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Recently we received some questions about how Google uses (or more accurately, doesn't use) the "keywords" meta tag in ranking web search results. Suppose you have two website owners, Alice and Bob. Alice runs a company called AliceCo and Bob runs BobCo. One day while looking at Bob's site, Alice notices that Bob has copied some of the words that she uses in her "keywords" meta tag. Even more interesting, Bob has added the words "AliceCo" to his "keywords" meta tag. Should Alice be concerned?

At least for Google's web search results currently (September 2009), the answer is no. Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking. This video explains more, or see the questions below.

 

Q: Does Google ever use the "keywords" meta tag in its web search ranking?

A: In a word, no. Google does sell a Google Search Appliance, and that product has the ability to match meta tags, which could include the keywords meta tag. But that's an enterprise search appliance that is completely separate from our main web search. Our web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword metatags completely. They simply don't have any effect in our search ranking at present.

Q: Why doesn't Google use the keywords meta tag?

A: About a decade ago, search engines judged pages only on the content of web pages, not any so-called "off-page" factors such as the links pointing to a web page. In those days, keyword meta tags quickly became an area where someone could stuff often-irrelevant keywords without typical visitors ever seeing those keywords. Because the keywords meta tag was so often abused, many years ago Google began disregarding the keywords meta tag.

Q: Does this mean that Google ignores all meta tags?

A: No, Google does support several other meta tags. This meta tags page documents more info on several meta tags that we do use. For example, we do sometimes use the "description" meta tag as the text for our search results snippets, as this screenshot shows:

Even though we sometimes use the description meta tag for the snippets we show, we still don't use the description meta tag in our ranking.

Q: Does this mean that Google will always ignore the keywords meta tag?

A: It's possible that Google could use this information in the future, but it's unlikely. Google has ignored the keywords meta tag for years and currently we see no need to change that policy.

[via] Matt Cutts, Search Quality Team

Ning, the service that lets you build your own social network around any interest or group, is taking a huge step forward today.

Back in May, we wrote about the Ning app platform that was rolling out to select Ning networks. Today, the company is officially launching Ning Apps to all 1.5 million Ning networks.

Built on Google’s OpenSocial platform, 90 different applications from WordPress to Hulu to Qik are all available to Ning network creators.

Check out the full application list here — there’s something for just about everyone and every network.

Applications can be skinned to match the network they are being added to and include all of Ning’s default viral sharing options.

This is a big step for Ning — and a big step for OpenSocial. With platforms like Facebook and Twitter really dominating developers attention, Ning Apps is a great way to showcase not only the power of the Ning Network, but of the OpenSocial platform as a whole.

What Ning App is your favorite?

[via] mashable!

 

As expected, Facebook is slimming down. The new "Lite" version of Facebook is available for users in the United States and India, according to TechCrunch.

The new version of the site appears to be much cleaner and simpler. It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming or noisy. It also pushes the old-school Facebook apps off a cliff, which is just as well for the newest Facebook-connected services. Try it at lite.facebook.com.

The major visual change in Facebook Lite, compared Facebook "Classic," is simply that most of the the navigation and info page that was on the left of the page is now gone. The user is not distracted by the mostly superfluous details that resided there. The input box is also gone, replaced by buttons (Write, Post Photos, Post Video) that pop down the actual input forms only when needed.

The new layout feels simpler and faster, almost Twitter-like.

The new Lite version of Facebook is cleaner and faster.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Facebook "Classic" has a lot of navigational elements and more data that make the site cluttlered, in comparison.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Other tweaks that diehards might notice: the "Friends" tab in the top navigation of Facebook Classic is missing in Facebook Lite, replaced by a new "Events" link that opens up a page of invitations.

All pages on the site seem to be affected. They are simpler, easier to read, and faster. They load faster, partly due to what appears to be HTML optimization at Facebook. My profile page in Facebook Lite weighed in at 11K, compared to 44K in the Classic version. However, the smaller pages may also come courtesy of a dramatically decreased advertising load, which I doubt we can count on continuing, once Facebook Lite enters the mainstream.

I like the Lite site more than the old Facebook and am moving over to it now. Nice job, Facebook.

[via] webware

Salesforce.com the maker of the popular web-based CRM system recently announced the support and integration of Twitter into its platform via its Force.com App exchange. Salesforce previously had already supported integration with Facebook and is moving fast to integrate with data from the social web. What does this announcement mean for the future of social CRM?

