This is a guest blog post from Chad Swaney.  Chad is social technologies researcher who is passionate about helping people and communities share information and build knowledge. He is currently an instructional designer for a major national retail chain and is completing a doctoral dissertation on how people use twitter to learn to do their jobs better. Chad is an active user on Yelp and as a Yelp 2010 Elite member he provides an interesting perspective for those businesses on Yelp who want to understand how a consumer thinks and best way to connect with them:

In my experience, no social media site strikes as much fear in the hearts of business owners as Yelp, and it’s easy to understand why. It can be stressful to know that so much of your business’s online reputation is out of your direct control. Just remember, people have been telling their friends about their experiences for hundreds of years–what’s great about Yelp is that it offers you the chance to listen in on those conversations and use that information to make your business better.

I have seen Yelp from both sides, both as an active Yelper, and as someone who is deeply involved with the Yelp strategy for a large national retailer. The key to a successful Yelp strategy is to understand what is important to the Yelp community. When it comes down to it, it really isn’t that hard to stay in Yelpers’ good graces.

Here are three basic things that tend to be important to the Yelp community. If you keep these in mind, your business will be on the way to a successful Yelp presence and a 4+ star rating.

Good Product

Yelpers are sticklers for quality. Offering a good quality product at a reasonable price is always going to be a win in a Yelp reviewer’s eyes. Yelpers are also pretty understanding if something goes wrong, as long as you make it right quickly and seamlessly.

Good Service

Service with a great attitude is important to Yelpers, too. If you make a personal connection with your customers, they are going to feel a lot more invested in your business, and are going to have great things to say about you.

Responsiveness

I know, you have put a lot of your personal energy and time into your business, but if someone posts something about your business that maybe isn’t too flattering, be careful how you  respond. Take a few deep breaths. Writing a sarcastic or caustic response to a Yelper will likely only make them even more angry, and won’t help anything. Remember, Yelp is a very self-regulated community. Most Yelpers can tell when the person who is writing a review is off base, a jerk, or worse. If you stoop to their level, you will only make your business look more out of touch. Yelp offers some great advice for dealing with negative reviews on their website.

If you look at Yelp as an opportunity to get an open, unfettered glimpse into your customer’s mind, and find ways to make your business even better, it won’t seem quite so scary.

Related posts:

1. Yelp Video Option Added To Business Pages
2. 10 Tips on how to write effective online sales copy

As founder of iClick Solutions I have been thinking about my business brand.  How or should I differentiate between my personal and business online personas? Do I keep my business profiles professional and use my personal accounts for more controversial topics so I don’t risk damaging my agency brand identity?  Not that I am that risky or anything.

All these questions made me realize that it is time to go through a formal branding exercise for both my business and personal brand.  Understanding your brand is critical when trying to create the strategy on how best to connect with customers.

I started the process with the understanding that your brand is what people say it is and not what you say it is! Check out BrandTags as a great way to see this in action. When it comes to your brand, you can and should give it personality to try and help shape your brand.  Figuring out that personality can be an interesting exercise.

How iClick Solutions works with clients and how we deliver results are the main drivers behind our brand.  We are honored with each and every client that hires us and that respect comes out in our recommendations. We have earned trust by taking the time to ask relevant questions, and present great ideas on how to solve the problem at hand.  We explain how best to connect with customers.

There is no man behind the curtain with iClick Solutions and that is what our clients like most!  We take the time to educate both our current and prospective clients on what online possibilities make the most sense for meeting both the objectives of their business and their customers’ needs.  This all comes out in our personality and is shaping what our brand is.  Yes, we know there is work to be done and that will be discussed in a later post as we started that process this week.

With my personal branding, that experience also started this week with a photo shoot.  I have a few upcoming speaking opportunities and have been requested to supply a bio and photo.  I was surprised at how few personal pictures I had and wanted to thank Michael Barber for his introduction to a local photographer Tyson Crosbie.

