced they were rolling out 41 changes to Google+. To simplify this for us at the keynote, he went through three big changes.

Google+

Google+ now has a multi-column design. Gone is the flat, single column screen we are used to. This new design is dynamic, changing from 1 to 3 columns depending on the size of your screen. This means you’ll see more stories across the page, and they’ll fit well. This means that your cousin’s panoramic snapshot of the coast will span the entire screen rather than be squashed to fit in one column.

The multi-column design does more than look pretty. The menus and share box move and slide. New cards flip and fade, letting you see related info about a certain story.

The new related hashtags feature lets you explore a certain topic. Click on the hashtag to reveal a card with more stories with the same tag or related information.

Hangouts

Gundotra stressed the company’s philosophy on technology. He said that Google wants people to use technology to do what they do best: live, learn, and love. Instead of letting computers stop us from relating to people in the real world, Google wants us to focus on hanging out.

Gundotra shared the new stand alone hangouts app. He showed the app’s dynamic yet simple system that shows who is in the conversation and who is reading or sending a message. You can easily switch to group video chat, send pictures, video or text. And, you have the ability to save these conversations as long as you’d like.

Photos

Gundotra then presented a load of updates to Google+ Photos. Noting that taking, storing, enhancing, and sharing photographs takes a good chunk of time, he set us up for several time-saving features.

Google already backs up your photos, but now they will also enhance and “awesome” your photos. Google will examine all of your photos and pick the best ones based on a number of criteria. Then, all photos will be auto enhanced. They will even find pictures taken in “burst” mode or very close together and create a GIF-like file for you. This software is appropriately called “awesome”.

Stay tuned for more Google I/O news. We’re excited about the changes and improvements- We’ll keep you updated on how the changes will affect online marketing for local business.

Simply put we have more options today that help us quickly find what we are looking for. Let’s look at Traditional Search vs. Vertical Search. Traditional searches are made using a search engine. These have been dominated by Google. When you bypass the search engine and seek out your information directly from within an immediate website you are making a Vertical Search.

According to comScore, traditional searches dropped 3% in the last 6 months while vertical searches continued to climb, reaching an increase of 8%. In a recent report from the New York Times, Amazon has already passed Google in the number of shopping related searches. As the number of quality websites and mobile applications grow, the need for traditional search begins to fade away.

Looking at my own personal search habits, this news comes as no real surprise. A large percentage of my searching is done on a mobile device and it doesn’t involve Google. If I’m looking for news or fresh content I tend to use apps such as Flipboard and Read.it! which provide me with customized content and elegant searches provided in a magazine style format. I find information faster and have a pleasant visual experience in the process.

For shopping purposes one of my favorite apps is ShopAdvisor which not only provides me with a stylish magazine format but it also gives me instant access to full reviews, prices, what companies have the product in stock, and so on. The app will even notify me when products I’m interested in go on sale. This is a service that traditional search simply cannot provide me.

When I’m not searching on a mobile device I still find myself spending most of my time searching content within topical websites rather than Google. For most of the world, search can be broken down into 3 types. The initial search, specific search, and the revised search.

Initial Search

This represents a large portion of consumer searches. At this point the consumer does not know exactly what they are looking for. They only have a vague idea of what it is. These are very generic searches often made using a traditional search engine such as Google.

Specific Search

As consumers discover the websites provided to them by Google they begin to make more specific “vertical searches” on these websites. They start spending more time learning more about what they need to know. They begin to make decisions that will affect the final outcome. What do they need to buy? Who should they buy it from? This is the point where marketers can really help influence the consumer.

Over the years the number of topical websites with high quality information has grown dramatically. Everyday more and more content is released on these sites, making the need to return back to Google during the search process less important.

Revised Search

Consumers might return to Google at this point to make a quick specific search based on what they’ve learned. They’ve already spent a great deal of time researching the subject, outside of Googles domain, and are now getting closer to a decision. In fact, they might have already made up their mind and are simply looking where to get the cheapest deal. The opportunity for other marketers to make an impact on the consumer has most likely slipped away.

We all know that Google is not going to disappear over night. The traditional search still plays a vital role in the overall process. However, the way we use it has definitely changed and will continue to do so. As marketers, it is important not to overlook this change and be ready for the opportunities to reach out and provide consumers with the information they need at the time when they need it most.

When launching your startup, you likely know you need a strong web presence but you’re lost on where to start. We’ve prioritized the steps you need to take while getting established:

Register a domain name.

The next step after creating a name for your business should be registering the domain. Registering your domain is possibly the easiest thing you can do, but it’s also very important. You don’t want to be stuck in a situation of not getting the one you want. Once you’ve done this, you can move forward with the hosting and design of your company’s website.

