Many of us rely on the Internet every day and could not imagine having to cope without it. For gathering information and communicating with people half way across the world the net is a tool we have come to rely on just as much as we have our cars for getting around. However, transferring information was never as fast and smooth as it is these days and sending a simple e-mail could take hours to complete. This was all down to an amazing device called a modem which is largely forgotten about when people think about modern technology. This piece of technology however, has revolutionised the way we live our lives and allowed us to transfer huge amounts of information and data around the world several million times over. Here is an infographic showing exactly how the modem has changed the way we live and work.

via broadbandchoices.co.uk

A lot of detail goes into any new business project. It can be easy to overlook an important element or to get bogged down if somebody new has to join the team in the middle. In the last several years, software called project management has come along to help keep projects running more smoothly, thus improving the productivity of a business.

Photo credit - www.lumaxart.com/

How project management software works

Meeting deadlines and staying on budget during projects are important to keeping a business profitable. These software packages can help in a variety of ways.

*Calendars – Team calendars for each project can be created and accessed by every member of the group so everyone knows when certain deadlines must be met. For members that have individual parts to do on their own, separate calendars can be made.

*Budget – Financial information regarding the project can be maintained within the application. Progress can be monitored to ensure the work stays on budget.

*Progress tracking – Project management software keeps subjective analysis of the work being done by members to a minimum. Benchmarks can be monitored by everyone involved, even if they are working on their own portion. The amount of time that is spent on each task can also be tracked. This allows all team members to see the project is moving forward in a timely manner. It can also allow managers to see if workers are not doing their part.

*Communication – All team members are able to communicate with each other in real time, reducing the wait time to have questions answered. All communication can also be tracked.

*New members – When new or additional team members have to be added to a project, it can often take some time to bring them up to speed. Project management software can decrease this time because all the information is available in a central data base that can be accessed. The software also keeps projects consistent with each other.

*Organization – Though every employee and manager will try to think of every possible detail, there is almost always something that will be missed. The software can point out who should be involved and if any pieces are missing. It can also help all workers better organize their thoughts based on the data available.

*Keeping information – When employees leave a company, they frequently take their best ideas with them. Since project management software records what they were working on and all their in-house communications involving projects, those ideas can stay with the company to be used and expanded on by others.

*Marketing – The reports generated by the software can be used to demonstrate to other prospective clients how well the company handles projects and what it can do.

Business projects are often fluid and require a great deal of attention to be paid by all team members. Project management software improves productivity by keeping everyone organized, moving forward and aware of deadlines and budget restrictions.

This is a guest post from Sandra Hopkins, who writes for a website that compares project management tools and has advice on how to choose the best software for your particular business.

The job description of a popular blogger encompasses more than just producing good content; earning and growing an audience takes time, effort and ingenuity. If you’re looking to break out of your current subscriber mold (hi, mom!) and expose your work to a whole new set of eyes, there is no better tool at your disposal than guest blogging.

Meaning to submit your written work to another, more visited site in your niche, guest blogging will allow you to have your talents seen by an entirely new pool of potential subscribers. Given the highly competitive nature of nearly every niche on the web, putting your best effort in and avoiding common mistakes when guest blogging is the only path to positive results.

1. Don’t submit anything but the best article you’ve ever written.

Once you’ve written and proofread your guest article, consider whether or not it is the best piece that you’ve ever written. If you decide that it isn’t, get editing or start over – nothing but your very best will do with an audience this large!

2. Don’t overdo it with backlinks.

While it may be tempting to create as many backlinks opportunities as possible, don’t turn your well-written work into a spammy mess by taking advantage of the space you have. Count on your content’s readability and draw and allow a single backlink to do the work for you.

3. Don’t stop there!

Your guest post has been published and new visitors are heading your way, but why stop there? Keep your blog fresh with enjoyable articles in order to retain the visitors you’ve gained and consider making guest posting a regular part of your advertising efforts.

Guest posting infographic is courtesy of MyBlogGuest: What is Guest Posting – an Infographic

These days it seems like everything finds its way online – whether you run a business, an organisation, team, charity, school, club or just want to promote yourself for whatever reason! But with social media making it easier to publish and share information on the web these days – do you always need to build your own site or are you better off with a Facebook page, a Twitter profile or a Google + account? This infographic takes you through a step by step process to help you decide whether you actually need a full blown site, or whether a precense on someone else’s site will suffice.