Social CRM currently is a moving target and really the term “social CRM” does not properly address the business issues and implications of the situation, but like the term “social media” it had to be adopted for conversation purposes. When it comes to CRM software many issues are becoming hot topics. When we talk about social CRM, I believe we are really talking about the next generation of CRM software, but more importantly the next generation of sales and engagement.

The correct CRM system should amplify the skills of great sales people. The problem with today’s CRM solutions, stems from the wide variety of vendors and custom developed systems. Many companies have invested a great deal of time and money developing their own proprietary CRM system. The issue with this is scale.

Any CRM system of the future needs to be able to:

1. Be accessed from any computer or mobile device
2. Needs to integrate with real-time data provided through online platforms, for which Facebook and Twitter are only the beginning.
3. Must facilitate online, phone or in-person engagement from within the platform.
4. Needs to be backed with support to manage and update databases to help ensure the most accurate information

Cloud storage and computing can help address some of these problems, but the greater issue is that businesses need to be focused on the future needs of their CRM system. The data provide by any CRM system truly makes an impact when it provides relevance between a customer and a business. To ignore important sources of relevant data and to not scale a system for future use, means running the risk of losing touch with customers.

[via] Kipp Bodnar

Designers: Jun-Se Kim, Min-Goo Kim & Dong-Eon Kim

[via] Yanko design

Flickr’s website is functionally easy to use but it doesn’t offer an optimal viewing experience for browsing photos. Here on MakeUseOf, we have previously covered DestroyFlickr to use Flickr from your desktop. It has not been in active development for a year however, and a better alternative has come on the scene with some cool new features.

Flickroom is the new Adobe AIR kid on the block that will change the way you interact with Flickr.  Flickroom lets you browse Flickr in a beautiful charcoal colored interface that is soothing to the eyes, allows easy photo uploads and downloads, gives you real-time notifications for comments and faves on your photostream, and more. The app is still in beta and new features are being added at a rapid pace.

Flickroom Setup

Download and install Flickroom from here. When launched, it will allow you to connect with your Flickr account or create a new one. The application requires a simple one-time authorization process via Flickr so that it can work with your account. Your credentials are cached locally so you don’t need to login again in the future.

Browse Flickr with Flickroom

Users of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom will feel right at home since the interface to browse Flickr is very similar. The bottom filmstrip shows your (or your contact’s) photographs. The center area is where you view photos, edit photo data, and chat with other Flickroom users.

You can choose the display size and background color of the photo viewer, and click Details to view photo information like description, comments, tags, and EXIF data.

At the top right, you can navigate between your photostream, contacts, groups, etc. The application commands are in a toolbar at the top-right of the window. From here, you can view the latest photos from your contacts, upload, chat, search and set default settings. Hover your mouse for a popup description since it may get some time to get used to the command buttons.

Viewing recent uploads from your contacts is very easy. You can see the recent photos in the right sidebar or launch a separate filmstrip view. In this separate window, you can flip between your contacts to see their recent uploads in a filmstrip.

Upload Photos

There are three ways to upload photos using Flickroom:

• When your photostream is visible, drag and drop any photo into the app to add it to your photostream.
• When viewing one of your sets, drag and drop any photo to add it to the set.
• For powerful upload functions, use the Upload Manager accessed from the top-right toolbar.

I was very impressed with the simple yet powerful Upload Manager. You can select a batch of multiple photos, choose privacy settings, use tags and existing sets, create new sets, and add to groups, before the actual upload.

Download Photos

At present, you can download only one photo that is selected and displayed. For batch downloading, do checkout the two different apps we have previously covered on MakeUseOf.

Edit Photos, Add Comments and Notes

For any photo you are viewing, the action buttons below the photo on the right allow you to edit information, make comments, add notes, mark as favorite and so on.

Search Users and Photos

Flickroom allows basic searching for photos and users at present. You can search for users by email address or username. The photo search searches tags to find matches. Though the search is basic, the best part is that you can add users as your contact from within the application.

Preferences

The application preferences allow you to set the default photo size (useful for slower connections to use smaller display size), background color, initial view, and a ‘signature’ for all new photos.

Live Feed, Chat and Tweeting

The most unique feature of this app is the ability to get real-time notifications for any activity such as comments and favorites on your photostream. You can tweet about a photo from right within the application.

If you’re in a social mood, you can jump right into the Chat room, where you can chat with other Flickroom users currently logged in.

