Google +1

Al igual que los botones de “Me gusta”, “Digg” y “Fan”, Google recientemente pone en marcha “+1” el nuevo sistema de recomendaciones para su motor de búsqueda, y que permitirá a los usuarios hacer clic en ese anuncio para recomendar a los demás.

Ya hemos explicado cómo funciona, cuando un usuario marca que algo le gusta, sus contactos cada vez que realicen la misma búsqueda podrán ver que esa persona así lo ha destacado, con lo que generará más confianza aún sobre ese mismo tema. Este cambio afectará a todos los anunciantes, pero no al texto del anuncio pues el botón aparece junto al título del mismo.

Es importante señalar que estos botones no sólo estarán en los resultados de búsqueda, sino que Google está trabajando en una versión para poder colocar en sitios y páginas web, facilitando la capacidad de los usuarios para recomendar contenido sin tener que volver a la propia publicidad.

¿Qué significa esto para las empresas y anunciantes?

Google confía en que éstos podrán conseguir tráfico más cualificado y sugiere que los anunciantes puedan ver también un aumento general del porcentaje de clics (CTR) ya que aumentan anotaciones en el tiempo. Es muy claro sobre el hecho que el botón “+1” no afectará las puntuaciones de calidad o rankings de anuncios patrocinados pues los mismos elementos, la experiencia del usuario y la relevancia, se utilizarán para determinar los niveles de calidad.

¿Qué significa esto para la Clasificación Orgánica?

Este botón está destinado a ayudar a Google a ofrecer resultados más relevantes para sus usuarios. No es de extrañar, por tanto, que los planes de aprovechamiento de esta información sean para ayudar a optimizar su clasificación orgánica.

De hecho, Google afirma que desde el comienzo de 2010 los datos de las redes sociales se han utilizado como “señales” para informar el posicionamiento orgánico. “Desde 2010 hemos estado utilizando los datos de los servicios sociales como Twitter y Flickr como señales en los rankings de búsqueda orgánica. Ahora vamos a utilizarlos para ayudar a los usuarios a encontrar recomendaciones de sus amigos y contactos”, informó Google.

¿Qué se debe hacer para obtener “+1”?

Hay que asegurarse que la experiencia de búsqueda de patrocinio esté tan optimizada como sea posible pero sobre todo, hay que asegurarse que el sitio contiene contenido relevante, obligando así a que los usuarios quieran recomendarlo a sus contactos. Hay que revisar las ofertas para determinar si hay oportunidades para destacarse de la competencia y maximizar la experiencia positiva del cliente.

Lea el articulo original en Puromarketing.

Gmail Enables Inboxes to Become Personal Again

In March, Gmail, Google's free email service, released an innovation that may likely serve as a watermark for email marketing. When Gmail released Smart Folders as a labs feature, it enabled consumers to filter all email that doesn't come from actual people into a separate folder outside of their inbox. All email marketing messages that come from an Email Service Provider (ESP) can now go into a separate folder and never make it into the user's inbox.

Smart folders mark the start of a new major challenge for email marketers. With the rising adoption promotional emails and bulk mail notifications from social networks, our inboxes are being flooded. Users are looking for ways to reduce noise and smart folders are likely one of many coming tools that will create friction for email marketers.

Marketing Takeaway

Filters like Smart Folders aren't going to change email marketing overnight. If users begin adopting these tools, however, more companies will face the challenge of being filtering out of the inbox. As a marketer, you should start planning for these potential changes now:

1. Go Beyond Email - It is clear that email and other online platforms will continue to evolve. In response to their evolution, you should start thinking like a financial investor and diversify your lead generation portfolio. If you are relying only on email to bring you leads, now is the time to start leveraging other channels like blogging and social media. 

2. Increase Email Marketing Enagement - The reason mail clients start sorting out bulk emails is that many messages don't provide any value or don't offer engagement opportunities. If your recipients engage with your emails by clicking on them and sharing them, it is more likely that your messages will stay out of the bulk mail folder and land in the inbox.

3. Set Expectations at Opt-in - If a person doesn't know to look for your messages and offers, it is likely that they will be relegated to the bulk mail folder and ignored. However, if you are clear with subscribers about how frequently they will get emails from your business and why these messages will be valuable to them, you increase the odds that your emails will be seen, even if they are trapped in a Smart Folder.

