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Facebook is switching everyone to the Timeline format March 30th. -

“Facebook Pages have been redesigned to help you brand your page, highlight what matters, and manage everything in one place.  Your Page will automatically get the new design on March 30th, but don’t wait that long!” Facebook

Is your Page ready?

1. Have you checked the display of the new design to ensure everything displays correctly?

2. Have you chosen a cover photo? (This is important! The cover photo takes up the top of your page and is by far the largest feature of the page.)

3. Have you reviewed the content in the timeline? (and more importantly have you added to it?) Facebook now gives you the opportunity to go back to the very start of your company.

4. Are you thinking of ways to use the new format to better promote your brand?

You built your Facebook Page to make a good impression and connect with your customers, don’t let this change catch you off guard.

Google Analytics has been rolling out a new interface for months.  Google has introduced many new features with this update.  A couple of the most interesting are real-time results and reports on mobile.   The real-time results (found under the ‘home’ tab in the new interface) shows visitor data as it’s happening giving you instant insight into your website.

Google Analytics Real-Time results

The mobile reports (located in the ‘standard’ reports) show the visits not only coming from mobile but the devises being used.  From the IPad to The Android now you can see what your visitors are using.  As mobile becomes more popular information regarding this market is invaluable.

The new interface has been in beta and the past year a lot of tweaking has been going on.  Wide spread testing and feedback started in March with select users getting the roll-out.  Then later all users with a Google Analytics account were given the option to kick the tires.  I have been going through the new interface and most of the information is easily found.  This past month the new interface became the default when you login to your analytics account.  The old version of the accounts is still available by clicking a link at the top right.  You will still receive your PDF reports through the old interface as you always have.  At the moment the email option isn’t available in the new interface but it will be rolled out in coming weeks.

Cedarvale Maple Syrup Company gets a new shopping cart and a new look.  ACS Inc. is happy to announce the launch of the efficient new website that is not only informational but user friendly.

Located just outside Syracuse NY, this Tree Farm offers all manner of Maple products as well as Christmas Trees.

.Maple City Savings Bank gets a new and updated look for their website Along with the fresh new look; the website also features a content management system allowing them to make regular updates to things like savings rates, current news, and slideshow images featuring photographs of scenes from around the local community.

Get started
(When you first start interacting with your Facebook page you will see a get started tab. This page will prompt you to share your page. This page is only visible to admins of the page)

Facebook get started tab

• Edit info link takes you to a map to edit your basic store information.
• Edit page button takes you to the edit settings menu

Your settings is where you modify your posting preferences and notifications

Your Settings

Manage permissions is where you can control user restrictions

Facebook Manage Permissions

Basic information is where you modify your basic business information

Facebook Page Basic Information

Profile is the link used to upload a profile picture

Facebook Page Profile Picture

(you have two choices you can click “browse” and upload a picture from your computer or you can click “take picture” to use a web-cam to take a photograph)

Featured link lets choose other pages and people to feature on the left of your page

Feature Link

Choose Other Facebook Pages to Display

• Resources links to help links and useful Apps
• Apps link gives you a list of common Apps used on pages
• Mobile links to your mobile settings for mobile uploads to your page

Insights links to your page activity and users

Insights

o Help link links to common help topics for Facebook pages
Deals link provides a place to create and manage promotions for your Facebook fans

Facebook Deals

• Wall
(this tab is the most used part of your page and Is set up for easy sharing and interaction)

Facebook Page Wall

• Click the photo Icon to upload images from your machine or take a photograph with a web-cam
• Click the link Icon to share a url with your fans

(you will be able to type text after you click “attach”)

• The video Icon is used to upload video from your computer or web-cam
• The question Icon opens up a form to create a question with options to ask your fans and their friends

To remove an unwanted post from the page:  Rollover the top right corner of the post with your mouse until a grayed out gear appears.  Click the gear and the removal options appear in a drop down list. You can hide or remove a post.

Today June 15th is a total Lunar Eclipse. Google told me so … I didn’t know what the doodle was about today so I clicked through. When I did I scanned the results and found the best use of the description meta tag I’ve seen in a long time.

When you click through it’s the Wikipedia page with the correct scientific information.
I have told many clients the description is your first impression on search pages. It needs to contain relevant, informative content. Think of it as a couple of lines of free advertising and think, in a couple of lines, what do you say to stand out from the crowd?

