Many of my clients query why the search results that they see do not match the results that I am sending them data on or discussing with them on the phone.  It has been mooted for a long time now that the likes of the search giant Google and social media behemoth Facebook display different search results for different people based on the history, topic, frequency, location (and much more) of their search queries – basically these sites that have become part of our everyday online lives are now filtering the results that we see based on information that we are feeding them on a daily basis.

Catching up on some reading, I came across an article that explains this scenario, the current and future state of the Internet with regards to a’personalised Internet’ much better than I ever can … thought provoking stuff.

Should we be scared of the made-to-measure internet? http://bit.ly/lMsMoh

(c) 2011 Guardian Newspapers Limited.

Why use Flickr

There are a few reasons why Flickr is a great way of storing your photos and making them available to your customers but the main ones are:

• You can have as many photos as you want and filed in folders and groups available online to anyone – keeps storage issues on your own website hosting to a minimum
• Flickr is owned by Yahoo, one of the major search engines and therefore your photos will be more readily accessible in searches
• You can tag each photo individually and can place a link to an appropriate page on your website – great linking and SEO value

However, it should be noted that Flickr do not endorse promotion or selling online and therefore there is a fine line between actively using Flickr as a business tool and using Flickr as a sales channel.

Use Flickr to upload interesting photos relating to your business, not just of your product but also ‘behind the scenes’ shots.  Flickr is not an online brochure it is to share you, your brand and your enthusiasm for your product and business.

How to start with Flickr

You need a Yahoo id in order to set up a Flickr account.  Go to http://uk.yahoo.com/ and sign up for a Yahoo account.

Then proceed to http://www.flickr.com/ and create an account.  You will be asked to set up your own Flickr web address, if you are using Flickr for business use try and make sure this is easily recognisable i.e. use your business name, or a search phrase that is relevant to your business.

Follow all the instructions during set up and make sure you fill in all available areas to shout about who you are and what you do making sure you put a link to your website in and a way of letting people get in touch with you.  Do not make anything private, make sure you are sharing everything with everyone otherwise you will not be found in searches and that then renders the plus points of a Flickr account useless.

To come back to the set up process at any point from the home page click You and then go to Your Account.  Things to note:

• If you are not regularly checking your Yahoo Id email then change your primary email address to the one you use regularly.  From Your Account click the Emails & Notifications tab and click edit next to Your contact email(s).
• Still on the Emails & Notifications tab you will see options to Upload by Email options.  This is particularly useful if you have a smart phone and are able to email from the phone.  Set up the Your Flickr upload email so that you can upload even when you are on the move – just remember to log in to your account later and tag the photos you uploaded properly!
• You can’t link Flickr to a business Facebook page – well not yet anyway – this might change in the future.
• You can link Flickr to Twitter.  To do this go to You → Your Account → Sharing & Extending → Configure your Flickr-to-blog-settings →  Set up your blog →  drop down menu → Twitter → Next → Go to Twitter to Autorize → Allow

Note:  You will still have to manually ‘tweet’ the images one by one this is not an automatic post to Twitter.

Uploading Photos

Once you have logged into to Flickr you will ‘land’ on an overview page.  You can get back to this overview page at any point by clicking Home under the Flickr logo.

On your computer make sure you have saved and renamed if necessary the photos you wish to upload.  You can upload straight from your camera if you want to;

To upload an individual or a group of photos click the arrow next to You and scroll down the list until you read Upload Photos and Videos click on this.

• Click Choose photos and videos and navigate through your computer to where you have saved the images you want uploading or navigate straight to the camera.  Select all the photos you want to upload and press enter.
• There is a maximum limit of uploading 300MB per month, however, it is unlikely you will reach this limit although Flickr will tell you if you are close.
• In the set privacy section select which one you want.  If you are using for your business then it is in your interests to make sure they are set to public.  Then click Upload Photos and Videos and wait for all photos to be uploaded.
• It will now say Finished! Next add a description perhaps? Click on add a description and you will see a small version of each photo that you have uploaded.
• Under the words batch operations there is an area to add tags.  Add the main keyword tags that are used for your web pages, if we have set this up for you we can provide you with a list or use the rule of thumb that is ‘if I were typing into Google, what words would I use to find your website’.  Remember to put your company name and your location into these tags as well.  Separate each tag with a space and if you want to join 2 words together in one tag use double quotes each side of the words i.e. “luxury hotel”
• There is also an area to Add to a Set and if you have carried out a bulk upload of images it is worth sorting them into appropriate sets although this can be completed individually later on if you want to.  It is easy to add a new set here but try and keep it simple – if you are a hotel for example have sets such as rooms, food, local area – make them logical so that there is no confusion.
• Under each image you now have the ability to sell your business.  Make sure that the title is a proper title and not just an image number pulled in from your camera.  In the description wax lyrical about your business, product, why someone should purchase from you, book with you etc.  Remember to put a link to your website in here…. and don’t always link to your home page.  If for example you are a hotel and you upload a picture of a bedroom, make the link a link to your accommodation page.  Also remember to include your telephone number in this description as well.  You may feel like you are repeating yourself sometimes but be aware that someone may come across an individual image in a search they carry out rather than the whole set or your whole profile, so each photo you upload has to have the ability to ‘stand alone’.
• Once you have completed all the sections then press save at the bottom of the page.
• If you want to add a picture to Twitter you will have to manually do this by selecting the Share this option at the top of an image, then clicking Blog It and then clicking on your Twitter link and add a bit of text to go with the tweet and then Post Entry.  Note:  this will only work if you have set up your link to Twitter as detailed above.

