Google’s new +1 button has already started surfacing on the internet. Even though it is appearing well ahead of schedule, it’s hard to believe it is just being integrated into search now. Similar to Facebook’s Like button (which started popping up on the web 1 year ago), a user with a Google profile can +1 a website in the organic listings as well as +1 advertisements in the pay per click sections. Digg came out with a similar and very successful concept years ago, where the most dugg articles would rise to the top, only they took it one step further and allowed users to bury articles they didn’t find useful.

Whether you like it or not, Google is moving into the social realm and has slowly been incorporating features such as real time tweets and social group buying sites that will rival Groupon. The internet marketing industry is moving at a fast pace with no signs of slowing down thanks to Google and their constant changes to their algorithms and increased functionality.

To be find out exactly when Google’s new +1 button will officially go live and be available in webmaster tools, click here.

Hopefully this feature is more than just their yearly April fools joke!
*Update – Google’s real april fools day joke (motion mail) + a cute little search for Helvetica

The post Google +1 Button first appeared on Collabo.

Collabo is proud to announce it is a Hubspot partner! Hubspot is not only a great software tool to help manage inbound marketing campaigns for businesses (SEO, SEM, SMM), but it is also a very good resource for online marketing beginners and business owners alike. Founded by MIT graduates and located in Cambridge, MA, this 5 year old startup company has recently come across some well deserved good fortune.

Hubspot has recently received $32 Million dollars of investment money from Google Ventures, Salesforce.com and Sequoia.

Hubspot gained popularity due to it’s widely used free website analysis tool WebsiteGrader.com that has over 3 million users. Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot is recognized in Wikipedia as the one who first coined the term inbound marketing. It’s no wonder Hubspot has over 4,000 current customers and growing.

At the starting price of $3,000 per year for small businesses and $18,000 for large corporations there is a package for each level, which if utilized properly, will definitely pay itself off over and over again.

Free 30 Day Trial or 20% Off Your Hubspot Software
Contact Collabo Today!

The post Inbound Marketing Tools first appeared on Collabo.

That being said, what is the best time to tweet in order to make sure your audience is seeing it? There are all sorts of blogs and fun tools scrutinizing the statistics in order to come up with the best time to tweet. From what we have read the single best time to tweet is at 9:00 am PST (Pacific Standard Time). The reasoning is fairly simple: you are reaching audiences all around the world at major break times. For example at 9:00am PST, people on the west coast of North America are just getting into work, logging onto their computers and seeing what is going on in the world. On the east coast of North America, it is 12 noon EST, which means people are on their lunch break and again trying to get caught up with their friends and happenings around the world. It also coincides with end of the business day in London – 5:00 pm GMT. For this reason it is believed that 9:00am PST is the single best time to tweet.

Although this may be true, we think it really has to do more with who your audience is. If your audience is a bunch of college students, one thing we noticed from our days in the dorm were that people flooded to the internet on Sundays and spent all their time on ICQ, MSN or Facebook instead of studying. Or if the majority of your followers are professionals on the west coast of North America, you may want to tweet during major break times such as morning, lunch and after regular business hours (PST). Tech And Life believes you should retweet your message 3 to 4 times a day if your audience is world wide. We try to avoid retweeting the same thing as we do not want to annoy or spam our followers.

A fun little tool which anyone can use to find out the best time for them to tweet is call Tweet-O-Clock. It may not be an exact science, but it’s still pretty neat.

Although there are lots of stats out there to look at, it is hard to come up with a definitive answer. The internet is always evolving and now that people are carrying the internet with them everywhere they go, it may not be as important to tweet during set hours. It is however important to keep a steady flow of tweets going in order to improve your visibility and keep your followers informed. Just make sure your tweets are relevant to your audience and don’t tweet so much that you look like a spam bot!

Ohh, look at the time..we better go retweet this article before it’s too late 

The post When Are The Best Times To Tweet? first appeared on Collabo.

For those of you familiar with Google Adwords, you may want to take a closer look as new features just keep on popping up. Long gone are the days of simply entering a little ad copy and running the campaign. Now, you have access to keyword research tools, trending information, you can advertise on mobile devices, insert geo location and phone numbers (complete with tracking) and you can even advertise on TV!

