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Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Business networking site LinkedIn has acquired the team behind popular content sharing platform SlideShare.
SlideShare – which allows professional users to create and host presentations, videos and PDFs online – was launched in 2006 and now has 29 million unique users a month.
LinkedIn paid $119m (£74m) to acquire SlideShare, saying it aligns “perfectly” with LinkedIn’s mission.
A SlideShare app on LinkedIn was already proving popular with professionals. It is thought LinkedIn will now integrate SlideShare into its core site as it looks to improve its ‘product’.
LinkedIn’s current success – it has amassed 161 million global users – is based on the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook. However, unlike Facebook – where users connect with ‘friends’ (random and real-life) -LinkedIn’s niche has been to focus entirely on professional networking.
As a result, the site has become a mainstay for professionals looking to move up the career ladder, make business connections or find new staff.
In fact, LinkedIn has become something of a playground for recruiters and service providers: it has made one-step transglobal headhunting a reality, whilst Internet marketing content can be sent directly to the inboxes of some of the world’s most prestigious and connected CEOs.
The acquisition, confirmed by LinkedIn on May 3, cost $119m in cash and stocks (a split of around 45%55%).
LinkedIn said it was now looking to integrate SlideShare into its core site – giving professionals simple access to tools allowing them to create and share work online, whilst signficantly boosting the site’s attractiveness to new users.
LinkedIn’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, explained: “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity.
“These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission, and helping us deliver even more value for our members.”
SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha, added: “We built SlideShare to help professionals share presentations and connect people through content.
“What we can build with LinkedIn, the largest professional network on the Internet, is the most natural extension of this vision.”
Shortly after announcing the acquisition, LinkedIn revealed its first-quarter revenue for 2012 – showing a 101% rise year on year.
LinkedIn’s revenue for the first quarter was $188.5m (£116.5m), with income from the same period rising from $2.1m to $5m. More than half the total revenue comes from LinkedIn’s “hiring solutions” unit, whilst display advertising revenue rose by around 73%.
LinkedIn floated on the stock market last year, with stocks worth around $45 at the start. They have risen by around 70% since.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: business, corporate, documents, LinkedIn, network, networking, online workspace, powerpoint, presentations, professional, share, shared, slideshare, video
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Google has uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel describing five of the most common search engine optimisation mistakes – and six ‘good ideas’ to help internet marketers get results.
The video is presented by Maile Ohye, a developer programs tech lead at Google. A summary of the slip-ups she mentions is presented below:
The first mistake is to begin to optimise your business’ website without first establishing your USPs (unique selling points). Apart from the simple reason that conversion matters – appearing in search engine results pages (SERPs) does not mean that people will buy into your product – this could also be tied to Google’s recent innovations in social search, as effectively-communicated USPs may encourage users to share your page with others.
The second mistake is to carry out your SEO separately from your other marketing activities. By tying offline marketing into online marketing, key phrases and slogans that users have searched for after seeing them on ‘real world’ adverts should begin to rank well in SERPs.
The third mistake is related to pagination – companies must use the latest standards to help search engines index their pages rather than using canonical tags, or fail to use code at all.
Ohye’s fourth tip is to avoid getting caught in ‘trends’. She uses the example of the way in which search engines and websites were once focused on attracting users, whereas now the focus has shifted towards achieving good rankings. As she points out, a good ranking does not necessarily mean good traffic.
The fifth and final SEO pitfall is, conversely, to fail to respond quickly to changes in search engines and within your industry. This includes simple matters like regular website updates, but also being able to quickly implement changes recommended by marketing and SEO teams when, for example, Google updates its algorithm.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: Google, mistakes, optimise, SEO, serps, tags, video, youtube
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Monday, January 23rd, 2012
Possibly the biggest differentiator at present between Google Plus and other social networks are Hangouts – the chance to video conference at the click of a button with up to 20 other G+ users. Hangouts are moving forwards quite quickly now as the G+ developers and third parties realise the benefits of making recording G+ Hangouts a one click process with Hangouts On Air.
The Dalai Lama, the Muppets and a few others were the first to be permitted to record their Hangouts On Air, and now the facility to do so is being extended more widely. Hangouts On Air is being turned on initially for celebs, public figures and those with large G+ followings, but it is likely that a full rollout will not be far behind. The really cute feature is that once the Hangout is finished, a private video clip will be uploaded to your account at YouTube.
For businesses and marketers, this new feature, once available to all, offers an infinite number of possible uses to reach a wider audience, to offer one on one training sessions, for recorded customer support ‘calls’, to archive webinars, to preserve fascinating discussions, meetings or focus groups – the list truly is endless.
Until this feature is rolled out fully by Google to all G+ users, there are plenty of other options for recording Hangouts, such as Camtasia, Camstudio (an Open Source version of Camtasia) and Fraps (which avid gamers will know for recording their gaming moves).
