Google search results showing local business listings for "dessert places in singapore"

Google search results showing local business listings for "nice restaurants in singapore"

We are lucky to snap up a slot for “social media singapore”.

Google search results showing local business listings for "social media singapore"

I think the Google search results page is getting more cluttered. What do you think?

In Google Analytics, go to “Traffic Sources” > “All Traffic Sources” and if you filter by “google”, you may notice a variety of referrals from Google.

Google Analytics showing all traffic sources filtered by "google"

Now, to know how “google.com” is sending you referrals, go to “Traffic Sources” > “Referring Sites” and filter by “google”. You will see a list of Google domain names similar to the previous screen.

Google Analytics showing referring sites filtered by "google"

Finally, just click on “google.com” and you should be able to see the referral paths.

Google Analytics showing referral paths from "google.com"

So, yes. Google can send you non-organic traffic from its other web properties like the Google Reader or Google Bookmarks.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is one of the easiest way you can keep tab of your brand and product mentions. To put it simply, it allows you to utilise Google’s search products (news, web, blogs, videos, etc.) to inform you of new search results by email updates without having to manually do a search.

Using Google Alerts for basic social media monitoring

The usage is simple:

1. Enter your search terms (more about this below) as you would when doing a search on Google.
2. Choose the type of topic you wish to monitor. You almost always want “Comprehensive” for including all sources unless you are getting a whole lot of updates in which case you might want to revise your search terms or engage a firm for your social media monitoring needs.
3. Choose how often you would like Google to check for new results. I recommend “as-it-happens”.
4. Finally, just enter your email where you wish to receive these updates. It is a good idea to get a Google Account so you can manage your alerts (if you have multiple ones set up) or have the updates delivered to a feed.

There is a list of FAQs should you want to learn more about Google Alerts.

So, What Can You Monitor?

You will be able to monitor essentially everything you can search for as with the normal Google web search. Assume we have Joe who runs a spa business, Spacialty (pardon me for the fictitious names), in Singapore whose competitors include spas like Spa Botanica and Estheva. Joe provides services such as Aromatherapy and Hydrotherapy. Monitoring the search terms below can provide some insights on his business.

• spacialty
  Monitoring mentions of brand name can help identify conversations on the services provided, customer satisfaction, negative remarks, etc.
• hydrotherapy site:forums.cozycot.com OR site:flowerpod.com.sg
  CozyCot and Flowerpod are leading Singapore communities that are female-oriented so it helps to identify potential customers talking about the services which Spacialty provides.
• “spa botanica” OR estheva
  Some times it helps to learn more about your competitors too. If conversations about your competitors are almost always positive, what are they doing right?

There are definitely more to the list here and what search terms to monitor is solely dependent on your business. Monitoring your brand with Google Alerts gives you a no cost entry to experience the usefulness of social media monitoring. Have fun!

With Viper SmartStart, you can. Don’t you just love how iPhone has an App for almost everything.

Snow Leopard Bug Deletes All Data, Apple Enters Data Loss Competition With Microsoft

Are you a Mac user who upgraded to Snow Leopard from Leopard and had a Guest account in your system before upgrading? Go, read.

The Bladeless Fan

Seems like it is really possible to have a bladeless fan! It looks aesthetically pleasing and you can probably clean it in less than a minute compared to conventional fans.

Sorry, Yahoo, You DO Index The Meta Keywords Tag

Now there are reports that Yahoo! still DO index the meta keywords tag but it just feels like they will almost never use it. Oh well, we still take our stand on not wasting time with your meta keywords.

Help Twitter Nail Spammers

Great, finally we get to police those spammers on Twitter with its “Report [username] for spam” feature. Community effort! On second thought, if spammers could automate “Report for spam” and flood Twitter with false reports on legitimate accounts, does it still serve its purpose? By the way, @clickrmedia is on Twitter too!