I met with Tyson this week to create my personal avatar and you can see the soft edits on Flickr.  Tyson has such a unique way in how he captures your true essence through photography.  I asked Tyson during our photo shoot for his opinion if people should be consistent with their image across all their online profiles or use a different profile based on the platform.

I agree with Tyson’s perspective and rather that butchering I wanted to quote him, “The most powerful thing about an avatar online is it’s ability to become language and speak far beyond what is in the square.  It becomes a symbol that can contain abstractions of who you are, it can contain a first impression all the way through the memory of all you’ve said or done under that flag. In it’s continued and consistent use it becomes a representation of you that if unique is immediately recognizable. The fascinating thing about an avatar is that it is more than just a photo of you.”

So this week we started both the business and personal branding exercise.  I thought it would be an interesting experience to rely on my community of friends and business partners to see what image you think best represents my personal brand.  Definitely check out the Flickr photo gallery and after signing into Flickr please comment under each image.  I have thick skin so comment away.  Once the final image is selected I will update Facebook, Twitter and my other social profiles so I create a consistent theme.

So what is your opinion on this branding topic, especially those that own a small business?  If you agree with this post, how do you differentiate your personal brand from your business brand? If you don’t agree, I would love to read your viewpoint.  Either way comment below and let’s learn from each other.

Related posts:

1. Find Yourself Thinking My Business Makes No Sense To Be On Facebook?
2. Yelp Video Option Added To Business Pages

While speaking at the MobileBeat conference, Erick Tseng of Facebook announced that the company had surpassed 150 million users on mobile devices.

Erick joined Facebook in May 2010 as the company’s Head of Mobile Products. Previously, he had worked at Google for nearly 4 years, where he helped launch and grow Android, Google’s open source mobile operating system, as the group’s Lead Product Manager.

You can watch the interview below:

You could walk by a Starbucks, he said, learn its exact location, get a coupon for it, and notice that two of your Facebook friends are in the store at that moment. The tools to make this happen are coming soon, and that could boost Facebook’s already-huge mobile audience of 150 million users. This mobile growth (just in February Facebook announced 100 million users) proves how mobile is going to be the future with customer connection and learning how to leverage mobile in your marketing plans is key to success.

Mobile Marketing is quickly becoming a preferred channel to help build customer bases and foster loyalty.  Simply stated, mobile marketing is communicating with your customers through their cell phones. As you go through your day, notice that wherever you are – someone is looking at their phone. At work, in line at Fry’s supermarket; on the light rail, even unfortunately when driving their car someone is looking at their phone. Take advantage of people’s interest and curiosity by presenting your business through your phone either through SMS, mobile search ads, mobile website, even a mobile App.

Are you prepared for leveraging mobile with your customers?  Is mobile part of your online marketing plan?

Related posts:

1. Why Optimizing Your Website For Mobile Usage Is Important
2. Google Buys Mobile Social Site Zingku
3. New Facebook Application Loladex Review

Ben & Jerry‘s sent an email to their email newsletter subscribers (or called by Ben & Jerry’s as a ChunkSpelunker) last week that they will be turning off email marketing campaigns and focusing their efforts on social media. From a tweet yesterday, US fans will still receive emails and only UK is affected.  Regardless the buzz around this this has been enough that it raises the question is focusing on 1 strategy in lieu of another effective? I congratulate Ben & Jerry’s on this bold focus as social media is awesome if leveraged correctly; however, abandoning email seems like a risky decision.  Thank goodness they are not getting rid of some of their amazing flavors, such as my favorite Mint Chocolate Cookie.

Based on what an amazing company Ben & Jerry’s is and how innovative they are, I am sure the decision by Ben & Jerry’s was made based on both customer feedback and email marketing expense; however, when used together email and social media can be extremely effective.  As reported by ExactTarget, 58% of online consumers begin the day with email, followed by checking a search engine or portal site (20%), and Facebook (11%).

If I was Ben & Jerry’s (and wouldn’t that be nice except for being quite heavier) I would focus more on how to make my email newsletter’s more relevant to a user and not abandon it.  Email is not going away anytime soon so this decision seems a little too aggressive. Email can prove to be a great way to connect with customers and to find out what they like.  Sure, social media is awesome at helping connect with customers but not for everyone.  Shouldn’t a business connect with customers in the way that works best for them?