The benefits of Hangouts for businesses do not yet seem to be being explored by many businesses, large and small, and yet the content and collaboration and discussions created within Hangouts by those who do use them can be seen all over G+. Are you using Hangouts? For what purposes? Have you experienced any problems? What do you feel is the potential for this type of application within your business?
Tags: camstudio, camtasia, fraps, g+, Google, google plus, hangouts, record, recording, video
Posted in Blog, Google, Small Business Resources, Social Media
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Monday, November 21st, 2011
Google have given YouTube a makeover, offering a new layout to make finding content an easier task.
At the moment this is not live, but if you want to give it a go, it’s very simple.
Go to youtube.com and click Ctrl, shift and J (Chrome) or Ctrl, Shift, K (Firefox) to open the developer tools.
Click on Console.
Then type in the following (you may need to clear the error log first)
document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=ST1Ti53r4fU”;
Reload the site and you get the new layout.
In other words, YouTube has become far more personal and is encouraging you to subscribe to channels to keep up with content you may enjoy more than the content from categories that Google shows by default currently.
For businesses, it is now even more important to create video content and to have a channel which your customers and audience can subscribe to. Regularly adding new content will drive your viewers back through their own personal subscriptions page, giving you an additional mechanism for reaching potential fans, friends, followers etc.
Encourage those who watch your videos to like, recommend and share your content, and don’t make it all a one way street. When people subscribe to your channel, check out theirs. You never know what gems you may find and there are always opportunities for comments and dialogue that will help to improve the view that YouTube (and hence Google) has concerning your content and activity.
We shall be looking at Google’s ‘new’ algorithm this week and video is just one part of it.
Tags: Google, new look, video, youtube
Posted in Blog, Google, SEO
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Friday, July 8th, 2011
Properly search engine optimised videos are 53 times more likely to turn up in the first page of Google results, according to new research.
Forrester Research found companies which use video for search engine marketing were getting higher search results ranking than text-based content.
Both YouTube and Facebook can provide great video marketing avenues for businesses.
Facebook provides easy options to share video content, and hopefully push it viral, and you can get interested people ‘tagged’ in relevant video, to show up on their profile page.
YouTube has a great Google-powered search engine, and is the go-to site for people looking for video content. Picking the right SEO keywords could lead to a lot more traffic coming to your video on YouTube, and, hopefully, following up by visiting your site for more information.
With social media networks now launching integrated video chat options, the internet is finally moving into the realm of video over traditional content – and businesses which get this right will reap the rewards.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – specialists in Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing.
Tags: facebook, SEO, video, youtube
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
In case you have been under a rock, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Tony Bates, CEO of Skype have just made a live announcement about new chat and video chat features within Facebook.
The first announcement was about the Open Computer Project, which has been underpinned by a need for better infrastructure to deliver service to Facebook users – servers and data centres. As this is not the core interest of the readers here, we’ll gloss over it!
The next announcement was the one everyone has been expecting following Google+ opening its field trial doors last week – video chat within Facebook. G+ has Hangouts and some of us are addicted, and very excited about the potential for our business clients, as well as on a wider social level for consumers. What was Facebook going to announce to compete with this?
I have to admit to being disappointed. My initial feeling is that this announcement has been rushed out because of the Google+ launch.
It (or someone) has missed the fact that G+ is a field trial and certainly does not seem to have taken any account of the fact that hundreds of thousands of users are clamouring for, and not getting, G+ invites. Google is not relenting in a hurry and just letting people in in droves; the product development forums make it crystal clear that Google is trying extremely hard in this, its third attempt, to get social right this time. New users are being let into the trial in trickles, not floods. Ergo, IMHO, there is no immediate threat to Facebook’s userbase right now, and this early announcement may prove an undoing over time.
G+ has launched with a slick mobile app for Android, and also a mobile browser interface which is intuitive and easy to use. Facebook has launched video chat and chat enhancements without any mobile solution. I think implying that this has not been done yet because FB wants to get the desktop/browser version working first was the first real indication of the hurry to get this announcement out. particularly when later on in the presentation, Zuckerberg clearly states that the three biggest trends that drive FB activity are 1) apps 2) mobile and 3) groups.
If that is the case, and FB needs user activity to grow its business, then surely you would focus on providing a mobile app from the word go for this new partnership with Skype? After all, Skype have had a mobile app for years and 50% of Skype’s own traffic each month – a staggering 300million minutes – is video chat. Adding over half a billion potential users of this video chat facility would imply to me that a mobile app would be essential in light of the massive growth of mobile internet access. (And might help pay for those new data centres Facebook are building!)