Cheap Advertising on TV with Google

Google has outdone themselves with this one. You no longer have to be a big PR firm and have all the connections with the broadcasters. For as little as $20 for a tv advertising spot, anyone with a little video editing skills can showcase their talent, business or products. It hasn’t made it’s way to Canada yet, but at the pace Google is setting, it won’t be long. For more information visit Google TV Ads. Watch out communication firms, Collabo will soon be helping businesses grow online AND offline!

Phone Call Tracking For Online Advertising

Business owners like to see the stats. Knowing your return on investment is essential, but being able to drill down and analyze conversions is crucial to improving your profits. Google Adwords now allows you to add phone numbers to your ad campaigns and actually track the number of calls each keyword receives and the duration of these calls. They call this Adwords extension Call Metrics and it is a free and easy method of phone call tracking.

Of course you could do this manually by getting a separate phone number just for your online campaigns or you could shell out lots of money for more robust call tracking systems. Some phone tracking systems actually record the phone conversations allowing managers to review and rate the quality of the calls. But for a cheap and easy method, Google Call Metrics is a no brainer.

Just in case you haven’t heard, Google is also offering free calling within North America with their Google Voice software.

The post Google Adwords On Roids first appeared on Collabo.

SurveyMonkey Buys Wufoo

SurveyMonkey is expanding it’s offerings by acquiring the online forms start-up Wufoo, details on this transaction have not been released, but it is estimated that the price was around $35 million in combined cash and stock.

Other recent purchases include the telephone-polling firm Precision Polling, SurveyMonkey also bought a minority stake in the U.K based survey provider, ClickTools on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange.

Yahoo Buys IntoNow

Yahoo has bought the Palo Alto start-up, IntoNow, designed to make an iOS app allowing users to “check in” to T.V. shows and movies they’re currently watching. It works by using a built-in microphone on either an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch that recognizes TV shows or movies playing nearby and then allows users to view the show and share it with others via Facebook, Twitter or their IntoNow account.

This app just launched in January, and 12 weeks later, it sold for millions (between 17 and 30 million according to reporters). The app was produced by a team of only 7 people, the CEO being Adam Cahan, former employee of Google and MTV.

Google Buys Talkbin

Talkbin was acquired by Google less than five months after the company was founded. Talkbin allows customers to provide immediate feedback to local businesses through mobile applications and businesses can then read and respond to comments through a web app.

The word is that the app has been temporarily shut down by Google, but plans to reopen the service to businesses in the future.

New Version of Google Analytics Released

The new version is currently available in beta to all Analytics users in all languages. Users will now be able to see a link in top right corner of their account when they sign in. New features have been added, and Google promises that they are just the beginning.

5 things you can try in Google Analytics v5 :

• Create an additional dashboard to focus on your important metrics
• Set up an Event Goal to track interactions like downloads and video engagement
• Graph and compare any two rows over time with Plot Rows
• Check out your favorite report (Did it move? The Report Finder can help)
• Flip between your different profiles and sites while staying focused on the same report

Google Offers is Accepting Signups

If you live in New York City, San Francisco/Oakland or Portland, Oregon, you can now subscribe to Google Offers to receive discounts via email. For those who just can’t wait for the Offers service to come to their city, Google is also collecting email addresses so that you can be notified if and when the service will be available. It appears however, as though no deals have been released yet.

It will be interesting to see how this service competes with Groupon and the other 500+ copycat deal sites currently available.

Google vs. Groupon

After talk that Google was trying to buyout Groupon for as much as 6 billion and Groupon rejected, Groupon has now reportedly bought a Google executive to act as their new Chief Operating Officer.

Facebook Deals being Tested in 5 US Cities

Facebook is finally entering the social shopping realm with it’s newest venture Facebook Deals. The most popular social site in the world with over 600 million users has been talking about launching a group buying feature for awhile now, but are finally starting testing in five major cities. They have a lot of competition with giants such as Groupon, Living Social and now Google Offers, but with it’s current existing user base, there is almost no way they can fail.

The post Internet Marketing Indusrty Updates first appeared on Collabo.