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Is Google Watching You?

By Hector Cisneros
Courtesy of flickr.com

Is Google watching you?  

A better question is, “Who isn't watching you?”  You hear about it in the news every day. The NSA is grabbing tons of consumer information without any legal authority. Weekly you hear about security breaches at large corporations like Target and other major department stores.  Banking institutions are being hacked for millions of dollars, yet billion of consumers are passively giving up their privacy to free email services, social network subscriptions and smart phone applications. Software applications have had "so-called" artificial intelligence installed since the late '90s. Word processors guess at what you mean while you type. Smartphones often do the same. What does all this mean to your privacy? This article will explore how the internet has removed most of your communications privacy. Now Google, social networks and the major software players all have their sites trained on what you're doing with the intention of getting more of your money. Worse of all, legions of criminals and even our own government is spying on all of us. So read on and learn. Forewarned is forearmed.

The Best of the Best in Internet Marketing - Events to Remember!


By Carl Weiss
With Christmas only a day away, that means that New Year’s Eve can’t be far behind.  So as a little something extra for your Christmas stocking I thought a little retrospective on some of the topics we covered this year would be in order. 

Our Top 10 List

Hector's the Connector’s Predicts Social Media changes for This Year and Beyond

By Hector Cisneros
Courtesy of blog.buzzoole.com

Social media has seen radical changes over the last three years. Their level of acceptance and use has Social networks now have the eyes and ears of billions of subscribers. The impact of organic search ranking is indisputable today. Also, its effect on product acceptance, adoption and loyalty has become so important that large companies are spending vast amounts of advertising money to create and measure its influence on their product sales and profitability. Cyber criminals are also taking advantage of this mass migration to social networks. My last two prediction articles have come in with a 95% accuracy rating and this year I am going out on a limb with a few of my prognostications. So read on and find out what I foresee the New Year will ring in for Social Networking in the year to come (including Facebook, Google+ LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pintrest and Blogger).
exploded. Many of the top social networks are now monetized and have become publicly held companies.

Hector The Connector has Predicted Internet Marketing Evolution 98% of the Time & These Changes are Still Valid Today

By Hector Cisneros

A correct reading will be given
A correct reading will be given (Photo credit: ian.crowther)
Every year I make internet marketing predictions based on my research and intuition for the coming year. I have been right 98% of the time so far. 2013 proved to be a wild ride for businesses engaged in internet marketing. Social Media was a roller coaster of updates, upgrades and growth. Reputation management jumps to the forefront as businesses realize they are vulnerable to negative social press. Blogging and YouTube became mature services with widespread adoption taking place. A little birdie named Hummingbird shook up the search market significantly and many venerable household icons like TV news, and retail brick and mortar sales gave way to their digital counterparts. So if you think these events were out of this world wait till you see what's coming next year in 2014.

The Byte Before Christmas


With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore.
New-York Historical Society: Clement Clark Moo...
New-York Historical Society: Clement Clark Moore’s desk, on which it is believed that he wrote “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (Photo credit: Chris Devers)

T'was the byte before Christmas,
When all through the house
Not  creature was stirring,
Not even the mouse.

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, let’s take a look at what is shaping up to be a very merry Internet Christmas in 2013.  So far this year Internet sales are up 19% over last year and 30% of those sales are attributed to mobile purchases. This is also the first time that brick and mortar sales are lower than the year before.

Can Google Cure Death, Disease and Aging?

Courtesy of Pixabay.com
By Carl Weiss

Everyone knows that there only two things in life of which we can all be assured: Death and Taxes.  Now, one of the billionaires behind the world’s most popular search engine wants to take a crack at eliminating the first of these woes.  That’s right; Larry Page of Google has made it his stated goal to cure death.  With a war chest in the billions, I guess if anyone can take a legitimate crack at the Grim Reaper, he can. 

The Smartest Guys in the Room

By Carl Weiss
The Internet has without a doubt been one of the most important inventions ever created. When it comes to revolutionizing the way in which we perceive and operate in the world, it has created a major paradigm shift in all things human.  And like many inventions, the web was the result of the labor of many talented people.  Some of those people wound up being relegated to footnote status while others went on to become Internet icons.