[via] MakeUseOf

 

Blogger 稱呼這個"繼續閱讀"的功能為 "Jump Breaks” (跳行)， 而blogger的部落客們，可因這項功能而再也不需要其他 blogger hacks 了，且可自由地在編輯器中自己選擇在哪個字裡行間做 "jump break”， 這可是比任何 hacks 還要彈性得多，畢竟，多數hacks斷行的地方，是無法在不同文章有不同選擇的。

談及這項新功能的應用，有兩個地方可以加入"read more”到文章中，如果你是使用新款編輯器 ( Blogger in Draft, or by enabling it via the Settings tab)，你可以看到"insert jump break” (插入斷行)的按鈕，位於編輯器的工具列最右端, 按下這按鈕就可以依照你自己決定的文章位置，來做插入斷行了。

如果你不使用新款編輯器，那你也可以運用 "編輯HTML” 來完成任務，只要在 HTML 編輯區中， 加入 <!—more—> 於文章要斷行的地方即可。

如果你不喜歡 "Read more” 的用詞，那麼你可以在版面配置> 網頁元素> 文章編輯中，來修改成自己想要的用詞， 如中文的"繼續閱讀"或其他自己創意的字詞都是可以的喔。

                                Live demo | Download

臨時需要海外出差的商務旅行嗎?
localti.me 搜索引擎 告訴你你即將前往都市的最基本狀況:
當地時間 (網站以此命名 當然是第一強調資訊)
氣象狀況, 使用電源, 左右駕規定, 維基百科定義… 等許多基本資訊
十足是一個商務人士前往陌生都市商旅的基本搜尋網站

Yoono has been around for quite a while as the Firefox plugin that helps you simplify your online social life. Now, they’ve created a desktop client which is not based on Adobe AIR. Quite refreshing to see. I’ve actually been back and forth with Yoono and it’s developers for over a year, providing feedback as a user. I haven’t used it constantly, but I’m thoroughly impressed with they’re latest upgrades to the service and software.

As I’ve talked about before, being able to keep up with and process all the information coming at us is like ice skating uphill. Yoono was one of the many products I tried off and on to help deal with the situation and it has definitely grown up a lot. The interface is clean and easy to look at. It’s more intuitive and a lot snappier.

It’s easy to add your social networks and IM accounts to Yoono. Once you’ve done that, you’ll get almost realtime notifications for new

updates from all your services. You can turn off audio notifications and you can also pick and choose what type of updates trigger a visual growl-like alert in the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Instead of Adobe AIR, Yoono chose to use xulrunner to create their desktop client. Starting out as a Firefox add-on, it only made sense to port to xulrunner. This means that it basically has full browser functionality. By default, clicking a link in Yoono will open pages within it’s own internal browser. This could actually help you stay productive as it can help separate your social media activity from the real work going on in your browser. In any case, you can easily modify this behavior to open links in your own default browser.

Another nice addition to Yoono is integration with the realtime search engine OneRiot. Get all the latest news from across the social web in realtime right from your Yoono sidebar. Also, easily share links images and video across all your social networks. When you update your status in Yoono, you get to select exactly which services it should go to. Choose from Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, AIM, and FriendFeed.

[via] Black Web 2.0

This guest post is by Amanda O’Brien, Inbound Marketing Manager at Hall Web Services, one of Maine’s largest web development firms.

Your Twitter status and Facebook fan page are stale. Your latest B2B blog post is a week overdue. People are filling out your contact forms on your website and you haven’t gotten back to them. And you just burned your microwave burrito. It can all be so overwhelming.

On top of that, social media management may not be your thing. That doesn’t make you a bad person. How can you keep up? How can you make sure your online inquiries make it into your sales pipeline? How can you be on the cusp of what is coming up next and not playing catch up all the time?

Perhaps it’s time to consider an online community manager.

What is an online community manager?

It depends.

It depends on what you need. Your community manger should oversee, maintain and take responsibility for your business’ online presence. If the community manager is not going to follow up with all online inquiries, they should be the one to funnel your inquiries to the correct department for handling.

Many companies are hiring community managers and they are proving to be beneficial. Lots of businesses started social media programs without a clear understanding of the resources required. This led to interns or other unqualified part-time help who felt swamped trying to keep up with everything. These responsibilities could be worked into an existing position or perhaps a new position entirely.

1. Keep Organized
A community manager can keep your social media marketing efforts organized, which is a constant reflection of your business. They can establish goals, objectives and set timelines.

2. Time Saver
Some have spent hours and hours trying to catch up with this new social internet. Your online community manager should already be well versed in the social web. Also, many organizations express frustrations about employees wasting so much time on social networks. With one corporate voice you can concentrate those efforts.