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Contenido : pilar más importante para la estrategia de social media

Creando, encontrando y compartiendo contenido interesante las marcas y empresas pueden transmitir a sus seguidores y consumidores que conocen 'su territorio', mostrándose como auténticos líderes de opinión en su sector y ayudando a sus clientes a mantenerse al día sobre los acontecimientos importantes. Es por ello que cada vez más empresas y profesionales están poniendo un énfasis cada vez mayor en la capacidad de comercialización de contenidos de valor, añadido para sus objetivos y perspectivas.

Según se desprende de un reciente informe desarrollado por HiveFire,  casi la mitad de los profesionales del marketing encuestados en Estados Unidos, ahora adoptan el contenido como parte de su estrategia, en tanto que otro 42% está familiarizado con la práctica pero no participan. Incluso entre ese grupo, el 85% lo había hecho por lo menos una vez al enviar contenido a, por ejemplo, algún prospecto, pero no fue consciente de ello.

Los principales objetivos de preservación de contenidos, de acuerdo a la encuesta, son establecer el liderazgo y la mejora de moda de la marca. En el año 2010, un informe similar encontró que la conciencia de marca fue la meta principal de la comercialización de contenidos para las empresas de marketing, citado por el 78% de los encuestados.

En tanto la generación y optimización de motores de búsqueda (SEO) se redujo hacia el final de la lista de los resultados de HiveFire, la comercialización de contenidos puede hacer mucho por esa área también. HubSpot por ejemplo, ha informado sobre la eficacia de la captación de clientes a través de blogs.

Sin embargo, el 'contenido de curación' no es una actividad de bajo toque y de acuerdo con el informe, los mayores desafíos son la creación de contenido original y atractivo, y encontrar el tiempo para hacerlo. Fue mucho más sencillo encontrar contenidos de calidad de terceros, pero aún así casi la mitad de los vendedores dijeron que también fue difícil.

Entre los resultados de esta encuesta también reflejan que el contenido fue creciendo en importancia, con cada 7 de cada 10 encuestados opinando que encontrar, organizar y compartir el contenido era más importante que el año pasado. El mismo número cree que será aún más importante en 2012.

TAILOR MADE CULTURE. BUENOS AIRES MINIMALIST DESING CHOICE

Tailor Made may be one of the best-equipped hotels in Buenos Aires. There's an Apple Mac in every room, a high-definition TV, an iPod dock and an IP phone for free international calls. Best of all, there are no extra charges for basic services. No US$6 peanuts here; and wait, you want a beer? No problem! Laundry? It's included in the price.

ALL THE SERVICES ARE TAILOR MADE FOR THE GUESTS AND BASED ON THREE EXPERIENCES FOR THE GUEST TO ENJOY:

NO XTRA CHARGES.

 NO EXTRA CHARGES ARE LEVIED FOR LAUNDRY, EXTRA BED, OR SNACK BAR. WE ALSO HAVE INTERNATIONAL FREE CALS TO OVER 35 COUNTRIES. 
GRAB-A-BITE. GUESTS MAY GRAB A BITE TO EAT AND SOMETHING TO DRINK AT “SALON” AT ALL TIMES. 
PLEASE USE AND TAKE. THE HOTEL FURNISHINGS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING UPDATED WITH VARIOUS ITEMS THAT MAY BE PURCHASED BY GUESTS. FURNITURE, BLANKETS, SHEETS, TOWELS, PHOTOGRAPHS, OBJECTS, BOOKS, CDS, PILLOWS, WINES, ETC. A GREAT HOTEL CONCEPT IN A GREAT HOOD OF BA: LAS CAÑITAS, THE HEART OF POLO IN THE CITY

How to Sell Products via Your Facebook Page

It was only a matter of time before Facebook and e-commerce would converge. Until a little over a year ago, only storefronts existed on Facebook, where merchants could display and promote their products and, with “Add to cart” buttons, imply e-commerce functionality.

But when users clicked on “Add to cart, they were whisked away from Facebook to the merchant’s website where the actual shopping-cart experience occurred.

Almost There: Storefronts, but Not Stores

Two prominent examples of storefront-only functionality on Facebook are Threadlessand Best Buy, both of which include great integration with Facebook’s social features (sharing, commenting, liking), but don’t support e-commerce transactions within Facebook.