With all the noise on social media sites could Ben & Jerry’s and other large brands that are going to follow them miss out on potential opportunity if they don’t leverage other communication strategies?  If I received an email from the Scottsdale Ben & Jerry’s inviting me in to try out the latest flavor they would have a much better chance of converting me than posting that on Facebook.  Reason being is that I will not check their Facebook page every day and based on Facebook news feed optimization formula (as shown below) if I less frequently visit the Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page my affinity score would be low; therefore, missing out on updates, specials, flavors, etc.

However, if I received a custom email I would see the opportunity and seriously consider it.  Being where YOUR customers are is key to improving the “connection process.”

What are your thoughts on Ben & Jerry’s decision?  Do you support it?  Oh, what’s your favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor?

Related posts:

1. 10 Email Marketing Tips That Every Marketer Should Follow
2. Social Media Revolution Updated Social Media Statistics Video
3. How Is Social Media Working Out For You?

Twitter Retweet (or RT) is a type of message posted (or in proper Twitter terminology tweeted) on micro blogging sevice, Twitter, that shares information previously tweeted by another user. The person posting the Retweet is a Retweeter.

Retweeting is an effective way of sharing information you like on Twitter.  When you come across interesting content, such as a link, video, photo, etc. shared by one of the people (or tweeps) you follow, do not forget to RT it for your followers. This will add value to your followers, as well as give recognition to the original person who tweeted the content.  A major benefit to retweeting is my network of contacts will often vary from your contacts enough that the act of Retweeting what you say has extended value to a greater group of people.  This is the power behind Twitter – helping people find other interesting people to learn from.

If your content is retweeted it will have much better chance of reaching new and interesting people for you to connect with so it is important you take an extra second and think about what you tweet and ask yourself if people would find it interesting.  If boring content, such as Guy Kawasaki (big Twitter celeb) favorite don’t tweet “my cat rolled over” tip, not only will it not get retweeted good chance you could lose followers.  If you have a large follower count as Guy does losing some people is not a big deal but for smaller businesses or those newer to Twitter ideally you avoid reducing Twitter followers (as that is an important element of Twitter reach).

To Retweet content you want to share with your Twitter followers there are 2 ways to do this:

1. Click the Retweet link below a tweet you want to share.  To find the retweet link roll over with your mouse a tweet you want to share and on the right corner of the tweet a retweet link will show up.  Click on that retweet link and a retweet to your followers link will show up.  Click yes and the retweet will now show in your profile and your followers timeline. Retweets in Timelines are distinguished by the retweet icon next to the author’s picture.  This is shown below:
2. You can manually Retweet a post you want to share on Twitter.com or one of many Twitter tools such as TweetDeck which is awesome and works on desktop, iPhone or iPad. The proper way to Retweet a tweet is to type RT @username “of person you are retweeting” and their exact tweet without changing any content.  If you have an opinion on why you are sharing the tweet and there are characters left within the 140 Twitter character limit go ahead and do that before RT, such as:  Fav #3 RT @iClickSolutions WordPress SEO made easy w/ 5 awesome WordPress SEO plugins that help increase search traffic http://bit.ly/aSjUxr.  This is shown below:

My preference is the 2nd manual option as you are able to add (if space is available) why you are sharing the content and better control how the tweet shows up. Now that you understand how to retweet, do you ever wonder why some tweets get retweeted more often than others?