Infographic produced by Basekit – a free website builder

In the world of SEO there’s still some debate about the impact or otherwise of Google Plus

on search rankings and results. Some SEO experts (if there is such an animal) maintain that it’s too early to tell for sure. Google Plus is still a relative newcomer and may find it hard to displace existing social networking components like Facebook and Twitter which have had a decent head start and are well established. Certainly no one would suggest that Facebook and Twitter’s proven roles in influencing search results is likely to diminish any time soon.

Facebook shares and likes are integrated into almost every website you land on and tweets
from authoritative Twitter accounts are evidently also integrated into the ranking factors
of Google and other search engines. The number of Retweets a link gets on Twitter had an
appreciable effect on how it’s indexed on Google, at least up until mid 2011. With Google
Plus and the +1 button, social activities are taking place right there on Google itself, so it’s
hard to believe that the number of +1 button clicks to a given page won’t have some effect
on a page’s organic rankings.

Commercial factors
However, there are more than technical reasons to believe that Google Plus, although still
pretty new, will become more influential. Google will really push the significance of Google
Plus because it’s in their commercial interests to do so because they own it! It’s easier
for them to measure social signals and tweak stuff in Google Plus to integrate into ranking
factors. This creates (for Google at least) a win-win situation where people are driven to use Google Plus, not because it’s an intrinsically better social channel than Twitter or Facebook, but because it has been preferentially given more weight and significance by what still remains the world’s most import search engine. Adding a Google Plus button to any website is remarkably and deliberately easy and in doing so SEOs know that the site will almost inevitably get more authority in the eyes of Google as more +1’s are added. Hence they can virtually guarantee to give their clients improved SERPs results and positions. If you know for sure it’s going to work, why wouldn’t you use it?

It does work
Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOMoz, recently undertook some experiments on Twitter and Google Plus to see how these social media sites impacted search rankings, especially in light of recent changes to Google’s real-time search feature. Fishkin created a series of unique, un-indexed URL’s and shared them exclusively on Twitter and exclusively via Google Plus. He asked followers to Retweet or share the post, but staying exclusively within the originating social site. The results showed that Twitter still had an impact on page indexation thanks probably to sites that automatically republish tweets outside of Twitter.com. The test page on Google Plus was ranked number one within two hours, showing that Google Plus can help pages get indexed almost as quickly as Twitter did once upon a time.

Google loading the dice?
Not only is the +1 button included on every post within Google Plus and on content
publishers’ Websites, but it’s sitting next to every single search result. Google has obviously given their +1 button a big advantage when it comes to their own ranking factors. That doesn’t mean that Facebook or Twitter will be any less important as part of an overall SEO strategy. Rather it suggests that Google has loaded the dice (or at least made it far more likely) that Google Plus is automatically included in that strategy as the default social networking component. Some may say this is Google deliberately manipulating search results for its own purposes and commercial advantage, but last time I looked Google didn’t have a registered charity number as champions of the free and unfettered internet, so what else did you expect them to do?

Implications for SEO and content strategy
The other possible impact of Google Plus on SEO might be to give those content producers
with an active audience and engaged community even more prominence in SERPs. Niche
sectors with established communities that consist of influencers and a mass of enthusiasts
who will share that content should see a boost in their SERPs. Low quality link building will
become obsolete in these niches where communities and active audiences exist. Social
media sites that don’t have an active audience or community will lose prominence and in
niches where there is no community at all (like the more esoteric or just plain boring B2B or industrial topics) social search won’t have any impact either. Unless those companies create an active audience from scratch, there will be no point in conducting anything other than conventional low level link building campaigns. SEO strategies will be further forced into adopting and attack on two fronts: personalised SEO and non-personalised SEO strategies. The non-personalised approach will continue to be what pretty well every biog standard SEO agency is doing already, while personalised strategies will be based around gaining approvaland engagement. Getting the ‘social approval’ of influencers in a particular niche and as many +1s from niche celebrities will be the social media equivalent of getting backlinks from the BBC or high pr government sites.

Watch this space?
Google+ and social search inevitably have an impact on SEO practice. The extent of Google
Plus’ affect on SEO in part depends on what relative weight Google decides to social media
vs. conventional links as a ranking factor. Whatever that effect may be, it’s safe to say that
Google Plus will have an impact on SEO that will only increase in importance over time.

Whether used to make money or simply as a way for the average person to get the message out about one of their passions, blogs have made it easy for would-be authors to find a vehicle for their thoughts. Several websites offer free blog space and all the writer has to do is put their words into it. Keeping it interesting and drawing an audience is the real trick, though. Here are a few tips to remember when looking to improve the content of a blog.