Best Buy’s storefront is powered by BigCommerce’s “SocialShop” application, which allows merchants to display products on their Facebook page and offers the user many options for viewing products and information.

Although it appears so, the user can't actually buy on the Best Buy Facebook page. Clicking the "Shop Now" button takes you to Best Buy's e-commerce website, also powered by BigCommerce.

Similarly, on the Threadless page, clicking on "Add to cart" takes you to their website where the actual e-commerce begins.

I should also mention ShopTab, another popular storefront application, which lets Page admins handle everything on Facebook — adding products, either individually or via a data feed import, as well as editing product information. Users can search by price range or keywords, and can also share individual products. The women’s lingerie company HerRoom uses ShopTab:

ShopTab costs $10 - $20 per month, depending on the number of products.

Real Facebook e-Commerce Arrives

On July 8, 2009, the first complete e-commerce experience appeared on Facebook when 1-800-Flowers premiered its Facebook store, powered by Alvenda. For the first time, users could conduct an entire sales transaction without ever leaving the Facebook environment. Although not a fully integrated Facebook experience, the Alvenda approach heralded the arrival of real shopping on Facebook.

It’s been only a little over a year since the 1-800-Flowers Facebook shop appeared and still there aren’t a lot of choices for applications that allow the entire shopping experience to occur on Facebook. But we can certainly expect more and better applications to come online in the coming months and years.

Here are the ones I think are the current best in show. If anyone feels I’ve missed one, feel free to use the comments to let me know.

Alvenda

Alvenda utilizes Adobe Flash to create its functionality for its many customers which include 1-800-Flowers, Delta Airlines and Brooks Brothers. The Flash “widget” is actually located on a non-Facebook server and is pulled into the Facebook “chrome” via a custom Facebook iFrame application.

1-800-Flowers

On the 1-800-Flowers page, when the visitor clicks on the “Shop” tab, a graphic is presented that introduces the visitor to the “Facebook Shoplet” and encourages her to “click right in” to start shopping.

Upon clicking the “Start shopping” button, the visitor is taken to 1-800-Flowers’ Alvenda-powered Facebook application where the e-commerce begins.

The remainder of the e-commerce transaction occurs on this application page.

(The reason for taking the user to the application page and away from the Facebook page is to get the wider application canvas page where the maximum width is 760 pixels, compared to 520 pixels on a page tab.)

Delta Ticket Window

Another groundbreaking Facebook e-commerce event was Alvenda’s development of“Ticket Window,” Delta Airlines’ Facebook-based ticketing system, which premiered in August 2010.

Unlike the 1-800-Flowers Facebook application, the Delta Ticket Window keeps the user on the page's "Book a Trip" tab. This was the first Facebook-based airline ticketing system, and it's pretty cool.

Alvenda’s Dependence on Flash

Although we have to give Alvenda and 1-800-Flowers kudos for getting there first, there is one drawback to the Alvenda experience: The entire e-commerce widget — which is contained in the iFrame — is built in Flash. This means that the many millions of users accessing the site via their iPhones, iTouches or iPads won’t be able to use the shopping feature, as Apple does not allow Flash to run on its mobile and tablet devices.

As more of these Apple products are sold, and they are selling like hotcakes, this will increasingly be a drawback to using Alvenda. However, in order to compensate for this, I’m certain many merchants (Alvenda’s customers tend to be larger enterprises) plan to develop applications for these devices (1-800-Flowers already has).

Alvenda is a commercial product and they don’t provide costs on their website, so it’s probably not cheap.

Flash-Free and Totally Integrated Facebook e-Commerce Applications

Fortunately for many small businesses, there are a couple of Facebook applications available that are free, fully integrated into the Facebook experience, and don’t rely on Flash.

Overall, I consider these applications the better option for smaller merchants who still wish to sell their products and services on Facebook, fully integrate with Facebook’s social features and not have to rely on developing special applications to reach the millions of people using Apple devices.

Using Payvment for a Shopping Experience

In terms of real integration with Facebook, as well as cost (it’s free) and technology (it’s not a Flash application), Payvment is the one to beat. It is considered the leading shopping platform insideFacebook.