Here are 5 Ways To Get More People To Retweet (RT) Your Tweets:

1. Incorporate Pictures & Links -Your topic doesn’t have to be check out my new cat (please don’t do that) but pictures do tell an amazing story so if you are at a restaurant and the food looks great snap a picture and tweet it out with a tool such as TwitPic.  Much more interesting to see what you want to share especially if it is hot news.  Remember in January 2009 when the US Airways flight went into the Hudson River.  Janis Krums picture of the Hudson plane crash was the image used in all major media and definitely helped increase followers.  People seem to be more inclined to RT your tweet if there is a link included. You can only say so much with a tweet that contains 140 characters. So having a link to a web site or a blog, where someone can find more detailed information that they are interested in works well.
2. Include words “You” or “Your” and Reference Other Twitter Users – People who read your tweets will have more interest in them if the tweet is about them. If the tweet targets the reader then they will be more likely to RT your tweet if they thing the information is valuable.  Make sure you double check the person you are referencing Twitter username so you spell it correctly.  If you posted a tweet such as @iClickSolutions blog post on Google Places was helpful, since we monitor what people say about our business through TweetDeck we would definitely RT that kind of post which would include your Twitter username.
3. Leave Enough Extra Characters – Just because there is a 140 character limit does not mean you need to max it out.  And if you do it makes it very hard to properly RT your tweet.  To give yourself the best possible chance of retweet, you need to make sure you leave enough extra free characters. The number of characters to leave is unique to each person based on how long your Twitter username is.  To calculate your unique number follow this formula: your Twitter username + five characters.  I have seen a trend where people who manually RT like to add context such as via or by before a RT such as RT via @iClickSolutions which adds a few characters.  To play it safe you might want to use this formula:  Length of your Twitter username + eight characters.  Best way to understand this is to find a tweet you like and RT it. If its a tweet with too many characters (132 or more characters) than good chance important content, such as a link, could get cut off.
4. Numbered List – Use a numbered list or use specific numbers such as 10 Email Marketing Tips That Every Marketer Should Follow or 5 Ways to Create Blog Topic Ideas as these do get RT’d more often as people really do love lists.
5. Install a Twitter button on your blog—Placing a TweetMeme button on your blog makes it easy for your readers to instantly share your content on Twitter with only a single click. Make sure the button is placed so readers can easily see it.

So there you have it.  You now know what a Twitter Retweet is and how best to post content on Twitter to increase your chances of getting retweeted.  Hopefully you liked this post that you are going to retweet it using the TweetMeme button above.

Share below any other tips you have on how best to write engaging content that others will want to retweet and what success you have found with Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Lists How To Create Your Lists
2. How To Twitter Search
3. Install Google Analytics On Your Website Setup Guide

Yesterday we were searching on Facebook for the phrase “phoenix restaurant” to see what Facebook pages would show up for that phrase.  We noticed a new search result showing up in Facebook search (as shown below) that could spell trouble (or at least create a new headache) for Google.

Few would argue how powerful Google.com search is so the concept of Facebook search killing Google is a stretch. But instead start learning how this Facebook search change can be leveraged by your business as an additional opportunity for increasing awareness.

When Facebook launched the OpenGraph API at the annual f8 conference about 2 months ago, Facebook created a platform that allows sites and apps to share information about users in order to tailor offers, features and services to each one’s interests and tastes — even if that individual has never visited the site before.

When you’re signed on to Facebook, participating websites like CNN.com will display information, goods and services tailored specifically to your interests — without requiring you to sign in at that website or provide it with any information.

For websites to leverage the new Facebook OpenGraph API it requires just a few lines of code added to your website.  When we 1st heard about this we immediately thought this could create new opportunities for search engine optimization.

By placing the OpenGraph code on your site, Facebook can crawl for specific information and our prediction (which is now proved to be true) off Facebook results would start to show on Facebook search.  There is a cool feature on Facebook called URl Linter and based on the example above with Yellow Pages you can see what Facebook is crawling.

This is all very exciting; however, Facebook will need to quickly improve the relevancy of results if they want people to start using Facebook search instead of Google.com. With the Yellow Pages example above if you clicked on the link it would send you to the Canada Yellow Pages showing a Phoenix Restaurant.

Facebook know’s my information (clearly from Phoenix, Arizona) so the results should only show sources that will send me to a website talking about restaurants in Phoenix Arizona.  Facebook has not officially announced this change so it is quite possible we stumbled across Facebook testing so let’s not start bashing this.

