These screenshots show how dramatic the difference in keyword search volume can be from month to month.

white elephant party
Search index goes from 0 to 30+ every December

boating
Search index approximately doubles each summer

candles
Search volume dramatically increases in Nov/Dec each year

chocolate
More searches around Christmas and Valentine’s

florida vacation rentals
Search volume jumps at the start of each year (peak snowbird and winter getaway season) then tapers off

Bottom line: Don’t forget to check a keyword’s seasonal trends and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly!

(But if you want to read this article first, I won’t tell your boss.)

Let’s be honest—no matter how hard you try to focus on the task at hand, certain websites have a mysterious gravitational power that you sometimes (just about always) don’t have the willpower to fight. One minute you’re doing research for that looming project, and the next you’re commenting “congrats” on your friend’s new baby picture or shooting coffee out of your nose over the latest Fail. (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please don’t look it up—it will only get you into trouble).

I like to think I’m pretty good at managing my time, but I’ve had one too many “quick Facebook checks” turn into 15-20 minute breaks that only add to the length of my work day. Figuring someone smarter than me already found a solution to this, I checked Chrome’s extensions store for an add-on that would help me stay focused. And, what do you know—a free extension called StayFocusd awaited me. I saw the impressive 5-star rating out of 1300 reviews, so I decided to try it. After a few days of using it, I decided I had to share it.

Step 1: Limiting the Distraction
Here’s the deal: you adjust the settings to choose which sites are under restriction (aka “blocked,”), and the maximum time allowed for those sites. I immediately added Facebook and Failblog, because those two sites are way too easy to get lost in. StayFocusd has its own expansive list of suggestions for sites to block as well, but I’m sure you have a pretty good idea of what sites are most distracting to you. Then, I set a time limit of 10 minutes for both.

Step 2: Keeping it Real
If you’re like me and your work computer is also your personal computer, it may not be realistic to have such restricting limits on “free time” sites all the time. Fortunately, you can choose specific days and hours that the extension will monitor your time use, and the daily reset time. I entered in my typical work days and hours, and set my reset time for 5:00PM, the same as my ending work time.

Excuses Meet Snarky Popup Windows
What I appreciate most about this extension is its attitude. For instance, when I experimentally tried to bump up my time limit from 10 to 15 minutes, I was met with this series of windows:

(Aha, now the picture at the top makes sense!) Then, when I moved it back down, I was met with this complimentary message:

If you run out of time for the day (I have mine set to give me a 5- and 1-minute warning) your blocked website screen will look something like this:

The World Wide…War
Perhaps you just want to block sites altogether for a certain amount of time—if that’s the case, choose The Nuclear Option, which is not reversible once you hit the “NUKE ‘EM!” button and hopefully will prevent you from lollygagging.

Like Crossing a Bridge With A Troll
Oh, but there’s more. If your willpower isn’t strong enough to avoid changing the settings, it can optionally require you to complete a difficult (but not impossible) challenge before changing any settings. I don’t know for sure what each challenge is (Do a backflip? Run a marathon?), but the example challenge is to type a sobering paragraph about procrastination with zero errors and no corrections allowed.

Altogether, StayFocusd is quite an ingenious (though snarky) extension that has proven to be quite handy for condensing my work day.

Now, you may get back to work.

 While Facebook has been the social network stronghold for the better part of a decade, the new kid on the block has a competitive streak and it’s brought a new social media marketing platform to the table. I’m talking, of course, about the new Google+ Pages for business and brands. Released yesterday, this new feature has created quite a buzz over the web. Here are some of the points being discussed by the marketing and tech community:

Google+ Pages Not Allowing Promotions
I’m always a sucker for sweepstakes, and Facebook Pages have become a popular avenue for such promotions. Google+, however, doesn’t seem to be following the leader. Tech Crunch only took one day to post their article observing the following this clause in Google+ Pages’ Policies: “You may not run contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons or other such promotions (“Promotion”) directly on your Google+ Page.” Instead, the policy suggests that you link to the promotion on a separate page. Why rule out a marketing mechanism that has proven to be a success on Facebook Pages? Blog author Sarah Perez suggests that it could be an attempt to reduce spam and fraud, or perhaps it’s an attempt to keep to social network pure of persuasive marketing “tricks.” Read the full Tech Crunch article.

