Seven Valuable Benefits Social Networks Provide and Social Media Marketers Covet

By Hector Cisneros

Courtesy of Flickr

Today I was asked the most important question encompassing the subject of Social networks and social media marketing. The question I was asked is; What is the value of social media marketing, that is what are the benefits of social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Although these social networks are diverse in nature, they have common values both to subscribers and business people alike. That’s right, even though these networks operate in very different ways, their users often have very different motivations, different backgrounds and personal needs. They all provide these seven values to all that use them. Read on and find out why social networks and social media marketing is changing the face of the internet from what we know to what it will become.

Working the Web: The Lowdown on Local SEO

By Carl Weiss

Courtesy of Flickr

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a bit like the Air Force in World War II.  It was great when it came to carpet bombing cities.  But it was woefully inadequate when it came to discriminating individual targets.  The phenomenon of SEO is a lot like that.  Type in keywords like Jacksonville Video Production or Jacksonville Boat Club and the companies that pop up on Page One of Google are listed based upon their overall SEO score. 

While this works out fine for video production companies and boat clubs, where customers are prepared to drive clear across town to get the best deal, it doesn’t work so well for businesses (such as Auto Repair, Dry Cleaners or Pizza Parlors) that draw their customers from a smaller geographic area.  Although Google sometimes displays a map of the surrounding area where you can select businesses close to home, it has been proven that search engines have a built-in bias that favors firms located close to the city center. A recent article by Search Engine Journal pointed out:

Working the Web: Making Sense of Online Marketing

By Hector Cisneros

Courtesy of Flickr

Have you ever entered a conversation about marketing and became instantly perplexed by the terminology being bantered around? Did you get confused trying to follow the how, what, when, and where in the marketing plan? At the end of the conversation, did it seem like an epic tale spoken in Greek? If this is where you are with regards to internet marketing then this article is for you. This article is part of a series that is designed to cover basic terminology and actionable elements, as well as give specific steps for developing your own marketing plan.

Cyber Security Shuffle

Courtesy of www.pbs.org

By Carl Weiss

If you’re like most people, you probably only react to cyber security matters when your computer is so infected with malware that it refuses to function. This is what IT professionals refer to as locking the barn door after the horse has bolted. In today's wired world, what you have to consider is that everything from your PC to your smartphone is subject to attack by hackers who are out to sell your personal information, steal your financial data and do much more than mischief. What many people don't realize is that this problem is so serious that even governments are having problems dealing with it.

Will Web TV Change the World as You Know It?

By Carl Weiss

Courtexy of Pixabay

When it comes to the Internet, there are a number of sites and technologies that have truly been game changers. When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, he started an etail revolution that would eventually put the fear of God into brick and mortar retailers. In 1995, eBay was founded, which would change the face of auctioning forever. Then on September 4th of the following year, a pair of enterprising Stanford University students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, the search engine that would later go onto dominate web search.

Along the way, technologies came and went.  Online empires (such as Netscape) rose and fell.  It wasn’t until February of 2005 that three former PayPal employees named Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim started YouTube.com.  A little more than a year later, on October 9, 2006, it was announced that the company would be purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in stock. And the rest is history.