Friday, May 18, 2012

1. Zynga, LinkedIn, Yelp All Down After Facebook IPO Debut | Mashable
2. Hear That? [It's a hoodie-clad Mark Zuckerberg ringing the opening Nasdaq bell] – AllThingsD
3. Facebook IPO: Five things to know – The Washington Post
4. $$FB$$ Has Arrived: So, Now What? – AllThingsD
5. The Early Hours of Facebook HQ on IPO Day [PICS] – Mashable

Thursday, May 17, 2012

1. What’s the Right Facebook Strategy for Brands With Several Locations?- Mashable
2. 7 Tips for Shooting Quality Video On the Go | Cisionblog
3. Ahead of Facebook I.P.O., a Skeptical Madison Ave. – NYTimes.com
4. Facebook IPO: Buy early or wait and see? – latimes.com
5. Verizon Wireless: No Unlimited Plans for 4G Data Service – WSJ.com

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

1. Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links – Search Engine Land
2. Facebook expands IPO with additional 83.8M shares from existing stockholders – Inside FB
3. Sleepover Time! All-Night Hackathon Precedes Facebook IPO At Headquarters | TechCrunch
4. Pinterest Raising $120 Million at $1.5 Billion Valuation – Mashable
5. Unlike GM, Ford Is Still Bullish on Facebook Ads | ClickZ

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

1. GM Says Facebook Ads Don’t Pay Off – WSJ.com
2. Start Doing More Now: Try the New Bing Today – Bing Community
3. Global Report: Multi-Screen Media Usage | Nielsen Wire
4. Will Facebook be an Internet Behemoth in 10 Years? A Look Backward | Advertising Age
5. Looking Ahead at Next Generation Measurement – Google Analytics Blog

Monday, May 14, 2012

1. Yahoo confirms: CEO Scott Thompson stepping down – AllThingsD
2. Hold The Phone — How The Future Of Web Advertising Is Linked To The Call | TechCrunch
3. Reddit Users Surprise Terminally-Ill Man With Random Acts of Kindness – Mashable
4. With Its New Google+ iPhone App, Google Finally Gets It Right | TechCrunch
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 05/11/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, May 11, 2012

1. Moms 61% More Likely to Visit Pinterest | ClickZ
2. The Secret Life of NPR’s Terry Gross by Mike Birbiglia – AllThingsD
3. Moms 61% More Likely to Visit Pinterest | ClickZ
4. Facebook’s IPO already oversubscribed: source | Reuters
5. Introducing the New Bing: Spend Less Time Searching, More Time Doing

Thursday, May 10, 2012

1. Two Weeks In, Google Talks Penguin Update, Ways To Recover & Negative SEO – Search Engine Land
2. Head-To-Head: Bing’s Social Search Vs. Google’s Search Plus Your World – Search Engine Land
3. Q & A with Mom Blogger Jessica Gottlieb | Cisionblog
4. LinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile Page — Part 3 Bruce Clay Inc.
5. Helzberg goes from seeking gems to uncovering shams with new startup – Kansas City Business Journal

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

1. Bitly: ‘Each social network has its own culture and behavior pattern’
2. Looking Forward To A World Ruled By The Viewable Impression | Forrester Blogs
3. Facebook’s Latest S-1 Amendment: Yep, We’re Still Weak on Mobile – AllThingsD
4. Dear New York Times & Wall Street Journal: How About Some Sensible Digital Subscription Pricing? via Danny Sullivan
5. Why ‘The Atlantic’ No Longer Cares About SEO – Mashable

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

1. Authority, Scoring, Freshness Signals Among Google’s April Algorithm Updates – Search Engine WatcH
2. LinkedIn for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile – Part 2 Bruce Clay Inc.
3. Facebook asks some users ‘Which ad do you prefer?’ – Inside Facebook
4. Healthcare Marketers: Expand Your Reach with Online Videos | Dobies.com
5. Xceligent Closes Transaction with Global Investor, Turns Focus to Rapid Expansion | Xceligent News

Monday, May 7, 2012

1. Groupon’s stock is now half off – AllThingsD
2. Hallmark app lets you mail a greeting card from your iPhone – Kansas City Business Journal
3. Linkedin for Business: Optimizing Your Company Profile – Part 1 – Bruce Clay Inc.
4. Search quality highlights: 52 changes for April – Google Inside Search
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 05/04/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, May 4, 2012

1. Kraft Mac & Cheese Commercials Are Funny – Buzzfeed
2. Loeb Demands Yahoo Board Fire CEO by Monday Over False Resume – AllThingsD
3. Nutella Says Facebook Ads Outperformed TV | ClickZ
4. The phone market in 2012: a tale of two disruptions | asymco
5. Twitter provides the new ‘water cooler moment.’