Google+ Pages Getting “Baked” Into Search Results
Of course the most popular search engine will make it as easy as possible to find its new baby—that is, Google+ Pages. Jay Greene of CNET discussed the impact of Google+ Pages in Google search results in his recently published article. He discusses two ways the pages will be turning up; first, Google+ Pages will be easily found in search queries; that’s a no-brainer. The second feature, dubbed Direct Connect, allows users to add a “+” before their search query to quickly find the most relevant Google+ Pages. If more users take interest in Google+ and utilize the search engine to add businesses to their circles, the new Pages could render the Facebook Pages obsolete. Read more of the CNET article.

From the VP: Google+ Pages is Different from Facebook and Twitter
The vice president and product manager of Google+, Brad Horowitz, was eager to share the features that differentiate the new Pages from Facebook or Twitter marketing in a video interview with Bloomberg. One major feature he discussed was the capability to chat face-to-face with customers in a feature called Hangout. It’s a “free, multi-way video” that introduces a face behind the brand. Another unique feature is the ability to segment a business/brand’s audience using Circles, communicating differently with each group of “Gold, Silver, and Bronze customers.” To learn about more more of the features, watch the video on Bloomberg’s YouTube channel.

One of my recent projects required me to find a magazine-style theme, which I found surprisingly difficult. Most themes were either low-quality, outdated, or not free. Hence I decided to create a post listing some of the better themes I found. These themes are characterized by homepages that utilize post images and present content in a way that shows more than just the most recent post at the top of the page, such as carousels or category displays.

Visoko
Uses a carousel to present featured articles. Featured Image ready.

GazpoMag
Great magazine-style theme with a custom rotator, homepage category displays, and post image support.

Pure Magazine
A highly flexible theme with options to display a news feed, carousel, featured posts, and/or widgets on the homepage.

Snips
Supports a featured content carousel and post thumbnails.

DotNews
Has a featured content carousel and supports post thumbnails.

IsoTherm

Elegant News
Homepage carousel. Feature Image ready.

Which are your favorite magazine/news style wordpress themes?

The modern blogosphere has taken idea-sharing and interaction to completely new levels. We find ourselves rubbing virtual elbows with a wider circle of people than ever before, yet in the safe confines of our offices and homes, we find it easier to neglect basic etiquette. Remember those people you were rubbing elbows with? They could be your next business connection, client, or an emerging industry leader. What kind of impression are you making? If you fall under any of these categories, you might want to brush up on your comment-iquite:

1. You don’t comment

With so much “free” information out there, it’s easy to take for granted that there are real people investing real hours of time (and money) into their blog posts. If you’re just consuming and not contributing, you’re cheating both the author and yourself. Taking a few moments to comment is like a donation of time to thank the author for providing useful information. But it’s not all about being polite – you stand to gain from joining in on the conversation by contributing your own knowledge and forming relationships with others in your industry. In addition to widening your professional exposure, you have a good chance of attracting other readers to your own blog or website.

2. Your comments are vague

Sure, it’s easy to say “thanks for the great post,” and if that’s all the time you have to do, it’s better than nothing. However, taking a few extra moments to say what points you agreed with (or disagreed with), what you learned, and what you would add goes much further and reaps better rewords for you, the blog author, and the other readers. Many bloggers (including this one) see their post as a start to a conversation, not a one-way information stream. If you add your thoughts, others could benefit and look to you as a source of valuable information.

3. Your criticism isn’t constructive

There’s a fine line between thoughtful, but polite disagreement, and distasteful attack. Actually, that’s a lie – the line is very clear. Don’t cross into emotion-driven verbal assaults on the author; all that is going to hurt is your reputation. If you disagree with the author’s post, do so in the same respectful manner that you would approach a client or boss with. But – and this is the important part – don’t just stop at disagreeing. State your reason for disagreeing, what experience led you to this conclusion, any links or evidence that can back up your claim, and your solution or alternate advice. But wait! Don’t stop there. Check back for responses, and continue the discussion as long as it’s productive. You may learn a thing or two, and if the conversation isn’t productive, you can always agree to disagree. If you can, it’s best to end on respectful terms.

4. You advertise yourself shamelessly

Today’s consumers have wisened up to marketing schemes and can usually smell a rat a mile away. If you’re leaving short, meaningless comments just to deposit your html website link, you’re more likely to anger the author and readers than you are to get clicks. Many comment forms provide fields to enter your website URL in, and some even leave room for your twitter account and other information. If you leave a sincere, thoughtful comment that contributes to the conversation, readers are much more likely to take interest in you, click your name, and visit your website.