Bringing Down the Bitcoin Bandits

By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr


For more than a thousand years, the route known as the Silk Road was the major source of trade that connected East and West.  Delivering everything from Chinese silk to spices and precious gems, this trade route used everything from camels to wooden boats to create a web of commerce that covered the known world.  Two millennia later, this concept was reborn online in a web portal of the same name.  The chief difference is that while the digital Silk Road did indeed concern itself with connecting a worldwide web of virtual traders, these entrepreneurs did not deal in frankincense and myrrh, but in a cornucopia of contraband that openly advertised everything from cannabis to cocaine and firearms to forgeries.

How to Run a Facebook Contest for Free


Courtesy of www.theluxuryspot.com

By Hector E Cisneros

Facebook has recently changed their rules on running an online contest. Now is the time to take advantage of week's episode of Working the Web to Win so that your next Facebook Contest is a winner for you! these new rules that allow you to create a contest without having to purchase additional services or 3rd party apps. If you want to grow your Facebook fan base, this article is a must read. What most other articles neglect to tell you is that there are some real pitfalls you have to avoid to keep your account from being suspended. Breaking Facebook’s “somewhat hidden rules” can really shake you up. This article will cover what has changed and what to watch out for, as well as giving you the pros and cons of implementing your contest with and without apps.  Finally, we will provide some examples and links to other articles to get you started. So read this blog and tune in on this 

The Scariest Stuff Online

By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr

Want to see something really scary? Well you don't have to prowl the streets on Halloween in order to see the kind of things that give you goose bumps. All you have to do is trawl the Internet's back-channels for an hour. Once there you will discover creepy crawlies galore, including a search engine designed for and by hackers, a black hat (not cat) convention in Las Vegas, and ghost sites that will creep you out. Below is our list of the top ten scariest sites on line.

Birth of the Bionic Man

By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr


“Astronaut Steve Austin, a man barely alive.  But we can rebuild him.  We have the technology.”

Or so the story goes in the TV series starring Lee Majors that ran from 1974-1978.  The stuff of fiction in the 20th century, during the past few years many of the innovations portrayed in the original series have gone from science fiction to science fact.  There are now such things as prosthetic arms and hands with tactile
sense, rudimentary bionic eyes that help the blind see, and cochlear implants that help the deaf hear.  While we don’t yet have the ability to equip amputees with fully functional legs that can go from zero to sixty in five seconds, we can offer robotic exoskeletons that can help paraplegics regain the ability to walk on their own.  Plus there are other man/machine concepts that are either in the prototype phase or on the drawing board that can amp up the capabilities of us mere mortals.  In this week’s blog, we will take a look at these technologies, as well as the ramifications of enhanced human beings who will soon make Colonel Austin seem as antiquated as much of the technology of the 1970s.

Hummingbird is Nothing to Hum About!


Black-chinned Hummingbird -- Moab, Utah, USA
Black-chinned Hummingbird -- Moab, Utah, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may have heard that Google recently released its latest algorithm update named Hummingbird.  This new algorithm hasn’t brought any smiles to advertisers faces. I haven’t seen anyone singing (or humming) Google’s praises since they announced the change. What I find interesting is that Google always seems to name its updates after cute little animals like pandas, penguins and now a hummingbird.  Meanwhile their effect on many websites is more like being attacked by lions and tigers.  That being said, what I have brought you today is a cold, hard look at when, why and how search engines of all kinds insist on playing games with all website owners and what you can do to keep ahead of changes that can leave you in the darkest regions of cyberspace.

How to Work the Web Gangnam Style

By Hector Cisneros
By hector Gangnam Style

The YouTube video, Gangnam Style went viral, catching the imagination of millions of people worldwide. As a marketing professional, I endeavor to understand why such marketing events happen. What is the special spark that makes a video, podcast or eBook go viral? Where does it all start? Who influences the play and the spread of your message? Does it all happen organically or is there some technique for propagating the spread. In this article, I will provide a number of useful tips as to why internet posts go viral. I will provide a list of elements that all viral posts have in common and I will provide you with a roadmap so that you can create your own viral post. Soon you too will be working the web Gangnam Style.

Maximizing the Plus in Google+ Brand Pages

Courtesy of mashable.com
By Hector Cisneros

Do you use Google+? Are you using, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter for your business? If you are using any of these social networks, but not using Google+, you’re missing one of the biggest boats in the social networking ocean. The fact that Google Brand pages are tied into Google Search, Google Local and Google Maps, is crucial to your online marketing success  since they all contain the magic word “Google.” Google has 81% of search, this is reason enough for you to start utilizing Google+ Brand pages for your business. On top of that, it has in excess of 500 million subscribers.

