Submiting Website URL's To Search Engines

This week a client asked me an interesting question about submitting URLs of websites to major search engines. Specifically whether or not it was important to do it or if submitting had become a redundant task in the modern day.

I think the short answer to this important question is that technically you don't have to submit your URL as the spider (or locator) search engine programs will ultimately after it is propagated up on to the net, will find your site and list it appropriately.

However let me also add this that if you do submit it manually to each of the main search engines including Google, Ask, Bing, Yahoo, etc. the process will be quicker.
As well it is always advisable to do so if you are adding pages to your website that you want indexed for the search engine.

There is no doubt also that if you have a large website with potentially dozens or even hundreds of pages, it is also very important to provide a site map using webmaster tools to aid the search engine spider to better understand exactly what each page is and how it all links together with all the other pages on your site.

So in the end the answer is you don't have to submit it, but there is some upside if you do.

Until next time. Good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

The Need for a Consistent Avatar

Recently I had a word to a long time client about the fact that she is missing a huge opportunity to further brand herself and by association, her business by not having an appropriate avatar of herself for the various networking sites and platforms that she already is part of or will be part of in the future.

Remember that Social Media is just that social. People want to see who they are dealing with and just as important, they like consistency.

So knowing all this it is very important to pick an avatar that is appropriate based on your target market and by extension the types of sites they are likely to see you on.

This can be done with a standard (2D) picture and in most cases this is what it is.
Occasionally you will see examples of people using humorous avatars from well known TV shows or even 3D avatars from virtual software tools like Second Life (owned by Linden Lab, but again this would depend on how serious you needed it to be.

Suffice to say it is something that is the norm, is expected and most definitely needs to be commensurate with the positioning of your brand and your audience.

What are your thoughts on what a good avatar should be? Feel free to comment.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Microsoft Buys Skype

After a great deal of recent speculation that the VOIP Skype may be an acquisition target by one of the leading It giants, it has now been revealed that the deal is done and Microsoft has emerged victorious acquiring Skype for a massive $8.5 Billion dollars.
This is an extraordinary amount to pay when you consider that its value remains somewhat speculative given that despite generating revenue of $860 million in 2010, the company made an overall loss of almost $7 million and is saddled with an overall debt of nearly $700 million.
Microsoft recently revealed that Skype now has almost 700 million users of which 9 million are paying customers.
Skype will now be integrated into Microsoft devices and systems such as Xbox, Outlook and the Windows Phone. The company has additionally also committed to continuing its support in developing Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms

Facebooks New Marvel: The SEND Button

Facebook's new SEND button is the latest in a long line of recent innovations that continue to be unveiled at break neck speed thus far in 2011.

In simple words, the SEND button now allows Facebook users to send their content to individual friends directly whereas up until now, using the LIKE button they could have sent it to their whole network or specific groups.

And to go along with this, you can now get a combined Like and Send button.

This is an important update and recognises the importance being able to direct certain messages selectively to one particular individual or a few people, as opposed to messages that are specifically written for public and mass distribution.

As the discussion becomes more involved and the various media platforms continue to ramp up their privacy controls in the hope of positively reassuring users, I suspect we will start to see more of this type of innovation, that continues to provide the user greater levels of control.

What about you are their any new buttons you'd like to see Facebook or the other sites add?

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Press Jack: Another Exciting Desktop Application

This week I have come across what appears to be an exciting new desktop application called Press Jack.

Press Jack allows writers and content publishers of all types to take their content and then simply convert that web content into a digital magazines format.

Currently a beta version of the product is available.

Given the extraordinary focus and popularity of eMagazines and eBooks the utility of this type of application is simple to see and allows web marketers the chance to effectively and quickly convert one type of content into another.

Although there are two paid versions of Press Jack, namely the Pro and Enterprise costing around $500 and $900 respectively, the basic lite package is free and allows a single licensee to publish 5 digital magazines a month at no cost.

Additional information: Ref: www.pressjack.com

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.