Thursday, May 3, 2012

1. Google’s (Not Provided) Impacting More Than Just SEO Sites – Search Engine Land
2. Kansas City’s CoffeeCakeKC and their Google+ page featured in Google Small Business
3. Google Pledges $200 Million to Market Premium YouTube Channels – Mashable
4. Top Technical Roadblocks Keeping Your Website from Being Seen by Searchers: Webinar Resources – Nine By Blue
5. How Google Uses Human Raters in Organic Search – Search Engine Watch

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

1. Bing Gets a New Look
2. Facebook “Roadshow” Begins, IPO Set For May 18 – Search Engine Land
3. Marketing Attribution: Questions and Answers – Analytics Blog
4. How To Fix Popchips’ Racist Ad Campaign – Anil Dash
5. Ice Cream Sandwich doubles to 5 percent of all Android devices | 9to5Google

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

1. Kickstarter Has Raised $200 Million From More Than 2 Million Backers – Mashable
2. [Facebook adds an organ-donation tool.] Social (network) pressure — BuzzMachine / @jeffjarvis
3. Facebook IPO Docs Could Get Approval This Week, Then Road Show – AllThingsD
4. The Future Of RIM: “BlackBerry Isn’t For Everyone” | TechCrunch
5. Bringing Business Photos to more users and business owners – Google Small Business

Monday, April 30, 2012

1. Apple and Taxes: What the New York Times Missed – AllThingsD
2. Facebook Timeline Changed the Way We See Brand Pages; Here’s How – Mashable
3. New Changes to Ad Rotation – Inside AdWords
4. Akamai: Global Average Connection Speed Dropped 14% In Q4 2011, Down 5.3% in U.S. | TechCrunch
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 04/27/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, April 27, 2012

• Danny Sullivan: Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice
• How to Maximize Your Facebook Engagement – Mashable
• Apple’s Tax Strategy Aims at Low-Tax States and Nations – NYTimes.com
• Google Releases Full Report On Street View Investigation, Finds That Staff Knew About Wi-Fi Sniffing | TechCrunch
• Healthcare Provider Websites: Give Patients What They Want | Dobies Healthcare Group
• Xceligent News: Acquisition of Xceligent by dmg :: information follows FTC ruling on CoStar – LoopNet merger

Thursday, April 26, 2012

• Linkedin Blog » Introducing LinkedIn for iPad
• Twitter Blog: More to discover on our latest iPhone, Android apps
• Hacker Jailed For Stealing Facebook’s Source Code Tells All, Claims Innocence | TechCrunch
• StumbleUpon Hits 25 Million Users — And is Gaining 1 Million a Month – Mashable
• Business news sources and the Commercial Real Estate industry are weighing in on the CoStar/LoopNet FTC announcement.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

• WordPress.com Maker Automattic Expects $45M in Revenue This Year – AllThingsD
• Facebook to increase profile picture size for pages – Inside Facebook
• Introducing the Google+ Share Button – Google+ Developers Blog
• Square Now Processing $5B In Payments Per Year; Volume Up 25 Percent Since March | TechCrunch
• The new website for Kansas City area lawn mowing company Rob’s Lawn Mowing, serving Independence, Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs and beyond.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

• Report from Silicon Valley, Front Line of Social Media – Advertising Age
• Introducing Google Drive, a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff
• Google using cool zipper logo to celebrate Gideon Sundback‘s birthday – 9to5Google
• Near-Final Version of Windows 8 Due in Early June – AllThingsD
• Relax Everyone, Apple’s Doing Fine – Mashable

Monday, April 23, 2012

• 9 Pro Tips for Developing a Killer Internal Link Structure – Search Engine Watch
• Facebook generates $1.21 per user on average worldwide in Q1 – Inside Facebook
• Helping your business play big on YouTube – Google Small Business
• [KC’s H&R Block] The Stache Act case study: a buttoned-up brand finds its groove with a lighthearted campaign | Cisionblog
• Weekly Search Engine Marketing Reading List | 04/20/2012 | Group 3 Solutions
• Lurk First (and Four More Tips To Get the Most out of LinkedIn Groups)

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Friday, April 20, 2012

• The SEO Industry Thrives on Gossip and How the Over-Optimization Issue is a Perfect Example – Bruce Clay
• Are Online Video Ads Wasting Your Time? – Advertising Age
• Facebook modifies proposed changes to terms of service, provides explanations in response to user feedback – Inside Facebook
• Spring Cleaning: Google Shuts Down Patent Search, One Pass, Google Related & More | TechCrunch
• Xceligent is poised for unprecedented growth in the commercial real estate market.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