We encourage you to watch this closely to see what Facebook has in store with web search.  In addition, take the time to learn about Facebook’s OpenGraph API and how you should consider adding the Facebook meta code to your website so when (not IF) Facebook fully launches web search features your site will start showing up.  What are your thoughts around this?  Are you seeing results showing up in Facebook for non on Facebook.com results?

Related posts:

1. Check Google Page Speed And Improve Chance of Search Engine Rankings
2. Install Google Analytics On Your Website Setup Guide
3. How To Add Facebook Like Button To Your WordPress Blog

So how do you determine if the energy you and or your team members are putting into social media are proving to be beneficial to your business bottom line?  Speaking with clients many (all should) want to measure ROI of their social media campaigns but just don’t know where to start.

Businesses need to be able to determine whether or not their focus on social media is generating results and making an impact to business income.  However, when looking at “results” it is critical that the stakeholders in the organization all agree on your social media objectives.

With some businesses the objective might be increasing traffic to the website, where another business it might be to connect with customers to garner feedback about a new product or service.  Understanding the social media goal you are trying to accomplish is critical so you know if what you are measuring social media against is actually meeting or hopefully exceeding company objectives.

Before we get into what to analyze, it is also very important to understand that social media comes in a variety of flavors, each with a very different end result.  As mentioned in one of our favorite posts last year “What Results Can I Expect From My Social Media Campaign?” by Greg Finn, social media campaigns occur on social sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn where users or companies interact with others in the community.  Social media news campaigns push content out onto larger social news networking sites like Digg and Reddit.  While both of these are types of social media marketing, the results are anything but similar.

Keep in mind that if you are not measuring social media today you are not alone.  According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84% of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI so don’t be disappointed if you currently fall into that bucket.

When analyzing return on investment with social media here are 3 main focus areas around social media metrics to monitor:

1. Establish Baseline – For each of your social media profiles start out by making note of current statistics such as number of Twitter followers, how many people like your brand on Facebook, referral traffic from social media sites in Google Analytics, what is currently the most popular content on your website and or blog, monitor number of people currently subscribing to your blog, how many views you have had on your YouTube Channel, number of bookmarks on Del.icio.us, etc.
2. Record Timelines – Keep detailed notes of important dates so when you are analyzing results you can understand why spikes happened.  With Google Analytics you can leverage the annotations feature by clicking on any specific date and noting an activity.
3. Monitor Sales Revenue – On a month over month basis look at sales performance before you started focusing on social media and ongoing measure sales to determine ROI.  When analyzing sales drill down into individual sales details as well.  If you find that a certain product or certain geographic location is showing improvement after you dedicate more time and resources to social media analyze why so you can further improve upon results.

Now that you know what key metrics to monitor with your social media campaigns sit down with your team to agree on social media objectives and start tracking results today.  We recommend on a monthly basis update each of the key social media metrics and meet with your team to discuss results.

If you are measuring social media ROI today what kind of results are you seeing?  Are their tools you are leveraging you recommend others look into?

Related posts:

1. Social Media Revolution Updated Social Media Statistics Video
2. I’m A ChunkSpelunker who wants both email and social media

Yelp announced a new Yelp video option this week on the Yelp company blog.  As you know, we are huge fans of leveraging video online and besides photos, videos is one of the best ways to showcase your products and services.

Video has an appeal to online audiences because we all want to “see” something before we want to “read” something. Imagine you are considering traveling to Hawaii.  Would you rather read text or watch a video of someone’s amazing experience relaxing on the beach, scuba diving, etc.

In the context of internet marketing, video can be used to enhance the consumer experience by educating the viewer about your product or services, increase your brand awareness and adding personality to your organization to help you stand out against your competition.

A video that demonstrates how a product works, with customer reviews, would give you that extra credibility that you can help solve your prospective customers need or problem.

Yelp’s new video option gives businesses the opportunity to appeal to potential customers on Yelp with an entertaining and informative video, rather than reading text.  I don’t know about you but watching someone sharing their experience would prove to be quite interesting.  Check out Cole Hardware to see a video example.

