Bing , formerly known by different names as Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search is a search engine developed by Microsoft. It was released on 1 st June 2009.

The word “bing” is an onomatopoeia .

Microsoft said that this name was chosen because it was “memorable, short, easy to spell and it can function as a URL.”

In its final version, Bing offers the following search options:

• Websites
• Images
• Videos
• Shopping
• News
• Maps
• Travel

According to Microsoft, this search engine is innovative in terms of algorithms, resulting in more relevant results, more organized and classified into thematic sections . In addition, new features have been added, such as price comparison .

The goal of this Microsoft search engine is to better compete with the supremacy of the giant Google , the absolute leader in this sector. This accounted for about 65.3% of market share on the date of April 2009.   At the launch of Bing , Microsoft has provided a communication budget of between $80 and $100 million.

This search engine is integrated into the pages of MSN and Windows Live. In July 2009, a partnership was established between Microsoft and Yahoo! This agreement provides that Bing’s algorithm provides the search engine Yahoo! Search Yahoo! portals.

In May 2010, Microsoft announced an alliance with the Canadian manufacturer Research in Motion (all competitors in the field of mobile operating systems) that provides for the integration of Bing as the default search engine in mobile devices such as Blackberry.

The advertising campaign by Microsoft is risky since spending two euros in the promotion brings them just a euro as operating income , therefore generates more than $ 2.5 million in losses as seen in the last year.

The performance of the industry search engine by Microsoft in September 2011 indicate worse outcomes again: since the creation of this division, the company has suffered more than $ 9 billion in losses .

Proposed functions:

• Search the web
• Image Search
• Search videos (with a selection start in the full version)
• Price comparison via Ciao
• Search in the news (with articles compiled automatically in the full version)
• Search on a map ( Bing Maps )
• Search travel (not available on the beta)
• Wire feed on every page of results

Bing Facebook integration intensifies

Continuing the integration of data from social networks in its search engine Bing, Microsoft has added new features related to Facebook.

Now, users who use Bing associated with their Facebook account can view comments related to a search result and add their own. They can also “like” a post without leaving Bing and more specifically the “social bar” that appears on the right side of the page.

This bar was introduced last year with the ability to view contextual posts from not only Facebook, but also Twitter, Foursquare and Klout. Earlier this year, Microsoft had already changed its search for photos of friends via Facebook by adopting a layout inspired by Windows 8 and a slideshow mode.

Content marketing is a marketing strategy

This form of marketing involves creating and publishing media content to acquire new customers.

This informative content, useful or entertaining, can be presented as news, blogs, videos, white papers , ebooks, graphics, case studies, guides, systems Q , photos, forums, press releases, etc..

Content marketing is especially developed on the web so that it differs from advertising, which is traditionally displayed as advertising through the means of banners and images on websites.

Businesses write about real scenarios often using storytelling on their sites, then distribute the new information to the different social networks. They then can engage in a real conversation with their community of fans or customers. Building Trust and Loyalty.

Content marketing is not focused on the sale , but simply communicates with customers and prospects with programs that promote elements of brand equity. Many online marketing campaigns will feature social responsibility, cultural heritage, and their ability to innovate.

This marketing channel is distinguished from advertising that must sell (spot, banner advertising , product placement ) and sponsorship that brings visibility.

Content marketing sends a relevant message about your product or your service at the right time, to the right people. Subtly done, it will directly improve performance and reader demand (potential prospects).

By creating great content, you can create more openings for a sale, generate traffic to your website, promote your brand and educate customers and prospects about your offers.

Follow these six tips to maximize your marketing efforts:

1. Say goodbye to the promotion – Do no promotion. Promotional materials are neither exciting nor inspiring. promotion is anti-marketing content.
2. Be relevant – Content that is not relevant or does not provide a strong interest in the player,  will not bring any success. when you write content, make sure it will be useful to the reader.
3. Fill empty – Content marketing must answer a question or a problem. A really useful information can even be used at the conclusion of the sale.
4. Think editorial quality – A poorly written thought can be misinterpreted and can also damage the reputation of the company. Take the time to make sure that your content is presented in a thoughtful way and has no error, the substance and form.
5.  Follow your goals – Keep your objective in mind. No need to waste your time and resources to create content not going in the direction of your goals.
6. Provide evidence – You create content related to your business goals, so it can move to the subjective. Make sure that each piece of your content is created or supported by evidence, quotes, stories, statistics, studies.

Writing and publishing articles can generate targeted traffic to your site over a long period of time. Write articles belonging to the theme of your site and submit them to the digg-like or article directories. This allows your items to receive a very high visibility.

In the best case, your articles will be published all over the Internet by other website owners and blogs that need content for their own sites, blogs or newsletters. Writing  articles also helps to build backlinks (links pointing to your site) and build your reputation as an expert in your field.