Your Website - Lost in Cyberspace

 By Carl Weiss

Lost In Space Second Series.
Lost In Space Second Series. (Photo credit: Jimmy Big Potatoes)
Every time Google sneezes, the entire Internet comes down with a cold. Many websites fall off Page One  every time Google updates their search algorithms.  Because Google controls 82% of search, it is vital that you understand its likes and dislikes. You also need to know what  to do to bulletproof your web presence so that the next time an update occurs you won't be lost in cyberspace. The problem is that Google, like all other search engines, doesn't make it easy for webmasters and site designers to understand the rules of engagement.  This article will attempt to part the curtain and give you a look behind the scenes in order to show you what the wizard wants. 

Using Press Releases to Promote your Business

By Hector E. Cisneros
Courtesy of Needpix

We live in America and believe in freedom of the press, right? However, Did you know you can use free and low-cost press releases to gain search ranking, drive web traffic and find more customers? Do realize anyone can also use it to get others to tell their story and to spread that message to hundreds if not thousands of news outlets in as little as 24 hours? More importantly, you can use it to get a page one position in as little as 24 hours... Press releases not only build your brand, but it also raises your credibility to a whole new level. In this week's Working The Web To Win's blog, we will help you build your brand and gain more customers by using free and low-cost press release services to gain search page ranking.

Using Text Message Magic to Drive Traffic

Courtesy of Pixfuel
By Hector E Cisneros

Most people don’t want you to text and drive but did you know that you can drive web traffic with a text message! You can also sell products, announce events, deliver promo codes and other special offers. However, there are lots of pitfalls, technical issues and even laws that you have to navigate in order to be successful. Join us this week as we dive into the depths of Text Messaging Magic for your business.

In this article, I want to lay out several fundamentals every business needs to follow if they are planning to be successful at Text Message Marketing. I will break the article into two segments. The first is a brief overview of what is text messaging and why a business should be using text messaging for business advertising. The second segment will cover best practices for maximizing your campaign results.

The Secrets of Blogging for Dollars


Courtesy of www.rpgvale.com.br

By Hector Cisneros

Have you heard the phrase, “There is money to be made in blogging”? Well, I’m here to tell you it’s true. A blog can provide a platform to showcase your business, your expertise and your products. However, you first have to build an audience and then you have to learn how to use pull Marketing to get them to buy. Add to the above the fact that blogging can raise your credibility, raise your search ranking and allow you to spread your message on multiple social nets and you have a winning marketing tool. In this article on Working the Web to Win we will discuss how you can use blogging as a springboard for your business, your career and make money while doing it. So read on and learn the Secrets of Blogging for Dollars.

Can Competitors Harm Your Business With Impunity Online?

Check out our BlogTalkRadio Show here.
By Carl Weiss

Online Monitoring
Online Monitoring (Photo credit: Imooty)
Everybody knows the Internet marketing is just one big popularity contest.  He who has the most links and the best reviews wins, right?  Well what happens when the competition doesn't play fair?  How can unscrupulous competitors tarnish your
online reputation and what can you do about it?  In this article we will show you some of the black hat techniques used by underhanded competitors.  We will also talk about what recourse, if any, you have as a business owner. We will also talk about what you need to do in order to police your online reputation, as well as how you can fight back to keep your good name from being dragged through the mud.

So, you worked long and hard to build your reputation and your business.  Years of planning and tens of thousands of dollars have gone into building your brand.  You have achieved a level of trust among your customers that is beyond reproach.  Or so you think.  But all of that can be undone with the click of a mouse by a disgruntled employee, dissatisfied customer or by a wily competitor.  

A Borg in Every Boardroom - Cyber Augmentation for All

By Hector Cisneros
Courtesy of AF.mil


Have you noticed all the new cybernetic devices coming out lately? Prosthetic legs that allow you to run faster than normal, artificial eyes and ears that “see and hear”! Add to this the augmentation for our regular senses, our strength and our ability to use avatars for remote sensing plus do work. Do we have a brave new world just over the horizon or is it here already! If you’re wondering if there is an upgrade in your near future, read on and find out if there is a Borg in every Boardroom – Cyber Augmentation for all!