If at any point you need to change the description or edit a tag or delete the photo completely or add it to a new set you have made up then you just click on the description under the photo on your home page.  This will bring up the image with the words Actions and share this above it.  Click Actions and a full list will appear for you to edit the photo with.

Sharing your photos

To direct people to your Flickr photos you can add links to your website either to your overall Flickr profile or to the individual sets you have set up.

Whilst using Flickr carry out a search from the home page for your business and see if anyone else has uploaded photos from their experience with you.  If you find photos of your business or product that you would like to keep a track of then you can add these photos into a gallery.

• Click on the image so that you have a full size on your screen.  Click Actions and you will be presented with a drop down menu.
• Click Add to a gallery and either add to a gallery you have already created or create a new gallery and call it ‘guest photos’ or something similar.

You will see on the right hand side of the screen who took the photo in the By xxxx area.  Underneath their name there is the option to + Add Contact.  A small box will come up on your screen and the Add as a Contact box will already be ticked, you just have to press the blue button.

Manage your contacts

By uploading images on a regular basis all your contacts will be receiving a weekly email from Flickr announcing new uploads from their contacts.  This will include a list of all the new images you have uploaded and therefore should prompt them to visit you again or purchase from you again.  They will only get this is you upload regularly so aim for a minimum of 1 new photo a week just so that you appear in this weekly email all the time.

From the home screen if you use the drop down arrow next to Contacts there are various suggestions of how to find contacts, probably the most logical one when you are first setting up is to use the Find Your Friends option and use the email or Facebook upload icon that is applicable to you, i.e. the Yahoo mail or Windows mail option.  This will search your email address book and anyone who has a Flickr account will be presented to you.  Just follow the instructions as Flickr will step you through this process.

It is worth exploring Flickr and using the search option to see who would be interested in your photo stream and adding them as a contact.  For example is someone is always uploading pictures of a luxury hotels around the world, and you are a luxury hotel, then you want them to see your photos.  Just add them as a contact as above – if they want to be your friend they will be, if they don’t then you’ve lost nothing.

Joining groups

It is worth joining groups on Flickr because it means your photos are viewed by a wider audience who are interested in your area or expertise.

From the home screen use the drop down arrow next to Groups and select Search for a Group from the menu.

Type in your search phrase i.e. luxury hotel and see what comes up.  Each group will have different rules about being a member, many of the groups have a limit on how many photos you can add to the group each month so it is worth going back on a regular basis to find out what’s new and to add new photos, join in discussions and view other peoples work so you can build your contact list.

Conclusion

As with all forms of social media this works as well as the amount of time you dedicate to it.  We can help to manage your Flickr account with you as long as we are provided with a fresh supply of photos on a regular basis.

Remember that Flickr is not an extension of a business brochure; it is to share photos of your everyday life from a business point of view.  Flickr was never set up to be used solely by businesses so the slant is very much on the personal user and you will be penalised by Flickr if you are seen to be using it in a purely commercial way.

Get involved with other people on Flickr, actively contact people who have put photos of you, your business or your product online.  If appropriate put tent cards up around your business with links to your Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor and ask people to get involved.

Google Ad Innovations

Google are currently testing a new type of paid advertising, specifically geared towards e-commerce websites.  Much the same as traditional AdWords, the new innovation will incorporate a CPA (cost per action), whereby the advertiser only pays for the ‘click’ when the user click on the ad and completes a purchase on the website.

This new type of PPC, called Google Ad Innovations, integrates with the Google Merchant Centre account and is still only in early Beta testing – only a few advertisers have been given access to it’s developing functionality, but more will follow over time until it is rolled out within the Google service portfolio.

