If you already know about imgur, its hugely likely that its because you saw once of those funny images on digg / twitter / reedit or facebook. Well, 90% of people have known imgur that way.

Little background info. imgur is the most popular image upload tool today on the internet. Look at the stats and you’ll know why the image upload tools you’ve known since your first job are obsolete.

And guess who runs it ? A 21 year college student, single handedly with no funding what so ever. But he’s got the most powerful tool he can get online – social media.

Alan Schaaf, a 21 year college student started imgur in his free time, and the idea struck him while he was attending “boring classes” according to his interview here.

He was an active Reddit user and he initially used imgur for submitting photos to it, and later to Digg.

I don’t know what happened next, but Digg and Reddit users embraced imgur and many of the photos they submitted were hot on those social networks. And we all know that many top users on Digg and Reddit still use imgur and it has helped bring a sort of “authority” for the site. So much that for an onlooker, images submitted on imgur are genuine and are guaranteed to go hot, so you gotta click !

But there are some genuine points about imgur that makes it the crowd’s favorite.

1 – Clean and clutterless design.

2 – Photo upload in incredibly easy steps compared to other photo upload sites.

3 – Amazing arsenal of third party applications available.

4 – No stupid popups or ads.

Its a nice example to show how social media can help someone even with no venture capitalist backing him can make it to the top of the world. In this case, Alan made a genuine tool that answered a lot of questions and ensured a smooth user experience with no noise what so ever, and he offered it to the best folks in the world to test an app – the social media. And here’s where we are now – no surprise !

So, what’s the moral of the story ?

- Build applications for people.

- Money is essential, but you can start cheap these days,  utilize the opportunities.

- You don’t need a crew to build something awesome, you just need to know your stuff.

- Stalk social media, its the best place to find out what the needs are, and what the best look like. Improvise.

Wishing all the best to Alan and imgur.

URL shortners are in ! So much that you cannot live without them online. If you’re a social media user you’ll know how important they are, also how time consuming and messy they can be sometimes.

The biggest problem is not shortening URLs but managing the multiple URL shortening services available for various purposes.

Wish if you had a single solution where everything could be done, all the time ?

1. Get the shortest URL shortner with one click every single time you want it.

To.ly is the best and shortest URL shortening service I’ve known so far with just two+two characters taking the space. It can’t get shorter than that right ? Now, install their slim FireFox extension and every time you want a short URL in to.ly, just click the extension and walla ! The shortest URL in the shortest time. One for all.

Download the to.ly Firefox extension here.

2. Save a lot of clicks (and opened tabs), by getting a preview of the websites behind shortened URLs on any web page.

Twitter users use a lot of bit.ly links and today bit.ly is the most popular URL shortening service, that you seem all the time, especially on Twitter streams. Now save  a lot of clicks, by actually not clicking them, but getting a preview of the site that’s behind the shortened URL. That means less opened tabs, less memory use on FireFox, better browsing experience !

Download the bit.ly preview Firefox extension here.

3. Get quick preview of SEO meta data for short URLs

So there has to be something for webmasters too right ? Here’s one. This particular addon will help you have a quick preview of the SEO data for any short URL. Data like Page Title, Meta Description and Meta Keywords in a quick neat preview.

Download the Firefox addon here.

4. Goo.gl URL shortner without the clunky Google Toolbar

The only reason I’m not using the goo.gl URL shortner is because I have to download the entire Google toolbar, that woul sit right on top of my browser and make it run slow. But I like Google..and goo.gl, so what do we have ? A Firefox addon that will give you goo.gl short URLs with a single click, and without the clunky toolbar. Simple as that.

Just download the Goo.gl URL shortner FireFox addon here.

So when was the last time you went to GoDaddy and found that the domain name you were looking for was already taken ? Well, if you’re anything like me, the answer would be almost every time. Domain name registration is getting cheaper day by day and as more and more domain name registrars pop up, the probability of finding a domain name of your choice is close to impossible. So the next best option is to go for a close match to what you’re looking. And how do you do that ? Well the godaddy suggestions are fine but there are some other cool tools too that will help you do a better job, if you suggest them the keywords you are interested in.

1. Domains Bot

This tool asks you the keywords that you’re interested in, and finds out all the domains available based on possible matches.

2. Domain Tools

This domain tool suggests you the best alternative domain in .com. .net, and other TLDs based on your keyword. Also it shows the existing registrant information of already registered domains.