• 10 Google Bombs That Will Live in Infamy – Mashable
• 5 Ways to Add Value to Your Banner Ads | ClickZ
• Screen Resolution Alert for Web Developers | StatCounter Global Stats
• New York Times Sees Digital Ads Droop – AllThingsD
• Microsoft Beats Estimates With $17.4B In Revenue, $0.60 EPS | TechCrunch

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

• Internet Ad Revenues Hit $31 Billion in 2011, Up 22% Over 2010 – Mashable
• Inside Facebook: FB ad reporting change aims to help advertisers optimize campaigns for actions beyond Likes
• The Best Google Analytics Add-Ons | Measuring Success
• Google Social Analytics: How the Pages Report Can Boost Content & Social Performance – Bruce Clay
• New matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords – Inside AdWords

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

• The Instagram Deal: A Mark Zuckerberg Production – NYTimes.com
• Mobile Payments Won’t Replace Cash or Credit for Another Decade – AllThingsD
• Happy Birthday, Apple II | TechCrunch
• Yahoo’s Q1 Display Ad Sales Down 2% | ClickZ
• [We saw the old ones while at the ‘Plex. Pretty cool!] Google Bike Isn’t What You’d Expect – Mashable

Monday, April 16, 2012

• Mashable: Foursquare Tops 20 Million Users
• 5 Highly Effective Landing Page Tips – Search Engine Land
• Google’s Marissa Mayer nominated for Walmart’s Board of Directors, says she’s “very excited” | 9to5Google
• Facebook Ad Engagement Down 8% in U.S. – Mashable
• Weekly SEM Reading List | 04/13/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, April 13, 2012

1. ‘Very strong quarter,’ two-for-one stock split for Google – NYTimes.com
2. Apple Fires Back at the Feds, Amazon – AllThingsD
3. JK Rowling Updates Website, Teases First Adult Book – Mashable
4. Facebook One-Ups Google With A Kind Of ‘Facebook+’: Your FB Email, Timeline Names Are Now Linked Up | TechCrunch
5. It’s Greater Kansas City Day. Go Royals! Go Rotary Club Youth Camp!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

1. Google CPCs Continue To Decline – Yahoo/Bing’s Rise While Spend Overall Grows In Q1 – Search Engine Land
2. How Mike Tyson Became a Social Media Heavyweight – Mashable
3. LogMeIn Prepares To Take On Dropbox & Box With Launch Of Cloud Storage Service Cubby | TechCrunch
4. Integrating Paid Ads With Social Media Effectively | ClickZ
5. Pinterest: An Introductory Guide for Marketers – Search Engine Watch

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

1. Google+ Redesigned With New Navigation, Profile Pages – Search Engine Watch
2. The Next Shift at Google Could Have Big Impact on Advertisers | Advertising Age
3. Groupon Ticket Holders Can Now Bypass Will Call | ClickZ
4. WordPress 3.4 Beta 2 is here.
5. R-O-M Corporation, Prime Design Ladder Racks Enter Strategic Alliance | R-O-M News

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

1. Facebook ads have higher clickthrough rates on weekends, study finds – Inside Facebook
2. Walt Mossberg: Typing With No Hands – AllThingsD
3. Joe Posnanski’s column about Bubba Watson is Joe’s last for Sports Illustrated.

Monday, April 9, 2012

1. How Facebook Search Could Help Google Escape The Antitrust Noose | Search Engine Land
2. Woof! Rover.com Fetches $3.4 Million to Be Airbnb for Dogs – AllThingsD
3. AT&T to Sell Most of Yellow Pages to Cerberus for $950 Million – Bloomberg
4. Landon Donovan was here but David Beckham wasn’t as #SKC Sporting KC moves to 5-0 with win over LA Galaxy. KansasCity.com
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 04/06/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, April 6, 2012

1. Expect to see more huts in Kansas City — Google Fiber Huts – Kansas City Business Journal
2. AdWords Gets ZIP Code Targeting, Location Insertion, Other Tweaks – Search Engine Land
3. Inside Facebook: How will FB respond to the growth of Pinterest? A look at the social network’s history with competition
4. Page To Anti-Trust Critics & Others: ‘Actions’ & Google+ Are An Essential Part Of Search – Danny Sullivan
5. Google Tablet Delayed Until July – Mashable
6. Prime Design Ladder Racks Enters Strategic Alliance with R-O-M Corporation | Group 3 Solutions