The Fun Theory: Volkswagen Masters the Viral Video

Great branding campaign by Volkswagen. If you can afford 3 minutes and 40 seconds, go watch them.

I Just Made Love: Web Users Plot their Love-Making on a Map

Social media at a whole new level! How social will you get on your last love making session?

Signing off sipping my first ever cup of Trung Nguyen Vietnamese coffee. Have a great weekend!

7 Ways Of Handling 404 Error Messages

Anil Batra went 1 step further to show how some websites are handling their 404s after showing how you can track then with Google Analytics. Do make it a point to track and handle/fix all broken links on your website for both visitors experience and SEO purposes.

Drew Carey Raises Bid to $1 Million for @Drew on Twitter

OK, to be honest, I don’t know who this Drew Carey guy is. But by following @DrewFromTV before 9 Nov 2009, you’ll “make him” donate an extra US$1 and why not. *evil laughter*

SEOmoz’s Guide to Social Media Marketing

With social media marketing hot on the wheels, it does help to see what are your options. Then again, it depends on which side of the globe your business operates. SEOmoz also included extra information like each network’s primary value, community size, mozRank and mozTrust.

Microsoft’s Insane New Multi-Touch Mice Demoed on Video

It is definitely cool to see where Microsoft is bringing us to with mice but is it ergonomic enough?

Yahoo Search No Longer Uses Meta Keywords Tag

We have never bothered with meta keywords and now this just further assures that no one cares. Well, at least not the major search engines like Google, Yahoo! or Bing.

GeoCities to Close This Month

GeoCities is dead. Long live GeoCities! Still on GeoCities? We can definitely help.

P.S. This is the first edition so please be lenient on us and we know there is definitely room for improvement.

The number of internet users around the world

From a macro view point, there is an estimated 1.67 billion internet users or 24.7% of the world’s population who goes online with the majority coming from right where we are, Asia.

A further breakdown of the statistics indicate the internet penetration rate by countries, which we would drill deeper into the local context, Singapore, being one of the most connected countries in terms of ICT development, has a whopping internet penetration rate of 67% and rising. This is from a population of 4.99 million as of 28 September 2009. That would make up approximately 3.5 million internet users, and 1 million home broadband subscribers cramped up on the little island itself.

Adding further, Singapore was recently ranked the 4th strongest mobile market in the world. Having 1,310 mobile phone subscribers per 1,000 population and an ever growing 3G market, we would have yet another load of mobile internet users on the go.

Number of mobile phone users in Singapore

With these astounding figures in mind, reaching out to the local audience online should always be considered for your marketing mix. Having said that, choosing the right internet marketing channels objectively, with reference to your target audience’s demographics and psychographics, is important as well. Do not simply attempt the online medium blindly if I should say. Marketing with insights and understanding the trends is highly significant for a successful online campaign.

So if your planning permits, do not discount the online media and approach your target audience holistically through a combination of both offline and online channels for your strategic marketing campaign.

OK the above was written in an exaggerated form but you get the point la. Yes the “la” was to emphasize that we’re Singaporeans, just in case you have not noticed.

So today we have finally managed to launch our new website. Why did it take so long you might ask? Well, to be frank, we wanted to build the site from scratch, without simply paying off someone to do it. We wanted to put our own abilities to the test. We wanted to really know how proficient and efficient we are in the key areas of Web Design & Usability, Website Development, Content Management Systems, Content Development, Search Engine Optimisation, Keyword Analysis, Copy Writing, etc. In a way, if we are not capable of putting up a good website, who are we to be your strategic partner or adviser for your internet marketing needs?

Having said all that, we do humbly seek to receive your valuable feedback on our site if you would be most generous to critique. We also look forward to all your opinions or suggestions on services you would like us to provide. Lastly, as we usually tell our clients sincerely and truthfully (our business is built on moral values), please feel free to let us know if you have any queries, we would be most obliged to help.

TGIF and have a great weekend ahead. Cheers!