LinkedIn Techniques for Growing your Business

By Hector E Cisneros
Courtesy of Flickr


Do you use LinkedIn as a primary marketing tool? Are you looking for new ways to connect with prospects and potential employees? Are you looking for new ways to grow your business? Could you benefit from expanding your sphere of influence through LinkedIn and other social conduits? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this article was written for you. This article will provide four, “must do daily tasks” that every LinkedIn pro needs to takes advantage of. It will also cover three new features that can make life-using LinkedIn easier. The new marketing features will help keep your growth momentum going and save you money.  Lastly, I will provide links to other articles that give even more comprehensive information to help you master LinkedIn.

Who’s Watching the Watchers?


By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr

Like him or loathe him, Edward Snowden let the cat out of the bag when he revealed that the NSA was using digital surveillance including phone and internet monitoring of millions of Americans.  While some people label him a traitor, others including Rep. Justin Amash(R-Mich.) call him a whistleblower. The Michigan Republican himself admitted that were it not for Snowden’s revelations, Congress as well as the public was in the dark as to the breadth and scope of the NSA’s nefarious activities.

More Star Trek Tech


By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr



Is There a 3D Printer in Your Future?  Most of us that grew up watching "Star Trek" or any of its spinoffs always marveled at the technological prowess that supposedly awaited mankind a couple of centuries in the future.  Particularly if you were weaned on the original Star Trek series that ran from 1966-69, the wonders of the Starship Enterprise were beyond belief.  Remember, this sci-fi series was televised back in the days before man had walked on the moon.  Computers back then were ungainly things that occupied entire rooms, telephones were something akin to a can on a string, since virtually every phone on the planet at that point in time was hardwired.  So the thought that wireless communicators, talking computers, shuttlecraft, phasers, replicators and teleportation was a couple of hundred years in our technological future was not so farfetched back then.

Team Tech! The Next Wave in Internet Marketing


By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr

Ever wondered how large companies market their business on the internet? They hire a team of professional to get their message out day in and day out. What if there was a way for your small business to take advantage of Team Tech! Well there is and in this article we will be covering the Secrets of Team Tech and how to take advantage of them.

Working the web is no game for wimps.  It use to be as easy as posting your page information, making sure your meta tags were setup and you had created a few back links with other relevant websites. Those days are gone and today it takes guts, determination and staying power to play the game to win. 

How to Tweet Your Way to Success

Courtesy of  blog.totalpropertylistingengine.com
By Hector Cisneros

Don't know a twit from a tweet? Do you think Twitter is stupid and a waste of time? On the other hand, are you wondering why all the TV and Radio stations always mentioning their Twitter accounts? If you don't understand twitter, then this article is for you! In this article, I will discuss many of the primary benefits that Twitter has to offer any business. I will explain why you want to consider using Twitter to help grow your business. On top of this, I will provide links to other articles helping with techniques, tools, pitfalls to avoid and shortcuts you can take to become a successful Twitter marketer.

How to Make Google Your Best Friend


Courtesy of www.stgermaine.ca
By Hector Cisneros and Carl Weiss

Do you want to be successful with your internet marketing? Are you making daily sales and tracking customer traffic? Is Google your internet friend or your worst enemy? In this article, we will look at all the ways you can take advantage of what Google has to offer. Make Google your friend and laugh all the way to the bank. Try and trick Google and you will regret the day your website was born!

The World Wide Weird


English: Microchips (EPROM memory) with a tran...
English: Microchips (EPROM memory) with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. Uploaded by Richard Wheeler (Zephyris) 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Who would have thought when Robert Noyce invented and patented the silicon based integrated circuit way back in 1959 that the world would forever more be changed.  While the initial uses for the computer chip were initially limited to big business and military applications, within a dozen years, the computer revolution would enter consumer electronics with the founding of Apple Computer.  Since then the integrated circuit has become part of virtually every consumer electronic gadget from cellphones and televisions to the cars we drive.  Just when you think that just about every possible application has been thought up, some enterprising entrepreneur comes up with another use for the computer chip.  While there are a number of useful creations such as medical prosthetics that have been known to improve the quality of life for many, what I want to bring to you today are the “out there” applications that seem to be some sort of technological outgrowth of the lunatic fringe.