Advantages:

• This strategy is good for SEO.
• Blogs and websites that cite your articles have a common or related subject are so good backlinks.
• This is a great technique if you prefer quality over quantity.

Need help with your Content Marketing? Orangehat are the experts and we are here to help your business grow. 

Call us today 800-788-8596

SEO is not so bad!

Search engine optimization is here to stay, like it or not—though some people would admit they’re burnt out already. SEO is essentially the bread and butter of getting your site noticed on the Internet.

There’s plenty of resources on the Internet urging webmasters to use SEO. Without it, many people would not have a sure-fire way to get their website noticed by other people. So, why are people becoming burnt out?

Why People Think They Hate SEO

People are simply tired of the information coming from all directions about SEO. As Google and other search engines figure out better ways to combat black-hat and even white-hat SEO techniques, more SEO experts and enthusiasts are figuring out more ways to win their battle against getting consistent web traffic.

SEO is necessary, and as necessary as SEO may be, there’s plenty of negative factors associated with the practice. These are the elements people outright hate about the practice.

Many, though not all, resources simply over-advertise the perks of SEO. Some people even imply that using SEO leads to instant and free web traffic overnight. What many resources fail to mention is using SEO right takes time and some money. When eager new webmasters try SEO and don’t understand why things aren’t happening overnight, it fast becomes discouraging—and it is.

Why People Don’t Actually Hate SEO

Search engines like Google love quality content—even rewarding websites for producing good content by helping them rank better on their search engine results pages.

Search engine optimization is an asset to promoting a website for a business or service—and even yourself. It’s typically used in conjunction with social media to form a viable content marketing campaign. Nowadays, it’s even intrinsic to the practice.

Search engine optimization is useful. It’s great to use for your website. It’s a perfectly legitimate method of generating web traffic. No one honestly should be discouraged from using SEO, since it’s beneficial to getting good web traffic and improving the quality of your website.

Are you getting enough traffic and exposure online? Get a free website analysis and live client examples from Orangehat or call 800-788-8596 today!

Tags are taking a leap forward

Many search engines out there are still using the old way to tag content throughout the Internet using traditional SEO. Bing is now making it much easier to markup content using “Bing tags.”

In the 1990s, tagging was used to categorize articles, but lately, the search engines have been doing the job. However, tagging needs to be done if the search engines fail to do the job.

Now Bing is making an effort so that it is possible to “tag” a person in a blog post or a webpage. This will make a site’s content more visible and is great for content marketing.

Bing tagging is going to be visible to the public and this will able people to socially tag a page and then share it on FaceBook and other social sites.

The tagged pages will then be shared with others that are logged onto those social media sites. You can share them with all of your friends, or even individual friends depending on the page that you found over the internet through the help of Bing.

It will also be possible to see tagged pages from friends and will display their names on the tagged sections.

Bing is integrating this so more and more people will be attracted to use this feature, and use the search engine.

Only public Facebook profiles will be able to take advantage of the tagging features.

Find out more information about Bing tags at Search Engine Land.

 

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There is no way around good SEO

Ever since SEO has become the most potent weapon for Internet marketers, there have been thousands of people trying find out new ways to trick the Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and have engaged in, what can be at best called shady practices, to get better search engine page ranks. While the primary objective of any content marketing strategy or social media marketing is to eventually create a dominating presence in the virtual world, especially in search results, yet the route taken by SEO experts or content marketing specialists cannot be questionable or illegitimate in the eyes of Google.

There had been a lot of speculation recently that Google penalizes sites that are critical of Google or speak unfavorably about Google’s services, principles and policies. Matt Cutts has clarified that Google has no such policy of penalizing a site that is critical of the company or the search engine giant’s policies but he reiterated that repeat offenders with the clear intention of violating the norms set out by Google Webmaster Guidelines would certainly fall under the scanner and might be hammered down.

It has to be seen from the perspective of websites being devastated because no SEO strategy, content marketing idea or social media dominance can make a tinge of a difference if Google decides to penalize a site and brings its ranking crashing down. Having said that, there have been SEO practices that used names of the likes of Google and other reputed sites or companies to squeeze through the search engine algorithms and get a higher ranking, not by the virtue of content or the ranking of the site but with the help of the presence of essential words that people look for.

Google is all out to penalize all sites that do not have good SEO strategies and if you are working on content marketing or a new SEO strategy, stay in line with Google’s policies.

Don’t let Google trash your site, call us today or fill out our form for free consultation and client examples!