Payvment utilizes PayPal’s “Adaptive Payments” API to provide what I think is the most fully integrated Facebook shopping experience to date. Payvment’s feature set is pretty amazing, including full integration with Facebook and a seamless Facebook experience, product search, Facebook-wide shopping cart system (their “Open Cart Network” technology) that enables customers to complete their purchase from any storefront on Facebook, ability to customize with HTML, and TRUSTe privacy.

This is pretty amazing — Payvment transforms Facebook into a gigantic department store where users can keep their purchases with them across thousands of Payvment-powered storefronts on Facebook and do the checkout at any point.

Payvment also features support for FedEx and UPS automatic shipping calculations, as well as the ability for retailers to provide instant discounts and coupons to users who “Like” their page.

Also, and importantly, once you have simply added the Payvment application to your page, you can add and manage your products right within the application.

I checked out 

What's the appropriate way to calculate conversion rates from traffic to leads?

A very simple calcuation: # of leads/amount of traffic. If you have 5 leads out of 100 visits to your site, your conversion rate is 5%. 

You might also want to track a second stat of conversion of leads to sales. This will give you an accurate way to describe your sales funnel: If it takes 100 visits to get 5 leads, and it takes 5 leads to get 1 sale, you will need (theoretically) 50 leads to get 10 sales, and 1000 visitors to get 50 leads. This kind of calculation can help you forecast your leads and sales based on traffic.

A note: these kind of forecasting systems are only a guideline, don't take them as fact. You should recalculate your conversion rates on a regular basis (quarterly, monthly, depending on the rate of sales) to get a more reliable picture of your funnel.

Off page SEO

There are two kinds of SEO, on page and off page. 

Off page SEO is all about the things you could to get a high page rank (PR) for your website after it has already gone live. These are the things which you actually execute outside the pages of your website, hence the name of this type of SEO.

What are these steps?

Well, all of them are concerned with building your link popularity. Your link popularity represents the number of back links your website has. To check you website's current link popularity, head over to http://www.linkpopularity.com and use the free tool that can be found there. The higher your link popularity, the higher your PR will be.

Building your link popularity involves increasing the number of websites that will link to yours. This is easier said than done. It's not a matter of getting reciprocal links like "you link to me and I'll link to yours." Google, in particular, despise reciprocal linking. You have to get unilateral links to your website.

The best way to do this is by ensuring that you have unique, highly informative content. Really, this is the number one strategy to invite websites to link to yours. But your content in the realm of on page SEO, and it is assumed that you have made all efforts to ensure great content.

What are the other ways by which you could build your link popularity? Try the following techniques:

* Article marketing. There are thousands of article directories on the Internet. You could submit articles to these websites. For every submission, you will be allotted a resource box where you could introduce yourself and share a link to your website. Now, some of these article directories have high page ranks. If your articles are accepted, they will be included in their pages. Having a website with high PR linking to yours would go a long way in increasing your own page rank. Additionally, if you will submit just one article to a thousand directories, you'd have a thousand pages linking to your website! Sounds like a daunting task? There are article directory submission services available. Seek them out. For as low as $25, they could submit your articles to as many as 200 directories.

* Forum marketing. There are online communities dedicated to the subject that your website is serving. Seek them out, then join them. You'd be allotted a signature box, which would appear in your every post. In your signature box, you could leave a link to your website. Then post as many significant messages as you could. For every post you will make, you'd have a page linking to your website.

* The website http://www.craigslist.com is a well known classifieds website with a PR7 score. A PR7 score is rarely high! To have a link in a website like this would give a tremendous boost to your own website. Simply go to that site and choose the category that your pages belong to, then post your advertisement, with your link of course. It doesn't matter that no one would get to read it. What matters is that the search engine spiders would find your website as they would come from a PR7 site.

* Look for partners who are willing to include your list in their pages. The easiest way to do this is to use the free tool at http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php .

* Try triangular linking. Google despises reciprocal linking, but triangular linking is one way of going around this limitation. Look for two or more webmasters who are willing to give it a shot. Webmaster A could post a link to Webmaster B's website in his own pages. Webmaster B can post a link to Webmaster C's website in his own pages. And webmaster C can post a link to Webmaster A's website in his own pages. It may enforce the same principle as reciprocal linking, but the search engine spiders are not programmed to figure this out... yet.

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