Setup your social media.

We recommend you start with your LinkedIn company page. This is not the same as your personal LinkedIn profile. By setting up your company’s social media pages, you can reveal your new logo and provide links to your website.

Get familiar with Google’s many tools.

It’s time to become very familiar with Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. These will give insights on web traffic, SEO, bounce rates and much more. These tools will hold the foundation of your online marketing efforts.

Create your G+ business page.

While you’re already using Google’s many tools for your business, claim your Google+ business page. On your G+ page you need to provide your customers with a well-organized and professional summary of your company to be shown at the top of search results. This business page will also be vitally important to your local search optimization. For more information on Google+ Local, check out our blog post about the recent changes.

Submit business listings.

Now it’s time to claim your citations on Yelp, Foursquare, Yahoo, Bing, etc. We recommend always using the same format, spelling and syntax for your business’ physical address (e.g., 206b SE 2nd Street not 2nd St.).

Blog away.

A great way to claim authority and generate a buzz is through blogging. Introduce yourself and share your expertise to build credibility. This is a great way to welcome people to your new website and create links back to your domain.

Don’t limit yourself to Facebook & Twitter.

Once you’ve established yourself on Facebook and Twitter, we don’t want you to think you’re “done”. You need to be just as active on Instagram and Pinterest. Another way to be active on social media while also initiating sales is through making YouTube videos. Explain your company and help drive traffic to your website by associating your video keywords with your business’ domain.

If you have any questions or would like more information on growing your business through online marketing, contact Turn the Page today! Your results are our expertise, and we look forward to helping your business achieve the results you want!

Here are a few techniques that every website should have so you’re not exchanging your visitor’s time for the value of your dog’s crap.

Ask questions

One way to do that is ask questions. If you’re a company that offers a service, ask questions on your site that many of your customers ask you. Then, instead of answering that question on the site, point them to a contact form or contact number.

Make it easy for them

Whatever you’re wanting the visitor to do, have it accessible with no more than one click. The average online surfer spends less than thirty seconds on a single website. Think about it. When you’re surfing the internet, you bounce all around from one page to another. Very seldom do you actually stay on a site for very long. So if you don’t make it easy for them to engage with you somehow,you’ve lost them. Make it obvious what you want them to do and make it easy for them to do it. Remember, no more than one click.

Get their information

Maybe a visitor is not ready to totally commit to your product or service just yet, but if they leave your site, chances are they’ll never return. So make it easy for them to remember you. Have them like your Facebook page, follow you on twitter, or subscribe to your newsletter and blog. It’s called permission based marketing. You’re getting permission to remind them of the awesome
product or service you offer. Usually you’ll have to offer something for free like a free consultation or trial offer in order to get their attention. But it will totally be worth it when they finally do get over their commitment issues and buy what you’re offering them.

With those simple techniques you’ll see an major increase in interaction on your site. I guarantee it. Not only will you be seeing more interaction on your site, but you’ll be saving that animal website of yours from the embarrassment of public defecation charges. I heard it’s illegal in some states.

Social Media Marketing for Twitter InfoGraphic

Google Now- Google’s predictive search service- is now available to iPhone and iPad users. Google Now has been available for Android devices since last summer and has gone from its early stages to possibly shear genius since then. The way it has evolved in just the last year leads us to believe desktop users may even be using Google Now sooner than later.

How does Google Now work?

Google Now gathers your personal information and provides you with information “cards”. Based on the information it has gathered, Google Now searches for what it believes to be information you need or would like at the time. To determine these searches, Google Now pulls information from:

• Your current location and your location history

• Your Google searches

• Your gmail account and flight or hotel confirmations sent to your email account

• Events on your Google calendar

• Google+ contacts and birthdays

• Companies listed in your Google Finance portfolio

With information from these sources, in combination with public information such as news and traffic for example, Google Now comes up with answers before you ask the question.

Google Now Information Cards

The information provided to you through Google Now is displayed using cards. Examples of these cards include: Weather, Traffic, Sports Info, Stocks, Packages, Boarding Passes, Public Transit, Birthdays, Appointments, and many more. As you can see, Google Now needs access to your accounts and your location to be able to work its magic.

Let’s say you searched for the score to the Royals game last night. Google Now has now qualified you as a Royals fan (Go Blue!) and that info will now be provided in the cards without you having to do a search.

Google Now for Desktop?

Though Google hasn’t said, we believe that it makes sense for Google Now to begin to appear on our desktops where many searches are also being made. Perhaps we’ll even see a transformation in the Google homepage soon. In the meantime, Android users can update their device via Google Play to use Google Now. For iOS users, download or upload the Google Search App via the App store.