5. A blog post in a blog post

The internet is filled with readers that have short attention spans and prefer to “scan,” so the most successful comments are often succinct and to-the-point. If you find yourself writing paragraphs of information, you should consider some alternatives. First, you can edit your comment by trimming it down to just one or two points. If you feel your information is worth the readers’ attention in whole, create a separate blog post and link to it within the comments section with a short explanation preceding it. This is different than advertising yourself because you’re adding to the conversation – you’re just using a better avenue to do so while keeping the current conversation on-topic.

Help me out, here:

What comment-iquite rules need to be added to this list? Give your two cents in the comment area below.

Whether you like them or not, Facebook changes are rolling out and they already have begun to impact the way businesses market and measure success on their pages. At the heart of the emerging social marketing shift is a movement away from number-focused marketing (getting “likes”) toward interaction-focused marketing. This is based on several new points:

• Users no longer have to “Like” a page to post comments or interact with it, therefore removing a major motivating factor for users to “Like” a page.
• The news feed now features a “Top Stories” and a “Recent Stories” section, with top stories accumulating only since the user was last on Facebook. Users have more control over what content shows up highest in their feed by “unmarking” items as Top Stories, so quality, relevant content is key.
• A news ticker shows real-time updates in each user’s home page of how others are interacting with Facebook. Users will see friends interacting with your page along with your updates, so it’s important to keep your followers interacting.
• Because page interaction is drawing so much focus, apps will become a larger component of business pages. Whether you include an app developed by your business or a third-party app (like a music player) on your page, remember that people will only interact with apps that are useful to them.

For more information on how the recent changes could affect your marketing strategy, I recommend this great article by Mashable: What Facebook Changes Mean to Marketers.

You’ve seen them everywhere, and you may have heard them get mentioned in website planning or e-marketing strategies. You might be wondering: what the heck are they? These little icons are sometimes found in the header or footer of a web page, or even under a photo or video. Usually in a section titled “Share,” social media icons are used to spread and share content on various social media platforms.

If you don’t know what half of them mean, don’t fret! What follows is a short list of some of the most common social media share icons, and what you should use them for. Each social media platform requires that you have an account (the ones listed below are free) with their main site before you can use their share icons found across the web. Ready to get started?

What it is: +1, a public webpage recommendation system that allows Google account users to rate up page

When to click it: when you want to publicly recommend a page or add it to your Google profile

What it is: Blogger, a free blogging platform that enables users to quickly and easily create and publish content.

When to click it: To post this article to your Blogger page.

What it is: Delicious, a social web bookmarking service that allows users to save, organize, and share web pages. Word on the street is that Delicious has been declining in popularity in recent years.

When to click it: When you want to bookmark the page you are on to Delicious.

What it is: Digg, a social news website that allows users to vote stores up or down.

When to click it: When you like an article and want to vote it up, increasing its popularity and adding to the chance that other Digg users will find the article on the front page of their website.

What it is: Flickr, a photo sharing website where users post photos and get comments by other users.

When to click it: To share a photo on your Flickr account.

What it is: Google Buzz, a sharing platform built into Gmail that allows users to share content and follow others who post content, all of which is visible in the user’s inbox. Also integrates with Twitter, Blogger, and other social media platforms to serve as a conglomerate sharing system.

When to click it: to share content on your Google Buzz feed.

What it is: LinkedIn, a professional networking site that allows individuals and businesses to connect and share content with other professionals

When to click it: to share a site on your LinkedIn Page

What it is: Reddit, a social news website that allows users to post content to be voted “up” or “down” by other users.

When to click it: to vote an item up in Reddit; like Digg, a high number of votes increases the likelihood of other users finding the article on the website’s home page.

What it is: RSS, an acronym meaning Real Symple Syndication. It’s a web feed format that allows users to subscribe to and stream content from a news or blog site to an RSS reader.

When to click it: to subscribe to the website you are using and have its contents update in your RSS reader. You must have an RSS reader, like Google Reader, for this to work.

What it is: StumbleUpon, a special type of search engine (dubbed a discovery engine) that tracks down and suggests web content to its users.

When to click it: Give the site a thumbs up and it will be placed in your favorites on StumbleUpon. The site can also be rated down and commented on, helping other like-minded users on StumbleUpon know if they might like the site.

What it is: Tumblr, a blog-style platform with a focus on sharing content like photos, links, videos, and text.

When to click it: To share content you find interesting and spread it across other Tumblr blogs.

What it is: Twitter, a microblogging platform that allows users to post and follow text-based Tweets, or posts up to 140 characters long.