3. Shout Domains

This is an amazing tool that brings in lot of creativity to the whole exercise of finding a domain name. It has three tools that will suggest you better domain names based on the keyword you enter. It also allows you a lot of options like color, prefixes, suffixes and a variety of categories. I promise you’ll never run out of ideas here.

4. Name Tumbler

Another great tool, this one asks you a few simple questions first.

1. Enter a Keyword – Choose the keyword that you want to combine with our database of common words.
2. Combine Your Keyword – Select from our different databases of words to combine with your keyword.
3. Choose Keyword Placement – Add your keyword to the beginning of each domain name suggestion or the end.
4. Use Hyphens – Separate your keyword and suggested terms by a hyphen or not.
5. Extension – Choose your domain name extension.

Based on these, the available domain names are suggested.

5. Aap Ka Domain

This is an Indian website that allows you to search for available domains stemming in one keyword. Just plug your keyword and it shows the available domains around that keyword.

So, there you have it. Domain Registrars that don’t suck, but suggest you alternate free and available domain names based on your interest, suggestion and keywords. Do you know of a better tool, let me know.

Keyword research is one of the primary things in SEO, and as all of us know, there are a set of keyword research tools that we all have been using for years. I personally feel that the keyword research area is the most important one in terms of laying your foundations for SEO, and unfortunately, this is also one ares where we don’t have much options.

So what does it take to create a better keyword research experience ? We all have the same set of keyword research tools, the same keyword research procedure, so what makes the difference ? Let’s see.

1. Use more than one tool, mix it up and get the best of it

Of course we all have out favorite tool, but does sticking to just one tool narrow down your possibility of finding out better keywords ? It does. In my opinion, one should always try it out with as many tools as possible and then get the best of everything. For instance the Google Adwords Tool has the advantage of popping up “realistic” keywords, but the search number and the competition is probably not accurate. You could use the SK Tool instead.

2. Do not pick the obvious keywords

Remember, in SEO its more about doing things better than doing things right. So if you pick the obvious keywords with the best search volume, you are forgetting the fact that other SEOs in your niche probably doing the same thing, and even better than you. So the wise thing to do is to track your competition and over-doing them, even if that means you have to deviate form the regular procedures.

3 – Match search volume in context with your site content

A mistake SEOs often repeat is getting carried away by the search volume and picking the most competitive keywords which they may not stand a chance to rank for. The problem here is that there is no focus on the content. Only if your content matches in context with the keyword selection would it be possible for you to go ahead with the rest of SEO factors and possibly get some traction. If you make the wrong selection, then you got things all messed up right from the beginning.

4 –   Pick up the low lying fruits first rather than jumping for the big ones

Why ? Its easier to get the momentum. When you try and pick up competitive keywords first, you have to spend a lot of time on it until you get anything for result. Instead try picking up the low lying fruits first (long tail, lesser competitive keywords) and then once you have some momentum gained, leverage on it for the bigger ones. Makes sense ? Saves a lot of time too.

5 – Start from bottom up of your site

Another grave mistake SEOs do, especially with new websites is to start with their homepage. Nothing wrong technically, but you’re losing out on the opportunity that a lot of your content that lies in the inner pages of your website are still not optimized or catered properly to the search engines. There are several options available with them, so why not fix them first and move up gradually to the homepage ?

So there you have it. Five overlooked facts in keyword research, that could really make some difference to your overall SEO strategy. Did it help ?

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Today is famous American painter Norman Rockwell’s birthday, (Feb 3rd) and Google is celebrating it with a new doodle.

“Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades.” -Wikipedia

Did you spot it yet ?

Google Picasa sure is getting better day by day. And today, they’ve released something really very interesting. Something I’ve been wanting for long. That is to be able to search the images by the camera model/type. More than finding the images now this could use this feature to find out which digital camera is better in popularity, now that’s an additional value tip when you go out for buying one.

To search images by camera type, go to Google Picasa for Web, and after doing the search, click on “Options” and down the left hand sidebar you can see an option > “Camera Models”. Click on it, type the first letters of the camera model you’re looking for and it will pop up an entire menu of camera models available. Easy as that !

Any guesses which is the most popular camera model ?

Soon after Microsoft added the native Haiti language “Creole” to its translator tool, Google follows up and adds it to its translator tool as well. And Google claims that its translator is better than the Microsoft one !

Haitian Creole language, often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about eight million people, which is about 80% of the entire population, and via emigration, by about one million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Belize, Puerto Rico, and United States,” Via Wikipedia.