What are your thoughts?  Do you find video to help you make a buying decision?

Related posts:

1. Google replaces Local Business Center with Places Pages
2. Inside the minds of Yelpers
3. Facebook to Link Profiles and Pages

So you created your Facebook account and are operating your business under it and are starting to get some results.  Along the way someone suggested you consider creating a Facebook Fan Page for your business.  You might have put that suggestion off for a few months; however, with the amazing growth to over 500 million users on Facebook you decided to look further into this to see if there are any differences between a Facebook page and a Facebook profile.

Sorry to tell you but there are big differences (and confusion) between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Fan Page for businesses.  We wanted to explain the difference between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Fan Page and then share with you steps on how to create a Facebook Fan Page for your business (which is our recommendation).

Here is the difference between a FaceBook Profile and a FaceBook Fan Page:

• Facebook Profile – This is for individual users and is created by visiting Facebook and signing up for an account. You’re putting your “Face” on Facebook.  It’s your name, picture, video of your kids, etc. Posting updates in your life makes it easy for you to connect with your friends! You’re posting your status updates, videos, pictures, sending messages, writing on walls, and socializing within Facebook. A Facebook profile should NOT be used as your business page.  If you create a Facebook profile for your business ONLY your friends will be able to see your updates, custom Facebook tabs, etc. and will limit your reach.  For a prospective customer to see what you have to say they would need to click the ‘Add As Friend’ Button which will not be effective for businesses.
• Facebook Fan Page – Once you create a Facebook profile you can use that account to create a Facebook Business Fan Page for your business. This is where you can post business information: events, videos, photos, specials, promos — and encourage your fans to ‘like’ you, post testimonials and help spread the word about your business stories. You can check out iClick Solutions Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/iClickSolutions.

Facebook Pages are important for 3 main reasons:

1. Get your business to show up high in search engine positions as Facebook is a very popular website
2. Get unlimited “fans” for your Facebook Page, unlike the limit of 5,000 friends that regular Facebook Profile capped at
3. Visible to visitors because Facebook users do not need to request to be a friend to view a Facebook Fan Page

To Create A Facebook Fan Page follow these easy steps:

1. Log into your Facebook account at www.facebook.com
2. Visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
3. Select the type of business:  Local Business, Brand, Product or Organization, or Artist, Band or Public Figure.  When you select a category, use the dropdown menu to select the sub-category which are: Local: Other Business, Automotive, Automotive Dealer / Vehicle Service, Banking and Financial Service, Bar, Cafe, Club, Convention Center and Sports Complex, Education, Event Planning Service, Grocery, Health and Beauty, Home Service, Hotel / Lodging, Library / Public Building, Medical Service, Museum / Attraction, Park, Pets, Professional Service, Real Estate, Religious Center, Restaurant, Store, Technology and Telecommunications Service, Travel Service. Brand, Product, or Organization: Products, Airline / Ship / Train Station, Communications, Consumer Product, Fashion, Film, Financial Service, Food and Beverage, Game, Government, Home Living, Hotel / Lodging, Non-Profit, Online Store, Pharmaceutical, Professional Service, Religious Organization, Rental Cars, Retail, Sports / Athletics, TV Show, Technology Product / Service, Travel, Website.  Artist, Band, or Public Figure: Other Public Figure, Actor, Athlete, Band, Comedian, Critic, Government Official, Model, Musician, Politician, Sports Team, Visual Artist, Writer
4. The above step is VERY important because once you select it, you can’t change this. You’ll have to take down the page, lose all of your fans, and create a new page.
5. Next, enter your Page Name. This is also very important. The page name and subcategory appear in the drop down menu when people search.  For example, we appear in Facebook as iClick Solutions Internet Marketing Agency (as shown below).  Choose the name of your company, brand, organization, etc., that most people will recognize. This can not be changed later and does impact your results with search engines.
6. That creates the Facebook page. You should fill out the Info, upload some photos, and start the process of engaging with customers.

