Is Facebook building a Google rival — one that would use your location and your friends’ tastes?
A team of more than 20 Facebook engineers — led by a former Google programmer — is at work on a vastly improved search engine within the site, according a Businessweek report.
The idea, according to two sources, is to take better advantage of the heaps of content Facebook users create on — and off — the site every day. With people sharing status updates and supporting brand pages on the network, as well as using Facebook’s “Like” button to mark articles and videos from external sites, there is certainly a lot to take advantage of.
Mashable contacted Facebook for more information and got this response from a company spokesperson: “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation around products.”
Google has boosted its presence in the social space recently, opening the Google+ network last fall and a “Search, Plus Your World” feature to tepid response earlier this year. So it’s interesting to see Facebook potentially make a stronger move into the search world.
A large-scale shift to a “semantic web,” where online data is is able to be delivered in more nuanced and complex ways, is gaining momentum among tech futurists. Wikipedia recently announced a project called Wikidata that aims to make its content smarter by cross-updating among Wikipedia pages when they are edited. A more robust Facebook search functionality would be another step toward that semantic web.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has consistently downplayed the level of direct competition between Facebook and Google. “I don’t think that this is going to be the type of situation when one company wins all this stuff,” he told Charlie Rose of PBS last fall.
If the Businessweek report is true, however, it will add yet another area of heightened competitive overlap between the two Silicon Valley giants.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
Does Your Website Need More Traffic? Here's 5 Essential Techniques
"How can I increase traffic to my website?" is probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the field of website marketing.
The obvious reason for this is due to the fact that website traffic is essential if you want to make money online. To define what is meant by website traffic, it is not only the number of visitors that go to your site, but also the total amount of data that is transferred through your website. If you are planning to market your business via the internet, then you need to send as much traffic as possible to your website.
A website without traffic is akin to a store without shoppers, hence attracting customers to your web business is absolutely crucial to your online success. It is quite pointless having a fantastic website for your products or affiliate business if no one knows it exists or, to put it quite frankly, no shoppers equals no sales!
Most people believe free website traffic is the best and most desirable source to a web marketer, solely due to the fact that it is exactly that, free. This idea may sound great, but is somewhat misguided. In fact, it is significantly more important to focus on the quality rather than just the quantity of traffic, as this is what will be instrumental to the success of your site.
It goes without saying that any website traffic is good, however, unique targeted website traffic is far better. Targeted website traffic is the dream of every online business, whether a multinational conglomerate, or an independent work from home Mom. Free targeted traffic is even more desirable than targeted traffic.
Why, you may ask, targeted traffic in particular? This is because it is key to a successful online business, this kind of traffic will have a much higher conversion rate i.e. converting visitors into buyers, compared to random non-targeted traffic. It's basically giving an interested party what they want rather than attempting to sell something to a bunch of tire kickers with no intention of buying.
Enough significance cannot be put on this type of traffic as it is crucial for any website hoping to create revenue. As I wrote earlier, it's not simply the quantity of traffic that you generate, but more so the quality of the traffic. The higher the quality, the higher your conversion rates and the greater your income.
So how do you increase traffic to your website? Here are a few very good tried and tested methods:-
Good keyword research may be long, tedious and sometimes boring but it is essential. Don't forget to include these targeted keywords throughout the content of your website, this alone will attract traffic.
Another vital way to improve the quality of traffic is through S.E.O (search engine optimization.) S.E.O techniques significantly improve website traffic by helping your site rank higher on large search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo
Join online forums on the subject of your website and get involved, make comments, offer help etc, etc. Make sure you fill out your profile and signature details that will include your website URL, this will naturally help promote your website, and generate targeted traffic.
Another very similar and very useful marketing tool for generating targeted website traffic is to frequently update your blog, if you haven't got a blog, get one! Also comment on other blogs within the same business as your business, again leaving your website URL in your signature.