When to click it: To Tweet, or share this content on your Twitter page and on the home pages of your Followers.

What it is: WordPress, a popular blog authoring and platform

When to click it: To share content on your WordPress blog

*Please note that Facebook, Youtube, and Email icons have been excluded from this list because they are so widespread, even your great aunt Doris gets the gist of what they do.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and every site may vary on which share icons they post. However, I hope this helps decipher some of the common ones, and perhaps inspire you to try a new social media site.

So, faithful readers, now it’s your turn: what would you have added to this list?

(Oh look what I found. Some great examples right here! How about trying them out?)

Date: Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 6:14 PM
Subject: SRXXXXXXXXXXXID – Microsoft Advertising Support
To: @gmail.com

Dear XXXX,

Based on our investigation, your account will remain closed. Please understand that we treat unauthorized account access and billing as a very serious matter and that we reviewed your case thoroughly before reaching our conclusion. We keep security checks like these in place to protect our advertisers and our customers. For privacy and security reasons, we cannot provide details around your specific account closure, but the most common reasons we are forced to close Microsoft Advertising adCenter accounts include:

• The payment method on file was not authorized by the account owner
• The account was accessed without authorization
• The account is related to an account that was previously closed
• The account was determined to be high risk to other customers or advertisers, as stated in our Editorial Guidelines

While this list is representative, it does not include all possible scenarios; there are other reasons that an account may be closed. As described in the adCenter terms and conditions, we do not need to state a specific reason for account closure.

Sincerely,

XXX XXXX

1-800-518-5689 ext. XXXXX

Supervisor

US Microsoft adCenter Team

1. Create a working to-do list each morning

Every job is composed of a series of tasks—write them down at the beginning of each day to get a “bird’s-eye view” of what your day might look like. This achieves two things: first, it helps you get organized from the beginning, so you don’t get halfway through the day and suddenly remember something you should have done in the morning; second, the act of crossing items off your to-do list helps you feel productive and motivates you to keep working down the list.

2. Create a list for non-work-related items

It happens to all of us—there you are, hard at work, when you suddenly think of something else that needs done; an email that needs answered, or an appointment that needs to be scheduled. This is especially true for telecommuters, who can be run off-track by the dryer buzzer or any other house project. Instead of jumping off-task to attend to these diversions, simply stop and write down the item on your non-work task list. This will help ease your mind that the project will not be forgotten but will be attended to at a later time, and you can stay focused on the task you are getting paid to do.

3. Take a break—really.

If taking a decent break seems like a joke to you, you’re not alone; a recent poll by Monster.com revealed that 60% of workers don’t take their full lunch break. Working through a break makes sense when you are rushing to meet a deadline, but those who regularly forgo their lunch and other breaks throughout the day will often find their productivity slip. Taking at least a half hour lunch break (away from the desk—no cheating!) and two fifteen minute breaks during the day provide your brain with needed rest and fresh types of stimulation, which can help you think more logically and creatively when you return to work.

4. Limit internet distractions

Easier said than done, right? Fortunately, there are several Google Chrome Extensions that help you stay accountable. One simple Extension, Title Time Tracker, puts the time spent on a webpage right in the tab, so you always know at a glace how long you have been on that site. For greater functionality, try Time Report; it keeps track of the domains visited with the amount of time that site was open, as well as the amount of time it was actively used. Once you see the first report for how much time you wasted on the internet, you should feel more motivated to limit those distractions.

5. Keep your belly full

It’s been common knowledge for years that healthy snacking in between meals helps prevent fatigue from blood sugar crashes, which unquestionably affects job performance. Keep filling, high-protein snacks like nuts or cheese near your desk to keep your stomach happy. Don’t leave water out of the equation, either—especially if you drink dehydrating coffee or soda, your body needs water to function at peak performance. It’s even been suggested that staying hydrated decreases the harmful effects of stress on your body—so make friends with that water cooler!

What are your techniques for staying focused and productive at work?

Fake social media likes have existed for awhile, but since the launch of Google +1, such services seem to be more common. One company (who shall go unnamed, but here is my source) sells 2,000 +1′s for $169.99.

My favorite part of the entire scheme, though, is this little claim: “Buying Plus Ones can help your site out by showing Google that the content featured on it or the page being Plussed is of value to real people and not spammy.”

Let me get this straight. Buying spammy, fake +1′s shows that your content “is of value to real people and not spammy”?

Don’t make me laugh.

Is this the next generation of SEO spam? How well will Google be able to deal with it?