Better blog writing

Blogs work best when they are updated regularly, but sometimes coming up with something to share is not all that easy. Here are some things to try when writer’s block hits.

*Write about an interest – The best stories often are the ones the writer is most passionate about. If it’s interesting to the author, there’s probably an audience for it. When a writer enjoys what they are creating, it comes through to those reading it. Be passionate and enjoy the writing. Just try to find a topic that isn’t already saturated.

*Be consistent – A blog entry doesn’t have to be published every day, but if a pattern is developed early on then it should be followed as much as possible. Readers will come to expect certain things on specific days and if it’s not there, they will seek out a new writer to follow.

*Be timely – If the blog is dependent on current events, report on them as soon as possible. Try to develop a reputation as the writer that “breaks” the news in a particular field. If this can be done, current readers will return on a regular basis and may also tell their friends they need to check out the blog.

*Be social – The rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter offer vast opportunities to come up with new content for blogs. By following the posts of others on these sites, up-to-the-minute trends can be seen. Even non-trending topics may provide information or spark an idea for a blog. Follow like-minded people and pay attention to the blogs others write.

*Keywords – There are several ways to find out what the most popular searches are in a given time period. Some bloggers look for subjects that are receiving a lot of attention on search engines and then write about them. There are also online applications that will help writers find popular keyword search terms.

*Visit forums – Much like the social media sites, forums can show an area that needs to be addressed. People frequently visit forums to ask questions on a particular topic. Consider writing articles answering some of the most pressing questions.

Coming up with great content for a blog can be difficult at times, but there are several avenues available for inspiration. Ideas are everywhere for those who enjoy looking for them.

This is a guest post from Sarah Peterson. Sarah writes for a website that reviews open source helpdesk software for web-based businesses. She enjoys sharing her ideas for content writing with other bloggers.

After reading Danny Sullivan’s post on Real-Life Examples Of How Google’s “Search Plus” Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy; I wanted to give my views on it too.

Why is Google suggesting Google search plus accounts when you search for keywords such as music, celebrity, cars and news? (Even when you are not logged in)

Because they want to produce relevant suggestions for those searches? Really? Or is it because Google is not making any money through PPC ads? Who would want to promote those type of keywords that costs a lot and doesn’t always guarantee conversion? Maybe they are testing it out on those keywords?

Now let’s look at other keywords such as:

• Rolex
• Hotels
• Shoes
• New Cars

If Google is generating Google search plus suggestions for cars and music then why not for the above keywords? Surely search for new cars has the potential to list the same brands that appears for the search for cars, no?

Why isn’t that happening?

Because these keywords have the potential to convert into business for clients who are promoting these keywords, which means CPC might be high, which means it’s making Google money!

Will they be rolling out Google search plus suggestion on all searches?

I believe so yes Google search plus your world is now a part of Universal Search it will soon be rolled out for all searches. But PPC ads will also remain.

So who should get on Google+?

Everyone and do it now!

People who know me will agree with me, when I say I am a man with few words (well I hope so anyways).

So here is another post from me that has some brilliant tools that I believe every SEM and a SEO person should be aware of, whether it is a Freelancer or a person working is an agency.

SEO & SEM tools

C Block IP Address Header

• http://ip-report.com/index.php

Backlink Checkers

• http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/
• Majestic

HTTP Status Code

• http://web-sniffer.net/
• http://www.seo-browser.com/

SEOMOZ On Page Report Card

• http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/on-page-keyword-optimization

Google Insights

• http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

XML Sitemap Creator

• http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
• G Site Crawler

Keyword Recombination

• http://webpagefx.org/rcc/ (create list of location based long tail keywords in a whisker)

Page Speed

• http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/
• Chrome Plugin
• Pingdom

WHOIS Lookup

• http://whois.domaintools.com/

Keyword Difficulty

• http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/keyword-difficulty

Browser Size (Heat Map)

• http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/

Title/Meta Preview

• http://www.seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html

Keywords tools

• Google Keyword Tools
• https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

SERP Ranking

• http://www.seoserp.com/web_tools/google_top_1000_serps_checker.asp
• WebCEO
• Rank Checker
• Raven Tools

SEM Rush

• http://www.semrush.com

Broken Link Checker (I am in love with these tools):

• Xenu Link Sleuth - http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
• Screaming Frog - http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