Source

So if you were among the millions out there, who stayed glued to the internet devouring every  piece of information, every bit of rumour you could possibly get about the Apple iPad on 26th Jan just before Steve Jobs keynote address, then you’re likely to have stumbled across this gentleman, Jason Calacanis. If you missed out, Jason was giving out tweets on the day before giving bits of information about the iPad, which he claimed to own as a beta tester from Apple. True or not, many people believed Jason, as he said he wasn’t allowed to give out the name of the product, but he’d hint about the features.

Apparently, it looks like, he took the rest of us for a ride. He was lying, which he now claims was obvious, and was part of a big joke. Big joke it is indeed.

Here are a few snippets of his tweets where he claimed that he owned an Apple iPad (without disclosing the name of course).

You can see clearly, how clever a marketing genius Jason is, that he came up with these interesting things. Wish everyone were so brainy like Jason to have understood his “jokes” that day.

For all of you who believed him, you should see Jason’s interview here, where he says he was just trying to have some fun, and nothing else. (Can’t embed video – check out the link.)

So what do you think ? Is Jason a genius or something else ?

Ever since Google Social Search was launched, I’ve been trying my best to like it, to use it and possibly make it a habit. But looks like its more a nuisance than anything else, if at all.
But honestly, the thing is pretty interesting, enough to get a Google lover excited. And it does to some level, even though quite not there, and in a wrong direction. Lets jump in.

Google Social Search is a new value addition to Google search, that could transform the way information reaches you. I can think of 100 possible ways to think why this is important, but lets not get in to it. Being a Google lover, the Google search box is the most used tool in my daily web experience, and I have enough convincing reasons to believe that there are quite a lot of similar thinking people out there. I trust Google for the information it provides me, I trust their algorithms and I trust their results. They have never been misleading, except a few times, which is ignorable. But this time around, Google has gone truly overboard with their decision to go social.

Why I wouldn’t want to trust Google Social Search

1. I trust Google’s algorithm, and now I see we have it manipulated.

Not technically though, but it shows in the results. For years Google have been giving me excellent search results, and I’d expect them to improve at that rather than deviating from it.

2. I prefer Google, not because Bing is bad or Yahoo is stupid.

Honestly, those guys are doing their best to give us better SERPs, but Google clearly have an upper hand with it and have been doing the basics right, hence the great results. In fact, Bing have been doing a good show ever since its launch recently. And with the introduction of Google Social Search, I fear Google is getting closer to Bing or Yahoo.

3. If I need to search my social circle, I’d rather use social media.

Google was never in the social game earlier, and I cannot immediately go ahead and think of them as a replacement to Twitter search . They never will replace Twitter search and even if they tried, they came very close with Twitter integration and that’s all we wanted. We don’t want Google to be Twitter.

4. Google should do what they are best at, and not try to be Twitter.

The social media circle is enormous and the growth rate is envious. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to ignore Google. If Google wants to kill Twitter, I simply think that’s an immature call.

5. I agree I haven’t been using friendfeed, but injecting it to my Google search results is not the right way to push it.

We all know that friendfeed is a better social networking tool than anything else out there, but it doesn’t really have the charm to pull me towards it. Twitter’s got it, facebook’s got it, but friendfeed is more like a social network on feedburner. I know its cool, but I’m not going to use it. But when did that become a convincing reason to start pushing it on the SERPs ??!!

Anyways, these are my personal views about the Google Social Search. I haven’t found it interesting yet, even though at the back of my mind, I think that it might be something awesome. May be I’ll change my mind if I find it interesting enough for daily use.

What are your thoughts on Google Social Search ?

This week, Google Engineer Matt Cutts gives us tips on what could be the best screen resolution for a website to be in. Not exactly an SEO or Google related topic this one, but Matt Cutts think that the best way to go about it is to dig your previous user data on Google Analytics, and find out what’s the popular resolution among your users. It could differ for each website as the audience is differ for each. So it would be difficult to come up with a standard. However, I’ve seen that there are two trends to watch out for based on recent user statistics.

Trend No. 1 – Increasing number of mobile users.

Mobile browsers are on the increase these days, and unfortunately, not all analytics software puts them into the right category, but their number sure is increasing. It might be a wise decision to consider them while designing your new website.

Trend No. 2 – Increase in the number of smaller devices like Netbooks.

Smaller resolution devices did not go away in the 90’s. They still exist with the use of netbooks and other hand held devices (iPad ?).

Take a look at what Matt’s got to say about the best screen resolution for website ?