Thursday, April 5, 2012

1. [Opens Friday, April 6] Aqua-dwellers ready for guests at Sea Life aquarium – KansasCity.com
2. Silicon Valley Entitlement Gets Political | TechCrunch
3. WordPress 3.4 Beta 1
4. Apple Is Investigating iPad Wi-Fi Issues – Mashable
5. Student Vote Could Give Apple the Edge in Classroom Computing Race – AllThingsD

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

1. [14% of workforce affected] Yahoo CEO’s Letter to Employees About Layoffs – WSJ
2. Android Tops 50% Market Share in the U.S. – Mashable
3. Google+ update adds Google Contacts integration | 9to5Google
4. PhoneDeck Is A Game Changer For Small Businesses | TechCrunch
5. Get Connected to Google+ for Your Business | Group 3 Solutions

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

1. Apple: The $1 Trillion Company? – Digits – WSJ
2. So What Exactly Can Location Aggregators Do With Our Foursquare Data? – AllThingsD
3. Foxconn Recruiter: We’re ‘Hiring’ For A June iPhone 5 Launch | TechCrunch
4. Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom Is Back Online, Working on an Album – Mashable
5. Frontier Airlines: So long to the cookie – Kansas City Business Journal

Monday, April 2, 2012

1. iPhone Tops Sales Charts at Each of Its U.S. Carriers – AllThingsD
2. Google Ads – now on Google+ – Inside AdWords
3. Four Key Reasons To Reconsider Today’s Yellow Pages For Local Marketing – Search Engine Land
4. Industry News – Google’s Speaks Up About Links and Penalties: Link Building News Update – Bruce Clay
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 03/30/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Friday, March 30, 2012

1. Mashable: Did This Guy Just Land the Coolest Job in Sports Social Media?
2. Pining for Pinterest | ClickZ
3. Kansas City’s Hallmark Cards Greets Digital, Acquires SpiritClips To Let You Send Photo/Video E-Cards | TechCrunch
4. Facebook Said to Halt Secondary-Market Trading This Week – Bloomberg

Thursday, March 29, 2012

1. Understanding The Limits Of Attribution – Search Engine Land
2. 8 Ways Publishers Can Get the Most Out of LinkedIn Groups
3. Tim Cook of Apple Visits Foxconn Factory in China –- Mashable
4. House Shoots Down Legislation That Would Have Stopped Employers From Demanding Your #Facebook Password | TechCrunch
5. Inside Facebook: FB gives permalinks to individual comments, hides potential spam

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

1. Inside Facebook: FB has 845 million monthly active users who average 12.4 minutes per user per day on the site.
2. Coping With Twitter’s Unfollow Bug | TechCrunch
3. LinkedIn: An Easier Way to Grow your Professional Network
4. Giving you more insight into your Google Account activity | Official Google Blog
5. KC’s BATS Exchange removes Ratterman as chairman but keeps him as CEO – Kansas City Business Journal

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

1. WebmasterWorld discussion about the latest iteration of Google’s Panda
2. Google Pushes Play Front And Center: Is Selling Content Now King? | TechCrunch
3. Inside Facebook: FB adds contact form to ad dashboard, aims to respond in 4 hours
4. How the Web Uses Anchor Text in Links [Study] – Search Engine Watch
5. Kansas City’s BATS Weighs Future Steps – WSJ.com

Monday, March 26, 2012

1. A message from Kansas City’s BATS Exchange regarding the glitch in their IPO and AAPL trading on Friday.
2. Mobile CTR Is High, Mobile Conversion Rates Low – AllThingsD
3. Facebook Decorates Its Roof With A 42-Foot Wide QR Code | TechCrunch
4. OH HAI SEXISM (The Geeklist kerfuffle) – charlesarthur • Storify
5. Weekly SEM Reading List | 03/23/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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Businesses are asking similar questions about Google+ as they were about Facebook a few years ago. What is Google+? Should we be using it? And how should we be using it? The short answer is yes businesses should be using it, if for no other reason than its tie to Google. Facebook may be the most widely-used social media site out there, but Google is still the most trafficked website with over 1 billion visitors a month.  A social network provided by the most popular search engine in the world is definitely worth paying attention to.

Creating a Google+ Page, as with all social media profiles, creates more “SEO juice” for your website. The more places you are on the web and the more inbound links directing traffic to your website, the more likely the higher your site will rank in organic search results. Your business’ Google+ page can and should be optimized just like your website. The “About” section on your Google+ page provides an area to promote your business. Focus on using rich keywords about the work you do, your expertise, and include links to your website.