This could be major development in how many and how often e-commerce businesses utilise Google products for selling products online.

More information at http://bit.ly/dbJ4cc | More about SEO and Internet Market at www.aviemorebusiness.co.uk

NEW! AdWords search funnels

True to Google’s tradition of constantly adding new stuff, AdWords search funnels have now been added to Google AdWords (found under the reporting tab > conversions).

AdWords Search Funnels are a set of reports describing the ad click and impression behavior on Google.com that leads up to a conversion. In addition to a Top Conversions report, Search Funnels consist of 7 reports including Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, Time Lag, and Path Length. For an overview of these new reports, see the intro video

Twitter is all about building a following and following like-minded people, whether for business or pleasure.  As this is such a core part of the whole Twitter-thing, why is the search facility so poor?  In my opinion, the essential part of connecting with other businesses, is to be able to find them in the first place.

We run an SEO & Internet Marketing business in the Highlands of Scotland and there are not many businesses (in the grand scheme of things) that embrace the whole ‘social media’ thing in our area which makes the Twitter’s inability to provide concise search results more frustrating.

However I recently came across an extremely helpful article with tools and tips at Mashable – http://bit.ly/mnQ1g - Have a read if you get the time.

Having said all of that, I ‘think’ I am in favour of what Google are in the process of doing and that is scanning out of print books so that they are available online.  I know there has been a huge backlash against this – BBC click reported on this and you can see the full article here- and I know that Google have gone and done their usual and plowed on without asking anyone’s permission least of all authors and publishers, no change there then for good ole Google!

So there I am in a quandary – will I ever get to the point where I am reading a complete book on a screen, or am I truly a dinosaur in the world of online books?  Answers on a bookmark too……

The cloud has been in existence for many moons now but it seems recently that more and more people are using it as part of their daily lives, we certainly do.  So what are the advantages?  Well for us we can log the work we do on customer’s websites or marketing campaigns and link their Google account to it and they can see exactly what we have done and when we have done it.  That means the customer is happy, we have a record of work undertaken and the best thing yet is that it is stored in the cloud and so isnt taking up space on our laptops – perfect! 

Or is it perfect?  This morning I was reading a blog post by Rory Cellan-Jones on the BBC dot.life forums all about the failings of the cloud, actually that makes it sound all very doom and gloom, its not as bad as that.  But it does give pause for thought.  What happens if the servers that our clouds are sitting on break down?  This is exactly what happened to one server now owned by Microsoft and it looks like some people have lost valuable data.  So what is the answer?  Well I think it is simple…. age old saying ‘dont put all your eggs in one basket’ comes to mind.  But actually I think it is simpler than that.  If your business would be in complete melt down if your data was lost within the cloud, then you clearly need it saved somewhere else as well.  Does this mean we carry on using our external hard drives and dvd’s?  Possibly, although I hope not as my quest for a paperless and cumbersome gadget free office still exists!

This is an era of razor edge financial dealings, split second decisions involving huge sums in the closure of commercial deals. On-line banking allows everyone with access to a computer the ability to transfer funds from one account to the other, instantly or at a pre-set date from and to anywhere in the world.  This effectively side-steps that telephone call or personal appointment at the bank when time is of the essence.  Obviously owning a computer doesn’t just give us more flexibility with our banking, computers store and collate a level of data that is completely unheard of within our own heads and gives us the ability to have access to information immediately and therefore the information required can be produced in days, hours and even minutes, essential in this age when everyone wants/needs the answers ‘now’.

With the various programmes available for purchase on the market, together with the Internet access to unlimited destinations or points of interest, the personal computer has now become as important as the car in getting us what we want and where we want to be but without leaving our chair. The natural progression of this generated freedom has been an increasing demand for information of every conceivable nature.  Hence the search for holidays that can now be booked on line, flight tickets that can be purchased, bus and train travel timetables that can be viewed, the best prices for our groceries – the list is infinite, but the one word for everything is search.

In this new area of industry, search was first made possible by the start of Google in 1999.   In less than 10 years they have become one of the most powerful companies in their field. During this period of time they have come to realise the importance and potential of the search engine in all fields, monitoring the enquiries being made and converting these to specific categories and requirements, 24/7.   Google has set goals, objectives, rules and regulations for web designers to make as much of the world’s information available on line whilst making it as search engine friendly as possible.  Google’s tools bar highlights specific areas of search i.e. news, finance, and sports for ease of use. Consequently Google have become the foremost experts in this industry, whilst constantly striving for more sophisticated and finite search, ever aware of its importance to the public and website clients, whose sites are being visited.