Seeing how the clunky chat has been improved (um, not much at first glance!) makes G+ Hangouts look even more impressive. And Zuckerberg’s comments when asked what he thought about Google + Hangouts by Ben Parr of Mashable gave an even greater impression that this has been rushed out. Focus on the fact that 1 on 1 video chat is going to be the biggest use. Hmm, no, I don’t believe so. The killer app is group video chat, and the facility to do precisely that has been included in Google+ from the outset, whereas FB are planning to work on it over the coming months.
Part 2 of our impressions about this and its effect on businesses using Facebook to follow shortly.
Tags: business, chat, facebook, Google, skype, video
Posted in Blog, Google, SEM Industry, Social Media
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Combining a YouTube video presence with online marketing services could help boost awareness of your brand.
Facebook and Twitter have proved to be really useful tools for companies to increase their online presence.
But combining that with video on YouTube could open up your business to new customers.
Even simple, explanatory videos, that can help consumers understand your products or brands, or demonstration videos either showing how to use products, or giving hints and tips, can help increase visitors to your website – and, ultimately, boost your profits.
Using social media for the sake of it is not advisable as potential customers want quality, valuable content.
But if you are already finding success with Facebook and Twitter, adding a YouTube channel could round-off your online marketing campaign.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Tags: online marketing, Social Media, video, youtube
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Friday, March 25th, 2011
Interestingly, there was a discussion about this recently in the office.
Which software would you recommend to turn a series of photos into a video that can be shared on Youtube?
Youtube must have heard us! This week YT announces the addition of new functionality which allows anyone to splice together photos to form a video suitable for uploading to the site and sharing.
For many people, this will prove a godsend. Especially for those with no video camera, but also for those who only have a series of photos available which needs editing into a film.
Remember how useful videos are in ensuring higher search engine rankings for your business? This could be your chance to find those missing SERPs, simply by melding photos into a short video clip.
It’s the weekend – time to go play with some funky tools that may permit us to put videos from photo selections that had been deemed only usable for the in-house photo album unless we bought specialist software!
Tags: editing, photos, video, youtube
Posted in Blog, Google, SEO
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
What content should you be creating in 2009/2010?
Back in the olden days of search engine optimisation, it was all about text. Building websites full of textual content, sending emails full of text, sharing text through bulletin boards, and so on. Most people had dial up modems and images just slowed the connections down to a grinding halt, so text it was.
The term ‘content is king’ became widely known amongst all in the internet marketing industry, and text-heavy web pages, articles, ezines, newsletters led into blogs, forums, ebooks and more. However, in 2009, content is not so much text as visual, real-time, interactive, and you need to be creating content fit for the King in 2009/10.
And that king is broadband.
Whether it is a 30second video clip, a 1 hour webinar with full video content, video and audio chat rooms for customers with archives of previous sessions, slideshows and presentations, podcasts, or any other non-text based information to share with your website visitors and followers, you need to move away from text based content as fast as your user’s internet connections will allow.
Look at the search engines. No longer are the search engine results purely text. There are images, maps, videos, and more. In June 2009, video searches made up 27% of all Google search queries in June 2009. Every which way you look, we are fast moving away from text and discovering what the internet is capable of as connections pass 1ooMbps and approach 1Gbps for the lucky few.
Twitter will go visual any time soon, or an application similar to it, and we already have Youtube as a household word. If you are focusing on text for your content, get out of the box and think about the easiest way to convey messages to your users and website visitors, and start creating exciting, innovative content for your audience.
Tags: content creation, interactive content, internet marketing, search engines, Site Promotion, video, youtube
Posted in Content, SEO, Social Media, Stats & Trends
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
We all operate in a dynamic, visual world, although the internet up till recently has been mainly a textual, static medium. That is, until broadband and available bandwidth meant serving videos became more of an option for all.
As video has taken off through the likes of Youtube (now a household name!), so many internet users have become accustomed to viewing and sharing videos through the Net. Although TV still seems to be the primary viewing mechanism, the growth of access to video online has meant that users are far more comfortable with it.
For many internet users, video is a great way of making information available to them, and the visual medium is far easier for getting messages across to the masses than text. Consider for instance a How To guide that details how to configure and install software. As we all know, most technical manuals are very difficult to understand (particularly if they have been translated) and often leave the consumer baffled and reaching for the phone to call technical support. However, a small clip of video which shows the precise steps which need to be taken, and screenshots to clarify those steps, can help solve the consumers’ problem and free up your tech support guys for more complex queries.
There are many ways to use video on your website, and adding it is easy, providing you ensure your hosting company allows you sufficient bandwith for your users to download or stream it. The other option is of course to put it on Youtube or a similar video site, and embed the video into your website. You should offer high and low badnwidth options, and decide whether to offer a stream or a download.
Anyone determined enough will steal your content should they choose to do so, so there are few ways that are within the majority of business budgets to protect it entirely. However, if what you want to do is make sure the information gets out there, if it is stolen and posted elsewhere, it is at least helping you advertise and promote your brand!
Tags: video
Posted in Content, Online PR, Social Media
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