The Evolution of Internet Advertising

How to Get Ahead in Advertising
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Hector Cisneros


Advertising has evolved over the last 100 years, but it's the advent of the internet that has had the biggest impact on how and what we consumers pay attention to. The last 20 years have freed consumers from the trappings of time and space and has allowed them to take charge of what they see, read and hear. The internet has empowered consumers to control their message-consuming destiny and it has ushered in the era of consumer control over false advertising and poor customer service.

Is SEO Still Important Today or in the Future?

By Hector E. Cisneros
Courtesy of Flickr

SEO is a term that is bandied about as if it were the holy grail of Search Engine Marketing. But what is SEO really? It is optimizing your website? Or, is it optimizing what you post to your web properties? Is it key word sensitive, key phrase-centric or is it something else altogether? My answer to these questions may surprise you. SEO is no longer just one thing. It's not just optimizing your website for proper Meta tags and matching content. It has grown to mean so much more. In this article, I discuss how Search Engine Optimization (a.d.a., SEO) has evolved into Search Engine Marketing (a.k.a., SEM). I will discuss how what was once a single-faceted injection has evolved into a multifaceted ongoing process. In this article you will find information on how a company can improve its search ranking, specific methods to follow that will insure a strong ranking position. Best of all, you can accomplish all this without resorting to tricks, gimmicks or deception that tries to bypass the search engine ranking systems.

Is it Still Possible to Make Money Online?

Courtesy of Flickr


The concept of making money online is nothing new.  It’s what drove most of us onto the internet in the first place.  Back in the good old days before Google more or less monopolized search, there were real opportunities to grab the top slots on a number of search engines (some in as little as 24 hours), create an eCommerce site and get to it.  However, the game has changed to the point where there are now more than 300 million websites online with 130,000 new sites being spawned daily.  And they all want to be on page one of Google.  

Crowdfunding, it's a Game Changer


By Carl Weiss
Courtesy of Flickr

Back in the bad-old days, entrepreneurs searching for funding had three choices: 

1. Friends and Family 
2. Banks 
3. Angel and/or Venture Capitalists

For many this meant that starting a business was nearly a mission impossible.  Then in 2007, all that changed when Prosper.com launched the first peer-to-peer lending service in the US.  Since that time a number of other Crowdfunding sites have popped up, including Kickstarter, which in 2012 raised more than $10 million for the Pebble Watch.

Before you decide to quit your day job, understand that not all projects get funded.  Some pitches are flawed, while others are deemed unfundable due to the rules of various Crowdsourcing portals. But for a staggering number of well thought out and executed proposals, the world wide web can your oyster when it comes to jumpstarting a business.  However, as you will soon find out, Crowdfunding comes in a number of different flavors. 

Saving Money with Out Sourcing (using Fiverr and others)

Courtesy of Flickr
By Carl Weiss

Are you looking for new ways to save your business money? Would you love to be able to cut development, marketing and production cost. Would this make you more competitive? Today’s economy is forcing American businesses to change the way it gets things done.


Like it or not, economic pressures have forced major changes in the way Americans do business.  Whether big business or small, outsourcing and freelancing are the name of the game today.  So much so that a number of enterprising entrepreneurs have devised online portals that specifically, cater to this stock in trade.  While some people lament a lack of quality control or even a failure to communicate (due to language differences) with these far-flung resources, the fact is that these services are in ever greater demand as business owners strive to tighten their belts in current economic conditions.  So if you have been thinking about giving online outsourcing a go, below is a list of some of the more prominent resources.

The Twelve Secrets of Social Media Success


By Hector Cisneros
Courtesy of Flickr
Several years ago, a friend told me about this great new network that was going to eliminate my need for going to network meetings. He said he could go online and connect with people. I decided to join that network to see what all the hoopla was all about. At the time my friend was talking about LinkedIn. A year later I also joined Facebook and then followed that up by joining Twitter. Later, I also joined FourSquare, Stumbleupon, YouTube, Ecademy, MerchantCircle and Google+ (just to name a few). I soon learned that using social networks was very different than most forms of online marketing. I quickly realized that social networking was very much like face to face networking. Both were a form of word of mouth marketing. Both had fairly ridged rules of how you could build credibility, specific rules that would endear you to followers and rules that would get you un-followed or un-friended very quickly.