3. Lowering Online Risk
For many companies the risks just seems too high to let all their employees participate online on behalf of their organization. Having an online community manager ensures your efforts are consistent, strategic and are an appropriate representation of your company.

4. Recognize Leadership
Recognize the employee, and it is usually one, who is willing to lead a company’s social media efforts. For your social media campaigns to be successful there has to be some amount of passion behind the content you are producing. The qualified community manager will not only be passionate about your business but also about the tools, process and outcome of their efforts. The best blog posts don’t come from business owners forcing themselves to write.

5. Stop Playing Defense
Reactive marketing usually isn’t the best plan of attack. Having one person tracking your online reputation and keeping you up to speed on what is happening in your industry is a much more solid approach. Instead of always playing catch up with your competitors, be trendsetter in your industry.

6. Track Results and Time
By expending a single resource you should be able to better track your results, time spent and return on each campaign.

As with everything in your social media strategy, you need to keep in mind this is only a single part of your overall marketing strategy. This is not a checklist. You need to figure out how it works best for your company. A community manager works for businesses who need to keep a handle on their online marketing strategy.

Craigslist is a very ugly website. In 2009, it is estimated that
it will have a turnover of $100 million. It has 30 fulltime
employees.

Craigslist breaks all marketing and branding rules. In fact, it
doesn't market or brand or sell itself at all. There are no
marketers on staff. "Only programmers, customer service reps and
accounting staff work at craigslist," Gary Wolf writes in an
excellent Wired article.

Craigslist does things slowly and repetitively. Its strategy for
growth involves "a slow, bloblike, seemingly unstoppable
accretion of new craigslist cities, each an exact clone of the
others, launched with no marketing or publicity," Wolf writes.
"Sometimes a new site grows very slowly for a long time."
47 million Americans visit Craigslist every month. More people
visit it than eBay or Amazon.

Craigslist is a "centralized network of online communities,
featuring free online classified advertisements - with sections
devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services,
community, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums" according to
Wikipedia.

Craig Newmark founded craigslist in 1995. "Newmark has one trait
that mattered a lot in craigslist's success," Wolf writes. "He
is willing to perform the same task again and again. During the
company's first years, Newmark approved nearly every message on
the list, and in the decade since he has spent much of his time
eliminating offensive ones. Even by the most conservative
accounting, he has passed judgment on tens of thousands of
classified ads. Very few people could do this and thrive."
What is the philosophy or vision statement of Craigslist?
According to Newark, "People are good and trustworthy and
generally just concerned with getting through the day ... Customer
service is public service."

Craigslist gets a lot of criticism for its ugly design that
hasn't changed since 1999. "I hear this all the time," CEO Jim
Buckmaster tells Wired. "You guys are so primitive, you are like
cavemen. Don't you have any sense of aesthetic? But the people I
hear it from are invariably working for firms that want the job
of redoing the site. In all the complaints and requests we get
from users, this is never one of them. Time spent on the site,
the number of people who post-we're the leader. It could be
we're doing one or two things right."

So what are they doing right? How about their approach to
revenue generation, for a start? "Companies looking to maximize
revenue need to throw as many revenue-generating opportunities
at users as they will tolerate," Buckmaster tells Wired. "We
have absolutely no interest in doing that, which I think has
been instrumental to the success of craigslist."
There is method to this apparent commercial madness. "While it
may seem paradoxical, Craigslist actually is being much smarter
(on purpose or not) in how it "maximizes profits," an article on
the Techdirt website states. "It's doing it by not pissing off
users and not trying to squeeze them for every possible penny
today, knowing correctly that doing so is a horrible long-term
strategy."

Craigslist is willing to do the basic, boring stuff again and
again and again. It thinks long-term. It puts people first. It
trusts them. And millions of people trust it back and use it
every day to find love and cars and stuff. Craigslist, the
anti-brand, is one of the biggest brands of the 21st Century.

[via] Gerry McGovern

The wallpaper of this week is a very cool illustration created by Anna Anjos, a graphic designer and illustrator from São Paulo, Brazil. Anna started very young creating the internal drawings of her mother's book.

Since her early days she preferred pencils and papers than conventional toys. Her first work was at age 10 where she had the opportunity to create the internal drawings of her mother's book.