Make sure you check out Facebook Pages Product Guide to learn more. If you need social media marketing assistance with your Facebook page contact iClick Solutions today.  We will start out by reviewing your Facebook page and your competitors Facebook pages, provide you step by step instructions on where you have opportunity to improve your page and grow your fan base.

In addition, iClick Solutions can help you with setting up and ongoing management of very targeted advertising on Facebook.  Any questions fill out the comment area below:

Related posts:

1. Facebook to Link Profiles and Pages
2. How To Get More Facebook Fans In 3 Easy Steps
3. Check Google Page Speed And Improve Chance of Search Engine Rankings

The iClick Solutions internet marketing team dedicates countless hours (probably too many) reading internet marketing news, updates and using all this knowledge to create innovative ideas for our clients each and every day.

Each week we are going to highlight the best internet marketing news that we have seen you may have missed and should read. Makes sure to subscribe to iClick Solutions RSS, via email on the right sidebar and / or connect with us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on these weekly internet marketing updates and learn how to leverage internet marketing and social media to connect with your customer online.

For the week of Monday, May 31, 2010 here are iClick Solutions Best Internet Marketing winners that you want to make sure you read:

• Mobile Shopping Doubles in 2010 by eMarketer – Mobile commerce has been slow to catch on. According to Multichannel Merchant, four in five multichannel retailers have no m-commerce presence. But while consumer usage of mobile shopping is still relatively low, it is increasing, prompting firms such as Coda Research Consultancy to predict a doubling of m-commerce revenues in the US this year, to $2.4 billion. There has also been a doubling in usage of mobile shopping, according to PriceGrabber.com’s “Smartphone Shopping Behavior” survey.
• Online Reputation Management is Easier by Joe Hall – Well it’s not as easy as writing silly poems. But it’s probably easier than capping underwater oil spills. And, apparently it’s easier than umpiring a baseball game. But one thing it is most definitely easier than it is: off-line reputation management. Yup that’s right there’s a difference between online reputation management and reputation management done off the Internet. While many of the same tactics and underlying strategies are used, the situation is oftentimes approached and handled in a completely different format.
• Top 5 Trends in Banner Marketing for 2010 by Majon International – Internet marketers may not be espousing the untold riches that banner advertising can bring any more – the era when a cost-per-click model was a revolution in advertising is actually pretty far gone! However, smart Internet marketers have definitely not left banner marketing  behind! There are still plenty of people making plenty of sales, and building positive brand recognition through banner marketing. Today we check out the top 5 trends to watch in designing banners for 2010.
  
• Google Now Comes In Your Favorite Flavors by SEO and Tech Daily – Over the past few months, some subtle changes have been main to the main Google Search page, most notably a flattening of the Google logo and font size changes. The page remained plain, simple and easy-to-use. Assuming you’re not using a personalized version (ala Firefox, private branded portals, or numerous Linux builds), you’re greeted with a simple logo and search bar.  Google’s ‘universal search’ fades in at the top.
• Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART] by Matt Silverman – Korean boy band Super Junior takes the top spot on this week’s list, demonstrating once again that Twitter is truly an international affair. And in classic Twitter form, international diplomatic crises rank right up there with pro sports upsets as the most talked about topics on the network. And if you’re concerned about Justin Bieber (as we all certainly are), rest assured, he jumps back into the trend party at number seven.
• How to Build a Successful Business With a Small Audience by Jonathan Mead – More subscribers. More traffic. More followers. It’s easy to get caught up in the race for more. More is better, right? We all want our businesses and blogs to grow. But not all growth is ideal or even beneficial. Sometimes blind growth can be harmful. More contacts and more eyeballs doesn’t always mean better eyeballs. Would you rather have 1,000 people’s eyes completely glued to everything you do, or 100,000 with an attention span rivaling a fruit fly on amphetamines?

If you have any thoughts regarding above articles please share below. Also, if you have a suggestion for topics you want us to focus on with next week’s best internet marketing tips please Contact Us and let us know. We would love to hear from you.

Related posts:

1. Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week May 24 2010
2. Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week April 26 2010
3. Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week May 3 2010