Code to Text

• http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/code-to-text-ratio/

SEO Extensions for browsers (that I like)

Chrome Extensions:

• SEO Site Tools
• MozBar
• Page Rank Checker
• Screen Capture (why not?)
• Sites Traffice Meterz
• SEO For Chrome
• Google Global
• Check My Links
• Chrome Plugin for Site Speed

FireFox Extensions:

• SEO MOZBar
• Keyword Rank Checker
• Web Developer Tool Bar
• Search Status
• Yslow
• SEOQuake
• FoxyProxy Standard
• Firebug
• Yoast International Unpersonalized Search

Social Media

Twitter Trends

• http://trendistic.indextank.com/summer

ReTweet Rank:

• http://www.retweetrank.com

Positive vs. Negative Social Media Mentions

• http://www.socialmention.com

Social Media Mentions (Top 20 List)

• http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/01/11/guide-to-free-social-media-monitoring-tools/

Other Useful Tools & Software

• http://www.delicious.com
• Excel
• Open Office
• Textpad Text Editor
• Dreamweaver
• Notepad
• JING
• Evernote
• FTP client (your choice)

All in one tool

• Raven Tools

Guest blogging is currently looked as one of the most powerful techniques for link building, but for me it’s far more than that.

What can it bring?

Traffic? Links? Yes, but that’s not the only thing, look below:

Better CTR than pinterest.com.

It’s not about just writing a blog post, ok for most it is but they are not twisting their tired brains. Why not do something different? Why not ask a blog owner to run a contest on their blog for their followers? Fair enough the buzz/links it will create from it will benefit the blog owner but what do the client get?

• RETURN ON INVESTMENT.
• If the power of that contest page increases with comments and links, then there is a link to your client’s site from that page. You have nothing to lose.

How to do this?

Find a relevant blog that has a niche following of your target audience. Ask the blog owner to run the contest for you.

Yes, you will need to spend a little (most of the time it’s a one off fee) but within a month or even weeks you will make that money back.

The most important factor is that creating Guest Blog might have been a one off fee but the revenue generates from the blog is ongoing.

N.B: In the example shown above the money spent was made within few weeks.

Google Wallet was officially released in the summer of 2011 but take-up has been relatively slow, primarily because it has not been available to a significant proportion of the cellphone population. Limited only to Google-branded handsets like the Nexus S with NFC (Near Field Communication), this contact less payment system, which some see as being the replacement for credit and debit cards as well as cash, is still a niche technology.

However, many are now suggesting that 2012 will be the year in which Google Wallet will come into its own, representing an entirely new payment method which may change the retail industry forever. Of course this can be debated at length, but it is difficult to refute the idea that Google Wallet will gain market share over the next 12 months.

What is Google Wallet?

For those new to the technology, Google Wallet is essentially a digital representation of your personal finances which allows you to make low value purchases when you are at a store with a compatible terminal. Rather than searching through your bag or wallet for your credit card, you can simply place your compatible smartphone close to an NFC-enabled surface at the cash register and money will be taken from whichever account you have linked to the Google Wallet service.

What Else Can It Do?

But the Google Wallet app is not just a one trick solution as with other contactless payment schemes. It supports not only bank accounts and credit services, but also other payment methods such as Google Checkout. It also reflects Google’s love for advertising, ensuring that you see exclusive offers, vouchers and deals which are only redeemable when you use your smartphone at a participating store. The aim is to combine the best parts of online shopping with real world retail and could help keep traditional bricks and mortar outlets afloat in an increasingly tough market.

Possible Problems

One of the roadblocks that is preventing the adoption of Google Wallet and NFC in general is that major investment is required to set up the infrastructure of compatible terminals in stores. There is already a long established payment card network in place, so convincing users that NFC is more convenient when it is not as widely available as existing methods may be difficult.

Google Wallet is not the only NFC service on the block as existing card providers are also beginning to embrace the technology. Visa recently announced that it would be approving a number of compatible smartphones for its PayWave application which aims to compete with Google Wallet. Models like the Samsung Galaxy S2 and a host of BlackBerry handsets will be able to take advantage of NFC wherever they find it.

The roll-out of NFC seems to be unstoppable while there is investment there to support it and Google clearly has a vested interest in making it work. But for the time being, the future remains unwritten.

Author bio:

John East is a personal finance journalist with a keen interest in the impact of technology on the retail sector. He regularly contributes to moneysupermarket.com.