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The 3 Hidden Ramifications Of The Google Panda Update

Being the largest search engine online, Google is subject to a constant stream of SEO strategies and tactics whose aims can be universally summed up with five words: reach the number one spot. Many of these tactics are unethical (blackhat) and may result in a poor quality search result when a user queries certain keywords. Due to this any many other reasons, two years ago Google came out with one of its most comprehensive algorithm updates so far: the Google Panda update.

 

From that point forward, the search engine optimization industry, online publishing and online marketing have never been the same. As with any update, there are just a few sites that benefit greatly from the change, some that remain unaffected, and a slew of websites that disappear into the dark abyss of the dreaded Google sandbox, where they will forever remain in complete obscurity. Beyond just affecting the amount of traffic they get and their rankings, the Panda update forced some companies to completely re-brand their names or simply exit out of their respective industries altogether. Here is a closer look at some of the winners and losers of the algorithm change:

1.) The Coup De Grâce Suffered By Hubpages.com

Perhaps no other user-generated content site suffered a bigger blow in the SERPs than Hubpages. With over a million articles posted, it was the true definition of a content farm. A cursory look at their SearchMetrics traffic analysis page indicates that the site went from a rising 200,000 views a day to less than 8,000 over the course of one day – April 7th 2011. It has never recovered from that blow and the company executives are still searching for a viable long term solution.

2.) Learn Anything From Maholo.com? Not Anymore

Maholo was started in 2007 as a human-curated search engine where people could write the content pages that would match some of the most popular trending and search terms. They were hit hard, very hard in April and effectively went from over 100,000 views per day to zero. As the founder Jason Calacanis states,

… we’ve sunset that brand and we’ve given up on an adsense ad-driven business model. We’ve worked hard on higher quality videos and apps with solid success… We’re going to launch a new product called Inside.com in Q2/Q3 that requires 0% of exposure to search. We learned a LOT from the Panda update, and the #1 thing is have your own direct base of customers.

3.) Other Big Losers That Learned Their Lessons

Among the list of the heavily affected include (but are not limited to):

• Suite101.com: Now in the process of “revitalizing their entire business model.”
• Associated Content/Yahoo: Suffered a staggering 76% loss in traffic.
• About.com: Took a big enough hit to merit selling the entire website to IAC… at a $110 million dollar loss.

Even though we’ve only examined some of the most well known websites in existence that are thousands of times larger than the scope of the average webmaster, the harsh lessons learned by these companies can be used by anyone in any stage of their online marketing career. As a very smart man once said, it’s never a good idea to build a business model around getting traffic from a single source.

Orangehat was specifically developed to help businesses navigate through the new online market. We have painstakingly experimented with various methods to develop one tried and trued method. That is content development and social sharing.

Give us a call today, or sign up for a free audit and client examples and see for yourself!

800-788-8596

Everyday on FaceBook , Twitter, or any number of social newsfeeds, a post from a friend, a real estate listing, and even maybe a commercial finds its way into the eyes of a consumer. It’s free to sign up and easy to start posting pictures with descriptions and videos. With the number of people on social media being so astonishing, it’s easy to jump aboard.

Now, just about every business is flocking to social media, but– Who owns the content? Are businesses getting the most from their efforts? Are businesses investing into social media the right way?

How to use social media the right way.

Social media is a great tool to utilize in online marketing, however don’t just post something with out linking back to your website! Some businesses may not have a website and if that is the case, they are putting all their eggs into one basket, and that is just not good strategy.

Use social media to compliment a website!

A successful company focuses on building value, so why give FaceBook your valuable content?  Another thing to consider is that FaceBook approves and denies content after it’s been posted, and it’s true that they do not approve of certain products.

A website should be the central hub for any business’s online presence… Social media is the billboard linking websites to the world. As a compliment, traffic is funneled to your branded website giving more opportunity to engage users with:

• Trust building
• Product galleries
• Opt-in e-mail subscriptions for newsletters and product announcements

Use more than one platform!

Social media is widely used today by billions of people around the globe, and just about everyone that uses social media has a FaceBook and Twitter account, but there are many social media as well as social bookmarking sites to use as well.

Orangehat and its users’ content are submitted to over 20 different social media and bookmarking sites. This is beneficial in two ways:

1. Immediate traffic generation – great shared content linked to your website is like candy!
2. Search engine optimization  – increases links, mentions, Likes, Followers, etc. Very positive signals for the search engines and often results in higher rankings.

The dangers of using social media the wrong way.

Every single day, especially on FaceBook, brands and businesses are posting some awesome content, and while it may even work for generating a lead, the problem here is putting all the eggs in one basket. Of course, the likelihood that FaceBook will file bankruptcy or have a sitewide failure is not very high, but it is a possibility.

Just think what would happen if the switch was turned off? Every single company with only a FaceBook profile will all the sudden be facing a loss of online activity!

No more sharing, no more conversation, nothing…