However, alongside its importance in education and commerce, the computer has not remained in the sole domain of the general public. It has also become a very important asset to our police force, security, armed forces, politics and health (NHS), to mention but a few and the amount of data that can be contained for a limitless period of time is beneficial to all. For example this enormous memory bank has aided the police in solving cold cases, as more and more up-to-date information is added to their database. It is also possible to track the individual use of a person when studying their search patterns – especially pertinent when tracking the viewing of pornography, for instance. In a lighter vein, perhaps you are a follower of CSI – then you will be aware of computerised information and facilities – matching fingerprints, firing grooves on bullets, blood types etc.

The natural progression of this ‘life after the inception of Google’ was to attract other interested companies to the arena, bringing their own ideas on the manner in which search should be constructed. The concept that competition is good for everyone is not a bad one. Exclusivity breeds power which equates quite naturally to overall control.  What happens when the server goes down, or there is a dispute of any kind? We all know what it is like when there is a power failure should you be caught in the supermarket or a lift!!  It is healthy that there should be alternative search engines all striving to give that level of search demanded today. Even a recession, of the kind we are now experiencing, can result in the growth of new areas of business. What better than a new website giving a shop window of your products directly to the searching public rather than continuing to meet the overheads on business premises.

So, new search engine companies will continue to start up, some larger than others but all with a common aim – to achieve the perfect search – either in specific areas or overall.  Access to the Internet began with a dial-up service charged by the minute which has progressed to a monthly chargeable broadband service with the added benefit of wireless connectivity.  It will be both exciting and interesting to see where this next will lead us – the world is our oyster!

An important reminder in closing: it is believed that it is imperative that the written word and manual storage of information and knowledge sources are not totally eclipsed by this ever encompassing search system. Neither should this part of our education system be allowed to disappear.  The learning of spelling and grammar are every bit as important in our every day lives and is imperative when learning a new language. Holding debates, within the school environment, also breeds confidence and allows for social graces – crucial in possible future commercial dealings or peace- keeping exercises.  So perhaps we use computers too much?  Perhaps Google has stopped up from opening up a dictionary or encyclopaedia?  Who knows, but we mustn’t lose these skills in this Internet age.

Over recent years Google has come to dominate all things search and most things search related by providing us with ‘stuff’ that enhances our ‘user experience’ – these are key watchwords for the biggest success story in modern times, striving to improve the quality and relevancy of the information that we require, so that we continue to use Google as part of our everyday ‘online’ lives.

So I guess our answer to our questions above would be another question?!:

When I review my site and practices relating to SEO and online promotion, am I contributing or detracting from building a positive user experience? – and there is your answer

Google and the new Search Options

In line with Google’s whole ’user experience’  idea, they have added new features to the SERP’s, providing user driven options for filtering, adjusting and even expanding the search results that are displayed. Google have publicly stated that ‘a large portion’ of searches will be made using these options in the near future.

These new Show options … are displayed at the top left of most SERP’s and contain additional search filtering options such as:

• Videos
• Forums
• Reviews

Further filter options enable you to display by relevancy, most recent and the option to display images from the pages.  Additionally and perhaps most importantly for SEO’s, there is Wonder Wheel and Timeline filter which has far reaching implications in relation to key phrase research & tageting.

So, what does all this mean and how can we ensure that ‘our house is in order’ so that as these options become more widely used, we know that we have acted and do not have to re-act?

… I will look at each option in more detail in coming posts on this blog 

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The way I see it is, what is the point in having 100′s if not 1000′s of Twitter followers, when none of them will ever use our services?  Surely the whole point of using Twitter in a business sense is to get people to your website or blog?  Or have I missed the point?  So, below are the gadgets that I am using at the moment.  Tweepular was recommended to us by the boys at G2 Outdoor, Twello and Twollo receommended to us by David at Severn Internet – thanks boys, keep the recommendations flowing.  I am very interested in what other people’s views on this are and please bear in mind that not only are we in the UK and not America, but we are also in a fairly isolated spot in the Scottish Highlands as well so again I ask… is Twitter the way forward for my business?  Comments gratefully received!

• Tweepular you can bulk follow, bulk unfollow and all sorts of other interesting things
• Twello basically yellow pages for Twitter
• Twollo put your search phrase or word in and tell it how many people you want to follow and it will automatically follow people within those categories.  Quite a good idea but I wonder if I have set my search words up properly as I seem to be following some complete randoms!
• Tweetdeck Have heard great things, but am not using it yet – anyone care to review it?