So what’s the catch? The only thing that could make Google Now inaccurate or not helpful is for those who don’t use Google products for email or search. For Google Now to work properly, it needs access to your information and location.

My advice- Get Google Now.. now. If iPhone users haven’t already, it may be time to leave Safari and Siri in the dust.

Our suggestion? Remember that graphic designers are designers – not mind readers. (Although our graphics department does have many super powers we pull out from time to time.)

Here’s what you can do to help us get the vision in your head onto the layout we present:

1. Know what you don’t want in your website design

In every design consultation, I ask the client what sites they like or what colors they prefer. A common response:

“I don’t care.”

But, experience has shown me that this not true – you DO care about the look and colors on your website (or logo, or brochure, etc.) So not stating any preference isn’t a good response.

When you don’t give any direction, you’re allowing the graphics team to come at you with anything. For example, a hot pink and neon green website.

Unless you’re a roller skating rink or company bringing back the 1980s, this probably isn’t your thing. But, if your input is “I don’t care,” it gives us free reign to be creative.

So the point – analyze yourself and your business. Pick out colors and a “feel” you want to replicate. This will save you lots of time, and possibly even money.

2. Decide on Color Schemes for your Website

I know, I’m back on color, but it’s a big issue. Choosing design colors isn’t like picking paint for your walls – you don’t need exact color schemes. But having an idea of a few colors and “feel” that want will help the process go smoothly.

Don’t just give us one color, for example – my business logo is red.

Instead, give us the type of color schemes you prefer. We’ll need at least two or three. Input like

“I prefer warm colors over bright colors.”

or

“Cold colors or a combination of warm and cold colors work best for us.”

This type of direction helps our team nail it.

How to Pick Website Colors

If you’ve never sat down to think about colors, here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Think about other company logos you like and make a note of them. Show us.
• Use online color tools to create color schemes like http://www.colorschemer.com/ and https://kuler.adobe.com/

3. Look At Website Layouts

Once we have colors sorted out, our next question will be layout. Again, even if you don’t think you have an idea or preference on your site layout – you most likely do. Giving us your thoughts will help us present a website design that you’ll like.

Use these tips to get started on analyzing website layouts:

Analyze other websites – any website

Look at other websites and analyze what you do and don’t like about them. A few things to think through:

• What is your style?
• Do you like a lot of black and white?
• Are you more attracted to clean and minimal designs?
• Do you need something “busier” to incorporate all the elements you want featured?

Note:  When it comes to a website, there’s a difference between clean colors and a clean layout. To a designer, clean colors usually means a lot of white. A clean layout is more about keeping elements separate, like the picky eater who doesn’t like their food touching on the plate.

Analyze other websites – competitors

In the midst of looking at other websites, make sure to take a peek at what your competitors do.

Many new clients come to us with their competitor websites and tell us what they like and don’t like about them. THIS IS GREAT!

Just remember that when it comes to layouts, you don’t have to simply stick with what your competitor is doing. We want to see examples from any company – in or out of your industry – and features you want.

Whether it’s a website, brochure, poster or mailing, any examples of things you like will help your designer.

4. Bring In All of your Graphic Stuff

Typically, Turn The Page customers are not brand new to business. Companies typically have been up and running anywhere from three months to 50 years.

This means you probably have some kind of marketing materials. Whether it’s a logo that your neighbor’s son came up with or a full catalog of items you sell… we want to see it all.

Even if you don’t like it. (Especially if you do.)

All of your existing stuff helps us know what direction to take for your website design. It’s the same reason we always look at a new website client’s old website. We ask,

“What do you like about your old site?”

Typically, the immediate response is:   “NOTHING!”

However, after we talk about it for a little bit the client will say something like:

“Oh, that button that says ‘Follow Us on Twitter,’ we still want that on our homepage.”

All are good things we need to know – up front.

5. Trust Your Graphic Designer

When I call you for a design consultation, that means you have already made a decision. And we are so thankful you chose Turn The Page with your website or graphic design project.

You should always have a say in what you want – after all, it is your company and your brand. We want your opinions and ideas to be part of the process!

However, our best designs typically come from a scenario where the client gave great input and then allowed the graphic designer freedom. When we can be innovative and do something new,  or create something you may not have seen before, we typically push the bar for our clients.

Of course, if you don’t like it – then you don’t like it. And it’s your investment, we will work until it’s right.

But, know that designers think creatively and a lot of them like to push the envelope. By hiring us at Turn The Page, you can use this to your advantage and really make your website stand out.

Utilize these five steps when it comes time for your design consultation. We bet in the end, if you give us this input, we will have you convinced we are super heroes who can read your mind.