Monday, April 18th, 2011
The geniuses working at Google’s Silicon Valley offices must have been pretty busy lately. Not only have they decided to outfit an entire town in Kansas with super high speed Internet, but they recently rolled out their “+1″ feature that allows searchers to share which results they find most helpful. But rather than taking the rest of the month off, as some of us would be tempted to do, they quietly introduced another new feature: Google Guru.
Guru, in a nutshell, is a service that allows users to open up a chat window and ask simple questions they want the answers to. Experts or other users can then help them find the appropriate information, without having to delve directly into Google search interface and find results. What are some of the things people might want to find? Here are just a handful of examples:
• Current weather and forecasts
• Sports scores
• Average prices
• Currency conversions
• Time in a different part of the world
• Geographic questions
• Trivia
… and a lot more. Much of this information could be available elsewhere on the Web, but using guru has the potential to make things faster and more efficient.
From an online marketing standpoint, this probably doesn’t mean a lot for your business at the moment. That’s not to say that it doesn’t matter, however. The introduction of Google Guru means more ties between the world’s largest search engine and mobile devices, more interaction with people instead of search engine spiders, and an overall focus on helping users find the information they’re looking for with minimum effort.
As you consider your online marketing plans going forward, try to find ways to make it easier for people to locate information or do business with you more efficiently. That’s because, as Guru shows us, you’re bound to be rewarded for it sooner or later.
eKzact Web Design and Online Marketing is Calgary’s premier Internet development company. Call us today to schedule a free consultation and find out why!
Monday, April 11th, 2011
If you’ve noticed something new about your Google search results today – and not everyone will, since the changes being made are gradually across different locations and browsers – you’re not alone. Google has recently announced that they’ll start adding “+1″ buttons to listings.
What does +1 mean? It’s most similar to Facebook’s “like this” tab, which allows users to point out which pages are destinations they consider to be most helpful. The results are then made public to your Gmail contacts, although this may expand in the future, and Google has some tentative plans to collect aggregate +1 data for sites and pages to see which ones are most popular.
As a web user, this might seem like a neat little feature to share which sites you enjoy. But as an online marketer, it should alert you to some deeper truths and trends. Here are three things you definitely need to know about Google’s new +1 addition:
It’s further blurring the lines between search and social media. By essentially following in the footsteps of Facebook’s like this or Twitter’s “retweet” option, Google is positioning itself less as a pure search engine and more of a social hub. Expect that these Internet giants will continue to battle it out for the lion’s share of your attention.
Online marketers will try to one up each other. You can bet that, as soon as +1 becomes widespread, companies will be trying hard to one up each other with more +1′s. Not only will it make them seem more popular and possibly spread their marketing message, but there’s the chance that it could even help their search positioning down the road, if Google (logically) decides that sites with more approvals should get higher rankings.
Quality content is more important than ever. Ultimately, what +1 does is place more control into the hands of searchers. And what sort of sites and pages will they reward? That’s right, the ones with the most helpful – and most interesting – content. Having high quality writing and video on your small business website has become more and more important in recent years. That trend is only going to continue.
Need a Calgary Web design and online marketing partner who can help you stay on top of the latest web trends? Contact eKzact today. We’ll show you what’s going on in the online world, and how your business can take advantage.
Monday, February 28th, 2011
PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 28, 2011 – Dave Ramsay joins eKzact in the role of business development. Dave joins eKzact with 20+ years in the telecommunications industry working with mid-sized enterprises to improve internal and external communications. Dave’s primary focus has been on business development and customer service. Dave’s career includes working with companies including Telus, Telsat (a Bell Company), and he was principal in a private interconnect company. Dave’s role with eKzact will be to develop new business relationships and work with existing clients.
Arlene Cadger joins our team as the Project Coordinator. Arlene’s focus is on the management of new design and programming tasks and ensuring that the technical team is managed efficiently.
“As eKzact continues to grow into a full service Internet marketing agency, new roles evolve to meet the business needs and to ensure that our customers continue to get top quality products and services”, said David West, founding partner of eKzact. West also comments, “it is a testament to our processes that Arlene who started as a website design client has now become an integral part of our team.”
As businesses grow to recognize the value of having a professional Internet Marketing firm on their team, eKzact has grown to meet those needs. Post web design marketing support, search engine optimization and social media community management have all become integral to our clients success.
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eKzact is a full service internet consultancy. Our mantra is that “If you market to the World, the World will be your Market”(r). Our growing team of internet consultants, designers and programmers provide services to clients spanning North America.