So what sets Google+ apart from Facebook? While creating our very own Google+ page, we saw firsthand the excellent features this new social media outlet has to offer.

Google+ spotlights their “Circles” feature which is unique to other social media sites.  When connecting with other businesses, clients, and customers, Google+ users have the option of adding each contact to a specific network or “Circle” of contacts. These circles are created, managed and seen only by the user. The person or business that is being added will not be notified of what circle they have been added to, nor will they be notified if they are removed from the circle. This allows each user to categorize contacts into useful networks for easier viewing and communication. When sharing information on Google+ you have the power to decide which circles you want to share different information with.  You also have the option of which information you want to view in your own “stream” or news feed.  You can either be shown posts from all of your circles, or you choose to only view information from certain circles.

The “Hangout” feature allows up to ten users the ability to video conference at the same time, and even allows users to “dial in” if they do not have a video capability at the time.  This gives businesses immediate access to hold team meetings or brainstorming sessions from remote locations, and the opportunity to engage in a highly personal way with clients, customers and industry thought leaders. There’s also an experimental “Hangouts with extras” capability that emphasizes online collabora­tion. It adds screen sharing, Google Docs integration, Notes and Sketchpad.

Lately you may have noticed a little “+1” logo on news articles, blog posts, websites and search results. This is Google’s version of the “Like” button and they define it as: “A feature to help people discover and share relevant content from the people they already know and trust.” Users can +1 these different types of content which are then seen on the +1 tab in their Google+ profile, in Google search results, and on websites with the +1 button.  Businesses can get a +1 button for their website from the Google +1 webmaster site. What’s the importance of a +1 button? It allows users to recommend a site to other users and will show up in the search results of their Google+ contacts, similar to how a Like in Facebook shows up in a news feed. As Google continues to modify their criteria for ranking pages in search results, it is widely speculated that the +1 feature will have a direct impact on search results in the near future.

While still in its early stages, we believe participation in Google+ can only benefit businesses in search engine results while at the same time offering the opportunity for increased interaction with customers.

Friday, March 23, 2012

1. WiFi Rules, OK? Only 6% Of iPad Sessions Come From Cellular Networks | TechCrunch
2. ‘Networks operated by Dept of Defense so compromised there’s almost no point in trying to keep them out’ AllThingsD
3. Bill Gates: Cheap, Clean Energy Not Coming Soon – WSJ
4. Survey: Google Pays Less, Harder Interviews But Better Place To Work At Than Facebook – Search Engine Land
5. Take the Kansas City Business Journal’s Social Madness challenge – Vote for the best company in KC’s business competition

Thursday, March 22, 2012

1. A better way to buy display - Inside AdWords
2. Angry Birds Space is a Stellar Game — Even for Angry Bird Haters [REVIEW] – Mashable
3. Suit Claims AT&T Billed U.S. for Nigerian Scam – WSJ.com
4. Google Analytics Blog: Better Insights with Flow Visualization Enhancements
5. Primary Coffee’s HotPad App Makes Your Overheating New iPad Useful | TechCrunch

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

1. Chrome Briefly Becomes World’s Most Popular Browser, Thanks To Emerging Market Usage | TechCrunch
2. TechCrunch: Social analytics updates from Google http://g-3.me/GE58Bh and from Adobe
3. 6 years ago today, @Jack tweeted: just setting up my twttr – Mashable
4. Search Engine Watch: Google Isn’t Out to Get You
5. How A Google Change May Mistakenly Turn Search Traffic Into Referral Traffic – Search Engine Land

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

1. Bing Fires Two Marketing Execs Over Vendor Issues – via Danny Sullivan
2. NY Times cuts back to allow only 10 free articles per month (from 20) – AllThingsD
3. Matt Cutts: Today’s webmaster video: “How much time should I spend on meta tags, and which ones matter?”
4. [We were worried!] #Tebowing Will Outlive QB’s Denver Days – Mashable
5. Apple Announces Plans to Initiate Dividend and Share Repurchase Program

Monday, March 19, 2012

1. Daisey 1 – This American Life: Retracting “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory”
2. Daisey 2 – [Rob Schmitz brought Mr. Daisey’s falsehoods to light] An acclaimed Apple critic made up the details | Marketplace
3. Daisey 3 – Jeff Jarvis: Isn’t telling the truth the norm in our society?
4. Daisey 4 – Mike Daisey: I stand by my work.
5. Google Health Search Results Now Match Symptoms to Health-Related Conditions | Group 3 Solutions
6. Weekly SEM Reading List | 03/16/2012 | Group 3 Solutions

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