We highly recommend that you check out Anna Anjos' website



iPhone Version

Resolutions:

• 1920x1200px
• 1680x1050px
• 1440x900px
• 1280x1024px
• 1280x800px
• 1024x768px
• iPhone

[via] abduzeedo

 

If you are a smart shopper, it is not that easy to persuade you to actually buy something. There is the science behind how the products are organized, labels are written and sections are ordered to guide you through to making a purchase. That’s a wealth of tricks based on psychological theories and practices that in the end “convert” you from a regular visitor into the buyer.

One of the most powerful methods to appeal to a potential buyer is applying color theory to (e)commerce. Has it ever occurred to you why you feel safer in one store and more energetic in another one? Have you ever noticed that landing on some web page you feel like clicking some button/link and keep browsing the site? While other pages prompt you to stay and keep reading? To some extent, this might be the choice of colors for the page elements.

Color is believed to be one of the most powerful elements of design for web sites, direct mail, ads, and other marketing materials. It carries meaning through associations and/or your body physical response. Color associates can vary from country to country but in Western culture they are basically the same.

So don’t let (online) sellers affect your decision by showing you what you want to see. Let’s see how color choice may affect your shopping behavior and habits – for you to be able to buy with a cool head.

Color Prompts You to Buy

A regular shopper in North America is likely to respond to color choice the following way:

(based on my other table on color branding)

As can seen from the above table, red and orange colors are most often used to encourage your action, i.e. to prompt you to buy something or subscribe to the newsletter (and become the customer later on).

Green and blue, on the other hand, are “supporting colors” that make you feel secure and safe thus entrust the seller with your money.

See how much Amazon.com wants to talk you into buying something using dark and light orange color:

Color Affects Your Shopping Habits

It is also believed that color affects shopping habits. Look how different shoppers may respond to various colors:

Color Depends on the Season

Another way to appeal to your eye is to choose colors on occasion. Many e-shops change design from season to season to make you feel more at home. You’ll see more red/orange designs in autumn, blue/white – in winter and green websites in spring.

Besides, it is a frequently-used trick to change colors depending on the approaching holidays: green and red combination is associated with Christmas (as they symbolize Christmas tree and Santa Clause); red is often used on St Valentine’s day (as that’s the color of heart and love), orange is associated with Halloween because pumpkins are a big part of that holiday (of course, all the aforementioned associations may vary from country to country).

So on visiting a website or store on a holiday and seeing familiar colors, you are more likely to stay as you feel comfortable.

Image by Pink Sherbet Photography

[via] Shopping Journal

 

Gotham Nights

This stunning dark theme was originally created for Wordpress by Evan Eckard, and has been converted for Blogger by Blogger FAQs.
View Demo | Download Gotham Nights

 

Black Power

This theme includes Twitter updates in the header, well-designed comment counts, plus integrated search, feed and navigation links. Converted from the WP theme by Skinpress by Falcon Hive.
View Demo | Download Black Power

 

Dark Mistry

Another stunning original design by RayCreations. Features a two column layout with unique styling of the different widget types and breathtaking main background image.
View Demo | Download Dark Misty

 

Tagland

A dark and serious theme by Dante araujo with a keen focus on each element of style.
View Demo | Download Tagland

 

Rock My World

Originally designed by Pelangipetang, this awesome grunge-style theme has been converted for Blogger by Deluxe Templates.
View Demo | Download Rock My World

 

Evidens

A stunning, simple dark theme which offers three columns in the layout and perfect attention to details. Originally created for WP by Design Disease and converted for Blogger by Blog and Web.
View Demo | Download Evidens for Blogger

 

Blue Diamond

This is an image-heavy, beautifully toned design featuring Twitter and RSS links in the header and a stylish approach to the layout. Converted from Skinpress' WP theme by Falcon Hive.
View Demo | Download Blue Diamond

 

BCute

Here is another conversion of a Skinpress theme by Deluxe Templates, this time a dark theme with a stylish and highly functional header section.
View Demo | Download BCute Template

 

The Conservative American

An unusual niche-style template with a patriotic feel, this two column template is not short of features including: automatic date, Twitter integration and navigation links. Converted by Zona Cerebral from the Wordpress design by Jeremy Buff.
View Demo | Download Conservative American

 

Zinmag Remedy

Converted by Falcon Hive from the Wordpress theme by Jinsona Design, this dark intriguing theme offers many great features, though requires a good deal of customization to install.
View Demo | Download Zinmag Remedy

 

Template Black

An original dark design by Templates Novo Blogger.
View Demo | Download

 

Woody

A wood effect template with semi-transparent backgrounds, converted from Frozr's design by ChicaBlogger.
View Demo | Download

[via] Blogger Buster