Advanced Care Solutions, Inc. is seeking a highly motivated, and experienced, web developer to join our growing team. A qualified candidate will have a minimum of 3 years experience in web application and web site development, using PHP, HTML, CSS and Javascript. A candidate must have knowledge of object-oriented programming in a PHP environment, web standards (XHTML and CSS validation), cross-browser development, progressive enhancement, and clean coding standards.

Recommended, but not required:
CodeIgniter PHP Framework
jQuery Javascript Framework
Blueprint CSS Framework
MVC Design Pattern(s)
E-Commerce Solutions ( Magento , Zen Cart , osCommerce , etc. )

The position is in Liverpool, NY and is a full-time entry level position. If you are interested, and enjoy working in a team-based environment, e-mail your resume to resume@acs-web.com

… or Rochester, or wherever. The first thing to remember is content is King for search. The search engines want to get and keep their audience and so every update, or change is to do one thing, deliver current relevant content to their users. If the search returns results that give poor information users will use a different search engine. To that end remember your homepage needs to have not only an eye catching design but CONTENT. The coolest website in the world can also work against you if you don’t deliver what a user wants or what the search crawlers can see.
What do I mean by content? I mean text, lots of text. At least 300 words of plain easy to understand text
The content should include the terms you want to be found for. A picture is worth a thousand words does not hold true in the realm of SEO. If you’re selling [blue and green widgets] then [blue and green widgets] should be on your homepage, not 1000 times but it should be mentioned.
Your website is competing with real time results. Keep your content current and relevant if a visitor sees information that’s a couple years old they will move on and knowing this so will the search crawlers.
Now to get a little technical …
There are different kinds of content and each is given it’s own weight. Always use headings, and your links should use terms that are important. Unless you have a new product named [click here] don’t use it as link text.
Your page title is your best first impression, the click-able link on the search page, that’s your title tag. Search engines will pull the following description from a number of sources, page content (there’s that word again) third party sources or ‘meta’ tags. There is a meta tag for use on page that is named “description” guess what that information is used for? The search engines will populate the data whether you supply a description of the page or not, but wouldn’t you like to control the first thing a searcher sees about your page? Use this space! list your phone number, address, a call to action you want more than traffic to your website you want leads.
Think you’ve got that down? Good, now do it on every page. Yes I said every single page. Each focused on a specific service, market or product.

Always look at your online marketing as getting your business in-front of your target market. 1000 hits and no customers could be good search optimization; but is not good business. Think about what you want to target, what product you are selling and work to get in-front of the people that will want to do business with you.

From Constitutional Law Prof Blog
December 13, 2010
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Lawyer Advertising Case

‘Last March, the Second Circuit in Alexander v. Cahill affirmed a declaration that substantial portions of the New York’s professional responsibility rules were unconstitutional. Today, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari.’

You can Find a full Archive of the videos on the Alexander & Catalano website

You have to love when a court rules in favor of common sense

the court stated,

‘the sorts of gimmicks that this rule appears designed to reach-such as Alexander & Catalano’s wisps of smoke, blue electrical currents, and special effects-do not actually seem likely to mislead. It is true that Alexander and his partner are not giants towering above local buildings; they cannot run to a client’s house so quickly that they appear as blurs; and they do not actually provide legal assistance to space aliens. But given the prevalence of these and other kinds of special effects in advertising and entertainment, we cannot seriously believe-purely as a matter of “common sense”-that ordinary individuals are likely to be misled into thinking that these advertisements depict true characteristics. Indeed, some of these gimmicks, while seemingly irrelevant, may actually serve “important communicative functions . . . .’

What are your thoughts?

In a huge marketing campaign for Windows Phone 7 the biggest expense could be the Microsoft plan to issue its 89,000 employees Windows Phone 7 when it launches in a couple of weeks.

Jon Brodkin reported early this morning quoting Guy Gilber and referencing a leaked email that hinted that Microsoft may pick up the tab for the data plan as well.
“Every Microsoft employee will be getting a Windows Phone 7 phone,” says Guy Gilbert, one of two Windows Phone executives I interviewed at PDC earlier this week.

This is a great marketing idea. Not only will this limit the amount of Microsoft employees seen with competitors devices but the loyalty will be through the roof. Not only will the employees have a vested interest in promoting the new product but the experience to back it up. Another bonus could be a better product; as bugs and updates might happen just a little bit faster when your 89,000 co-workers are waiting for them.