Last, but certainly not least, is email marketing. This has to be one of the best methods to generate targeted web traffic, the twist in the tail with this technique is you need a list of subscribers to your site. So you will need to build a list first.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6931788
The obvious reason for this is due to the fact that website traffic is essential if you want to make money online. To define what is meant by website traffic, it is not only the number of visitors that go to your site, but also the total amount of data that is transferred through your website. If you are planning to market your business via the internet, then you need to send as much traffic as possible to your website.
A website without traffic is akin to a store without shoppers, hence attracting customers to your web business is absolutely crucial to your online success. It is quite pointless having a fantastic website for your products or affiliate business if no one knows it exists or, to put it quite frankly, no shoppers equals no sales!
Most people believe free website traffic is the best and most desirable source to a web marketer, solely due to the fact that it is exactly that, free. This idea may sound great, but is somewhat misguided. In fact, it is significantly more important to focus on the quality rather than just the quantity of traffic, as this is what will be instrumental to the success of your site.
It goes without saying that any website traffic is good, however, unique targeted website traffic is far better. Targeted website traffic is the dream of every online business, whether a multinational conglomerate, or an independent work from home Mom. Free targeted traffic is even more desirable than targeted traffic.
Why, you may ask, targeted traffic in particular? This is because it is key to a successful online business, this kind of traffic will have a much higher conversion rate i.e. converting visitors into buyers, compared to random non-targeted traffic. It's basically giving an interested party what they want rather than attempting to sell something to a bunch of tire kickers with no intention of buying.
Enough significance cannot be put on this type of traffic as it is crucial for any website hoping to create revenue. As I wrote earlier, it's not simply the quantity of traffic that you generate, but more so the quality of the traffic. The higher the quality, the higher your conversion rates and the greater your income.
So how do you increase traffic to your website? Here are a few very good tried and tested methods:-
Good keyword research may be long, tedious and sometimes boring but it is essential. Don't forget to include these targeted keywords throughout the content of your website, this alone will attract traffic.
Another vital way to improve the quality of traffic is through S.E.O (search engine optimization.) S.E.O techniques significantly improve website traffic by helping your site rank higher on large search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo
Join online forums on the subject of your website and get involved, make comments, offer help etc, etc. Make sure you fill out your profile and signature details that will include your website URL, this will naturally help promote your website, and generate targeted traffic.
Another very similar and very useful marketing tool for generating targeted website traffic is to frequently update your blog, if you haven't got a blog, get one! Also comment on other blogs within the same business as your business, again leaving your website URL in your signature.
Last, but certainly not least, is email marketing. This has to be one of the best methods to generate targeted web traffic, the twist in the tail with this technique is you need a list of subscribers to your site. So you will need to build a list first.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6931788
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Google Building Third-Party Commenting Platform
Google is working on third-party commenting platform to rival Facebook’s, according to multiple reports. The system will be deeply integrated with several Google products so that comments left on third-party websites appear in Google search results and on Google+.
The commenting platform was allegedly discussed at an event Google hosted in Saudi Arabia earlier this week and later confirmed by inside sources to The Next Web. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on the matter.
With so few details, it’s difficult to speculate what sort of impact a Google commenting system would have on the online publishing landscape. Should there be a SEO, and a resulting referral traffic advantage, to using Google’s commenting platform, it would likely attract a fair amount of interest among publishers — even those already using Facebook’s commenting system. Google’s tool could also pose a threat to independent commenting platforms such as Disqus, Livefyre and Intense Debate.
In addition to a commenting system, news emerged from the Saudi Arabia event that Google would roll out vanity URLs for Google+ users in the near future.
The commenting platform was allegedly discussed at an event Google hosted in Saudi Arabia earlier this week and later confirmed by inside sources to The Next Web. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on the matter.
With so few details, it’s difficult to speculate what sort of impact a Google commenting system would have on the online publishing landscape. Should there be a SEO, and a resulting referral traffic advantage, to using Google’s commenting platform, it would likely attract a fair amount of interest among publishers — even those already using Facebook’s commenting system. Google’s tool could also pose a threat to independent commenting platforms such as Disqus, Livefyre and Intense Debate.
In addition to a commenting system, news emerged from the Saudi Arabia event that Google would roll out vanity URLs for Google+ users in the near future.
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