What’s Going on at Google

by: iCopywriter Senior Blogger, Gaia Veenis

There’s always something new going on at Google; that’s how this Silicon Valley company has remained the biggest search engine on the planet for so many years. Some of the most notable recent changes from Google are a new premium service charge for websites using the Google Maps API, the introduction of Google Analytics Premium and the birth of Google+.

New Premium Services from Google Coming Soon

Since its inception, Google has been known for its free services, but some of that is set to change on the first day of 2012. On Jan. 1, the Google Maps API will become a premium service for some of the websites that use it. Hotel chains, travel agencies and similar types of companies will pay $4 for every 1,000 views on the Google Maps feature; not a hefty fee, but for a website that sees a lot of traffic, it could add up rather quickly. For many sites, however, this service will be well worth the cost.

Keep in mind that the map feature will still be free for up to 25,000 map views each day. In other words, regular Internet users don’t need to worry about the fee; less than 1 percent of users, mostly in high-traffic business sectors, are expected to be affected.

Another premium service from Google is the analytics tool, Google Analytics Premium, which is popular among businesses that rely heavily on search engine marketing. The costs for these premium services are also not likely to affect the average user. 

Google Enters the Social Media World

No one can deny the power of Google in the Internet space, but until this year, it has not had much stake in the social networking revolution. With the inception of Google+, all that has changed. This social networking site, among other features, gives users the power to endorse any website or business by simply clicking the +1 button that appears next to search results for users who are part of Google+. The site has been slow to pick up momentum, possibly because of the fact that it was exclusively invite-only for some time and has seen some development issues, but since the invite-only feature was removed, it has continued to grow. Now that Google+ and the +1 feature have been introduced, there seems to be more power in the hands of marketers and consumers alike to influence search results and market trends. 

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The Effect of Spelling & Grammar on Google Rankings - And How iCopywriter Can Help You!

by: iCopywriter Senior Editor, Heather Price-Wright

All those sentence diagrams and spelling tests from elementary school may be back to haunt you in a surprising new way. Answering users’ questions in a YouTube video, Google’s Matt Cutts notes that, while spelling and grammar are not specifically used as criteria for determining page rank, there is a strong correlation between poor spelling and poor rankings.

Google’s Webmaster Central Blog lists a variety of other factors to help companies determine whether their sites would be considered “reputable” and, therefore, earn high rankings. These factors include the following:

·      Expertise - Does the content writer know what he or she is talking about? Is there evidence of deep understanding and/or research on the topic at hand, or is the information shallow?

·      Editing - Does the content look thrown together? Are there awkward formatting issues, typos or other mistakes that an editor would easily have caught? Does it seem like someone checks the content before it goes live?

·      Errors - Are there misspelled words and/or major grammatical or factual errors?

This is where iCopywriter comes in. Maybe you’re not the best speller in the world or the nation’s leading expert on comma usage. With iCopywriter, you don’t just get great content writers; you get a staff of highly trained editors who make it their sole business to provide you with clean, error-free content.

We understand that site visitors don’t want to be accosted by sloppy content or silly mistakes. We’ll carefully edit and fact-check every piece of content we create for you to make sure that it’s smart, well researched and free of unsightly errors. Even your scariest elementary school teacher would be proud. 

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Chapstick Can Teach Other Business Hard-Won Lesson on Social Media Marketing

by: iCopywriter Senior Editor, Heather Price-Wright

Think your company has a fun, edgy, attention-grabbing ad campaign just about ready to roll out on social media platforms like Facebook?

You may be right - maybe those ads will be received exactly the way you intended them. People will chuckle, think, “Now that’s clever” and, best of all, remember your brand.

Or maybe people will find your ad campaign a little more than, ahem, cheeky, as was the response to this gem from Chapstick:

More than a few people who saw this ad found it offensive, saying it objectified women. In particular, blogger Margot Magowan of the blog “ReelGirl” called the ad sexist and encouraged her readership to “take Chapstick up on their bold-print offer to ‘Be Heard at Facebook.com/Chapstick.’”

Now, the arguments for both sides make a lot of sense. Does the ad seem to have anything to do with Chapstick? Not really. It truly is just a huge picture of a woman’s derriere. But, as lip balm users ourselves, we have to admit that we can relate to this ad (where is my lost Chapstick, anyway?), and concede that it is pretty clever. Plus, the butt featured is fairly innocuous - by which we mean clad in jeans and not shaking in the face of some rapper. As exploitative ads go, it’s pretty tame.

The real lesson here has little to do with the ad itself. Chapstick may or may not have made a small misstep there. But when people objected to the image, and voiced their objections, as the company itself suggested they do, on Chapstick’s Facebook page, a mysterious thing started happening.

The comments started to disappear.

And while Chapstick did eventually pull the ad and (sort of) apologize, the company’s excuse for all the missing comments was not all that satisfactory:

We apologize that fans have felt like their posts are being deleted and while we never intend to pull anyone’s comments off our wall, we do comply with Facebook guidelines and remove posts that use foul language, have repetitive messaging, those that are considered spam-like (multiple posts from a person within a short period of time) and are menacing to fans and employees.

We’re finding it pretty hard to believe that people like Magowan cursed in their Facebook posts, or that anyone undertook a massive spamming attack.

Which brings us to the lesson here: We live in radically social times. For the most part, that’s a good thing, especially when it comes to marketing efforts. But if you’re going to launch an ad campaign that’s anything other than squeaky clean, you’d better be ready to engage with your audience, because these days, they have almost infinite ways to express their feelings - whether amusement or rage - to you. Playing the social media game is not a choice anymore; it’s a necessity, and even the smallest business would do well to remember that.

Have you checked out iCopywriter.com lately? 

Top 2 YouTube Trends Worth Thinking About

by: iCopywriter Senior Blogger Gaia Veenis

Everyone should know by now that YouTube is a major indicator of pop-culture and Internet trends. It’s always worthwhile to pay attention to what people are watching on this user-generated online video database, particularly as new information is released towards the end of the year. In addition to end-of-year video search stats, YouTube also has some internal trends that online marketers and Internet businesses ought to be aware of. If you haven’t been paying attention to what’s been happening with YouTube in 2011, here’s your chance to get caught up.     

YouTube Trends in 2011

1. Live Events 

The launch of YouTube Live was announced in April, which completely changes the type of online video experiences that YouTube users are able to have. The new platform integrates discovery tools and live-streaming capabilities in one easy-to-use video viewing application. This means Internet users can use YouTube for watching live events as they are happening, not just for watching old videos that someone has already posted. Some of the most popular live events viewed in YouTube Live so far have been concerts, interviews, sporting events and the lunar eclipse. And we mustn’t forget the event of the century, The Royal Wedding, which was live streamed 72 million times on YouTube alone. Just imagine how many people were watching the event simultaneously on all the live streaming sites worldwide.       

2. YouTube.com/Create

YouTube is also making it easier to get creative with another new rollout from the past year,

YouTube.com/Create. The new page, which was launched in March, makes it possible for Internet users of all experience levels to create their own online videos in a matter of minutes. The application is free and doesn’t even require a video camera since so many laptops and phones have built-in camera capabilities. Features include a video editor and instant access to some of the most popular video creation sites.   

These are just examples of two of the biggest trends from YouTube so far this year. We believe it's always worth taking the time to stay current on trends such as these, because in the world of online marketing and e-business there’s nothing as precious as the latest data.

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